Morning Energy Smoothie

Morning energy smoothie

The morning energy smoothie is the first of our specialty smoothie recipes.

In posts 1 through 5 of our smoothie post series we have gone over why smoothies are so good for you and the basics of making them. 

The remainder of our smoothie post series gets into some specific recipes. These are designed to boost your energy, boost the immune system and fortify your health, and transform your looks.

Morning energy smoothie recipe  

First, we’ll set out the recipe. Then we’ll examine the ingredients and their benefits.

• ½ cup cold water
• 1 beet
• Lemon juice to taste
• 1 tablespoon honey; 
• 2 tablespoons of coconut oil; 
• 2 cups of mixed frozen berries. 

Better than coffee

This smoothie is a better choice than your morning coffee pick-me-up.. 

Coffee is not a good morning boost option. It doesn’t have much nutritional value. And it is addictive.  

The effect of caffeine works is to block those receptors in the brain that ae responsive to adenosine. This is an inhibitory neurotransmitter that we produce as a by-product of the energy process. 

The more time we spend working the more adenosine builds up and the slower and less  cognitive we become.

By blocking these receptors caffeine can prevent adenosine from having any impact and the effect of this is to make the brain feel more awake.

The problem is that the brain responds to this by creating more adenosine receptors! And the result is that you now need even more caffeine to feel its effects. 

What’s worse is that when you aren’t consuming caffeine you will feel slow, lethargic and prone to headaches!  Now, when you’re asleep, you obviously aren’t getting any caffeine. So current thinking is that sleep inertia, or morning grogginess, or, is in fact attributable to caffeine withdrawal.

What’s more, caffeine triggers the release of stress hormones like epinephrine and cortisol. This is why caffeine is often described as “stress in a cup.”

Morning Energy Smoothie

The morning energy smoothie has a lot of ingredients to give you a wakeup boost and provide you with energy throughout the day, and to protect your immune system.

So let’s examine each ingredient of our morning wake up smoothie

Berries: Berries contain antioxidants in large quantities. Antioxidants are substances that protect our cells against free radicals’ These play a role in the development of heart disease, cancer, and other ailments.

Free radicals are compounds that damage cells when they come into contact with them. These can actually cause visible signs of aging as the damage becomes more apparent in our skin and in our hair.

But what is more concerning is what happens when those free radicals break through our cell walls and all the way to our nuclei. These are the centers of the cells that contain our DNA. 

When this happens, they can cause damage to our DNA in such a way as to cause small mutations. And if those mutations are replicated, cancerous growths can occur. 

So adopting a diet high in antioxidants is one of the very best things we can do to improve our health. And adding berries to a smoothie is one of the best ways to do this.

Beet: We add the power of the beet. 

Beet juice is actually such a potent performance enhancer that it is used by competition athletes. This is because beet juice acts as a vasodilator. 

A vasodilator is something that widens the blood vessels, our veins and arteries, and thus helps more blood and oxygen flow around the body. 

This also means more blood and oxygen to our brain, which in turn translates to better concentration, better mental energy and cognitive performance. It also means we are likely to enjoy overall energy and improvements in physical performance, such as when we head out for a long run!

Honey: Honey is an excellent choice for energy, because of the dual manner in which it provides its sugar. Honey contains both sucrose and fructose, which the bloodstream absorbs at different rates. 

This means honey can supply a sugar boost right away at the beginning of the day. And then a slow release of sugar that will keep us going until lunch. This can help reduce the urge to snack.. 

Of course honey also lends our smoothie a bit of natural sweetness! 

Coconut oil: is a good choice because it contains a specific type of fat, called medium chain triglycerides. This type of fat stimulates the production of ketone, which is the best kind of brain energy. See how to lose weight and get healthy with keto.

Lemon juice: Lemon is a great source of numerous vitamins and minerals, They contain vitamin C, vitamin B-6 flavonoids, folate, potassium, and compounds called limonins. Plus it gives you that citrus lemony taste boost.

So the Morning Energy Smoothie is a great example of healthy and effective breakfast smoothie.

Smoothie equipment

You can’t make a good morning energy smoothie without the right equipment. So here are some things to have on hand. Make sure you have sharp knives for cutting, a good cutting board, and the following.