Breakfast Smoothies

About a year and a half ago I did my first detox. My digestive system was a mess, I felt like garbage and wanted a good clean out without fasting for I was a full time student and needed energy and a clear mind for my studies. I used the Detox Box for it gave you a step by step guide on how to do a safe detox. It consisted of drinking organic smoothies laced with supplements, taking different vitamins, eating rice and vegetables, drinking water, juices, bentonite, psyllium, and for the first time in 15 years I introduced fish into my diet. It was hard, after a week I wanted to puke at the thought of brown rice and veggies, but it set my system straight. A friend of mine did it as well, mostly just to detox from sugar, and she liked it as well.

Since then, I have kept drinking the smoothies for breakfast every morning. It's a great way to get a serving of fruit in and additional beneficial supplements and vitamins. The detox requires that you use organic berries, and I agree that organic is important if you are going to eat these certain berries, but let's be honest. For the amount of fruit that I go through, I cannot find an affordable option. So, I "subsidize" in a way. I tell myself that all the organic and health foods that I do eat off-sets the non-organics! ( I know, I know!) CostCo is great for huge bags of frozen berries, and Seattle Super Supplements is cheaper than other stores for the supplements and usually has a great deal on at least one thing you need. Also, I usually get my flax seeds from Trader Joe's. I grind about 1/2 cup whole seeds in my coffee grinder then stick both the ground and whole seeds in the freezer. They start to lose nutrients once ground but freezing locks it in, just don't grind a big batch, keep it as fresh as possible.

Breakfast Smoothie

3 frozen strawberries

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 fresh banana

1 Tbls. flax oil

1 Tbls. fresh ground flax seeds

1-2 Tbls. Rice Protein

1/2 scoop Perfect Food*

1 tsp. buffered powdered C

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon**

I prefer grinding it up in my mini-Cuisinart food processor. Before grinding, add about 8 oz. filtered water. The water amount will vary by how liquidy you like it.

*I love Perfect Food- it is super potent so you don't really need to use a full scoop, unless you want to! Plus, it's not terribly cheap, so a little goes a long way. Doing the detox isn't cheap- and neither is setting yourself up for the smoothies. But it's something that I feel good about putting in my body and feel that it's worth it. The berries last a long time if you get them bulk, and the other supplements last me a couple months.

**Cinnamon has several health benefits, one being that it helps control blood sugar levels. Here's one of many little articles explaining more about the spice.