So what’s the big deal with a green smoothie anyway. You might ask!

A green moothie a day can change your health – your weight, your energy and your skin! All for the better of course.

Drinking a green smoothie is very popular in our house, even the 10-year-old gets involved in the creations. It’s a great on-the-go healthy food. I take it with when I know I’m not going to be able to get a healthy meal and my husband takes one to work, so I can be sure he’s eating something healthy while at work.

When I’m drink a smoothie I know I’m ticking a lot of health and nutrition boxes because they are so loaded with goodness (and they taste great too)!

Yes, if you haven’t tried them then give them a go. I was sceptical until I did. You can even make them taste like desserts without compromising on the health benefits. Chocolate flavoured green smoothie? Yes!

So you may be wondering why these green sometimes can do you any good and how on earth they can actually transform your health.

I’ve put together my nutritional and naturopathic know-how and personal experience in this blog post on why one green smoothie a day can change your life

#1. Up-level Your Energy

The dreaded afternoon slump and flagging energy levels can be boosted by supplying your body with vitamins and minerals that you may be deficient in. When we give our body what it needs to function optimally then it can release the energy we need. No car can run without the correct fuel.

If your diet isn’t that good i.e. loaded wih sugar and processed foods then this could be a huge contributing factor to your feeling fatigued, sluggish and blah.

By replacing these with natural goodness you’re much more likely to have long-lasting energy! Not a short-term spike followed by an exhausting crash like you might experience from a sugary food.

Green smoothies will provide your body with essential nutrients as well as hydration to help you look and feel better than you have in years!

Most green smoothies are made with large amounts of green leafy vegetables, providing trace minerals, you’ll feel a noticeable boost to your energy level almost right away.

#2. Weight loss

Smoothies offer you hydration, you will feel full plus you can start to eliminate any vitamin deficiencies.

A smoothie, is different to juicing as you retain all of that valuable plant fibre which is such an essential part of healthy digestion, rather than throwing it all away. Smoothies are whole foods and fibre is cleansing, and they can keep you full.

If you want to lose weight you can replace a meal (or two) with a green smoothie. They can be filling, delicious meal replacements that are a nourishing food helping you lose weight- fast. More details on exactly how to do this if you download your Lean + Green 7 Day Smoothie Recipes.

Replacing one meal each day with a smoothie is an easy way to lower daily calorie intake. It also increase your consumption of fruits and vegetables while boosting your water and fibre intake – all great things for weight loss.

Drinking Green Smoothies is the easiest way I know to detox, and if you continue to drink them you will continue to feel good every day.

Your green smoothie can keep you fill helping you resist the urge to snack or binge on unhealthy foods – and as a result you get the added bonus of unexpected weight loss!

High in nutrients and filling fibre and low in calories (although I don’t believe in ever count calories when you eat whole, nutrient-dense foods), green smoothies are definitely your best weight loss friend.

#3. Fresh, Youthful, Glowing Skin

Dark leafy greens, a key ingredient in a healthy smoothie – i.e. spinach, kale, parsley –  are naturally high in antioxidants. They are packed with plant chemicals such as kaempferol, carotenoids, lutein, zeaxanthin and quercetin. Antioxidants keep us healthy and protect our cells from damage caused by free radicals. A green smoothie, will feed your skin so you look vibrant, healthy, with a completely natural glow.

#4. Anti-inflammatory & Immune Boosting

Processed foods are high in saturated fats and sugars, and linked to inflammation, cancer, obesity, and a whole range of chronic diseases, veggies like leafy greens are brimming with goodness.

Veggies are rich in anti-inflammatory compounds that protect the body against inflammation and help keep the body healthy.

Plus, your immune system will thank you because it will have more of the nutrients you body needs to resist pesky contagious bugs.

#5. Less hungry

If you’re hungry an hour after your porridge or get that mid-afternoon sugar craving, then a green smoothie can solve that problem for you.

The recipes I create are FULL of protein, good oils and fats, fibre from the spinach and fruit  – a winning combination when it comes to hunger as it curbs any blood sugar

#6. A Natural Multi Vitamin & Mineral

Smoothies have a powerful blend of minerals like the iron, calcium and magnesium found in green leafy veg. The vitamin C also found in the smoothie will help you utilise and absorb iron – so you get more nutritional bang for your buck than any pill.

You get a lot more of the nutrients from the blending as the outer cell walls of the greens and fruits are broken down, making the valuable nutrients more readily available and easier for your body to absorb.

All the vitamins, minerals, amino acids and other goodies are easily assimilated and utilised by your body.

So you’ll get maximum benefit and faster absorption! Add a healthy oil or fat to your green smoothie and you’ll boost micronutrient absorption even further.

