Green Energy Smoothies

August 21, 2011 By Leanne Vogel October 4, 2017

The race starts in 3.5 hours. I’m tucked up in the hotel bed with an ice pack on my knee, sipping my smoothie and looking forward to my pre-race quinoa flake bake. Technically I should be sleeping, but I couldn’t go another minute without sharing this recipe with you! When my Mom and Dad came for dinner recently, we started chatting about the changes they’ve begun to see in their appetite. They love enjoying meals together, but they’ve ran out of light ideas. They’re both over the age of 55 and are anything but sedentary. When my Mom isn’t rowing with her team on the reservoir, she’s attending a late night yoga class. And my Dad? He’s the #1 field hockey goalie in all the land. See, all of his team mates think so too! They’re active, fit, and feel fantastic. But their appetites stink! As we get older, our metabolism slows down. Our digestive enzymes are fewer and far between, and our bodies just can’t process the volume of food that they used to. This is especially true in women during and after menopause. Fats may be more difficult to digest, proteins are harder on the tummy, and any treat that you enjoy seems to go right to your waistline. Getting older wiser doesn’t mean giving up all of the foods you love, it’s just about restructuring things to fit the changes your body is going through. Some steps I’ve found to be successful for my wiser clients:

• Increasing fiber intake to support a healthy digestive tract. Try adding ground flax to your cereals or baked goods.
• Increased vitamin D that will assist in calcium absorption to maintain strong bones. Salmon is a great source, and so is a little bit of daily sunshine.
• Small meals more often.
• High quality foods. Because not a lot of food is being consumed, you want to make sure that what you’re putting in your body is of the highest quality.
• Starting off the day with a light breakfast to kick start digestion, followed by a dish high in fiber.

My Dad in particular doesn’t like to eat a lot of vegetables, so I had to get somewhat creative in my suggestions. After a bit of hemming and hawing I came up with a solution – green energy smoothies. And for a minute there, I forgot that I was making something for the parents and just basked in the green energy.

• They’re light, coming in at just under 96 calories per serving
• 2.8g fiber
• Lots of hidden veggies
• Gets the digestive juices flowing
• Stimulates your metabolism
• The EGCG in green tea can help kill cancer cells, great given my Dad’s history with cancer
• Assists in lowering LDL cholesterol

Starting the day off with this, followed by a nice hot bowl of oatmeal + flax seeds is the perfect breakfast solution – not just for my parents, but for all of us; regardless of our age! View Nutritional Information (once on page scroll down) Now, to get my parents to make these for themselves… I prepared a batch of these smoothies yesterday morning that we ended up taking on the road with us along with our cranberry mango salads + 100 calorie beary simple cookies. A couple of years ago my road trip lunch would have consist of dinosaur candies, Coca Cola Zero and a pack of cigarettes. You won’t see any of that in our car – except maybe the odd candy here and there ;) How do you start off your mornings? What types of meals do your parents enjoy? Also, congratulations goes out to Liz – the winner of Sketch Free Vegan’s e-cookbook. I’ll send off your details to Jaclyn and Jennifer now. Thanks for participating everyone :)

This entry was tagged: cucumber, smoothie