Gut Repair Smoothie

What does gut repair and hair color have in common? Well, turns out when I typed in #anthocyaninin the IG search one finds way more amazing hair colors than one does blueberries. So there’s that.

But really, outside of rocking’ purple hair, anthocyanins also relate to the pigments found in foods such as blueberries and purple cabbage and besides making your food really pretty, these pigments also offer our bodies a potent dose of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Two of my functional nutrition clients are currently working with me on their issues with leaky gut. I wanted to create an easy and tasty functional food ally for them that really packs a gut healing punch. When it comes to gut healing we want all the anti-inflammatory functional food allies we can stuff in our quiver. In addition to anthocyanins, blueberries contain quercitin which is a flavonoid with a particularly strong anti-inflammatory effect. And if that wasn’t good enough, studies have found that increased and regular blueberry consumption improves memory and motor skills and slows cognitive decline. Purple cabbage, in addition to its anthocyanin content, also contains L-glutamine, an amino acid which has been shown to help maintain our gut barrier and the integrity of the mucosal barrier and this is mega important for keeping particles and pathogens that may be in the gut out of the blood stream. And at the end of the day, one of the best ways to get the most out of absorption of fruits and veggies is to have some healthy fat with them. So here’s the purple cabbage blueberry avocado smoothie I created for them that turned out to be super creamy and delicious.

6 oz of purple cabbage juice

1/2 cup of blueberries

1 avocado

1 Tbsp of ginger juice

Juice of one lemon (juice the whole thing, rind included)

1 tsp of ground cardamom

Stevia to taste

Enjoy!