Anti-Inflammatory-iversary - Sarah's Smoothie

It has been one year since my UPPP surgery, which also marked the start of my Anti-Inflammatory eating adventure. Rather than write a post full of data showing the AMAZING changes in my inflammatory markers, I am going to share my recipe for the smoothie that has kick started my morning every day for the past year.

Sarah's Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie

Ingredients

• 1/4 C golden flaxseeds
• 1 T chia seeds
• 1 inch piece of raw ginger root
• 1 inch piece of raw turmeric root
• 1 C carrot, peeled, raw, chopped to have mercy on your blender
• 1 C mustard greens, I use chopped frozen from the grocery store, but if you can get your hands on fresh, woo hee!
• 1 C kale, see above re: mustard greens
• 1/2 C mixed berries, see above re: mustard greens
• 1/2 C fun fruit, I used a frozen tropical mix that included papaya, mango, and pineapple for awhile, then I switched to just pineapple, now I'm on a mango kick. Whatever anti-inflammatory fruit floats your boat.
• 1 C unsweetened soy milk (I had to use water until I tested this in, then be sure to check the label for weird stuff)
• Top off with water

Procedure

1. Blend until smooth. This takes a lot longer than you might expect. If you sip more than one seed, it needs to be blended more.
2. Nurse this baby over a couple of hours because it is HIGH FIBER, if you catch my drift.

Additions & Notes:

Once I tested in cacao powder, I added 2T cacao powder and, believe it or not, my inflammatory markers improved! Also, it makes the smoothie look less like green slime and more like chocolatey goodness. Now I kinda switch it up depending on my smoothie enthusiasm (ensmoothiasm?).

If you are feeling low-energy, consider adding 1-3t maca powder. I top out at 1t, personally, but your experience may vary. Test maca in like you test in every other food first, of course.

DO NOT substitute turnip greens for either of the dark leafy vegs. Turnips are a nightshade. My inflammatory markers did not drop until I dropped the turnip greens from my smoothie. I mean, if you test in turnip greens and they work for you, go for it. But I would not recommend starting with them.

Some folks are WAY into not having raw spinach daily, but this opinion is apparently controversial. I did have some weird tongue sensations after using spinach exclusively for a few weeks. I have not had the same experience with my kale and mustard greens combo. So, again, you do you, but it's something to think about if you are anti-inflammatory-ing EVERYTHING and your inflammatory markers are still not going down.

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