#EveryBodyYoga Day 12 - Mountain Pose + Peaches & Green Smoothie Recipe

Day Twelve of the
#EveryBodyYoga Challenge

Mountain Pose



Although this pose seems effortless, Mountain Pose is wonderful for improving your posture and alignment, toning the spinal nerves, and creating a sense of awareness through out the body. It can be used as a resting pose or a preparatory pose for almost any standing asana. I suggest practicing mountain pose throughout the day whenever you feel a need for centering. I decided to wake up early and take my picture and sunrise - such a serene and peaceful time to go out into the world and practice yoga - one of my favorite ways to start my days... Anyways, getting into mountain pose may seem fairly obvious, but here are a few pointers:

 Stand with the feet hip-width apart. Keep your arms down with your fingers extended and triceps firm. Check to make sure your feet are facing straight ahead. Balance your stance. Slightly engage the lower belly while lifting the heart and the crown of the head. Draw your shoulder blades down slightly toward your waist and just slightly draw them together. Let your attention rest on your breathing. 

Since today is such a fun and easy pose, I decided to share a fun and easy green smoothie recipe too.
This smoothie is PACKED full of greens, which are so very important in our everyday diet! Plus, this is the perfect way to start your day, everyday - healthy and delicious green smoothies for everybody!



Peaches & Green Smoothie Ingredients:
1 peach, pitted

2 cups spinach

2 1/2 cups kale

1/2 cup canned pineapple {I sadly didn't have any fresh}
1 ripe banana

1/2 cup almond milk

1/2 green apple

Place all ingredients in blender and mix - it's that easy and it tastes so good!

Sip & Feel Incredible: Evolution Fresh - a delicious, refreshing bottled juice

I participated in an Influencer Activation on behalf of Millennial Central for Evolution Fresh. I received coupons for Evolution Fresh juices to facilitate my review as well as a promotional item to thank me for my participation.

Evolution Fresh is just different, in a really delicious and healthy way. They offer a variety of juices to satisfy even the pickiest eater's taste while staying true to their roots; a fresh picked orange from the founders back yard started Evolution Fresh! Now-a-days, Evolution Fresh buys most of their produce locally, while offering non-GMO products, and organic varieties of some of their juices as well.  As you all know I'm on a mission this year to get fit and Evolution Fresh is a great way to stay on track... After all, a fit body is made in the kitchen - or in this case, a "juicery".

Evolution Fresh peels, presses, and squeezes raw fruits and veggies to make their drinks irresistibly tasty. After chilling, blending, and bottling Evolution Fresh cold presses their juices using a technique referred to as high pressure processing, which helps the flavors and ingredients stay fresh! Although these babies aren't considered "raw", they are made from raw fruits and veggies, allowing for a satisfying and hydrating beverage!

 
This summer in Florida has been a scorcher, temps on the rise and the humidity through the roof -  especially while visiting the beach. I always try to have water on hand to stay hydrated but some days I just need something different, something healthy, something that has some flavor to it... Luckily, I found Evolution Fresh - a refreshing blend of fruits and veggies fused together to make phenomenal juices that are good for you! Evolution Fresh helps me stay healthy, cool, and hydrated even on the hottest of days!

The first Evolution Fresh beverage I tried was their Organic Strawberry Lemonade, I actually opened this flavor inside of Whole Foods, embarrassingly enough I just couldn't wait to get a taste. Plus, I had just finished yoga on the beach, so I have an excuse! I loved it the second I tried it, the Organic Strawberry Lemonade is tangy and sweet, the perfect combination. It's packed full of vitamin C. Hubby and I were passing it back and forth while we browsed through Whole Foods to do our shopping and decided we needed to grab another on our way out! It's that good!

