Recipe: Immune support smoothie

This delicious and refreshing immune support smoothie will really help to power up your immune system by giving it the nutrients it needs to work at its best. For more information on why these nutrients are great for immune health, see my recent blog post on essential nutrients for a healthy immune system. 

Smoothies are ideal way to get a good hit of nutrients in one go, and an excellent way to start the day. A particularly good benefit of smoothies is the ability for nutrients to work synergistically (meaning that two different kinds of nutrients can result in increased bioavailability when consumed together) which can significantly boost your nutrient intake.  This smoothie is a perfect example of nutrients working synergistically to increase the nutrient value, with both the iron-rich spinach and the citrus fruit working together (iron is more readily absorbed by the body when eaten with vitamin C rich foods), and the carrot and full-fat yoghurt (carrot is rich in vitamin A which is increased more readily in the body when eaten with a source of fat).

Ingredients

1 medium carrot (peeled and chopped)

1 cube frozen /1 handful fresh Spinach

Half a small banana

½ tsp fresh ginger (grated or minced)

Juice of half a lemon

Juice of 1 orange

2 tbsp organic full-fat natural yoghurt

Milk of your choice (I used unsweetened coconut milk)

Half tsp honey to sweeten (optional)

Method

Squeeze the orange and lemon by hand over a sieve to get the juice out. Add to a blender with all other ingredients then add enough milk to just cover the ingredients. Blend and enjoy!