Beets me why we never thought of drinking this luscious, deep violet-tinted health food earlier! From juices to smoothies to salads, beets are experiencing what can only be dubbed as a “food revival”. After all, they’re embedded with a particular natural sweetness & the nutritional benefits to be reaped are endless. Truth is, not very many people enjoy them. Am fully convinced they have a bad rep because they are not prepared adequately. Most people have only ever tried the canned variety & have never experienced the joy of freshly roasted beets. I never winced at beets; my mother introduced them into my diet early on in life. She would roast them, she would pickle them, she would add them onto potato salad. They were there & they had to be eaten. She always used to tell me beets were good for my kidneys and helped clean our blood. It turns out there was a whole lot of truth in what I would at the time dismiss as old wives tales. Your mother is always right. (Almost always right).

Beets do so many things for you & your body; they help cleanse & detoxify your blood & liver, they are loaded with immune boosting Vitamin C, they help fight inflammation- & some even say they help lower blood pressure. I always encourage my readers to do their own independent research on matters I bring to light; so you can see for yourself all the wonderful things you could potentially be missing out on. So for the first time ever, I drank my beets. And yes, they were delicious. With the banana, the blackberries, the raw honey & the coconut yogurt- I could hardly tell they were there except for the fact my smoothie was the most vibrant shade of reddish purple.

Makes 1 Serving, You Will Need

• 1/2 cup of cold water
• 1/2 cup of ice
• 1/4 cup vanilla coconut yogurt
• 1 tablespoon of raw honey or agave syrup
• 1 red beet (peeled)
• 1 cup of blackberries
• 1/2 cup of pineapple chunks (optional)
• 1 tablespoon of bee pollen for garnish & immune boosting properties (optional)
• 1 very ripe frozen banana sliced (Always peel it before freezing, I store mine in ziplock bags)

Blend all ingredients on Pulse and then gradually move to High until the desired consistency has been obtained. This recipe results in a thick, dense smoothie. If you want a more juice-like texture, ditch the 1/2 cup of ice for ice water for a total liquids of 1 cup of ice cold water. Enjoy it! 🙂