#7. Super nutritious

Veggies are extremely nutrient dense. When you drink a green smoothie, you consume the nutrients from the veggies intact. We eat most of our vegetables cooked but many vitamins are easily destroyed or lost by cooking. A green smoothie made of raw vegetables has lost none of it’s nutritional value.

#8. Eat more veggies

Green smoothies are an easy way of increasing your intake of veggies – allowing you to get a greater dose of vegetable nutrition than you’d usually manage to eat in a day.

With only one green smoothie you can hit 5 recommended daily servings and you can load them with the type of veggies that you don’t eat enough of – dark leafy greens, such as kale and spinach.

#9. Speedy + Portable

A smoothie can literally save you hours in meal or snack prep. You literally chuck everything in your blender, blend and drink. All in under 5 minutes flat with little fuss. Pour it into a container and take with you on-the-go.

#10. 100% natural

No powders with additives they’re made with all natural, whole food.

You don’t need protein or green powders – all you need is some spinach, oil, fruit and some liquid. If you do need extra protein then you can add a natural source like – pea or hemp protein powder.

Family friendly too!

Kids can enjoy my green smoothie challenges especially if you get them involved with the making of them. I started my son off by making them taste like a dessert, we adde raw chocolate + banana + spinach and once my son realised how good they tasted he started creating his own.

Now I wanted you to get your FREE guide and recipes for the Lean + Green 7 Day Green Smoothie Challenge, it’s my gift to you, get your copy now so you can start to reap the benefits.

Your body will thank you as you start to lose a few pounds, increase your energy levels and get that youthful glow again.

Download Your FREE Guide HERE it’s a great introduction to how to drink green smoothies or if you’re looking for new ideas then this Guide has 13 delicious, nutritious recipes for you to try.

Anti-aging specialist Nicholas Perricone M.D., says the effects of sugar on skin is up there with smoking and the sun as a leading cause of wrinkles. Many other anti-aging doctors including Dr. Mehmet Oz, Dr. Howard Murad, Dr. Jessica Wu and Dr. Adrienne Denese advise us to avoid sugar.

Sugar causes inflammation and reduces the power of collagen to rebuild the skin’s structure and increase the rate at which collagen breaks down naturally.

When our blood sugar spikes quickly and repeatedly, the sugar attaches to the proteins (collagen and elastin) in our skin, rendering them stiff and inflexible.

This process is called “glycation.” These harmful sugar molecules accumulate and damage adjacent proteins, which leads to sagging skin, and wrinkles.

Glycation also robs the skin of its natural moisturizer – hyaluronic acid – resulting in greater dryness and sagging.

Natural sugars are a little better for us, because they raise it less, or more slowly, and they do contain some nutrients (white sugar has none), but, all sugars raise blood sugar level. Fruit juice has a lot of sugar, without the fiber too much of it can raise the blood glucose level as fast as regular sugar.

The work of a hormone specialist, Dr. Robert Lustig, called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” (on Youtube) concludes that diabetes and obesity levels have risen since the “low fat” craze began. Processed “fat free” foods generally contain more sugar or High Fructose Corn Syrup, which helps make them taste better after all the delicious fat has been removed.

Omitting sugar from our diets entirely is probably never going to happen, because even fruits, vegetables and whole grains turn to glucose (the type of sugar that fuels glycation) when digested. It’s a good idea to keep it to minimum if we care about our health and youth. Sugars (ALL sugars, even natural sweeteners like agave, honey, and maple syrup) raise our blood glucose level.

Here are some recommendations to consider:

• Read labels. If sugar is in the first five ingredients on a label, you would be wise to avoid the product.
• High-temperature cooking breaks down collagen and exacerbates glycation, go for slow cooking methods like soups and stews and eat as many uncooked foods like salads and dips as possible.
• Consider omitting soda drinks and try carbonated water with a splash of lemon or lime, tea, or coconut water.
• Stop adding sugar to food and beverages. Replace it with honey or maple syrup, but use the least amount your taste buds will allow.
• Drink less fruit juice (which is all sugar, no fiber) and eat the whole fruit instead. Or make smoothies from low sugar fruits, like strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries.
• Eat fewer high glycemic carbohydrates like white flour, white rice and pasta. Instead, eat whole grains, like brown rice, oatmeal, quinoa or whole wheat pasta. 
• Keep added sugar to no more than 10% of total calories, this varies according to age so if you’re a 45-year-old woman, that’s approx 160 calories of added sugar.

If you want a helping hand to reduce sugar cravings and especially if you want to lose a few inches, in a healthy way  or:-

• balance your blood sugar
• discover renewed energy
• tame your sugar cravings
• decrease your risk of chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease and cancer
• manage mood swings
• look and feel more vibrant throughout the entire day

You’ll learn how to reduce inflammation, detox from sugar, fuel your body with good nutrition and allow your body to release excess weight. For more go HERE

READY FOR A REBOOT? Revolutionise your body in 14-days

Staying active is a challenge for many of us as we spend much of the day sitting behind computuers, it’s a daily challenge I face myself trying to stay active.

