Sunshine Citrus Smoothie

To brighten up any day with high net-gain nutrition

Is it possible for a smoothie to taste cheerful? This smoothie is just so fresh and tangy and delightful. It’s like joy in a cup. I’m all about shopping local as much as possible, but in the frozen north in the middle of winter – we’re extremely grateful to import a bit of sunshine. Three cheers for citrus season!

This Citrus Smoothie is more than just delicious though – it’s brimming with immune-boosting vitamins C and A, antioxidants, fiber, phytonutrients, and plant-based Omega 3 fatty acids. What’s more, it provides energy that sustains.

Have you heard of the concept of net-gain nutrition?

The net gain of food is the energy one is left with once the food has been digested and assimilated.

“The more energy the body must expend to digest, assimilate, and utilize the nutrients in the food we give it, the less energy we are left with.”

Brenden Brazier Thrive, the Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life

Unfortunately, a large portion of the foods that most people eat have really low net gain. Ultra-processed cookies, bars, cakes and crackers, refined grains, fried foods, potato chips, animal flesh…all of these things take a lot of work to digest, but don’t leave us with much nutrition. They’re high calorie, low nutrition, and they leave us feeling tired. Essentially, they create more problems for the body than they solve.

Lame.

Whole, plant-based foods, on the other hand provide a lot of nutrition for relatively low calories. Less work needs to be done by the body to assimilate them, that means more energy for you! The ingredients in this smoothie are alkalizing to the system, and they help our bodies fight off free radical damage.

If you’re new to the concept of antioxidants and free radicals, check out this Harvard Health article: Understanding Antioxidants.

This is a great post-workout smoothie.

Are you looking for a smoothie to support you in your athletic endeavours? The Sunshine Smoothie has you covered. Post-workout nutrition should be easy to digest, it should quickly replenish glycogen stores, and it should deliver about a 4:1 carbohydrate to protein ratio. This smoothie does all of that! And, and as mentioned above, it’s loaded with anti-inflammatory compounds which can help speed up your recovery. (If you’re curious, there are about 15 grams of protein in here.)

If you want to further boost the inflammation-fighting qualities of this smoothie, you could throw in a teaspoon of turmeric (along with a crack of fresh pepper) or a teaspoon of dried ginger. Come to think of it…a teaspoon of cayenne would be pretty good in here as well…

Sunshine Citrus Smoothie

INGREDIENTS Makes 2 servings

• 3 fresh mandarine oranges, peeled (tangerines or clementines)
• 1 heaping cup frozen mango
• 1/4 cup goji berries, (aka Lycium berries) soaked in water for 15 minutes and then drained
• 1.5 cups unsweetened soy milk
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds
• 2 Tbsp ground flax

METHOD

1. Toss everything into a blender and process until creamy and smooth. Enjoy!

Serving Suggestions

1. Make a smoothie bowl by topping with this Smoothie Topper or your favourite Granola
2. Pour into popsicle molds, freeze, and enjoy as a frozen treat.
3. Add a tablespoon or two of Rose Water. It adds a lovely floral quality that goes really well with the citrus.