The season of coughs and sneezing has begun. This flu-fighting smoothie is a little step towards avoiding the annoying symptoms. The portions provided make 2 large servings.
You need
- cranberries
- apple
- bananas
- dates
- teff
- cinnamon
Blend everything
Put ¾ cup of cranberries, 1 apple, 2 bananas, 15-20 dates, 4 tablespoons of teff and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon in a blender. Turn on the button, blend.
So, how does it fight the flu?
- It has cranberries. Cranberries are full of Vitamin C. This vitamin is a pillar of immune system. You need to be behind a wall of strong immune system to fight the flu. Its strength determines whether the flu virus knocks you out or not. By the way, you may have eaten cranberries just a few days ago. As part of Canadian Thanksgiving dinner. Cranberry sauce? Hope it was a raw version. If it wasn’t then only 50% of vitamin C survived. These ruby-like berries are also famous for their high level of antioxidants. For this reason, they often appear on superfood lists. Cranberry antioxidants – phenolic acids, proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins – enhance immune system as well.
- Apples. Although they have three times less vitamin C than cranberries, they are still a decent source of it.
- Another anti-flu ingredient in the smoothie is cinnamon. It is an experienced bug killer. Takes down bad bacteria, fungus, intestinal worms and viruses. Flu virus is not exception. It attacks the virus once it is already inside your body. The evil virus gets inside you if your immune system is not at its peak state. But it doesn’t mean that immune system surrenders at this point. It sends its soldier – white blood cells – to destroy the invader. And this is when cinnamon can give it a hand. This brings to mind one important thing. If you like to sprinkle cinnamon here and there on the regular basis then switch to true cinnamon or Ceylon cinnamon. Usually, the one from conventional grocery stores is Cassia cinnamon. It has been linked to liver damage if eaten in amounts more than 1 teaspoon per day.
As for bananas and dates, they provide lots of quick energy. Teff, due to resistant starch, provides energy slower, and as a result, makes you feel full for longer. If you want to have the smoothie in the morning, throw in more teff. This way you can hopefully last until lunch!
Main references:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/269142.php
http://www.herbwisdom.com/herb-cinnamon.html