Smoothie Operator: Wellness drinks for a healthy New Year

If there is one simple step you can take to a healthier New Year it is to add in a smoothie or juice to your daily diet.

It can be hard to get your five a day when eating on the run, preparing food for the whole family, or simply not putting your nutritional needs high on your list of priorities. Which is why shakes, smoothies and juices are so popular right now and widely available on supermarket shelves. But nothing will be as fresh or nutritious as a homemade drink. Here we asked the experts at SHA Wellness, Europe’s best known health retreat to come up with five recipes to help you stave off winter colds, boost your immunity, fight inflammation and give you energy for the year ahead.

Turmeric Latte

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Turmeric is the hottest health giving ingredient right now and this delicious warming drink is full of anti-inflammatory and immune-boosting properties. The ultimate must have drink at this time of year! Both the ginger and turmeric are the star ingredients of this drink. 

  Ingredients:

• 1 cup of plant-based milk (almond, oat, hazelnut, soy or coconut milk)
• 1 teaspoon of fresh turmeric chopped in thin slices (or you can use turmeric powder)
• 1 teaspoon of fresh ginger chopped in thin slices
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Dash of black pepper
• 1/3 teaspoon of coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon rice malt syrup (or agave syrup/honey)

  Preparation:

• Wash and chop the turmeric and ginger into thin slices.
• Pour the plant-based milk with the turmeric and ginger into a pot and turn the heat on low-medium.
• Stir once in a while and once it’s coming to a boil, turn the heat down to low and add the cinnamon, black pepper, coconut oil and if you’ve used fresh turmeric, you can add a teaspoon of turmeric powder to give it more colour and flavour.
• Pour the liquid into a mug through a sieve, to separate the ginger and turmeric pieces.
• Add the sweetener and stir well.

Tip: If you’ve got a milk frother and want the latte to be creamy, use it at the very end.

Strawberry Smoothie

This strawberry smoothie has a rich, creamy and sweet taste, despite it being refined sugar and dairy free. It’s the perfect smoothie to enjoy as a drink or as a dessert with friends and family and inw inter you can use frozen berries.

So, what makes this smoothie so creamy and sweet? Amasake is a creamy, rich, sweetener made from fermented rice. It contains concentrated natural sugars as well as enzymes that aid digestion and elimination. It’s available as a drink in most organic food stores. It can be drank cold or warm or can be added to desserts. 

Tip: If you prefer you can use rice milk instead of amasake in the smoothie.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond amasake or 1 cup rice milk
• 1 cup strawberry juice
• 1 cup strawberries, washed and hulled
• 1 cup fresh peaches, sliced
• 1 tbsp maple syrup or rice syrup
• Pinch sea salt
• Strawberry slices for garnish

Preparation:

• Put all the ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
• Serve chilled in individual glasses, garnished with strawberry slices.

Sha Sunrise Juice

Carrot, apple and ginger juice is a great breakfast substitute if you do not like toe at first thing, but it’s also perfect as a snack in the afternoon. Remember choosing organic vegetables and don’t remove the carrot and apple skin, there’s where the purifying ingredients are. Whip all ingredients and drink it immediately. You can add ice to make it cooler.

Ingredients:

• Four organic carrots

• One organic apple

• A two inch piece of ginger

• Ice

Preparation:

Simple put all of the ingredients into a juice and drink fresh over ice.

Detox Smoothie

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A great way to start the New Year after a season of over indulgence the detox smoothie recipe is also enriched with Chlorella seaweed, a perfect combination to start the morning full of energy. Strawberries are rich in vitamins and minerals. They have diuretic, purifying and detoxifying properties. In addition, red fruits are recommended and beneficial for asthma and allergy problems. Mix it with Chlorella, which is rich in chlorophyll one of the best substances for cleaning the bowel) making this smoothie a healthy way to eliminate accumulated toxins due to excesses and start the day full of energy.

Ingredients:

• 4 or 5 Strawberries

• 1 Cup of rice, oats or almonds milk

• 1 Chlorella teaspoon

• 3 or 4 Raw almonds

• Sea Salt

Preparation:

• Soak the almonds in water for a few hours before.
• Cut the strawberries into pieces, add a pinch of sea salt and let it marinate for 20 minutes.
• Mix rice, almond or oats milk with almonds and strawberries with the beater.
• Add a teaspoon of chlorella and beat again.

Tip - If you want it more detoxifying, you can prepare it without almonds. It is equally flavourful and sweet, without adding any sweetener.

Dairy Free Milk

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At The SHA the nutritionists believe that we should eat consume far less dairy and encourage everyone to make their own plant milk.

No matter what nut you choose the process for plant-based milks is usually the same.

1. The plant alternative you’re going to use need to be soaked in water during a minimum of 8 hours. Ideally, leave them soaked in water the night before preparing it.
2. You need a sieve to separate the pulp from the liquid.
3. You need a blender (both a hand blender or a normal one work).
4. Plant-based milks tend to last 3-5 days.

Almond milk

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw almonds
• 3 cups mineral water

Optional:

To sweeten the milk you can use the following ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon rice malt syrup
• 1 medjool date (you need to blend it with the rest of the ingredients)

Preparation:

• Soak the almonds for a minimum of 8 hours.
• Blend the almond and the water in the blender until it blends well.
• Pass the milk through a sieve to separate the pulp from the liquid.
• Keep the milk in an airtight bottle and in the fridge.

Oat milk

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oats
• 3 cups mineral water

Cashew milk

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raw cashews
• 3 cups mineral water

For more recipes and advice The SHA Recipes To Live Longer And Better (£29.99,) is also available for Kindle £8.99.

Health Notes

  Want the best gadgets to make your health kick go as smoothly as possible? Try these.

• Vitamix S30 £299, is a powerful blender than can quickly blitz smoothie ingredients, as well as help create soups and nut milks at home. It comes with a 1.2 l container and 0.6 l travel cup, in Black, Red, Blue, Stainless Steel, Cream, Lemongrass and Green.

• Philips HR1852 Juicer £99.99, is a great every day, easy to clean juice that extracts a f the peel and pips easily.

• Braun Citrus Juicer £22.99, makes light work out of getting every drop of juice from grapefruits, lemons, limes and oranges.

• Vitameister Juicer and Slicer £89.99, is a slow auger screw juicer with the added bonus of being able to slice vegetables for cooking and salads.