The next flavor I tried was the Essential Greens with Lime, think of every green mixed together - it's ridiculously tasty, it just wasn't for me... So I added it into a green smoothie recipe I use regularly and made an Extra Green Smoothie! I normally use almond milk or water which leave my smoothies with a funky taste, I'm so glad I tried using the Essential greens with Lime, it compliments my current smoothie recipe like no other - I'm obsessed! With so many greens in one smoothie, how could I not be? I was left feeling satisfied and extremely healthy, which means this smoothie is definitely a repeat in our home!


Want to make your own EXTRA Green Smoothie?

The recipe is super simple: 

I use about 1/2 of the Essential Greens with Lime, 2-3 handfuls of additional spinach, 1/4 a large cucumber; chopped, 2 bananas, 10-15 strawberries, and a handful of blueberries! 

Blend and Enjoy!

Now get this, you aren't only getting the small amount of greens you added yourself... adding in the Evolution Fresh Essential Greens with Lime means your smoothie now contains additional cucumber and spinach, as well as celery, romaine lettuce, kale, lime, parsley, wheat grass, and clover sprouts!

Talk about an EXTRA Green Smoothie and the best part - it tastes INCREDIBLE!

I also had the opportunity to try the Pineapple Coconut Water, Super Green, Organic Sweet Burn, Organic V, and the Sweet Greens with Ginger.

The Pineapple Coconut water is a clean and refreshing blend, the perfect beach drink! I'm a huge fan of adding a tiny dash of coconut rum into it as well, if you feel so inclined. With only pineapple and coconut water on the ingredient list, these are so much healthier than other brands of coconut water I've seen on the market and so much tastier!

The Super Green is super rich with greens and tastes deliciously healthy. I loved how clean it tastes while still having a kick of sweetness. I enjoyed my juice with one of Evolution's Harvest bars, which are so healthy and scrumptious; Chalk full of seeds, nuts, and granola - making them a great, clean snack to pair with a juice! The Super Green juice includes orange juice, mango puree, apple juice, pineapple juice, raspberry puree, spirulina, chlorella, wheat grass, barley grass, and dulse! So good!

After the Organic Strawberry Lemonade, I didn't think I would like any of the other juices as much... Boy, was I wrong! The Organic Sweet Burn is the best morning drink I have ever tried. It's refreshing with a punch, the perfect wake-me-up blend featuring a dash of cayenne pepper as well as Organic coconut water and organic juices (apple, pineapple, beet, ginger, lemon)! Without getting my caffeine kick, the cayenne pepper helps keep me jazzed while sipping this - the perfect answer for those of us trying to ditch our coffee habit!

The Organic V is a fun blend, made from Organic juices - carrot, apple, celery, lemon, beet, spinach, lime, parsley, and ginger! The beet and carrot stand out the most to me in the juice but they are complimented nicely by the taste of the apple and the strong punch of tang the lime adds! I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the Organic V, the blend of the juices kind of scared me... but I'm glad I tried it, I would've been missing out on a delicious and healthy treat if I hadn't.

I tried the Sweet Greens with Ginger last and decided it's another great blend to mix into things - it's decent alone but mixing it into a homemade ice cream recipe sounded way more tempting than drinking it alone. I froze the Sweet Greens with Ginger into ice cubes, then mixed it with frozen bananas, and frozen raspberries to make a homemade fro-yo with my Swirlio. The taste was phenomenal and it was so easy to make! If you are looking fore more recipe ideas you can always check out The Almanac, which is full of great recipes and information about Evolution Fresh!

Who would have thought? Bottled juices like Evolution Fresh can be so healthy and maintain the delicious flavors of all of our favorite fruits and veggies. I hope that after reading about my love for these juices that you run into your nearest location and try one for yourself. If you give Evolution Fresh a try, be sure to comment and let me know what flavor you tried and what you think!

Stay connected with Evolution Fresh:
Website //  Facebook // Twitter // Instagram // Pinterest

Peanut Butter and Veggies Power Packed Smoothie : Sip + Feel Incredible Smoothie Series

This tasty smoothie is power packed with antioxidants, cancer preventing phytonutrients, and a family favorite that really makes it taste delicious- peanut butter! I love this smoothie because it is a great way to "trick" the non-veggie loving people (your hubby, child, friend, or yourself) into getting these important fruits and veggies in their diet without even realizing it! I'm not saying you should trick anyone into drinking this but if you did they would be thanking you later! 

