Green Power Smoothie
Today I would like to share with you my favourite breakfast of all time. It’s my GREEN POWER SMOOTHIE that I enjoy most mornings before I start my day along with a serve of protein like a few eggs or some sardines or wild salmon and avocado. What I love about this smoothie is that it’s not full of sugar and greenwash like other store bought varieties. It’s the real deal, the get me healthy hard core type of smoothie that will have you bouncing off the walls in no time.
The American Journal of clinical nutrition suggests eating 5 – 9 serves of salad or veggies a day is ideal and a more effective strategy in prevention and treatment of chronic disease. Evidence also suggests that antioxidants are best acquired through whole-food consumption and not as an over the counter pill, which is why drinking these smoothies work so well. Most of the chopping is done by my favourite kitchen appliance – The VitaMix where you just throw it all in and blend it up with a little ice. You get the benefit of eating whole high fiber foods that stimulate the favorable growth of pro-biotic bacteria to boost your immune system. The word probiotic means prolife, so where possible choose foods that are life giving to your health.
The most nourishing alkaline foods are green vegetables and leafy greens that help improve bone density and serum growth hormone concentrations and also help to prevent muscle wastage. A good diet has always played a vital role in supporting health, which is why it is so important to think about what you put into your mouth every time you eat and drink and whether or not it makes a positive or negative effect to your body.
Serves 1
1 green apple, chopped with skin and seeds (200g)
1 big handful baby spinach leaves ( 1 cup – 35 g)
100 g small cucumber – Lebanesese
50 g celery, chopped
1 whole lemon, peeled and chopped or 2 limes.
8 g mint leaves
8 g parsley leaves
1 small slither ginger
1 cup water
1/2 cup ice
Combine all the ingredients into a good high speed blender like a VitaMix. Blend until a lovely, creamy and green.
Serve in a large glass.
garnish with limes or celery stalk and enjoy.
Drink immediately and reap the benefits.
NB: if smoothie is a little thick, just add more water to thin it down.
Protein: 2.6 g
Fat: 0.6 g
Carbs: 27 g
Kilojoules: 537
Calories: 128
Fiber: 7.1 g
Additional extras: add 1 teaspoon ground flaxseed for a fibre and omega 3 boost.
Only discovered you and your blog today and breakfast was perfect as was...
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Teresa, this sounds lovely and the addition of mint caught my eye, love it!
This looks amazing, and not too high in fruit like most of the others. I’ve just bought a Vitamix and this looks like the perfect recipe to get me started. Thanks for the inspiration Teresa.
I’ve just added a Vitamix to my own kitchen a week ago – and my husband is a little miffed because I’m choosing a fresh homemade juice each morning for my kick-start instead of the normal cappucinno he used to make me on our fancy espresso machine. I remember you saying a bit of lemon first thing in the morning is a great primer for the body – so I’ve been throwing half a peeled lemon in with my apple, pear and/or orange mix. It’s going to take a switch in thinking to add spinach leaves and cucumber to a breakfast drink, but am going to give it a shot! Thanks for the tips Teresa – not only tasty, but love the nutrition information you provide along the way.
Heather, I was worried about adding veggies to juices but I gave it a whirl and the juices really are delicious, so I imagine smoothies will be the same. The apple adds sweetness, the cucumber adds freshness and you can’t taste the spinach! I’m not a celery fan so I’ll leave that out but you’d be surprised how good they taste and how GOOD you feel when you add them to your diet. Good luck!
Hi Teresa,
You mentioned wild salmon above for breakfast. I have been looking for it and got told that there is no way to find it here in Australia.
Would you tell me where you get if from please?
I’d appreciate it very much.
Keep up the good and inspiring work.
Thank you.
in Australia you can only get tinned wild Salmon as far as I know, which is the paramount brand. It’s very lovely. Sardines are fantastic too, fresh or tinned they are delicious with a squeeze of lemon and some fresh tomato.
hi birte, try thecanadianway.com.au – wild sockeye salmon raw or smoked available in aus. i’m not affiliated with them in any way, i’ve just heard they’re great and have been meaning to try them
Vital Choice also sell tinned wild salmon and sustainably wild caught fish. They’re a great company and also don’t line their cans with BPA (which is a plastic and known endocrine distrupter, which can leach into canned foods and cause disease). Vital Choice are the only brand I know of that sell sustainable fish in a can without BPA
Sounds yummo…. just wish I had a vitamix! Making this in my current blender would be lie drinking pesto : (
Give it a go Amelia….you may need to add a little more water, take it off the machine and give it a mix 3 or 4 times. Most blenders don’t have a tamp that allows you to push the fruit and veg straight into the blades to get pureed.
