Strawberry beet hemp seed chocolate smoothie

Delicious healthy no sugar added smoothie to start your day.

Last week, I was so sick couldn’t talk a single word down with bad cold and cough. Now my voice is back and getting better with antibiotics.  On the top we are moving from Houston to Spring.  Overwhelmed with packing, unpacking, cleaning the house, still some are in boxes which need to be sort out.  This Thanksgiving was as simple as I couldn’t cook only rice and lentil with some potato chips. Slowly I am getting back to into the routine. Today my daughter started school in new place. It is lot for a 6 year old too, yes new friends and teacher. I think she will get used soon. In hectic mornings my choice of breakfast is smoothies.  I am a smoothie person, love to try new combo of smoothies, nowadays I want to try without sugar or sweetener if possible as my hubby can also enjoy it. When you get less time during your morning routine for an elaborate breakfast smoothies comes to rescue. I made this delicious Strawberry beet hemp seed chocolate smoothie. Yes it is sugar free and it still has a great earthy taste.

I made this smoothie with my kids’ favorite ingredients; strawberries beets and chocolate which are among their favorite. You can make them eat anything if any of the three ingredients are present. Nowadays strawberries are available in the market, but they are more than double the price of what is was a few months ago. Strawberries are not only juicy and delicious they are rich in vitamin C and antioxidants and boost the immunity and eye health. Not only that if you eat strawberries regularly it will help you to reduce your wrinkles. It is rich in fiber, reduce cholesterol and increase our heart health by regulating the blood pressure. If you are interested read more from here.

Eating beet is also very healthy, it helps to lower blood pressure within hours. I also found that drinking one glass of beet juice can low systolic blood pressure by an average of 4-5 points. It is mainly because of presence of naturally occurring nitrates in beets, which are converted into nitric oxide in your body. Nitric oxide, in turn, helps to relax and dilate your blood vessels, improving blood flow and lowering blood pressure. Beet can also boost your stamina, fight inflammation and rich in fiber, helps lowering diabetics and have anti-cancer properties.

Beet root is high in proteins; fiber, and essential nutrients, beetroot has a glycemic index of 64, which is in the medium range. Although the vegetable is high in naturally occurring sugars, the rate of its conversion to glucose is considerably low. This avoids any sudden surge of glucose levels in the blood stream. Compared to consuming this vegetable, drinking the juice of red beets provides a sudden boost of ascorbic acid, vitamin E, carotenes, phenolic acids, and phytoestrogens to the body. Diabetic persons should have a glass of beet root juice combined with other vegetable juice. This can be had on alternate days or twice a week. The presence of fiber in the diet menu is an essential item for diabetes. Hence, try to consume the juicy red beet vegetable as a salad more than a juice. Yet, beetroot juice helps a diabetic person when he is feeling quite tired. Then, the juice strengthens the body and improves the constitution of blood read more from here

Just 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder has 3 to 9 percent of the recommended daily intake of iron, manganese, magnesium and zinc. In addition to carrying oxygen, iron helps make red blood cells which are essential for immune system. Epicatechin and flavaonids present in the unsweetened coco powder relaxes the muscles in blood vessels, which  in turn improves blood flow and helps lower blood pressure, according to research published in the March 2012 issue of the “American Journal of Clinical Nutrition”. Read more from here .

I got some hemp seeds and products from Just Hemp Foods; they are so generous, and also provided me with Hemp Seed Oil, Hemp Protein Powder, Hulled Hemp seeds and Toasted Salted Hemp seeds. When I reviewed a smoothie book, I saw the author adding hemp seeds to smoothie, however I was not able to find at that time so skipped making it.  You will be amazed by the health benefits of Hemp seeds; yes it is super protein food, and has excellent 3:1 balance of omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, which promote cardiovascular health.

It is high in gamma linolenic acid (GLA), an essential omega-6 fatty acid found in borage oil and egg yolks that has been proven to naturally balance hormones.

The “Perfect protein” hemp seeds containing all 20 amino acids that make  protein,  but also each of the 9 essential amino acids that our bodies cannot produce.

Hemp seeds are also a rich source of phytonutrients  and also rich in soluble and un-soluble fiber which naturally cleanses the colon and reduces sugar cravings.

It is suggested that an addition of 2 tablespoon of hemp seeds to a morning smoothie can lead to naturally lower blood pressure, reduce LDL cholesterol, raise HDL cholesterol and improve triglycerides, read from here.

Thus I made healthy smoothie with strawberries, beets, hemp seeds and chocolate without any sugar or sweetener.

Here comes the recipe.

"I got the sample of hemp seeds from Just hemp Foods, however all opinion are mine",

Swathi

This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread.  All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.