Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

My favourite time of the year. Fall! What isn't there to love. All the beautiful warm cozy colours, the crisp, earthy scent in the air, harvest moons, and pumpkins. Authentic gratitude surfaces and everyone comes together to give thanks. No season brings so much comfort to one's soul. 

One of my favourite parts of fall is pumpkin pie. A few years back a really good friend of mine, Candice, introduced me to a pumpkin pie smoothie. I was floored by the thought of pumpkin pie done in a healthy convenient quick way. Years later I have revamped the recipe and made a raw version. Raw pumpkin is a nutritionally-dense food. Its a good source of potassium too.  1-cup of pumpkin only has 30 calories and 0.12 grams of fat as well as 1.16 grams of protein and 7.54 grams of carbohydrates. Besides the potassium, pumpkin is best known for its vitamin A content. Vitamin A is,  oh so important in the fall season. Vitamin A is an antioxidant, it helps protect cells from damage as you age. It is also essential for eye health because it helps you see at night. The vitamin A present in pumpkin can also keep your skin healthy and free from dryness, great for the dry Calgary weather. It can naturally boost your immune system, making it key in year-round cold and flu protection. Who knew raw pumpkin was so beneficial and delicious. 

Pumpkin Pie Smoothie

What you need:

• Half of a sugar pumpkin, peeled, scrapped and diced.
• 1 cup carrot juice ( I used fresh pressed but store bought is fine)
• 1 inch piece of vanilla, juiced with carrots or crapped and added
• 2 bananas (freeze before hand if you want a colder drink) 
• small pinky-size (2 cm) of ginger root
• 1 1/2 cup almond milk or coconut milk
• 4-6 dates
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves 
• pinch of salt

The how to:

• Juice carrots and vanilla bean together to produce 1 cup of juice.  5-6 medium carrots usually does it. Tip: juice vanilla bean in between two carrots.
• Add all ingredients to high speed blender. I used the Vitamix
• Enjoy!!!!

My Thoughts On My 3 Day Juice Cleanse

Over the past 3 days I've been on a small juice cleanse. I've been doing juice cleanses for years. There are so many opinions out there when it comes to juice cleansing, so for those who are interested, I'd like to share with you my thoughts, knowledge and experience. Please keep in mind I'm not a doctor and I am not telling you or anyone, to to do a juice cleanse. I'm just sharing my own personal experience, and the benefits I have found from doing them. In saying that, remember that everybody is different, what may work for some, may not work for others. You know your body better than anyone. Listen to it, it will let you know better than anyone could tell you.

So if you want me to be brutally honest about it, I ALWAYS have an incredible experience when I do a juice cleanse. Despite the odd headache and my few hangry moments, the way I feel afterwards is just so surreal. There is a big misconception, people think that they are simply starving themselves, but in fact they are just giving their body's digestive system a chance to rest, while loading your body full of concentrated nutrients. This allows the body to give some well needed attention toward other elements of your body. Did you know that between 40-80% of your body's energy can be used during the the digestion process. The amount of energy your body uses during digestion is dependant on how processed, unhealthy, or large your last meal was. If you have ever experienced exhaustion after eating a meal you  know exactly what I'm talking about. Juicing takes most of the fibre out of your fruits and vegetables, what you are left with is a nutrient dense, and easy to digest juice! The benefit to this is less work for your body and digestive system, to absorb a ton  of concentrated nutrients very quickly. I like to make each serving of juice out of 5-6 lbs of fruits and vegetables, I personally incorporate a large amount of greens so I can get all the alkalizing benefits. While cleansing, I drink between 6-8 servings of juice a day. One of the kids and my favourite juices is Monster Juice!

If you are thinking about trying a juice cleanse be sure to ease your way into it. A few tips and tricks from my personal experience would be: Transition yourself slowly. Eat very clean a few weeks prior, and be sure NOT TO BINGE EAT the night before. You want your juices to be organic, cold pressed, raw vegan, with no preservatives or chemicals. Only fresh squeezed and/or homemade. During the cleanse you may find yourself experiencing some or all of the following detox symptoms; nausea, diarrhea, fatigue, sore muscles, crankiness or headaches. This is completely normal. I personally only get the odd headache, nothing else. The benefits I experience from these cleanses are hormonal improvement, improved digestion, increased energy, clearer skin, fewer cravings and in the long run weight loss. When breaking your cleanse/fast resist the urge to binge. Ease your way back into food, it should take you just as long to ease back as the cleanse took. ex. 3 days if your doing a 3 day cleanse, 6 days if your doing a 6 day cleanse. Breaking your fast is just as important as the fast itself.  It should be done in the morning hence the word "break-fast" and with only raw juicy fruits such as watermelon. You don't want to just go filling your body full of junk right afterwards.  Remember this is a time to love your body not shock it and have it hating you the whole way through. Being in the right mindset is key,  make your goal a happier healthier life, and nothing more. Truly listen to your body, it's the only place you have to live, for the rest of your life. Treat it like the temple it is. 

"The food you eat can be either the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison."

-Ann Wigmore