Martie’s health boost protein smoothie

There are several advantages to a liquid “meal”. It’s fast, light, refreshing and easy to digest. It’s a great way to get concentrated nutrition (even for sick people) without popping a bunch of pills and it can be yummy. This drink could replace any meal, even dinner, but in my opinion no drink should replace more than 1 or 2 meals a day for very long. We need a variety of nutrients from a range of foods including fiber and we soon burn out on a liquid only diet.

I may link to products to show you what  I mean, but I promise you that I don’t sell anything or own stock in a company mentioned!* 

Juice Cubes – I do not have time to drag out the juicer and make fresh vegetable juice every day. So, I bought a set of stacking plastic ice cube trays. (Rubbermaid works the best.) I use them to make frozen cubes for smoothies. These are the juices and the number of cubes in my drink: green mixed vegetable juice (3), organic celery juice (2), organic carrot juice (1), organic beet juice (2), lemon juice (1) and ginger extract (1). (See below for how to make ginger extract). I also use the ginger and lemon for cooking. While we are on cubes, I also make cubes of chicken broth to have handy for cooking. After the cubes are frozen, I snap them out onto one of those thin flexible plastic cutting surfaces. I bend them into sort of a funnel and slide the cubes into a storage container or freezer bag. Fast, easy and kind of fun! I absolutely love these Better Homes and Gardens Flip-Tite canisters (BPA Free). They are super easy to use and maximize freezer space. 

Because I do smoothies at least 3 times a week, when I make the first smoothie of the week, I also make up 2 or 3 “kits” for future use. I also put the assortment of frozen cubes into 2 small containers. I also make up small glass containers of the dry ingredients. Then, later in the week when I’m in a hurry I just dump a frozen kit and a dry container into the blender and I’m almost finished.

More ingredients you can experiment with:

    • Water. I add water on top of the cubes until the level is about to the 14 ounce mark on the blender.
    • 1/2 an avocado. This makes the drink very creamy and the fat it contains will make you full for hours.
    • Protein powder. I mix partial doses of 2 or 3 like collagen protein, pasture-raised whey or rice (too much of rice protein makes it gritty. In the past, I used “meal replacement” powders, but I think this drink is real food and I fill in any blanks with Molecular Multi.
    • Fresh or frozen fruit. Organic berries are best and the frozen ones are less expensive and about as good. Frozen banana sweetens the smoothie and helps the texture. There is a lot of sugar in bananas, so I use just a 2″ piece. That is a good use for the bananas that are getting too ripe. I don’t recommend fruit juice because there is too much sugar.
    • Trace mineral drops. Besides the nutritional value, just a couple of squirts improves the taste in a slightly salty and sweet way.
    • A handful of organic kale including stems. (Commercial kale has residues of up to 15 pesticides.). I have a powerful blender that makes it disappear. There may be better blenders but the one I linked works well and is easy to clean. 
    • While you are weaning from super sweet smoothies, a couple squirts of honey is delicious. I devised a slick way to skip a step in smoothie prep using my “kits”. When I’ve finished putting the dry ingredients in the little container, I press a measuring teaspoon into the powder and then fill the cavity with honey. It stays put!
    • Ginger extract. Anti-inflammatory and better for nausea than dramamine. I make my own: wash a whole ginger root and chop it into 1″ chunks. Put them in the blender and cover with filtered water. Blend until a uniform slurry. Strain. Put into the ice cube trays and freeze.
    • Fiber. You can put some of the fiber “waste” from juicing into the juice in the ice cube trays. And/or a powdered product. I like Super Seed fiber.
    • Whole flax seeds are hard to digest. Ground flax seeds go rancid extremely quickly. Flax Revolution is made from organic flax seeds that have been sprouted prior to grinding. That makes the seeds much more stable and the nutrients more easily absorbed. There are varieties with added cranberry/Goji or blueberry. These flax products do add a little texture but have a pleasant flavor and can be used on cereal, etc.
    • Cinnamon adds flavor and helps blood sugar stability.
    • Kefir. This fermented dairy product may provide more good bacteria than yogurt and it is liquid. Watch ingredients because most brands are loaded with sugar. I like an unsweetened sheep kefir.

Potential supplements:

      • Lecithin is a soy derivative known for helping lower cholesterol, improving brain function and reducing the risk of gall stones and fatty liver. It is important to buy granules that is non-GMO and does not use the chemical hexane in its manufacturing. I suggest 2 Tablespoons of Lewis Labs granules which is usually available in natural food stores.
      • The smoothie will disguise a wide variety of other supplements depending on your needs. For example, ribose powder (a b vitamin that helps the mitochondria energy centers in cells), creatine (building muscles and strength), Crucial Four, liquid herbs and colostrum. (Amazing. Read about it. I am fussy about brand and recommend PerCoBa.)
      • For someone who is ill or doesn’t tolerate pills well, you can even open up capsules and add them to the drink. 

*I use Amazon offerings as an example often because it is an easy reference and it is accessible in all areas. I’m happy for you to buy things wherever you like. Full disclosure, when people buy something on Amazon going through one of the links, the radio show gets a few pennies for referring them. I mean literally a few pennies. Once in a while we get a check. The biggest was for $14.

Copyright Martie Whittekin, CCN June 2009 and August 2013, March 2019 All rights reserved.