Clean Green Protein Machine

 

The ingredients in this smoothie work together to flush environmental toxins away and cleanse the liver while providing lubrication for your digestive tract, and as always, a dose of immune-enhancing protein. You get some naturally sweet and citrusy fruit flavors with the big-time benefits of greens.

Ingredients

8 oz. unsweetened coconut milk

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 small organic cucumber, unpeeled

1 kiwifruit, skinned

½ handful spinach

½ handful watercress

½ teaspoon lime zest

2 sprigs of fresh mint

5 ice cubes

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a blender—start with the coconut milk to avoid clumping. Blend until smooth.

Total: 242 calories, 29 g carbs, 22 g protein, 7 g fat, 9 g fiber

The Superfoods

Green Equals Detox: Green plants boost your digestive tract with chlorophyll, flushing environmental toxins like herbicides and pesticides from your body. (This is the same reason why many of us eat organics.) Change up your greens on a regular basis as they carry varying levels of antioxidants and vitamins. There is more to life than kale and spinach. Think collards, chicory, swiss chard, and dandelion greens. Watercress, for instance, packs more iron than spinach and more calcium than milk.

Kiwifruit: We don’t drop these big edible berries into smoothies too often, but with a high fiber content to keep the digestive system running, plenty of antioxidant vitamin C to restore holiday depleted skin, and potassium to aid in mineral regulation and muscular contraction, we probably should. Kiwi is generally available year round, but just in case you’re way off the fresh-produce grid, it’s also easy to find frozen in most grocery stores.

Coconut Milk: A hint of the tropics in a smoothie can’t hurt. Coconut anything is comparatively high in medium-chain fatty acids, significant because research indicates these fats are more readily burned as energy than others. Fats also aids in lining and lubricating the intestinal tract. We’re 20 years beyond the “low fat” craze, so don’t be scared of a few grams. If you have a tree nut allergy, you can find almond milk comparable in calories and grams of good fat. IM