For the second summer in a row, we can stare directly at the sun. It’s eerie, it’s tragic and it’s also disgusting. This year, the smoke is largely without odor and I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, last year, it was very bothersome and headache-inducing. It made you really aware of its presence and kept you indoors. This year, it’s different and, as a result, people (myself included) are walking around like it’s just fog or regular clouds, but at the same time we’re inhaling it all. I mean, that can’t be good.
Why? Well… (this is literally copied and pasted from my last post about intermittent fasting…)
There are a whole host of benefits to intermittent fasting. They include:
- Reducing oxidative stress and inflammation in the body
- Inducing cellular repair processes
- Improving metabolic features that are good for brain health, prevent Alzheimer’s
- Helping you lose weight and belly fat
- Reducing insulin resistance, lowering your risk of type 2 diabetes
- Reducing risk factors for heart health
- Extending your lifespan
(I riffed off of this Authority Nutrition link to come up with that list. There’s some great evidence based information on that page.)
Now, it’s early in the day and I have an intense (and strategic!) 11am teleconference that will keep me distracted through the last hour BUT this beauty is calling to me from the fridge.
Most of the time when I make a smoothie, it’s a thrown together blend of what I feel like, what I have and what I think I need. There are a couple of recipes that I have printed out and posted on my fridge and this is one of them: the Pink Power Detox Smoothie from Angela over at Oh She Glows.
Here’s the breakdown and how I did it today:
- 1 cup water or coconut water
- 1/2 medium avocado, pitted
- 2 celery stalks, roughly chopped
- 1 cup frozen strawberries
- 1 medium beet
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 4 large ice cubes
- Probiotic powder
I have a Vitamix so I don’t have to worry about the beet being too hard and if you’re worried about the beet for other reasons AKA you don’t like them, I urge you to give this recipe a shot. The beet flavour isn’t overwhelming even though the colour, delightfully, is. In the original recipe, Angela suggests adding an apple for sweetness if desired. I sometimes do that for the added fibre, but mostly I skip it.
Head over to the recipe page to read more about its origin, how it gets its detox status and to get the printable.
