In recent days, I have come across several articles that give smoothies a bad rep & talk about them as being high in sugar & carbs. It even misleads readers into thinking smoothies (as a whole) will make you pile on the pounds rather than help you lose or maintain your current weight. The truth is; you can make a healthy smoothie taste great, but it’s even easier to make an unhealthy, sugary smoothie that tastes great, too. I thought I would give you some tips to navigate the ever-expanding world of “smoothie making”; little hints that will help you stay away from smoothies that may be high in processed & artificial sugars. All my smoothies are dairy, gluten & refined sugar free. And there’s so many incredible recipes for you to pick from on this site.

• Don’t add fruit juice to your smoothies as your base. Do add nut milks, water, or coconut water.
• Don’t add dairy products where possible. Do add dairy free thickeners like coconut & cashew yogurt. I also like to add coconut or goat milk Kefir, the latter isn’t dairy free but is much easier to digest & oozing with probiotics.
• Don’t add cookies to your smoothies (there seems to be a trend to add crumbled Oreos?) Do add cashews & other nuts.
• Don’t add sugar, brown sugar, or artificial sweeteners. Do add agave, raw honey, dates, ripe bananas or pure maple syrup as natural occurring sweeteners. These are unrefined, unprocessed & not bad for you.

With that in mind, let’s move into this smoothie recipe. 🙂 Because tell you what; it’s delicious & beautifully simple. It’s always the odd things that you remember.. like being in 9th grade history class & reading about how Christopher Columbus was so blown away by papaya in the new world he dubbed it the “Fruit of the Angels” and filled a boat with the fruit & brought it back to Spain for others to try. I have been addicted to papaya since I was a little girl; I think it’s one of the first fruits in pureed form that I was introduced to. My mother would pure papayas & honey or bananas & honey and feed them to us.

Papaya is one of the healthiest foods in the world. It’s amazing properties include the ability to fight inflammation thanks to papain; an enzyme found in the fruit. It’s also high in folate, nutrients & fiber. I consume papaya at every chance I get & am still grieving over how expensive it is here in Canada.

Makes 1 Serving, You Will Need:

• 1 cup of papaya chunks (seeds removed, these little black seeds can be very bitter in fact!)
• 1/2 fresh or frozen banana
• 1 cup of Goat Kefir OR (1/2 coconut yogurt + 1/2 cup coconut or almond milk)
• 1 tablespoon of raw honey or agave (optional)
• 1 tablespoon of flaxseed oil (for healthy fats & good health)
• 1 tablespoon of bee pollen (optional)

Blend until desired consistency is obtained. For a thicker smoothie, use a frozen banana & add some ice cubes. Kefir will usually always yield a naturally thicker smoothie, as will coconut yogurt. Remember: you can pick either one, but don’t use both. I find flaxseed oil always makes your smoothie a bit thicker, too. Enjoy, happy drinking!