Healthy Green Smoothies for a Healthy New Year!

Alright, let's start the New Year off on the right foot! Every year millions of people make New Years resolutions involving eating healthier and exercising more. Even dietitians have similar goals. But is eating healthy or exercising really the issue? I cannot speak for everyone, but I say no. The problem may be lack of organization, procrastinating, or lack of motivation. Motivation is not my biggest issue, so I am working on organization and not procrastinating.

I started my New Years resolution a bit early this time around (why wait until January?). As a self-employed business owner, I must create my own work schedule. This requires a lot of organization, and sometimes I can fall behind. So far the past few weeks, I have finished recipes before deadlines, and I have figured out a better way to fit exercise into my schedule. Small start, but a good one, I think.

Another goal of mine: trying new foods. When I quickly went from eating no more than 4 vegetables and zero ingredients that came from sea to eating raw eel sushi, I felt I had met my goal of trying new foods. But recently I continue to hear about new foods and drinks to try. So to kick start that, here are two of my first green smoothie recipes:

High Protein Green Smoothie

This has a few sources of protein, including almond milk and cottage cheese.  Cottage cheese by itself scares enough people (used to scare me too), so I understand that putting it into a green kale smoothie (yikes, another scary food for some) may sound....unappealing. My darling husband may have used a less kind word. The protein in this smoothie is great for a pre- or post-workout smoothie. The flavor is mostly banana and pineapple, with a hint of almond. If you do not own a juicer or heavy duty blender, a regular blender or immersion blender kind of work, but the drink is a little more leafy than smooth.

Recipe makes 2 servings:

1          cup                  Frozen pineapple chunks, defrosted

1          ---                    Banana

3          cups                Kale, torn

1 1/3  cup                    Unsweetened Almond milk

¼         cup                  low-fat (2%) Cottage cheese

Citrusy Kombucha Green Smoothie

I keep hearing: "Have you heard of this Kombucha drink?" Kombucha is made by adding bacteria, yeast and sugar to black or green tea and allowing it to ferment. After fermentation, juice is added to the drink to hide the tangy, earthy flavor and to help make it more palatable. Many of these beverages are pasteurized, because without this process the alcohol content from fermentation can raise from 0.5% up to the level of many beers. Whole Foods actually took the raw product off of their shelves for some time because of this issue. Once the problems was fixed, Whole Foods is now stocking Kombucha teas again. 

What does Kombucha do? Well...who is to say? The hype is mostly from personal experiences, as there is not currently any scientific evidence of its health benefits. That does not mean it is not beneficial, just that it has not been proven. FDA warns not to try home-brewed kombucha due to risk of contamination. CDC advises pregnant women against drinking any kombucha.

All that being said, it was a great addition to my smoothie because it is tangy and citrusy, and does not add many calories. I also added flaxseed oil (I promise there is no aftertaste!) to get some

awesome omega-3s!

Recipe makes 2 servings:

1 ¼     cup                  Kombuca tea

1          cup                  Frozen pineapple, defrosted

1          ---                    Cara Cara Navel orange, peeled

3          cups                Shredded Kale

½        TBSP.              Flaxseed oil