Green Machine

It’s almost bikini season which means time to start cranking up the workouts and incorporating extra greens into my diet! As I’m sure you can tell I love my sweets and trying new restaurants downtown, but I also enjoy being healthy. I live by an 80/20 rule, if I eat healthy 80% of the time I can splurge on sweets and new foods the other 20% of the time. Sometimes I tend to have a little extra indulgence, what can I say I’m only human…with a major sweet tooth.

Back to the healthy stuff though! I’ve always been intrigued by people who do juice cleanses and detoxes, but haven’t gotten myself to do it for a long time span quite yet. I received a juicer for Christmas this year and made this delicious green juice from Lauren’s Latest. I made one batch and drank it every morning for a week. I loved that I was sneaking fruits and vegetables into my diet before I even had my morning coffee. At this time I was juggling many jobs and was unable to workout every day during the week, so I was ok just drinking this for breakfast. However, now that I am back into my regular gym routine, I find myself needing more complex carbs and protein for that boost of energy after my morning workouts.

After trying countless variations of smoothies and a few different juices, I finally concocted my all time favorite green drink! If you are normally grossed out by green drinks, don’t be alarmed this one tastes more like a milkshake, it’s that good.

I make two variations of this smoothies depending upon what my day looks like. If I have time to make this right before or after a workout, I’ll add protein powder to help refuel. If I’m just looking for a snack throughout the day, I’ll use the recipe below.

My Favorite Green Smoothie

Adapted from Skinnytaste.com

Serving Size: 1 smoothie    Total time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 frozen banana
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk (or any milk of your choice)
  • 6 oz nonfat vanilla greek yogurt (or any yogurt will work here)
  • 1 Tbs all-natural creamy peanut butter
  • Big handful of fresh spinach

Instructions

  1. Add banana to blender and blend on highest speed until whipped
  2. Add remaining ingredients in order and blend until spinach is completely blended
  3. Pour in glass and enjoy!
Protein Powder variation: add one scoop of vanilla protein powder, use an extra 1/4 cup milk, and plain yogurt instead of flavored

I always am willing to try new things! What’s your favorite healthy recipe or way to get into shape? Share below:)

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