Bedtime Smoothie
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We always enjoy a little something at bedtime and since we eat a healthy diet thought it would be a good idea to find something that would provide sleep benefit. What a wonderful surprise when we came across Dr.Oz's Sleep Doctor's Sleep Slim Smoothie. Cherries are one of the richest known sources of melatonin, the sleep hormone that recent studies have shown can also help reverse the effects of aging, while bananas contain loads of magnesium, a calming mineral. Lastly, soy milk is high in tryptophan, the sleep-inducing amino acid. Dr.Oz. We also include almonds which also contain tryptophan (sedative) and magnesium (muscle relaxant). So we started out searching for something to help us sleep but derived secondary benefit by awakening without stiff muscles! |
So, what are we waiting for? Let's Get Cooking!
Ingredients:
1C Filtered Water
6 TBS Tart Cherry Juice Concentrate
2 TBS Raw Almonds
1 Frozen Banana*
1C Almond Milk or Soy Milk
10 Ice Cubes
1 TBS Agave Nectar (optional)
1 TBS Marachino Cherry Juice (optional)
If you have a VitaMix or other powerful blender, place all ingredients, in the order listed, and blend on medium (5) for between 30 seconds and 1 minute. Add additional water or almond milk to get the consistency you like (we drink ours very thick and use a spoon to get started: it is, after all, our dessert and relaxing nighttime snack all in one).
If your blender is not very powerful, place the almonds in the blender first and "chop". Then add the frozen banana, water, concentrate and almond or soy milk and "chop" again. Last add ice and optional ingredients and blend until Smoothie is well blended and smooth.
At the beginning of our Bedtime Smoothie venture we were exploring logical night time after dinner treats and it made sense to us to find something that was relaxing -- an end of the day indulgence that would be soothing. Imagine our surprise when after three days of our delightful l discovery we began waking up in the morning without our usual little aches and stiffness. It was then that we began researching the ingredients and tweaking it a bit more. We have long realized that food is beautiful and delicious. . .we are now learning that specific foods have very distinct health benefits.
Buon Bere!
Buonanotte!