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Saturday, July 28, 2012

My Chocoloate Green Smoothie

OK...here it is. My first recipe post! It's for a chocolate smoothie I concocted in my Nutribullet blender. I guess any blender will do but my portions fit the large cup of the Nutribullet. I chose the ingredients for their nutrient value,  mild flavors, ability to satisfy and provide lots of energy - plus no added sugar. Feel free to tweak this to suit your taste.

Ingredients:
About 2 cups of fresh spinach (or enough to fill the large cup loosely to the max fill line)
1/2 a medium ripe avocado
2 tablespoons of dutched cocoa powder
1 tablespoon of almond butter
1 scoop of "Fiber-tastic"fiber powder (this is sweetened with stevia and serves as the sweetener for the smoothie. If you decide to skip this you will need some other kind of sweetener to taste)
2 teaspoons of Barleans orange flavored fish oil (this gives the smoothie a slightly orangy taste so skip or try Barleans Omega Swirl instead)
1 capful of MRM L-Carnitine-CoQ10 (this is also orange flavored and sweetened with stevia)
Enough Coconut milk to fill the cup (roughly 1 1/2 cups) to the max fill line after all the other ingredients are added
Optional - a mild tasting green powder like Vitamineral Greens or Genessentials Greens

Add all ingredients to the blender cup - make sure to add the coconut milk last.
Blend it up and serve. Bon Apetit!

Nutritionally, this smoothie provides all the macro nutrients the body needs and many micro nutrients as well for energy and metabolism.
Fiber-tastic supplement facts
  • Fresh spinach provides chlorophyll, it is a good source of Niacin and Zinc, and a very good source of Dietary Fiber, Protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin E (Alpha Tocopherol), Vitamin K, Thiamin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B6, Folate, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Manganese. It's nutritionally dense, meaning it provides many of the nutrients the body needs and it's also mildly anti-inflammatory.
  • Avocado is very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Dietary Fiber, Vitamin C, Vitamin K and Folate. It's high in healthy fats and also calories, but this smoothie is designed to use those fats for fuel with the addition of L-Carnitine and CoQ10.
  • Almond butter is very low in Cholesterol and Sodium. It is also a good source of Magnesium and Manganese. With as much protein as the spinach and the avocado put together as well as healthy fats, it will aid in the sustained feeling of fullness provided by this smoothie. 
  • Dutch Cocoa - natural cocoa powder is a superfood! Its very high in antioxidants and phytonutrients - so high in fact that even the process of "dutching" it to make it less acidic and bitter does not remove all of these benefits and dutch cocoa is still highly nutritious! I would think that alkalizing it would be beneficial because the body needs to be more alkaline than acidic. But I have not read that anywhere. 
  • Fiber-tastic powder provides 4g of fiber in addition to the fiber in the spinach and avocado. It tastes good, kind of fruity and sweet from stevia. Getting enough fiber - like 35g per day- is essential to proper digestion and optimal health. As a side note, stevia has been shown to have properties that lower blood sugar and cravings for sugar.
  • Barleans' Orange Fish oil packs 1740mg of Omega 3 fatty acids in each teaspoon. Most of us are deficient - I know I am because I participated in an Omega 3 study this winter. Deficient. So I am adding it as much as possible and eating more fish where it naturally occurs in significant amounts. But I digress...read up on Omega 3s to find out why we NEED these ESSENTIAL fatty acids. (please) 
  • MRM L-Carnitine w/ CoQ10 -CoQ-10 is critical to the function of the heart, liver and kidneys where it supports cell membrane stabilization and acts as an antioxidant, in addition to energy production. L-Carnitine has been shown through clinical trials to support cardiovascular health beginning with its ability to assist in clearing fats from the blood and into the mitochondria, the energy powerhouse of the cells. L-Carnitine has also been shown to support muscle growth weight management and liver health. This combination of CoQ-10 and L-Carnitine is essential to cardiac function (heart muscle) and beneficial blood lipid profiles.
  • Coconut Milk -an altenative to other kinds of milk, I choose coconut for the MCTs (medium chain triglycerides) present. MCT's are beneficial for the conversion of fats to fuel instead of being stored by the body.
    Greens powders - well what is there to say about those. Not super tasty but I find adding them to chocolate masks the taste pretty well. Lemonade too. But of course the health benefits are worth it. I like Vitamineral Greens because they include sea greens which provide iodine - a substance missing from the standard american diet (SAD) and they help the body balance substances found in cruciferous veggies.  They are also super fine ground so they mix up without being gritty. 

    OK that's it. Heres some reference links for ya below. Please leave me comments if you found this helpful, want to tell me how the smoothie tasted to you or if you made any changes to it!

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