Recipe: The Total Reboot New Year Smoothie

January 1, 2013

Adapted from Well+GoodNYC.com

Want to clear space for your full potential in 2013 and step into the new year energized? We thought so! That’s why you’ll want to plug in the Vitamix for this juicy, green-power–packed smoothie.

It’s designed for a full-body reboot: Each ingredient contains potent detoxifiers—and a great nutrition profile.

Protein-packed kale boosts alkalinity and calms inflammation, making it a great for food for releasing excess weight. Ginger plays backup by revving your digestion and circulation systems.

Humble celery is a natural diuretic that has the built-in bonus of hydrating electrolytes. (Buy it organic, though. It’s on the dirty dozen list!) Parsley can clear congestion and is a friend of your liver, spleen, and stressed-out adrenal glands. This means more energy and boosted immunity.

Dandelion root tea is a top liver detoxer, according to Traditional Chinese Medicine (and the many Western tea companies that bag it). And when your liver’s functioning optimally, it’s much better at removing waste, breaking down fats, and supporting your digestion and health.

Watch your New Year’s Eve hangover fade—and a lightness of mind and body return with each smoothie you make this month.

The Total Reboot New Year Smoothie

Blend and enjoy!

2 kale leaves
1 celery stalk
Handful of parsley
2 capsules of AHA Super Blue-Green Algae or 1 tbs liquid chlorophyll
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled
1 cup dandelion root tea, brewed and chilled
1 Tbsp organic raw honey
Juice of half a lemon

Recipe: Peaches and Cream and Reishi Smoothie

August 10, 2012

Adapted from Well+GoodNYC.

Raspberry Peach Smoothie

Unless you read nutritional supplement reports, hang on every word of integrative medicine guru Dr. Andrew Weil, or slather his moisturizers for Origins all over your face, you might not have been formally introduced to reishi mushrooms. Let us make your acquaintance with this powerful little fungi—and explain why it’s going in this month’s smoothie.

We swear we haven’t gone off the deep end: Reishi mushrooms have been used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for centuries and now have more healthy New Yorkers buzzing about its list of benefits.

What are they? Reishi can help with fatigue, high cholesterol, and allergies. But it’s best is known for boosting your overall picture of health by revving up your immunity and calming inflammation, the root of most diseases, which is why it’s featured in Dr. Weil’s 8 Weeks to Optimal Health.

Smoothie Ingredients

In fact, study published in the International Journal of Cancer showed that just one mushroom a day (any kind) reduces breast cancer by 64%, and even Sloan Kettering links benefits of reishi.

So you see we haven’t gone crazy when suggesting you add reishi to your smoothie. We learned in our test runs of this creamy summer smoothie that you can’t even taste the reishi (you’ll add drops of reishi extract, not the whole mushroom).

It also calls for juicy, seasonal raspberries and frozen farmer’s market peaches. When combined with the nutty twist of almond milk and almond butter for protein, the ingredients make a seriously health-boosting end-of-summer beverage that’s fortifying as a breakfast or a meal.

reishi extract Reishi extract starts at $6.99.

Recipe: Peaches and Cream and Reishi Smoothie

Blend and enjoy!

1 c organic frozen peaches
1/2 c organic fresh raspberries
1/2 c organic plain yogurt
3/4 c unsweetened almond milk
1 tbs almond butter
30 drops of Reishi mushroom tincture

Recipe: The Healthy New Year Booster Smoothie

December 28, 2011

Originally published in Well+Good.

The holiday glitz can leave your body on the fritz.

But there’s a delicious solution—and it’s only a blender away.

The Healthy New Year Booster Smoothie! It’s packed with the best ingredients to cleanse, alkalize, and rejuvenate you in a flash.

You could call this smoothie a hangover helper. But it’s really more than that because it doesn’t just fix you up—it boosts your digestion, energy, and even your healthy (or missing) glow.

Here’s how it does it:

It contains a dash of the master cleanse (lemon juice, cayenne pepper, and maple syrup), which kickstarts the cleansing process—and adds some heat. Kind of like a fruit-acid peel, you’ll feel this one tingling!

Daikon radish (you can find it at Whole Foods) is said to help break down fats. White roots and vegetables like daikon also have a suds-ing affect in our bodies and scrub out our digestive system.

Kale is for the poor over-loaded liver. It also boosts mood and adds a healthy winter glow to your skin with its super-dose of antioxidants.

And use some organic apple juice as a natural, seasonal sweetener.

Let’s toast to a healthy fresh start!

THE HEALTHY NEW YEAR BOOSTER SMOOTHIE

Combine the following ingredients in a hearty blender or Vitamix.

4 kale leaves
1 medium daikon radish
1 Tbsp maple syrup
1/8 Tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 cup apple juice
Juice of half a lemon
5 ice cubes