photo credit: Ylva Erevall
Today’s featured smoothie was inspired by an adventure I had during my travels in Zanzibar, an island off the coast of Tanzania. Zanzibar is a beautiful and magical place that is not only abundant in juicy tropical fruit, but it also has many vibrant spice markets!
One of my favorite places to visit while I was there was a market called Stone Town, where I saw bins of fresh ginger, turmeric and more.
My mind immediately thought of how all these earthy spices could turn into a delicious and refreshing smoothie. I wanted to give it a juicy punch by adding pineapple, which has amazing hydrating elements, and is packed with the enzyme bromelain, which has anti-inflammatory and detoxifying effects.
Bromelain has many health benefits, mainly helping with digestion. Pineapple is a great fruit to eat to help the body naturally detoxify itself and lose weight. It’s also considered anti-inflammatory. On top of having all of these wonderful benefits, it also adds just the right amount of sweetness to this smoothie!
I’ve also included one of my favorite spices: Turmeric
I have been talking a lot about Turmeric on the blog and I am so excited to bring you a smoothie that includes this Beauty spice! Turmeric has been used in India for thousands of years as a spice and medicinal herb. Recently, science has started to back up what the Indians have known for a long time… it really does contain compounds with medicinal properties. These compounds are called curcuminoids, the most important of which is curcumin. The curcumin in turmeric is known to be anti-inflammatory, making it a great way to abate aging and illness-contributing inflammation.
Turmeric is also known to help cleanse the blood, helping with healthy blood flow which in turn helps create glowing skin. :)
Though the color of this shake is really more yellow than orange, I share it in the Svadhastana chakra section of, The Beauty Detox Power book. This is because of it’s water-based properties.
So if you’re wishing you could be whisked away to Zanzibar’s paradise beaches, fringed by an abundance of coconut palms, here’s the next best thing! ;)
Check out the full recipe below…
- 1 cup chopped ripe, fresh pineapple (frozen works, too)
- 1 cup chopped ripe, fresh banana, (frozen works, too: see Note)
- 1 cup cold coconut water
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
- ½ teaspoon ground turmeric (or a pinch of grated fresh turmeric)
- Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
- While blending, take a deep breath in and then breathe out any tension, relaxing as you would on a tropical island, to resonate with the chilled-out energy of the locale in which these ingredients are grown and to feel the full effects. Hakuna matata! (No worries!)
- Serve the shake at once.
Love,
Kimberly
