The joys of green sludge

For the past week I've been delighting myself with a breakfast of a conglomeration called 'The Glowing Green Smoothie'.

My reason for subjecting myself to it is because I felt absolutely lacking in energy after what seemed like continuously being ill for months and I'd read in a couple of places that this was energising and cleansing for the body. The least I could do was try it.

I have to say that it has had a remarkable result. I'm so full of energy I'm buzzing, which is a huge change and I've not had any '4pm dip' which I've been prone to for ages. I also feel my eyes are brighter and my skin is feeling less dry, and even better than that, I seem to be able to concentrate a bit better, which is a real bonus. My memory, sadly, hasn't improved at all, but then you can't have everything.

So what is this miracle? It's a hefty combination of fruit and veg blended together until it looks like a thick green sludge. It tastes a lot better than it looks... at least from my perspective. However, to give you the other side, John (of Sarah and John fame) had a taste while I was staying the other day and I think the look on his face after a teeny tiny not-even-teaspoon's-worth was one that told me there was no way he'd ever put anything like that in his mouth again!

I'm going to keep at this until I go on retreat at the end of next week, where luxuries like this won't be possible, so it'll be fascinating to see if there's any difference in how I feel.

And just in case you fancy trying it for yourself, here's the recipe, which I've found makes enough for 3 large glasses full:

The Glowing Green Smoothie

Ingredients:
-1 1/2 cups water


-1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
-3-4 stalks celery
-1/2 head of a large bunch or 3/4 of a small bunch of spinach
-1 apple, cored and chopped
-1 pear, cored and chopped
-1 banana
-Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon
*Optional: 
1/3 bunch coriander (stems okay)
 1/3 bunch parsley (stems okay)

Directions:
1. Add water and chopped head of romaine to blender.
2. Blend at a low speed until smooth.
3. Add celery, apple and pear and blend at high speed.
4. Add coriander and parsley.
5. Finish with banana and lemon juice.
6. Drink it up.

I haven't tried it with coriander as I struggled to get hold of some and the recipe does call for all the produce to be organic, but that's not possible where I live, so only the spinach I've bought has been organic.