Recipe: Immune Support Smoothies

One thing that can help to maintain your immune system and protect yourself against illness is consuming high magnesium foods (especially a wide range of green leafy vegetables) as frequently as possible.

We both make smoothies on a near-daily basis and have found that this practice has boosted our energy levels, helped our digestion, and allowed us to generally maintain good health. Here are our recipes! Simply combine in a blender. Each recipe makes a smoothie for one person. 

RENEE’S SMOOTHIE: 

• ¼ cup coconut water (unsweetened)
• ¼ cup activated chaga mushroom (you can buy brewed chaga or chaga grounds to steep on your own from one of our favorite local businesses, Life Itself - more information in the Local Business Love section!)
• 3-inch piece of cucumber 
• 2 tblsp flaxseed meal (ground flaxseed)
• ¼ lemon (yes, skin and all!)
• ⅓ cup of blueberries
• 1 scoop of Amazing Grass Green Superfood powder (for a combination of greens, antioxidants, fiber, digestive enzymes, and pre/probiotics)
• ½ nectarine
• ⅓ cup of briefly cooked spinach or other greens*

*Cooking your greens can help them to be more digestible. Also, if you have an underactive (hypo) thyroid, cooking your greens can help to reduce the levels of goitrogenic compounds in them! They can be cooked ahead of time and stored in a container in the fridge. 

NIKKI’S SMOOTHIE:

• 1 cup of organic non-dairy milk (rotating through flax milk, cashew milk, and hemp milk) or coconut water
• ½ banana
• 1 cup of briefly cooked greens (spinach, kale, chard, dandelion greens, collards, beet greens, turnip greens, or any other greens growing in my garden or being delivered in my weekly FreshFix box - more information in the Local Business Love section!) 
• ½ cup of berries (blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries) or sometimes cherries
• 1 scoop of Amazing Grass Green Superfood powder (for a combination of greens, antioxidants, fiber, digestive enzymes, and pre/probiotics)
• (Optional) plant-based protein powder (I tend to use Orgain but sometimes switch it up with another brand)
• 2 tblsp of flaxseed meal 
• 1 tblsp of chia seed
• A handful of ice

If you want to include or substitute other forms or protein, you can always add a couple tablespoons of magnesium-rich peanut butter or other nut butter!

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