Purple power smoothie

A purple power smoothie really can be made in a jiffy if you have some berries and perhaps half a beetroot; a probiotic like kefir will add to its benefits. It is naturally sweet and does not need much honey and certainly no sugar.

Ingredients

Any purple berries will do; I love these since they are so easy to harvest without having to bend and break your back.

The inorganic nitrate in beets has been scientifically proven to lower blood pressure; and the vegetable is listed in the top-ten foods with the antioxidants that help prevent tumours.

Cardiovascular disease and malignant tumours are listed at the top of the tree of human-killers; with one glass enjoyed regularly you can greatly enhance the likelihood of evading them.

Betalains and anthocyanins

The purple power comes from two phytochemicals called betalains and anthocyanins; you will find plenty of research on the net about their capacity to inhibit the growth of tumour cells. Adding more coloured foods to our diet enhances our wellness and helps prevent disease.

Then there are also the carotenoids, another class of phytonutrients with over 600 members like lutein and the lycopenes^[1].

They are incredibly important in preventing disease; they are the reason why those folk who eat just 7 coloured foods every day have a massive 33% lower all-cause of death. We aim for 15 without getting neurotic or legalistic about it; a snip of parsley, for example would count.

In any event purple power smoothies like this taste so good.

Carbohydrate

Raised blood glucose is the very devil and it is caused in the main by refined carbohydrate; and to a lesser extent by simple sugars which would include any processed honey. Unheated from a small beekeeper it surprisingly has a low GI^[3].

These are all completely unrefined so you need not be too concerned but if you are prediabetic always take a short walk straight after any starchy meal. Just ten minutes would be good.

That feeling of fullness after eating that we all crave is provided in part by the fibre in unprocessed foods. It sends messages to the brain to help stop us eating too much.

Remember that half the diabetics are walking the streets undiagnosed; raised blood-glucose is the underlying cause of a great many strokes and heart attacks.

Researchers have found that by a change of lifestyle alone, using food as medicine that most T2 diabetics can put their disease completely into remission without the use of any drugs whatsoever.

Kefir

Everybody should regularly be eating a fermented food; the research on the importance of the microbiome on our well-being is profoundly strong.

That could be sauerkraut or kimchi, even unpasteurised yoghurt but we find these kefir benefits the easiest to prepare in just five-minutes in your own kitchen.

Kefir is perfect in your purple power smoothie; it gives that sweet and sour tang that so many love.

Don't take probiotics in pills; they rarely have more than 4 or 6 different bacteria. Your kefir has over 30.

It is quite sour so the smoothie softens the taste that some find repugnant; a dollop of fresh cream helps. You will love it.

Natural Honey

Once honey has been processed by the food industry it is little better than sugar; the very important enzymes are denatured by heating.

There is nothing simple about getting unprocessed food but if you can locate a small local beekeeper the chances are good that you can find natural raw honey.

Take you own bottles and see if you can fill them straight from the settling tank before it is processed in any way. It keeps so there is no reason not to get a whole year's supply. It will probably set and form nice smooth crystals like that above.

Better still do your family and the planet a big favour by having a few hives in the back garden. Keeping bees is profoundly interesting and will make a huge difference to the pollination of all your fruit and vegetables.

Interestingly beetroot juice delays the rise in blood glucose after eating carbs, and decreases the peak^[2]. Our coloured foods have these subtle beneficial effects and I'm quite certain it is the reason why those enjoying many have such a dramatically lower all-cause of death.

Purple power smoothie

The purple power smoothie is a simple way to get more phytochemicals. Use whatever is in season; right now it is spring and there is an abundance of berries. Beets are in their prime.

There is interesting research confirming that beetroot juice affects the microbiome in the mouth increasing the nitric-oxide biomarkers that are known to lower blood pressure and reduce arterial stiffness^[2].

In winter we would be making perfect butternut smoothies and in summer using kale; or some other dark-green vegetable.

It takes only five-minutes to seriously improve the wellness of the whole family once you have picked the berries; and have some cooked beets or butternut on hand.

From the horse's mouth

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