One of the biggest needle movers when it comes to bumping up your nutrition, weight loss and just plain feeling great is starting your day off with a smoothie.
I’ve been a fan for years–and raised my children on smoothies, too.
However it is you break your fast–whether it’s early in the morning, or later on (because you’re intermittently fasting), smoothies have the ability to really uplevel your nutrition intake in a powerful, super-absorbent way.
Let me explain–
In a fasted state, our bodies can burn the fat that has otherwise been inaccessible during a “fed” state.
That’s why I recommend going at least 12 hours between dinner and breakfast–easy to do, just dump the nighttime snacking.
So when your first meal of the day is a liquid meal, you’re giving your digestive system a break and an easy-to-digest meal that is readily absorbed.
That means the nutrients present in the smoothie are going to impart a high impact on your mitochondria, quell those pesky cravings and help you navigate the rest of the day–in control!
When you add in resistant starch (like our FiberMender), you’re adding volume for longer-term satiation AND you’re adding gut healing into the equation.
FiberMender, made from the konjac root, expands to 100 times its size! When you see the teeny tiny scoop in the container, you can appreciate what I’m talking about.
The resistant starch in FiberMender gives your microbiome the food it needs to feed the good guys in your gut–this is important because, in the “gut wars” happening inside of you, you want the good guys to win!
Grace Liu, Ph.D. says, “The fibers extracted from the konjac root pulp mimic our gut lining and can increase adiponectin, a hormone that’s high when we’re lean and burning fat efficiently.”
Not only that but when you combine the fiber with protein (Perfect Paleo Protein) and throw in some fat (hello avocado my old friend), you’ve taken a gigantic step into completely upgrading your health by switching on the fat hormones you want operating, and switching off the ones you don’t want active–this is huge when you’re dealing with the dreaded muffin top.
Most women I know “of a certain age” are battling middle-aged belly fat that comes home to roost as our estrogen goes down with perimenopause, menopause, and ultimately post-menopause.
Thanks a lot, right?
It’s a battle, but one we can win when we’re smart with our food (watch those carbs and sugar), utilize educated tactics such as intermittent fasting, and have one liquid meal a day like protein/fiber-rich smoothies to get your appetite under control, feel full longer, control your glucose levels and give you an additional nutritional advantage by making sure it’s packed to the top with nutrition.
Here’s my current favorite smoothie that packs a nutritional punch and keeps me full for up to 5 hours!
Green Squared Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 scoop Perfect Paleo Protein vanilla, chocolate or unflavored; all work
- 1 scoop Just Juiced Veggies 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables in each scoop!
- 1 scoop FiberMender
- 1 scoop L-Glutamine kills cravings of any kind, helps heal your gut
- 1 handful organic baby spinach easy to digest greens
- 1 teaspoon matcha tea superfood that increases metabolism helps with weight loss
- 1/2 small avocado peeled and seeded
- 3 ice cubes optional but will help thicken it up
- 1 cup unsweetened almond or coconut milk or substiutue with any other unsweetened non-dairy milk
Instructions
- Place everything in a blender and let ‘er rip! Serve in a glass and enjoy!
We have 3 flavors of Perfect Paleo Protein, a collagen-based protein that I’ll talk about in another post.
We have FiberMender in the store as well (new shipment, grab it now, it goes fast!).
We have Just Juiced Veggies as well–in limited quantities.