Peaches and Greens Smoothie (raw vs. cooked spinach)
Good morning ya'll and Happy Saturday! I don't know about you but I definitely woke up with a grumbly little tummy and since Saturdays are usually my mornings off I love cooking up a huge breakfast and actually getting to sit down and enjoy it , you know sip on my coffee instead of chugging it down in the car on my way to work. My favorite thing to do is eat breakfast on my deck in the summertime. In all honesty though I usually always have a big breakfast, even if that means getting up 30 minutes or an hour early. If I didn't fuel my body properly well I don't think I would make it through a single day of work. Not to say that I skip lunch every day, because skipping meals is not okay but sometimes with my job I'm not always guaranteed that I can sit and eat a satisfying meal, therefore having that big breakfast in the AM guarantees I won't become a hangry girl. My breakfast usually consist of eggs, maybe a breakfast sausage or bacon, some fruit and lately I've been digging lots of veg and have actually come up with some pretty interesting and yet delicious combos that one may not consider for a typical breakfast. That will be a whole new post though for later. It is recommended that we eat 5 servings of fruits and veggies a day. Let's face it though this is not the case for many of us. I even have trouble sometimes, not that I don't love vegetables because really along with salads they are my favorite. Just the other day I ate a plate full of oven roasted squash and zucchini with sautéed balsamic red onions for lunch, my campers hardly touched them, but let's say I was one happy camper. I just got way off topic. However I think for most of us consuming fruits is much easier. I also know that many people have trouble getting those dark green leafy veggies in. If you're not a fan of them then eating raw kale and spinach salads (like me a dinosaur) is not happening for you and you can forget trying to consume them cooked then. There are a lot of sneaky little ways though that we can add these greens into our meals, consume them as part of our daily diet, and maybe actually even enjoy them!
So this morning we're talking smoothies. Spinach blends really well in a smoothie. With the right combination of ingredients you can have a green smoothie that is actually a pretty green (doesn't look like poop sorry if that grosses anyone out) tastes good, and bonus you are getting in some dark leafy greens and receiving all the great nutritional benefits spinach has to offer. Guess what I got the best green smoothie recipe for you!
You'e probably like okay just get to the smoothie already (honestly is anyone even reading all this probably not) but this is also a platform to teach you all a little nutrition and health education. Spinach! One of my favorite dark greens, delicious raw in a salad, added to a smoothie, or sautéed up with some eggs or as a cooked veggie side. This little leaf is packed with many essential nutrients our body needs. However is there a difference between raw or cooked? Yes there is I'm really glad you asked. During the cooking process we loose some of the nutritional values of our food. This doesn't mean you still aren't receiving them, we just need to know how to properly cook our foods and not kill them (another post for the future).
Since we will be using raw spinach in our smoothie we'll talk about that first. Spinach in its raw form contains an organic substance, oxalic acid. Oxalic acid binds to calcium which interferes with the absorption of calcium and iron in our bodies. High consumption of this substance can lead to other nutritional deficiencies down the road. That doesn't mean we shouldn't consume raw spinach, but incorporating both raw and cooked in our diets is a good idea. When we cook spinach the heat breaks down the oxalic acid without really altering the other nutrients.
A serving size of spinach, 100 grams ( 3 1/3 cups of raw, 1/2 cup cooked) contains roughly the same amount of macronutrients: 23 calories, 3.8 g carbohydrates, 3 grams protein, .3 grams of fat, and 2.4 grams of fiber. Raw spinach contains folate, vitamin C, niacin, riboflavin, and potassium, which are more available to our bodies when consumed raw. When consuming cooked spinach our bodies absorb higher levels of vitamins A & E, protein, fiber, zinc, thiamin, calcium, and iron. Lastly just a little bit about iron! We always hear that spinach is a great source of iron, which is 100 percent true. However cooked spinach contains more iron than raw, 100 grams of cooked spinach has around 3.5 mg of iron vs. cooked 2.7 mg. Other factors play a role of the absorption of iron in our bodies. Vitamin C helps to promote iron absorption where as tannins and polyphenols prevent iron absorption. So in conclusion eat more dark leafy greens! Both cooked and raw are great for you and neither one is better for you. You should consume a variety of both. Variety in our diets is key and helps to balance our bodies!
You made it through the whole post congratulations! Now here is that recipe you've been so patiently waiting for!
Peaches and Greens Smoothie! (hahaha I crack myself up):
Ingredients:
3 oz goats milk kefir, Redwood Hill Farm
1/2 cup-1cup, water
1/4 banana, frozen
1/2 cup peaches, frozen
2 cups raw baby spinach
1 tbsp ground flaxseed blend, Linwoods
1 scoop collagen peptides, Vital proteins
Directions:
Combine all ingredients into your blender.
Blend and enjoy!
*Start with 1/2 cup of water and add more if the smoothie is too thick!
