Cold Season Smoothie

This smoothie contains the following ingredients that have shown to be beneficial for colds and flu:

• Oranges: If you have been exposed to a lot of stress lately, it has been shown that an increase of vitamin C can reduce your likelihood of coming down with a cold or flu by up to half.
• Clementines: Just one clementine contains half the amount of Vitamin C required daily. One serving of this recipe contains 3 clementines.
• Coconut:  Coconut oil is excellent for reducing the length of a cold or flu and many people have seen amazing results. Take 4 tablespoons of coconut oil a day while you’ve got a cold.
• Ginger: Ginger has been used for thousands of years for the treatment of colds and flu. You can either add it to your smoothies or steep it in boiling water throughout the day.
• Lemons: Lemons can reduce the severity of your cold and flu symptoms as well as being great for treating congestion and sore throats.  Whenever my husband starts to get a sore throat, I make him a hot honey and lemon tea with ginger and he always feels immediate relief.
• Chia Seeds: Chia seeds are a great addition to your drinks when you are feeling run down as they help to hydrate you which is what you need when you’re feeling run down.  They also help you feel energised all day and keep your blood sugars stable.
• Echinacea: Echinacea can halve your risk of catching a cold and reduce the severity of the symptoms once you’ve got your cold.
• Honey/ Sweetener: If you are willing to eat honey it would be worth adding some honey to your smoothie to sweeten it up and also provide some amazing healing benefits.  I would recommend you use a raw honey as they can be especially good for many aspects of your health and healing.  If you don’t use honey, you can use your favourite healthy sweetener instead to give you an energy boost.

• 1 Cup Orange Juice
• 1 and a half Cups Coconut Milk (or one can)
• 6 Clementines (3 cups)
• 2 teaspoons of Ginger (raw root ginger, or dried)
• Juice of 2 Lemons

• OPTIONAL
• 2 Tablespoons Chia Seeds
• 4 Tablespoons of Raw Manuka Honey (or any healthy sweetener to taste)
• 20 drops of Echinacea
• 4 Tablespoons of melted Coconut Oil
• TO MAKE INTO A GREEN SMOOTHIE Add:
• 1 Cup Spinach, tightly packed or 2 cups loosely packed. (Or any other mild greens)

Instructions

• Blend the ingredients in the order listed. If you are making a green smoothie blend the greens and liquid first and then blend the rest of the ingredients. This creates more space in your blender. Add more water if required to thin it out. Substitute any of the ingredients for whatever you already have. If your smoothie is too warm, you can cool it down in the fridge or freeze some of your ingredients before blending. It is better to add frozen ingredients at the end to cool the smoothie down.