Clean and Lean: The new smoothie
Supergreens and Berry blitz (scroll below for recipes)
I’m a huge fan of smoothies and have them every day. They’re a fantastic way of getting a huge hit of nutrients into your body quickly and easily. But my smoothies aren’t the standard ready-made fruit-based pasteurised concoctions. I include all kinds of foods in mine, from green vegetables to nuts and milk. Every morning my wife Christiane makes me an amazing green smoothie, containing anything green we happen to have in our kitchen – kale, spinach, apples, limes, cucumber or celery. I know that whatever else happens throughout the rest of the day, I’ve had an amazing amount of nutrients at the very start.
BLENDER BENDER
Home-made smoothies are best. Recently there has been a move away from juicing smoothies to using a blender. This creates a chunkier, healthier smoothie: not only is the pulp and fibre good for you but also the more chewy texture actually helps fire up your digestive system. In short, try to make your smoothies a little less smooth and a little more chunky. Lastly, don’t treat a smoothie as a drink. It isn’t – it’s either a meal (say, in the case of breakfast, if it contains nuts and other ingredients that make it calorific enough) or a snack. If you treat it as a drink – especially a mainly fruit-based smoothie – you’ll take in a lot of calories on top of your meals without realising.
SUPERCHARGE YOUR SHAKE
Add a handful of nuts to up the protein content (and taste and texture) of your smoothie. Protein keeps your metabolism fired up and you full for hours. Nuts are also a fantastic source of fibre, which helps deal with bloating.
- Add lots of ice – avoid topping up with sugary juices and throw in some ice cubes instead. Plus, doing so is hydrating.
- Add some chopped herbs such as mint. They’ll improve the flavour and add health benefits, too.
- Throw in some supplements – I always add BodyBrilliance to mine, for example, or see my full range of Bodyism shakes and supplements at bodyism.com.
BEST GOODIES TO BLEND
FRUIT Blueberries • apples • pomegranates • oranges • plums • kiwis • mangoes • bananas • pineapples • cranberries • lemons • blackberries • strawberries • raspberries
VEGETABLES Celery • kale • spinach • green beans • asparagus • courgettes • broccoli • peas • pak choi • beetroot • peppers
Recipe: Berry blitz
For my breakfast smoothie, whiz in a blender: 4 tbsp blueberries, 200ml greek yoghurt, ½ tsp cinnamon, 1 tbsp coconut shavings (or 1 tsp coconut oil) and ice to taste. Or whiz 4 tbsp mixed blueberries, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries with 100ml each natural yoghurt and rice milk and ½ tsp cinnamon.
Recipe: Supergreens
For my big green smoothie, whiz in a blender: 1 handful each of spinach and broccoli, ¼ cucumber, 1 stick celery, 1 tsp grated ginger, a squeeze of lemon and mineral water to taste and combine. For my detox smoothie, whiz 1 scoop of BodyBrilliance (from bodyism.com) with 2 large handfuls spinach, 1 stick celery, ½ cucumber, ½ apple, 1 tsp chopped mint, 1 tsp grated ginger and 240ml coconut water or to taste.
