My green smoothie recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 handful bunch of spinach
• 2 celery stalks, cut into pieces
• 4 ripe bananas
• 1 avocado
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1-3 medjool dates, pitted (depending on the sweetness desired)
• 2 tbsp cacao nibs
  
• 1 to 1-1/2 cups of 100% coconut water (give or take depending on desired consistency)
• 1-45oz blender bottle or mason jar

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Blend all ingredients, except for the cacao nibs, in your Vitamix blender or high speed blender of choice until smooth and creamy.
• Do a taste test and either add more water if needed or another date to reach your desired sweetness.
• If all is good, go ahead and add in the nibs. Then, start the blender on low to medium speed to blend them in. Let it blend for about 30 seconds.
• These will give it a chocolatey taste and serve as chocolate chips in your smoothie. (Yum!) You don’t want to do it on high speed or they will dissolve. 

Start out with drinking a nutrient rich green smoothie like this one every two days. Then, every other day, then every day. Vary your smoothies to your taste buds. Mix up the veggies and rotate the greens weekly. One week you may use spinach, the next, you may use kale. The guide below will help you understand better how to make your green smoothie to maximize on it’s benefits. 

Guide: How to build your green smoothie 

Choose your base (1/2 – 1 cup): Distilled water, raw coconut water or your favorite nut mylk

Choose your fruit (2 types): Bananas, mangos, blueberries, peaches, apples, pears, persimmon 

My favorite fruit to add for green smoothies are bananas; sometimes in combination with mango or persimmon. (This is a yummy combo!)

Bananas – add 4 fresh and fully ripened or split between frozen and fresh if using bananas alone.
Mango – add 1 fresh and ripe or 1 cup frozen.
Peaches – add 1 fresh and ripe or 1 cup frozen.
Apples, Pears, Persimmon – add 1 fresh.

Choose your greens: Spinach, kale, swiss chard, dandelion, romaine, collards

Sweeten the pot: Dates, raisins, apricots, peaches, mango, figs, currants, goji berries

Optional energy boosters and healthy fats (2 tbsp of the nuts/seeds or 1 avocado): Flaxseeds, chia seeds, hemp seeds, sprouted sunflower or pumpkin seeds, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, cacao nibs, avocado

Side note: Do not use nuts, seeds and avocado in one serving. Use one or the other. Too much fat, although healthy fat, can still wreak havoc on your system. Eat healthy fats with ease and don’t over do it!

Add ice if you want to make it cold. Personally, I like drinking my smoothies hot off the press! Or, in this case, fresh off the blender at at room temperature.

blend, energize and enjoy!