Try this refreshing ginger and strawberry smoothie for a tasty and healthy take on a traditional strawberry smoothie.
Strawberries scream in summer – they’re sweet, seasonal, and high in vitamin C, an antioxidant that we know helps our bodies reduce inflammation, improve immune function, and increase collagen production – hello beauty food!
Busy mornings are no excuse to skip breakfast, especially when you have such a simple recipe that takes less than 5 minutes to prepare and clean as you only mess one dish, two if you count the cup you’re drinking from. All in all, give this quick and energetic breakfast a try the next time you have fresh or organically frozen strawberries on hand.
Why should we eat red fruits and vegetables?
Whole foods (i.e., fruits and vegetables) that are naturally red are loaded with antioxidants, but mostly with lycopene (a carotenoid) and anthocyanins. Lycopene is best known to be associated with tomatoes, but did you know it’s also found in the following whole red foods? Lycopene has been shown to help fight a variety of cancers (1), improve blood circulation, lower high blood pressure (2), lower cholesterol (3), lower cardiovascular risk (4), and lower metabolism syndrome ( 5)). But why are antioxidants important?
Think of antioxidants as additional protection that our body needs. They are found in abundance in all of the foods we eat. Our bodies need antioxidants to fight off free radicals. Free radicals can damage our healthy cells and cause oxidative stress that can damage our hormones, blood vessels, proteins, lipids, and the genetic code. Causes cancer, inflammation, pain, degenerative diseases, heart disease and aging itself.
Smoothies are a great way to get a nutritious meal full of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. The key, however, is to make sure they are balanced so that you feel full and energetic.
A Foundational Five Nourish Meal is a meal that contains all 5 elements of our Foundational Five system: non-starchy carbohydrates, starchy carbohydrates, healthy fat, protein, and the flavor factor. If you include at least 3 of the 5 elements in any of the smoothies you make, you will feel well digestible, energized and full.
If you are new to my Foundational Five system, you can download my free guide where I will share more about it!
Here are the five basic elements of this strawberry and ginger smoothie:
1 • Non-starchy carbohydrate
2 • Starchy or sugary carbohydrates
3 • Healthy fat
- Unsweetened almond milk
- Cashew butter
- Chia or flaxseed
4 • protein
- Vegetable protein powder
5 • Taste factor
Fiber
With 1 cup of fresh strawberries in this strawberry and ginger smoothie, you get around 3 grams of fiber, which is not much compared to what you need in a day, but for a smoothie, this is a good start! To add strength to the fiber, you can add half a zucchini which also adds a creamy texture!
Vitamin C (and more antioxidants!)
Strawberries are a great source of vitamin C, there is around 149% DV of vitamin C in just 1 cup of fresh strawberries, which is important for our overall health as it fights inflammation and collagen production.
Including phytonutrients such as anthocyanins, tannins, anthocyanins, flavonols, resveratrol, ellagic acid, catechins from strawberries alone.
