Healthy, delicious green smoothie

Last year, I asked for a Nutribullet as a Mother’s Day gift. Since then, I’ve been making this healthy and delicious green smoothie which is very easy to make, very refreshing and packed with vitamins.
One glass of this delicious green smoothie will give you the recommended daily fibre intake (25g of fibres/day for women) to favour a good transit.

Update: I used to drink a large glass of this green smoothie for breakfast and take the left-over to work and often had the other half of the avocado for lunch in a salad.
However, despite eating healthily, I was still bloating which I found hugely frustrating considering how many dietary changes I have made since 2013.
That was until I had a consultation with a Nutritionist specialised in FODMAPs who explained to me that avocado was not FODMAPs friendly and should be restricted to 1/4 per day.
There was also a few other “healthy” things I was regularly eating which are still healthy but just challenging for sensitive guts.

Since then, I have reduced the amount of avocado and now, I have this delicious green smoothie at weekeends rather than every day and it’s all good (my stomach is behaving!) so I thought I should let you know if you are suffering from the same symptoms.

Material you will need:

a Nutribullet or a blender
a sharp knife
a chopping board

Ingredients you will need:

1/2 avocado
1/2 lime
a handful of spinach leaves (this food has a lot of vitamin A)
1/3 organic cucumber
a few leaves of fresh mint
100 to 150ml organic apple juice (try to use as much organic food as you can afford)

Cut the avocado and cucumber (washed & unpeeled) in square pieces. Add the spinach leaves, fresh mint and the lime (I use this wooden lemon reamer to get the most out of the lime). Add the apple juice, top it up with water and blend the whole lot. It’s about 3 servings. I usually have one serving at home and take the rest to work.

Initially the recipe was with about 300ml of apple juice but even natural, it’s a lot of sugar in your body so I cut it down to 100/150ml depending how sweet I want my smoothie to be. If you are new to green smoothie, maybe start with 200ml and as you get used to the taste, lower the quantity of apple juice and increase water.

The goodness you will get:

Cucumber: is a good source of vitamin B and they have most of the vitamins your body needs in a single day. With 95% of water, cucumbers will keep your body hydrated while helping the body to eliminate toxins. Cucumber are also known to contain lariciresinol, pinoresinol, and secoisolariciresinol. These three lignans have a strong history of research in connection with reduced risk of several cancer types, including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and prostate cancer.
Avocado: are rich in monounsaturated fat, the “good fat” which reduces cholesterol levels heart disease. It’s a fantastic source of potassium (more than bananas), rich K, Vitamin B₉, vitamin B₆, vitamin B₅ vitamin C, and vitamin E.²
Lime: Rich in vitamin C, lime not only rejuvenates the skin but it also helps digestion
Spinach leaves: This smoothie will give you the daily intake of fibers you need. Among the World’s Healthiest vegetables, spinach comes out at the top of the most nutrient filled leaves. Rich in vitamins and minerals, it is also concentrated in health-promoting phytonutrients such as carotenoids (beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin) and flavonoids to provide you with powerful antioxidant protection. Rich in iron, it’s one of those leaves that will restore energy, increase vitality and improve the quality of the blood and it’s full of vitamin K, vitamin A, vitamin C and folic acid as well as being a good source of manganese, magnesium, iron and vitamin B2. Vitamin K is important for maintaining bone health and it is difficult to find vegetables richer in vitamin K than spinach besides Kale. However kale has a very earthy taste and having tried it once when I ran out of spinach, is not really working for this smoothie.
Fresh mint: The mix of fresh mint, lime & cucumber is what gives this smoothie a really fresh taste. Think of a healthy mojito version (hahaha). Mint is great to promote digestion and if you have a stomachache or don’t enjoy long distance travels by plane or boat, drinking mint can be very soothing for nausea and related motion sickness.

Happy smoothie! As promised, I’m off to Bikram

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