Why is Exercise Absolutely Essential?
Aside from the obvious benefit of controlling your weight (a reason many people exercise) exercise also plays a key role in:

• increasing your energy levels because strangely enough the more energy you use, the more energy you have
• helping you have better quality sleep
• helps prevent chronic disease it improves your blood pressure, cholesterol levels and helps prevent mental illness i.e. Dementia and Alzheimers
• it boost feel good hormones and improves your mood
• exercise is anti-ageing and can help improve your IQ

What Kind Of Exercise?

Sadly after 30, you will lose up to a 1-3kg muscle mass every 10 years if you don’t have any form of strength or resistance training in your routine.

Aerobic exercise can add many years to your life and the WHO (World Health Organisation) recommends adults aged 18–64 should do at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity in a week or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity in a week. So this could be 30 minutes walking five times a week.

Aerobic exercise is only one piece of the puzzle and so when it comes to healthy ageing, strength training becomes very important and an essential part of your exercise routine.

 There are differences between strength training and aerobic exercise.

– They both types burn calories and build muscle mass but at different rates.

– Aerobic exercise raises your heart rate for an extended period, burns fat and glucose during exercise.

– Strength (or weight) training will use up fat and glucose for hours (and sometimes days) after exercising, so your metabolism stays slightly elevated for a longer period of time following a strength training session than after an aerobic workout.

So why is strength training and having strong muscles so important to you?
Fewer muscles means your metabolism will slow down and you’ll gain fat instead. The beauty of muscle tissue is that even when your not working out it can burn calories which fat cells don’t do.

Much more importantly than that strength training is essential to keeping you fit, active, self-reliant because every move you make relies on your muscles, it will also maintain bone mass, preventing osteoporosis and gives you strength as you age to prevent injuries.

You’ll be leaner, toned and more importantly your muscles and bones will be stronger, improving your mobility, agility.

Essential Work Out Advice

• Be sure to stretch before and after your workout
• You don’t have to go to a gym or use weights, you can use body weight – these are all options.
• Don’t forget about strengthening your core as part of your work outs
• Keep exercise sessions fun and part of your daily routine so your more likely to do it
• Choose exercises to fit your schedule that match your fitness level and goals
• Be sure to get some good advice or guidance if your new to this type of exercise to avoid injury

Some Simple Strength Exercise To Consider As Part Of Your Training

• 20 body weight squats
• 10 push ups
• 20 walking lunges
• 15 second plank
• 30 Jumping Jacks

Happy Exercising!

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When does perimenopause start and are you eligible?
Your perimenopause can begin several years before menopause; it’s when your ovaries gradually begin to produce less oestrogen. It usually starts in your 40’s, but it can start in your 30’s.

Perimenopause can last only a few months or continue for 10 years, it ends the first 12 months after your very last period. Menopause is when you literally run out of eggs, it’s the ultimate decline of your sex hormones – oestrogen and progesterone produced in the ovaries.

What are the signs?
You may get cramps, feel cranky, have cravings OR get hot flashes, night sweats and have weight gain? It varies from women to women.

Or any of these:
•   Bad PMS – Breast tenderness, Irregular periods, Mood swings.
•   Decreased libido
•   Joint pain
•   Ageing skin
•   Fatigue.
•   Weak bladder – leakages when coughing or sneezing
•   Difficulty sleeping.

How can you get back to normal?
Interestingly, the majority of Asian women never experience the enormous amount of discomfort, that western women seem to accept as universally acceptable as you enter menopause.

Traditionally, Asian cultures have always used food and herbs to help manage these changes when they first appear. They don’t use HRT (hormone replacement therapy) as most western women do.

Fortunately, there are simple steps you to can take to minimise the negative symptoms of perimenopause and treat the root cause of your womanly pains (by getting your hormones back in balance).

Part 1 –  Strategies for Managing Perimenopause
If you’ve got this far in the article you’ll want some solutions to the imbalances and things that are going on in your body. The body needs excellent support from unprocessed nutritional foods, and maintaining a fit, healthy body will all make it a lot easier for you to deal with your perimenopausal or PMS symptoms.

There are 3 parts to your action plan to get you going and help your body manage this natural event with ease.

It all starts in the kitchen!
a) Get your phytoestrogens
A phytoestrogen is a naturally-occurring plant nutrient that can exert an estrogen-like action on the body.

Scientists have discovered hundreds of phytoestrogens including soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, bans, whole grains, dark green leafy veg, seeds (especially flaxseed), nuts (especially walnuts) and many herbs.

