I came up with an idea a few weeks ago about making a super healthy smoothie and in a flash it was a thing.

Usually in the past I have just made smoothies with fruit and veggies but for some reason, for the first time, I had noticed that we had almond milk in the fridge and I wanted to try that out instead of fruit juice in my smoothie.

Of course when you decide that the base of the smoothie is going to be creamy instead of fruity then everything that you put in there can change as well.

So when the smoothie with almond changed, I also looked around to see what we had that would be really healthy for different reasons. There were a few things, I put them together and everything worked out well. By working out well I mean that it actually tasted good, not kinda crappy like I have done in the past. 🙂

Full Super Smoothie Recipe

So with a little bit of trial and error this is how I have created this smoothie, in order of when I put the ingredients in.

• 1/2 cup of plain (not vanilla) Activia Yogurt
• 1 to 2 inches of Turmeric root (Tablespoon or so of turmeric powder if you have no roots)
• 1/2 teaspoon of pepper
• 1 tablespoon of Coconut oil
• 1 cup of blueberries
• 1 teaspoon of Matcha powder
• 1 and 1/2 cups of almond milk – this can vary

What a bizarre mix you are probably thinking. Why the pepper? Why some coconut oil? Why the Activia Yogurt?

Well I did these things with some forethought, which of course means that I developed it for a few days before I settled on it like this.

First time I made this I had a bit of a sore throat so I added Manuka Honey, which we have in the cupboard but is stupid expensive, I cut that out after about 3 days before my wife noticed.

Also, likewise it took me a couple of days to add the pepper and the coconut oil, the thinking is that these vastly improve the bioavailability of the turmeric (how well your body uses it).

Why Include These Ingredients In a Super Smoothie?

So since I have come up with these specific ingredients, let’s see why I call this a Super Smoothie.

Blueberries – Antioxidants

Activia Yogurt – Yogurt is actually a fermented milk product and as we all know fermented foods are really good for you as they have probiotics. Actually there are many kinds of probiotics but the ones that are found in yogurt are called Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus.  The makers of Activia Yogurt add even more probiotics to their yogurt to make it even better for you. I found this Activia article on LiveStrong which has plenty of info if you want to know more. Gut health is super important and yogurt really assists in good gut health and gut flora, oh and the gut Biome too, did I get all those good digestive buzzwords in there? 😉

Turmeric – Antioxidants are very good for you and Turmeric has always interested me because it is really rated as one of the best possible natural antioxidants. Curcumin, which is the active antioxidant in Turmeric. Actually powerful antioxidants like Curcumin in Turmeric are good for preventing heart disease and almost any other degenerative disease. I am not saying that this super smoothie will make you suddenly super healthy but consuming all the antioxidants that you can is an important dietary goal.

Besides this Turmeric is a great anti inflammatory. I always think of Anti-Inflammatories as being good for aches and pains, kind like when you use Naproxen for a pulled muscle must they are a lot more useful than that.

The reason for the pepper and coconut oil is to enhance the bioavailability of the Turmeric. The Curcumin does not have very good absorption by our bodies but there is research that shows that the Pepperin in pepper as well as the coconut oil, with it’s high medium chain  triglycerides, helps us to get more use out of the Turmeric in this drink.

Matcha Tea – Matcha is a bit of a super tea and is actually based from Green tea but is specially grown to increase a lot of the beneficial components of Green tea. Matcha is high in phenols, caffeine, and antioxidants. Matcha is rich in catechins which are a strong antioxidant. Also Matcha is higher than any team in Caffeine with about 35 milligrams per teaspoon but also has a significant amount of Theanine which  calms the caffeine. This means that it helps concentration without the shakiness of coffee.

When is The Best Time for Super Smoothie?

The way that I use my super smoothie is to drink it late in the morning before lunch. I will drink this around 11:30 and eat lunch around 1:00. I find that this really peps me yup and makes a big difference to my energy and concentration in the afternoon when normally I would have an energy and concentration drop.

Try this Super Smoothie yourself and let me know how you like it.