As promised, here is week two’s smoothie – my antioxidant blend.

My husband and I drank smoothies for two years straight while he was in grad school at the University of Washington. We called them “everything but the kitchen sink” smoothies, or as my Mom likes to call them, “savory smoothies” because they were not terribly sweet. We perfected our smoothies. I focused on the ingredients and he focused on the perfect way to blend a smoothie and make it the same every time. As a chemical engineer, he is great at consistency and exactness, where-as I make it different every time and grow frustrated when it doesn’t come out the same. Our fun smoothie endeavors led us to designing a shake recipe for a smoothie diet study at Seattle Children’s Hospital with an awesome group of GI colleagues. Check it out on clinical trials.gov https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03508193. As you can imagine, after two years of smoothies, I needed a break for a bit. We started our smoothie lab again this summer. I am so excited to share some of our favorite recipes with you all. Don’t worry, these are not as “savory” as our smoothies were in Seattle.

As mentioned previously, smoothies are a great way to pack in nutrients AND calories without taking up too much real estate in your stomach. This is helpful for those with inflammatory bowel disease, who become full quickly with regular meals and are looking to gain weight. When meeting with clients with IBD who are in need of gaining weight, I encourage them to drink a smoothie IN ADDITION to eating their regular meals (not as a meal replacement). Don’t let weight gain scare you away from making this smoothie WITH nut butter as the nuts contain some of the best antioxidants!

My family of 3 has thoroughly enjoyed this delicious blend all weekend. My little one loves drinking it out of her big girl cup with a straw. This smoothie is packed with some of my favorite antioxidants and ALSO boosts your immune system. Without nerding out too much, here are some brief highlights of the antioxidants this smoothie contains and the food sources they are found in. Antioxidants are heroes as they are “self sacrificing” nutrients that protect cells in our bodies from damage by free radicals. What are free radicals you ask? Essentially, a molecular species in the body that is unstable and can damage important molecules like DNA, proteins, carbohydrates and lipids.  They are formed by normal metabolic processes in the body, or from external antagonists like cigarette smoking, air pollutants, industrial chemicals… to name a few.

Nutrition Facts

Without nut butter –

290 kcals, 13 gm protein, 9 gm fat, 10 gm fiber

With nut butter –

490 kcals, 19 gm protein, 26 gm fat, 13 gm fiber

Antioxidants found in our antioxidant blend

Vitamin A – spinach

Vitamin C – spinach, berries, banana

Vitamin E – almond butter, spinach

Manganese – spinach, almond butter, blackberries

*I will blog next week on some of the many functions of antioxidants*

Ingredients

1 c probiotic full fat yogurt

1 c heaping frozen mixed berries

1 c heaping fresh leaf spinach (or 1 c frozen)

½ banana (I like frozen and very ripe)

¼ tsp ground cinnamon

*optional: To increase calories and help stay full add 2 Tbsp almond butter

*optional: 1 tsp honey (if you like sweeter)

For creamier texture add ½ c ice at the end and blend on high for another 20 seconds or so

Instructions

Throw ingredients above into a high-speed blender on high for 30-60 seconds.  I like adding the yogurt and greens first (so they are at the bottom), and then the remaining ingredients. I always add the nut butter to our smoothies so that it is more like a complete meal since we frequently have it for breakfast or lunch. The fat and protein from the nuts help keep you satiated (satisfied) and full longer. If looking for more of a snack, remove nut butters.

Increasing calories

Allergic to nuts? Add 1-2 Tbsp of sunflower butter OR 1-2 Tbsp avocado oil OR ¼ whole avocado

Add ¼ c of coconut milk from can

Allergic to dairy? Or for a vegan variation

Replace cow’s milk probiotic yogurt with coconut milk or almond milk yogurt (without any food additives)