I'm Into Green Smoothies

Okay ladies and gents. I am seriously falling in love with green smoothies. It's an easy and delicious way to get UN-believably amazing health benefits, vitamins, and minerals! In this post, I will list MANY health benefits of the ingredients I used, but there are so many, there is no way I could list them all. Also, many of them present the same benefits. Please be sure to click on all the links so you can see even more!

Here we go! I am becoming obsessed with them!

One of my recent concoctions.

Last weekend, I made a really tasty smoothie. The green smoothie in the picture has tons of stuff that I just threw into the blender. This made enough for me, the hubs, and two of my kiddos (ages 13 and 10) to have one full glass. Here's what I added.

1 banana
2 small red delicious apples
approx. 1 c. raw baby spinach
approx. 2 oz. fresh blueberries
the juice of half a large lemon
2 individual size lowfat strawberry or strawberry/banana yogurt (frozen beforehand - but you can use refrigerated)
peanut butter
honey
ice
water

Blend it up and pour in a glass.

Today, I made one similar to the one above, but I added an additional banana, the juice of an orange, and some cran-grape juice. Here's the "recipe".


2 banana
2 small red delicious apples
approx. 1 c. raw baby spinach
approx. 2 oz. fresh blueberries
the juice of half a large lemon
the juice of half a large orange
about 1/2 c. cranberry-grape juice
2 individual size lowfat strawberry or strawberry/banana yogurt (frozen beforehand - but you can use refrigerated)
peanut butter
honey
ice
filtered water

Now, I got really curious about the benefits of such a green smoothie, and here is what I've found.

Spinach is really beneficial for everyone. In this article from Health Diaries, they list 11 Health Benefits of Spinach. The benefits are infinite, but the ones that peaked my interest are the promotion of healthy skin (let's face it, I'm getting older and a touch more vain), and the ultra-beneficial immunity protection. With it being flu season, we're all washing our hands like crazy - and carrying hand lotion in our purse to fight the dryness that comes with it - and now, we're eating a lot of spinach. [Don't tell the kids, but I'm even putting it in my turkey burgers tonight. And I once hid them in some chicken flautas. Gimme one up top! <high five>]

Some of the benefits of the other items in our smoothie:

blueberries - in the article Top 10 Health Benefits of Blueberries: brain health, urinary tract health, reducing belly fat [can I get a HELL! YES!], and the TOP antioxidant fruit on the planet. Plus, many more!
bananas - fights depression, promotes healthy bowels, high in iron source
apples - appetite and weight control, detoxify your liver, promote heart health source
lemon juice - blood purifier, detoxification, pH alkaline state to promote cancer fighting source
orange juice - reduces free radicals, whitens teeth, lots of Vitamin C and antioxidants source
yogurt - probiotics that help in digestive health, immune boosting source
peanut butter - regulate digestion, promote muscle tissue growth, energy boost source 1 source 2
honey - antioxidants that prevent cancer and heart disease, probiotics source


With all the amazing health benefits of everything I put in my smoothie, I feel great about having a HUGE glass. Get to it, people! Blend it up. There is nothing EASIER to boost your health.