Diet: Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Paleo, Pescatarian, Soy Free, Vegan, Vegetarian
Serves: 2
Total Time: 2 minutes

Description

This smoothie tastes like summer. It is so refreshing and is also incredibly health-supportive!

When you hear buzz words about health, you will often hear the word anti-inflammatory crop up.

Ginger and turmeric are some of the most beneficial natural anti-inflammatory compounds for your health.

But what is inflammation and why do we need to be fighting it?

Inflammation is the body’s natural defence against foreign invaders such as viruses and bacteria in order to heal itself. Chemicals are released from white blood cells (which form part of our immune system) to protect an area from harm. In this way, inflammation can be seen as a good thing. However, there are two different types of inflammation. One type is called acute inflammation and the other is chronic inflammation.

Acute inflammation starts quickly and can generally disappear in a few days, whereas chronic inflammation can last months to years and is considered a long-term health problem.

Inflammation is not just the result of infection and now epidemiological research increasingly suggests that inflammation is also linked with a broad range of non-infectious diseases such as autoimmune disorders (Hunter, 2012).

So when it comes to chronic inflammation, it is believed that an overactive immune system results in the body being flooded with defence cells and hormones that can damage tissues.

Naturopathically-speaking, I believe it is important to incorporate anti-inflammatory compounds into your diet as a means to help reduce the damage caused by inflammation. The best way to do this? Use anti-inflammatory spices such as ginger and turmeric!

Whilst there are many foods that can contribute to inflammation (see my blog post article on this here), let’s instead focus on what we can incorporate into the diet to promote health and combat inflammatory processes within the body.

This mango anti-inflammatory smoothie is an excellent way to start. You can most definitely add more than a teaspoon of turmeric and ginger if you prefer, but a good way to begin is to use a low dosage and gradually build your way up to more, especially if your body is quite sensitive.

Mangoes are high in potassium, fibre and are also rich in enzymes (which we all know are fantastic for our digestion), and I have teamed this up with almond milk, but you can always swap this for hazelnut, cashew or coconut milk should you prefer.

Ingredients

• 200g mango (works out as 1 mango, cubed)
• 1 tsp freshly grated ginger
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 300ml almond milk (or preferred health milk alternative)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla powder (or good quality vanilla extract)

Method

1. This one is pretty simple. Place all of the ingredients into a blender and voila!

I hope this smoothie both refreshes and soothes you!

 

References:

Hunter, P. (2012). ‘The Inflammation Theory of Disease: The Growing Realisation that Chronic Inflammation is Crucial in Many Diseases Opens New Avenues for Treatment’, EMBO Reports, 13 (11), pp. 968-970 NCBI [Online]. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3492709/ (Accessed: 29 July 2018).