Hi there…you say drink imediately to reap the benefits. Is it ok to store smoothie in airtight flask in the fridge for any period of time – 24/48 hours perhaps? Will this reduce the nutrient level at all? Thanks.
Drink immediately Jo – it will start to oxidise pretty much straight away
Hi Teresa,
I have fructose malabsorbant and can’t eat apples.
Could I just leave it out? Would it be as nice? Would you suggest adding any different fruit to compensate. (not pears or watermelon either!)
Also, could I do this in a normal blender?
Ta!
I would leave it out then Leah. Make without the apple – You could try a normal blender, not sure if it will be as smooth though.
Replace apple with carrots as they will add sweetnees.
Hi Teresa,
What is the difference between a vitamix and thermomix?
Yaz – In a nutshell, the Thermomix is a great machine, however it does a lot of everything just not one thing very well.
“Have a think about what you want to do with your appliance.
If you want to make perfectly smooth, can’t tell the fibre is their whole food juice, ice-cream & sorbets in under a minute, creamy nut butters, soups in five minutes, grind grains, make dips, chop onions and vegetables etc, the Vitamix has it covered. The Vitamix is easy to use, easy to clean and is fast with consistent results. If you also want scales and a steamer and only a two year warranty – pay the extra $1000+ for a Thermomix.”
Hi Teresa
Stumbled upon your website and I’m super impressed!! Been looking for some common sense but healthy recipes for a while.
With regards to the smoothie, my husband and I are doing intermittent fasting (16/8) meaning that we have an 8 hour window for eating. Can I make this smoothie ahead of time and have it a couple of hours after it’s been made? As in, if I made it first thing in the morning, would it still retain its goodness until midday?
Hey Emma. Nutrients in fruits and veggies always start to denature once the have been cut, so it’s always best to drink straight away. That being said, if you have no other alternative, you can make ahead of time, cover well and keep in the fridge until needed. It tends to thicken up quite a bit as there is alot of fiber so thin it down with water or add some extra lemon or apple juice. If I’m doing an intermittent fast which I love doing, a green veggie juice is also a good option to enjoy during your fast..so your body gets a good dose of liquid nutrients in one hit… (no fiber though) makes you feel amazing.
Hi Teresa – how would it go adding some chia seeds to help with detox taking the fat soluable elements out of the body? In the hungry for change video recently released they mentioned using them. Would it be suitable to add them in, if so what kind of quantity, would they work well with the properties of the mint and parsley?
Michael -0407 056 446
When adding chia seeds to any smoothie, juice or water – drink it straight away. After a few minutes it starts to gel quickly as it absorbs more fluid. you can add 1 teaspoon of seeds and go from there. Adding 1 teaspoon chia seeds to a large glass of water and lemon is also delicious.
Thank you for sharing such wonderfully health provocing ideas. My good friend at mamacino recommeded your site….and she was right, its amazing. My healthy needed your ideas right now, so thank you, thank you, thank you!
Hi Teresa,
Absolutely love your blog!! I just wanted to add that it has become very trendy to have raw green smoothies at the moment and people can feel a bit pressurised to follow the trend. Green smoothies run straight through my body (guess which end…) as I think they’re too cooling for my body and I can’t digest the raw fibre. I can tolerate raw green juices though which I have been incorporating into my lifestyle as my first beverage of the day.
Just wanted to highlight that every body is different and just because you’re not following a popular food trend, doesn’t mean the rest of your diet isn’t healthy.
Hey Kate – totally agree – Green Smoothies may not be for everyone…and green juices are amazing too ! I often have a large green juice if I’m not that hungry or my digestive system is out of wack or if I’m run down and need instant nourishment – better than a vitamin pill. Glad you love the blog.:) xx