This nutrition-rich smoothie made with tropical fruits, ginger, and greens is full of health benefits, such as being a great digestion booster, potential mood enhancer, and more!
Bring the experience of an exotic health spa home by making this smoothie full of nutritious and tasty tropical fruits with a touch of ginger for extra zest. It’s not only delicious, but bursting with nutrition and full of health benefits as well, such as being a great digestion booster, potential mood enhancer, and more! Read on to discover all the details.
Boost Digestion
Good digestion is critical to good health, because improperly digested food leads to inflammation which in turn may eventually lead to health conditions and disease.
This smoothie is great for digestion, because two of the fruits — pineapple and kiwi — contain the natural enzymes bromelain and actinidain, respectively. These enzymes assist in the breakdown of proteins, such as meat, fish, and dairy, so they are especially useful when eating a heavy meal. Also, ginger works as a digestive stimulant. Therefore, this is a great smoothie to drink with a meal to avoid that awful bloated or heavy feeling.
Enhance Mood
Another health benefit of this smoothie is that it may boost your mood, because of one little green fruit it contains — kiwi. How? Well, Vitamin C- and potassium-rich kiwi fruits actually contain serotonin, a hormone that acts as a neurotransmitter responsible for a number of physiological processes, such as appetite regulation and memory. An increase in serotonin levels has been associated with a decrease in depression as this Medical News Today article explains, so getting more can improve your mood. Why not get it naturally by adding plenty of kiwi fruit to your smoothies?
Improve Sleep
The kiwi in this smoothie may also help you sleep better. Kiwi has been shown to improve sleep quality and quantity and even how quickly you fall asleep according to this Web MD article. This may be due to its high serotonin content and antioxidant levels.
Get Your Fiber
Chock full of naturally occurring fiber, this smoothie helps meet some of your daily fiber requirements without the need to resorting to fiber supplements.
Load Up on Vitamins and Minerals
Loaded with minerals and vitamins, this is one healthy smoothy. You’ll get a lot of vitamins, such as Vitamins A, C, & K, and B vitamins like thiamin (aka B1), riboflavin (aka B2), B6, and folate (Vitamin B9). In addition, you’ll get a fare share of minerals, especially copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorous, and potassium. For nutrition information on the benefits of individual ingredients, check out this useful website on nutrition facts by Self Magazine.
Sneak In Some Green Veggies!
One more great thing about this smoothie that I love is that it’s an easy way to add some healthy green veggies like kale to your diet. Kale contains fiber and protein as well as many vitamins and minerals, such as Thiamin, Riboflavin, Folate, Iron, Magnesium and Phosphorus, and Vitamin A, Vitamin C, Vitamin K, Vitamin B6, Calcium, Potassium, Copper and Manganese according to Self Nutrition Data.
As you can see, this healthy smoothie is good for you on so many levels. Have you been convinced to give it a try yet? Hope so!
A tropical medley of fruits, including pineapple, kiwi, banana, and avocado, with kale make a healthy and nutritious smoothie.
Ingredients
- 1/4 pineapple (about 1 cup)
- 2 – 3 kiwi fruits
- 1 banana
- 1 avocado
- 1 – 3 one-inch pieces of fresh ginger
- 16 ounces of coconut water
- 1/3 – 1/2 bunch of kale
- Optional: Agave syrup, raw honey, or stevia
- Optional: Ice
Makes enough for 3 – 5 servings.
Directions
This smoothie has a juice consistency due to the 16 ounces of coconut water added, so if you desire something thicker, use less coconut water and substitute it with ice. Do be aware, though, that the colder something is, the more it interferes with your digestive “fire.” Therefore, I usually don’t make it with ice.
Also, depending on how ripe your fruits are, you may not need to add in additional sweetener, which is why I suggest trying it first before adding it.
- Peel ginger and cut it into small 1/2 chunks. Be aware that ginger is quite spicy, so start with a smaller amount first when in doubt.
- Slice fruit into chunks. Reserve some pineapple chunks and kiwi slices for garnish, if desired.
- Add ginger and fruit to the blender interspersing the kale as you go. (I found mixing the kale in like this makes the whole mixture blend much more easily without having to manually push down the kale as its blending.)
- Pour in coconut water and add in optional ice.
- Blend and taste. If you want it sweeter, use one of the suggested sweeteners above.
- Serve immediately.
Did you know these fun ingredient facts?
- Coconut water is an electrolyte-rich drink that’s a healthy substitute for Gatorade, because it has magnesium, calcium, phosphorous, and lots of potassium.
- Ginger is a warming herb that boosts the immune system and acts as a natural detoxifier by cleansing the lymphatic system. Check out how to make a detoxifying ginger bath with it.
- Ginger is especially helpful for combating respiratory infections, especially when taken as a tea.
Other Spa Drink Articles You May Be Interested In:
- 7 Compelling Health Reasons to Drink Cucumber Water
- 5 Reasons to Add Lemon Water to Your Daily Routine
- Pomegranate-Berry Spa Water Recipe
- Are You Unknowingly Drinking “Dead” Water Void of Minerals?
- 7 Ways to Enliven Your Drinking Water with Minerals for Better Health
Some Articles About DIY Spa Treatments You May Enjoy:
- Reduce Cellulite and More with Dry Skin Brushing
- How to do Abhyanga: A Daily Self-Massage Therapy Full of Health Benefits
- Organic Lavender Body Scrub for Sun-Drenched Skin
Copyright © Karen Peltier and Well Gal, 2014. All rights reserved.
Photos © Karen Peltier and Well Gal, 2014.
Looks like a great smoothie!! I often use pineapple and ginger for digestion! I am in need of a great smoothie.. I think I’ll go try this out!!
Karen, This looks so simple to make and I bet it’s delicious! I love smoothies it’s a way to get some of your 7 a day and it’s easy to drink and tasty too 🙂
Hi Karen,
Yummy this looks delish! I’m a big fan of smoothies and juicing. The benefits you listed with this are absolutely amazing. I have to tell ya…I bookmarked it under my “juicing & smoothie” list.
I’m always looking for good alternatives rather than my old combinations.
Thanks so much,
-Donna
Karen
Thank you for the recipe and the education that goes with it.
Looking forward to learning more .
Hello Allen. Thanks for taking the time to write in. I’m glad you enjoyed the post. Let me know if you get a chance to try the recipe and how you like it!