Spinal Tip Two Smoothie!

For anyone who finds pears too sweet/high in fructose.. this variation is for you!

Or indeed for anyone who has squash in the house but no pears,
or
For anyone who wants a slightly cheaper version of the first smoothie...

Popeye images from: 
http://www.comicvine.com/forums/battles-7/bugs-bunny-vs-popeye-the-sailor-man-757492/  and
 http://cartoonsimages.com/popeye/popeye-and-olive-desktop-backgrounds-free 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of folate rich SPINACH
• 5 cm (2") of Squash/ 1 cup
• 5 cm (2") of cucumber peeled 
• 1 large or 2 small avocados (optional)

 Squash it in there 

 Method:

1. Dunk your spinach in a bowl of water for a few minutes.
2. Meanwhile rinse your squash and steam gently (at a low setting) in a pot with 1/2 cup of water and 5 grinds of salt. ( I use himalayan or celtic salt)
3. As soon as the squash has softened remove from the heat and allow to cool. **

**[If planning to eat this smoothie every day, you might just like to cook several days worth of the squash in advance!  But for the first one it is probably best to try the recommended quantity to see if you even like the recipe! :) ]

Squishy Squashy Spinachy
Smoothie/Juice?

4. Meanwhile lift the spinach leaves out of the bowl into a sieve/colander- leaving any sandy residue behind. Then thoroughly rinse the spinach leaves.

5. Blend together the Spinach leaves, peeled cucumber and cooled squash- including the squash cooking water.

6. Taste this mix- you might find you don't need the avocado as it is quite delicious!

Squishy Squashy
Smoothie Sauce

7. However if you do want something creamier, add in your avocado and blend away. This makes the smoothies much more creamy and if you cut out the water you can use this as a sauce for eating with your favourite crackers or roasted nuts or starchy veg like potatoes or fish like salmon etcetera. I enjoyed some with roasted hazelnuts as shown!

In the Raw:

1. You can use raw squash but it won't taste as lovely and the texture will be less smooth. Remember to add the same amount of slated water though.

2. The raw version is better with the avocado blended in and used as a dip or sauce.

Spinal Tip Smoothie

I have often felt weak in the spine- as if it was not strong enough to support me and my back is tired of remaining upright.

Mostly, I figured that this was due to lack of adequate sleep and rest. However, it often made simple household tasks extremely wearying...

And then a colleague at work mentioned how he needed folic acid supplementation and I started to wonder if I was getting enough folic acid myself. So I looked up the  folic acid content of high folate foods and quickly realised that I was only receiving a small percentage of the recommended intake.

So I invented this smoothie recipe to get my daily folic acid … It also tastes delicious and my spine feels much stronger. (Perhaps the latter side-effect is psychosomatic but I have tried lots of other techniques to improve bone health etc in the past and they did not seem so effective.)

Let me know if it works for YOU!

 RECIPE:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of Spinach
• 1 large or possibly 2 small avocados
• 1 small or half a large pear*, peeled and chopped into large slices &/or
• 5cm of cucumber peeled

 

• Water to get desired consistency.

Method:

1. Soak the spinach for a few minutes in water and clean thoroughly.
2. Rinse the other solid ingredients.
3. Blend the solid ingredients thoroughly so there are no gritty bits of spinach leaf. Add water to the blender if necessary to help blender.
4. Pour thick sauce-like smoothie into a suitable glass or jar. Stir in enough water to get the consistency you like.
5. Enjoy immediately, or put a lid on the jar and refrigerate until desired.

I now start my day the green smoothie way! J

*    Pears are relatively high in fructose and are generally not recommended for people with Fructose Malabsorption problems. However, pears and bananas are the only two types of fruit listed as sufficiently alkaline to be tolerated by those prone to heartburn/reflux- having a PH above 5 according to Dr. Koufman in her generally excellent  (with a few tweaks) recipe book: "Dropping Acid: The Reflux Diet Cookbook and Cure"

I was diagnosed with Fructmal and followed a low FODMAPS diet for around 2 years. However my tolerance of sweet foods began to improve and I seem to be able to tolerate the pears in this recipe well- possibly because the fructose in the small amount of pear is balanced by the low %fructose sugars in the other ingredients giving a favourable overall fructose:glucose ratio for the entire recipe. However, if worried about the fructose content of pears just use the cucumber or a fruit you tolerate better such as a kiwi or a slice or two of pineapple. These are too acidic for the heartburn prone (I have painful proof! L) but ok if you just have lower intestinal IBS!