Smoothie for Breakfast! August 02 2013

I call this my breakfast smoothie, but really you can have it anytime during the day. I prefer drinking it in the morning because it nourishes me throughout the day. I put any kind of veggies and fruits I have in a blender and out comes a glass or two of a healthy green smoothie. It's so much easier and faster to drink a glass of nutritious foods than to eat them.

Base Ingredients:
5-7 kale leaves
3-5 Gynura Procumbens 1 celery
1/2 a lime or lemon

Above are the main ingredients I use for my green smoothies. All these ingredients except for the lime came straight from my garden. It can't get any fresher than that! Kale is a superfood that's packed with nutrients so it is a nice base for the smoothie. Celery helps with lowering blood pressure. Lime or Lemon is alkaline and the citrus juice makes the smoothie go down easier. Citrus tends to bring out the flavor in leafy greens and make it easier to acquire. Gynura Procumbens helps with lowering blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar. Whether you believe in folk medicine / natural remedies or not, I think majority of us would agree that leafy greens are good for our health! It helps to detoxify and put lots of healthy energy in our bodies.

Green smoothies are definitely not everyone's favorite. Much like wine -- it takes time to acquire to the taste. Green smoothie with just the ingredients in the photo would taste a little bitter and hint of sour. Don't say that I didn't warn you! But I like this taste. The bitter note reminds me of a dark tea. If bitterness is something hard for you to tolerate, you can add a fruit in it. Fruits like apples, dried dates, grapefruits, pears, peaches, or prunes have lower glycemic index so it wouldn't spike your blood sugar if you are cautious of that. Dried dates is one of my favorite sweeteners for my smoothies. I add just 2-3 of them to very lightly sweeten my smoothies.

Blending your food is a great way to feed it to your body because we cannot chew everything so finely. Seeds in strawberries for example, are so small making it difficult to chew. When you blend your food, it breaks down the fiber and nutrients making digestion easier and faster for our body!

Be sure to make your juices/smoothies with a blender not a juicer. A juicer strains out all the fibers in our foods while a blender only chops them up very finely. Fiber is good for us so don't throw them out, eat, drink them!