Choose whole soy foods – tofu, edamame, roasted soy nuts or tempeh. I don’t believe soy milk is in this category as it is a processed soya product.

Soya is thought to be the reason that Japanese women living in Japan rarely experience the unpleasant symptoms of menopause. Hot flashes are so rare in Japan that there is not even a word in the Japanese language to describe them.

Flaxseed studies have shown the incidence of hot flushes were reduced as much as 50 percent by consuming flaxseed.

b) Eat a rainbow of fruit & veg – rich in antioxidants which slow down ageing and help prevent the diseases that increase with menopause like cancer and heart disease.

c) Load up on the good oils
Oily fish, nuts & seeds – contain omega-3 essential fatty acids that can counteract dryness, painful joints, cholesterol and sluggish metabolism.

Nuts & Seeds – contain antioxidants, vitamin E and selenium.

d) Cruciferous veg i.e. broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage etc. – contain specific substances that support the balance of good hormones in your body and protects you against cancer. Yes, there are ‘bad’ hormones too.

e) Fibre rich foods
Whole grains and veggies – are essential for the efficient functioning of the bowel to ensure elimination of unwanted hormones and toxins. Fibre also helps to prevent heart disease and cancer.

Avoid: Foods that aggravate many of the hormonal imbalances include the usual suspects – coffee, alcohol and spicy foods (if you get hot flushes).

Part 2 will be covered in the next newsletter with more on which are the best supplements and herbal remedies for managing these changes in your body, be sure to look out for it.

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It doesn’t matter what age you are, there is no time like the present to ensure you have a healthy mind and brain function.

You may be:-

• Interested in anti-ageing and longevity of your mental faculties
• Wanting to avoid mental illnesses like Alzheimer’s as you age
• Noticing how forgetful you’re are lately
• Having difficulty focusing or feel like your mind/brain is feeling tired?

If you answer yes to any of these questions. The good news is that there are ways to protect your brain from excessive demands so that you can function at your best.

Aside from the healthy diet, superfoods, exercise and brain exercises, there are also the botanical brain boosters.

When taken daily these brain boosting herbs can bring a state of alertness and stimulate creative thinking, improve memory and neurological

function. We do know from some studies that many of these herbs increase the activity of some of the brains neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that transmit messages from one nerve cell to another.
It’s common these days to depend on caffeine to sharpen the mind however caffeine is overstimulating to the adrenal glands, and depletes the body of essential nourishment.

Many of these herbs are stimulating and balancing to the body without the side effects, helping the body overcome excessive amounts of stress and lifestyle challenges to help you function at your best.

6 Top Brain Herbs read more here

1. Ginkgo biloba is one of the most well known herbs in use today and is one of the oldest surviving trees on earth. It has been used traditionally to improve concentration and memory. Ginkgo is one of the most prescribed herbs in Europe and recommended in treating dementia, memory loss, senility and promoting recovery from stroke. It is an antioxidant and cerebral tonic. Don’t take alongside blood thinning medicine.
2. Gotu kola (Hydrocotyle asiatica) is another herb that has high impact on brain functioning and is used in India as a brain tonic, referred to as “food for the brain” and is known to aid intelligence and memory. It balances the brain and helps all aspects of brain function. Gotu kola has been used to treat amnesia, dementia, fatigue and senility. It has a revitalizing effect on the brain cells and nerves.
3. Rosemary was used by ancient Greek scholars, who wore laurels of rosemary when taking examinations to improve memory. Rosemary stimulates the pineal gland and improves energy levels. Rosemary contains more than a dozen antioxidants.
4. Ashwaghandha (Withania somnifera) reduces the effects of overwork and is one of the best for promoting mental clarity and cognitive functioning. Ashwaghandha does wonders for nervous exhaustion and protects the brain against brain cell deterioration.  It is an important protective herb.
5. Tulsi oxygenates the brain and improves circulation which improves feelings of well-being and mental cognition.
6. Brahmi (Bacopa monniera) is a herbal tonic and brain food therefore rejuvenating the brain and nervous system. Brahmi improves all aspects of mental functioning including the ability to learn new information, to retain what we learn and our ability to remember. Brahmi packs a double whammy of benefits because it supports our intelligence while reducing the effects of stress on the brain. In Ayurveda it’s is considered mind-enhancing and therefore used in meditation.

Essential oils are also an excellent way to treat mental fatigue and to boost your mental capacity these include lemon, lemon grass, lime, peppermint and rosemary.

You can invite nature’s subtle intelligence into your routine and you may find that using these herbs will help you overcome the anxiety, lethargy, lack of focus and even the chatter that can surface in the mind during meditation.

As you consider the short list above choose the herb that offers you the benefits with the strongest appeal, and experiment with taking it daily. By taking a combination of these herbs they have a synergistic effect it is highly recommended you consult a qualified herbalist before doing so.

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