3 Powerhouse Skin Tonics to Get Your Glow On

Green drinks are the latest and greatest nutritional powerhouses to hit the juice bars.  And who better to share them than the following health and beauty mavens.

Julie Lindh is the ultimate holistic skin care guru with a sublime spiritual twist.  I posted about her here.  I'm sure you will enjoy her easy-to-prepare recipe for glowing skin that she shared in a newsletter.  Julie offers advice and products here and her signature Skin Fitness program here.  (Don’t you love the sound of a fitness program for skin?  Your skin receives quite the workout with her special treatment!)

So…without further ado, let’s get to the delicious and nutritious green drink menu.

Glowing Skin Juice Shot

• 1 T Spirulina powder (I like this green powder from The Synergy Company or Clean Chlorella Powder from Natural News)
• 4 2-inch cubes of watermelon
• 1 stalk of celery
• 1 stalk of kale
• 1 cup of cold water

Blend all ingredients together in a mixer until liquified. Drink all in one serving, or split into 3 shots and drink one before breakfast, lunch and dinner. Delicious and nutritious!

[Reprinted from Julie Lindh's July 2013 newsletter.]

Kimberly Snyder shared this Glowing Green Smoothie recipe in her first book, “The Beauty Detox.”  It is her cornerstone drink for the beauty detox diet that has created quite the stir among A-list celebrities and people like you and me—assuming you’re not a celeb (though if you’re reading this post, you’re definitely on MY A-LIST).

So here’s how to transform into a glowing green Goddess without actually turning green.

• 2 cups of water
• 1/2 head organic spinach
• 1 head organic romaine lettuce
• Juice of 1/2 organic lemon
• 2-3 sticks of organic celery
• 1 organic banana
• 1 organic pear
• 1 organic apple

Follow the directions above or here. The GSS lasts for two days in the fridge when covered.

What makes blending greens so great?

Here’s what Kimberly Snyder has to say about that:

Greens have more valuable nutrients than any other food group on the planet. You might be surprised to learn that greens even have high-quality, easily-assimilated amino acids – enough to build the protein that supports the muscle mass of the mighty, greens-eating gorilla, which pound-for-pound is the strongest animal on earth!

Blending makes the nutrients in greens more bio-available to the body.  The creamy consistency allows for maximum absorption.

Want to add a little kick to your day?  Sip a virgin Mint Mojito Smoothie conjured up by Well+Good NYC resident mixologist, Jennifer Kass.

• 1/2 lime, including the rind
• 10 mint leaves
• 1 c coconut water
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/4 avocado
• 1 tsp coconut sugar
• Optional: Protein powder

Here are some of the benefits Well+Good shares on the website:

Fresh mint stimulates digestion and is said to help dissolve fats, and the water content in cucumbers helps flush out anything that makes us sluggish. Lime adds antioxidant vitamin C and boost alkalinity, and the rind also contains a medicinal oil used for digestive issues.

What’s in your juicer lately?  Do you have a favorite combination?  Personally, I grab whatever I’ve got—like frozen organic berries, açai, chia seeds, flaxseeds, bananas, spinach, kale—and throw them into a base of freshly juiced organic apples, carrots, beets, cucumber, celery, and sometimes ginger, then blend. The beets lend a robust red juicy color that I find very appealing.

Related articles

• How to Get a Natural Glow by Exfoliating with Baking Soda (naturalbeautyatanyage.wordpress.com)
• The Blood Sugar Balance Plan (holisticvanity.ca)
• Green Watermelon Cooler (soletshangout.com)
• You’ve Got To Try This Great Juicing Advice (jeremiblog1.wordpress.com)
• I’ve discovered more greens and yummy recipes! (pinklemonsandrainbows.com)
• 9 Tips For Gorgeous Glowing Skin! (hollysticwellness.wordpress.com)

Photo Credits

1. (Courtesy of So…Let’s Hang Out Blog—great recipes too)
2. Kim's Beauty Detox
3. Well+Good NYC

My Crazy Good Recipe-free Smoothie

Find foods to nourish the spirit and feed the soul. If you can’t eat them, blend them!
My smoothies are usually so random.  Absolutely no measurements are required to make a delicious health-enhancing cocktail!

For the Base Liquid
Often—if I feel like cleaning the juicer AND the Vitamix afterwards—I’ll juice my own base liquid of organic carrots, celery, maybe ginger and beets, and heavy on the apples.

For the Body
Then into the Vitamix, I’ll throw in the pre-juiced liquid, plus any veggies and berries on hand: kale, spinach, parsley, avocado, frozen or fresh blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, a fresh—usually sadly overripe—banana, and sometimes even pineapple.

The Add-ons
Then if I’m really adventurous, in go some chia seeds, hemp seeds, aloe vera juice, or Udo’s 3-6-9 Oil Blend (or any nutritious oil high in omegas like hemp seed oil or raw coconut oil).

The Scary Part
There’s a lot of mixing at that point, and people run and hide. (Vitamix can get noisy.)
Usually this looks so delicious that I think I’m salivating now just thinking about it!
Actually, it really doesn’t look that good every time. It’s kind of a
crapshootmystery that way. It depends on how heavy on the fruit and beets I’ve gotten. (Sorry! Is crapshoot a bad word? Where are my manners today?!)

So there you have it–my recipe-less smoothie that tastes really, really good. Just ask my finicky husband who used to never eat veggies (no joke).

He’s like Mikey in the classic Life cereal commercial: “Hey, Mikey! He likes it!” And then the kids proceed to guzzle down the formerly repugnant “healthy-looking” cereal.

My husband drinks this and doesn’t have to be forced…most of the time (*sheepish grin*).
Thus far no luck with the kids though. So I’m still feverishly devising the perfect formula.