I just love this green smoothie! I have been tweaking it and optimising it for the past year or so and now my husband and I have one every day. He is not too into ‘healthy stuff’ but he loves it, which is a big bonus! If you have family members who are also reluctant to embrace a more greens-rich, alkaline diet, this is a great way to get a big boost of alkaline and raw nutrients into their and your diet without too much fuss 🙂
If you’ve been a fan of my other smoothies, like The Activator Green Smoothie, which has been loved by people all around the world for almost 8 years now), then this will be a welcome upgrade.
An upgrade? Yes it’s an upgrade for a number of reasons – it is quicker and easier to make with foods that are more readily at hand – swapping pineapple for bananas. It also has flax seed instead of avocado, which means that you don’t have to wait if you have an avocado at home that’s yet to ripen.
I generally suggest having a daily Blood Cleanser drink first thing (see my book, ‘The Alkaline 5 Diet’) – which can be wheatgrass juice, so I have omitted wheatgrass from this smoothie for that reason.
The main reason, however, for this green smoothie being an upgrade to previous ones I have made and shared is the addition of a little superfood called ‘amla’.
Amla – A Potently Healthful Little Gooseberry
Amla powder is extracted from the Indian gooseberry and contains high levels of the antioxidant vitamin C, as well as ellagic acid, flavonoids and tannin. A 2009 article found in ‘Phytotherapy Research’ states that these compounds reduce the harmful build up of free radicals and reduce oxidative stress within the body.
You probably won’t find it in your local health food shop but you can buy organic powdered amla online at a very reasonable price.
It has a mildly tart flavour and you can add a tablespoon to your smoothie without even noticing this powerful little fruit is there. It has some quite astounding purported benefits, here are some:
- Aids natural diabetes reversal. Yes that’s right – it can be more effective than diabetes drugs, without the side effects. See the studies at Nutrition Facts.
- Improves bone health
- Improves heart health
- Weight loss
- Improves respiratory health and cardio functioning
- Great for digestion
- Anti-cancer
- Fights colds and infections
It is also great for putting on your hair and skin for its beautifying and anti-aging effects. You can find 45 benefits of amla in this helpful article.
Organic Flax & Other Ingredients Are Fairly Cheap
I would advise that you go 90-100% organic with this smoothie. Typically apples and bananas are the more reasonably priced fruits in the organic section of your supermarket or farmers market box.
Amla and flax seed bought online are fairly cheap and usually organic as standard.
It is important that you choose organic spinach, cucumber and celery as these are typically the most highly sprayed and chemically-laden salad veg. If you think about it, spinach is so thin that any chemicals prayed on it would penetrate the whole of the leaf and be pretty impossible to wash off, whereas you have more leeway with your lemons and limes which have fairly thick skins on them that you won’t use in your smoothie – but of course it’s better to go organic with these too if possible.
The recipe below makes 2 large smoothies. Each smoothie is around 250 calories and the nutrient-calorie ratio is pretty insane. You get high levels of antioxidants and alkaline minerals, healthy unrefined omega fats from the flax and plant-protein from the spinach as well as energy-giving healthy plant sugar carbohydrates and fibre. This makes it a great smoothie to have for weight loss and will keep you energised all through the morning if you that’s all you have for breakfast.
It’s best made in a high-speed blender. I use my Vitamix, which is such a work horse and makes it a very fine consistency. But anything like a Nutribullet will do the job just fine too.
Do you think you’ll give it a try? Let me know in the comments below.
Enjoy!
Laura 🙂
This is a super-nutrient-rich green smoothie that tastes fab and will not only give you great energy but it is known as a beautifier and to aid in the healing of all manner of diseases, including diabetes and heart disease.
Ingredients
- 2 very ripe bananas
- 2 apples, cored
- 2 large handfuls of spinach
- 1/4 of a cucumber
- 1 stalk of celery
- juice of 1 lemon
- juice of 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon amla powder (Indian gooseberry)
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seed meal
- 250ml filtered water
Instructions
- Add all to a high speed blender and blend until smooth.
- Serve and enjoy!
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