One of my dear friends, the indomitable Jody Bergsma (middle. Erin Baker is on the left), swears by Green Smoothies (or what she calls ‘Live Soup’) to keep her energy up during the day. She introduced me to ‘Live Soup’ in a big way during our Hawaii tripearlier this year and since then, I’ve tried different versions of it and come up with a perfect, phytonutrient pack of sustained energy. I drink this Live Soup daily. Daily! And swear that my energy is better because of it.
Jody’s strong belief is that if you don’t heat up the vegetables, they retain all of their essential enzymes. And, this viewpoint is backed up by science that proves cooking vegetables causes the vegetable to lose 30-50% of their nutrients and 100% of their minerals. The more raw you keep your veggies, the more healthy and enzyme-dense they are for you.
It’s a simple recipe and if you drink 16 ounces of this throughout the day with a few servings of lean protein, you will end your day feeling just as energized as if you had just your first cup of coffee.
Cut into manageable bits and place all of this in a blender:
1/2 Avocado
1 Tomato
Juice of 1 Lime (more lime is better)
Sprinkling of Salt
Sprinkling of Garlic Salt
1/2 Zucchini
1/2 Cucumber
6 ounces Spinach
8 ounces Water
Optional: 1 ounce fresh Cilantro
Blend all of this in the blender until smooth. The combination of the Avocado and Zucchini make for a smooth shake. If you don’t have those two ingredients, the green smoothe ends up splitting apart and becoming more like a really thick, strange blanket of green vegetable mush with water on the bottom.
The Avocado is a full 161 calories (or so). If you don’t include it, it’s literally an 82 calorie drink, chock full of natural fiber, phytonutrients and antioxidants. If you do include the avocado, it’s 243 calories. I always include it because Avocados are a great source of healthy fats that nourish your body. To compare this to other drinks you might consume during the day:
Starbucks 16 oz. Caramel Latte 260 calories
Coke 12 oz. 140 calories
Vodka Tonic 200 calories
The Live Soup is chock full of good stuff – natural, fresh from the earth and essential building blocks for your body. Do yourself a favor and blend one up, drink it all day and have 2-3 clean protein servings (3 eggs, low fat yogurt, low fat swiss cheese, low fat Greek yogurt) during the day and you will be astounded at the energy you have. And, as a bonus, one serving of Live Soup plus three clean protein servings is very few calories (compared to a traditional day of eating) so you might lose a couple of pounds in the process.
