Today’s recipe is the Apple, Lemon, Ginger shake. The recipe does call for fresh ginger but I’ve been using ground ginger.
Recipe
5 ice cubes in a cup filled with water
1 serve of Vanilla Nutrition Shake (note – NOT Protein shake)
1 apple
4 tsps of Lemon Juice
¼ tsp of ground ginger
Whizz it up. Drink. Easy right?
Put all the ingredients into the blender and whizz up. You can use milk if you want to bump up the protein, I make mine with water. The nutrition shake powder I use has nine grams of protein in it and often I’ll use an additional protein powder to bump up the protein in the shake. Remember, protein helps you to stay fuller for longer.
I sometimes choose to use our shake that is dairy and gluten free. I’m not either of those but this shake powder actually has more fiber in it which I like; it’s got seven grams of fiber in it.
The Lemon – Here are a few tips about lemon. It’s high in vitamin C which is good for protein absorption. We need protein to help us stay fuller for longer (great when combined with fibre) but proteins are required to help build, repair, and maintain lean muscle as well as being required to make virtually every cell in your body.
Vitamin C is a good antioxidant (helps fight free radicals in the body) and it may promote hydration, and good digestion.
The Apple – We’ve all heard the saying an apple a day keeps the doctor away. It’s always good to have a good mix of fruits and veggies in your diet. Aim for 7+ servings a day. The orange and carrot in this shake are two serves, see how easy it is to get these in? Sadly, when I went to a Dr Libby seminar a few years ago she reported that only 10% of New Zealanders were getting 5+ a day. I wonder what that statistic is now?
A quick look on Google and I find these suggested benefits of apples. Always wary of saying things will cure something it just makes sense to me that if we put good things in our bodies and stay away from crap that our bodies aren’t designed to digest and use as fuel then at least we are giving our bodies what they need to function as they should. Or at least provide a better environment to manage what is happening to our bodies. We can’t control what our bodies do but we can control how we move them and what we put in them.
So, after that wee disclaimer I can share that Google tells me that some of the things apples may help with, or reduce the risk of, are Parkinson’s, cardiovascular health, diabetes. But at the end of the day, if you are putting good stuff into your body, which includes apples, and focus on a good whole food diet, then you’re going to be regenerating good healthy cells, which is going to help eliminate or reduce the risk of a lot of these non communicable diseases such as type two diabetes, cardiovascular diseases some cancers, some strokes.
If we actually look at nutrition as preventative medicine, then the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” is spot on.
You’re going to find that your health is a lot better, you have more energy, you’ll be less at risk of developing these non communicable diseases, and a really good place to start is adding in seven plus fruit servings of fruits and vegetables a day.
The Ginger – Ginger is said to help reduce inflammation. It’s also said to assist in good digestion and helps to relieve nausea. It has Vitamin B6 which helps the body to store energy from proteins and carbs, as well as to help the body form hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is the substance in your red blood cells that helps to carry oxygen around your body. Ginger also has magnesium and manganese. Manganese aids metabolism which helps to regulate blood sugar.
A delicious, healthy shake to start the day.
If you’d like to know what nutrition shake I choose to add to my smoothies to optimise the nutrients my body gets on a daily basis for increased energy, vitality and improve health & wellness feel free to get in touch – helen@trilogynz.com
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Remember, let’s not wait until the bad stuff happens, non communicable diseases are largely preventable and YOU ARE WORTH IT!!!