I don’t know about where you live, but it’s starting to feel a lot like summer around here! That makes me a very happy girl I must say. And the warmer weather means I am craving cooler foods. Like smoothies. Now I am not normally a smoothie lover. Something about the lack of crunch that never leaves me quite as satisfied as real food. But, for the last few weeks smoothies have been making a regular appearance in my diet. Not sure why, but I’m just going with it. And this smoothie in particular I have made multiple times now, so I decided it was time to share it with you folks. And you should be happy to know that pretty much whatever healing diet you are on, this smoothie should fit within your limitations. Because it is SCD, GAPS, AIP and Paleo compatible. It’s not very often I can post a recipe that meets all of these needs. You’re welcome.

And this smoothie not only contains fruit (bananas and oranges) and vegetables (squash or sweet potato) but it also contains healing ingredients like coconut, cinnamon and turmeric.

Cinnamon is a powerful little spice that can help regulate blood sugar, has anti-inflammatory effects, anti-bacterial properties, can help with brain function and reduce your risk of colon cancer (reference). Pretty impressive for such a delicious little spice isn’t it?

And turmeric (or curcumin) is another spice powerhouse. It has very strong anti-inflammatory properties and anti-oxidant effects and is useful for treating a number of diseases including arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, heart disease and neurological diseases (reference). If my patients are reluctant to take traditional anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs) such as Advil, Naproxen, etc. I often recommend turmeric or curcumin supplements instead. There is evidence that they can help with pain control and inflammation in patients with arthritis (a topic I am going to discuss in more detail in a future post) without some of the unwanted side effects that comes with certain medications. That being said, I would never recommend that people stop taking their disease modifying arthritis drugs and replace them with turmeric or curcumin. Sadly, I have seen the devastating results that doing this can have. So always discuss your medication plans with your doctor please.

In other, non-food related news… do you want to know what I have learned these last 10 days since my exams finished? There is so much time in a day! Man is it glorious. I honestly forgot what it was like to have evenings and weekends free. I have been to so many spin classes, visited with friends I haven’t seen in almost a year (yes pathetic I know), gone to the movies, been out for dinner, gone to the mall. Yep life is finally enjoyable again!  Other than the anxiety of not knowing whether or not I passed yet. That is still not an enjoyable feeling. Everyone say a little prayer for me please. I don’t think I could survive another year of that horrible studying. Honestly.

What have you all been doing for fun lately? I am looking to try some new things now that I have time again. Or have you read any good books lately? I am going on vacation soon and plan on doing a lot of reading by the pool. In the sun. Doesn’t that sound fabulous? It sure does to me. So please give me your book recommendations, health-related or fiction are all welcome options. I will pretty much read anything. Well besides romance novels. Those I pretty much avoid.

Alright I know you don’t come here to listen to me talk about books. Let’s be honest, you are here for the food. So I will leave it at that for today. As always I would be thrilled if you visited my social media pages including Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.

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Healing Orange Smoothie

(SCD, AIP, GAPS, Paleo, No Added Sweetener)

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana
• 2 navel oranges, peeled and broken into pieces
• 1/3 cup cooked squash or sweet potato I used butternut squash in mine
• 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk
• 1/4 cup coconut butter or manna
• 1/4-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 - 1/2 tsp ground turmeric
• 2 tbsp grass-fed gelatin collagen hydrolysate I use the Great lakes brand - green container

Instructions

1. Place all the ingredients, except the spices and gelatin into your blender and blend until smooth

2. Stir in the spices and gelatin until combined 

3. Serve and enjoy!

Recipe Notes

TIP: If you put this in the fridge for 30-60 minutes before enjoying this will make an even thicker smoothie (which I personally prefer)