 

The ingriedients list (for approximately 3 servings):

1 organic starfruit

1/2 organic medium cucumber

1 organic haas avocado

1/4 pound organic strawberries

1/4 pint organic blueberries

3 large leaves of cabbage

2 cups spinach

3 tbsp peanut butter

1/2 cup pineapple (and any juice from the pineapple)

1/2 cup to 1 cup of milk (I use almond milk) to bring the smoothie to your desired consistency

Here's a little more information about what you are really sipping down while enjoying this treat:

Starfruit is not only super cute and fun as a decoration (wish I would have remembered to save a piece to garnish my smoothie, instead I used pineapple!), it's also rich in antioxidants, potassium, and vitamin C. You will be glad to know that this adorable munchie food is low in sugar, sodium, and acid and is also a potent source of both antioxidant and antimicrobial activities helping your body to function.

Cucumber is rich in phytonutrients, they provide us with valuable antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer benefits. These tasty little extras are kind of like my personal version of ice cubes in my smoothie. I like to store them near the back of the fridge so they are colder and chop them up into cube type shapes, the amount of moisture they add to the smoothie is perfect and they keep it at a cold temperature while having to run the blender for a while.

Avocado, as you probably already know, is an excellent source of healthful fats, but this whole food may also have other unique health benefits you weren't aware of . The main benefits obtained from this tasty green are assistance with weight management, controlling diabetes, and it also enhances your body’s absorption of important nutrients.

Strawberries are an incredibly tasty and unique combination of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory nutrients, it's not surprising to learn that strawberries benefit your health in these major areas: cardiovascular support and prevention of cardiovascular diseases, improved regulation of blood sugar, with decreased risk of type 2 diabetes, and prevention of certain cancer types including breast, cervical, colon, and esophageal cancer.

These tasty berries are healthy competition for nature's candy: the blueberry! These little blue fruits health benefits are literally through the roof. Blueberries are rich in phytonutrients. These phytonutrients function both as antioxidants and as anti-inflammatory compounds in the body, and they are responsible for many of the well-documented health benefits we get from regular consumption of blueberries. These health benefits include: Whole body antioxidant support, cardiovascular benefits, cognitive benefits, blood sugar benefits, eye health, and anti-cancer benefits.

Cabbage- With 475 studies examining the role of this cruciferous vegetable in cancer prevention (and in some cases, cancer treatment) it's safe to say that it is SUPER healthy and an important part of your diet. The uniqueness of cabbage in cancer prevention is due to the three different types of nutrient richness found in this widely enjoyed food. The three types are antioxidant richness, anti-inflammatory richness, and richness in glucosinolates. 

Spinach- We all know that Popeye made himself super strong by eating spinach, but you may be surprised to learn that he may also have been helping to protect himself against inflammatory problems, oxidative stress-related problems, cardiovascular problems, bone problems, and several different cancers at the same time.

Whipped Creamy Peanut Butter- Peanut butter offers a nutrient-rich addition to your smoothie. It has the health benefits of Fiber, Potassium, Healthy Fats, Protein and this particular kind of Whipped Peanut Butter also features less calories than your average PB! 

{I obtained most of my nutritional information from whfoods.com and Peter Pan's website.}

The BEST Green Smoothie Ever - a super simple recipe - Sip + Feel Incredible Smoothie Series

 

I'm trying to eat a bit healthier lately and have really started to LOVE smoothies.

I especially love "green smoothies" 

because they incorporate LOTS of veggies and fruits,

which we all need in our diets

and they taste so incredibly good -

What's not to love?!

Instead of having trouble forcing myself to eat handfuls of spinach or kale raw everyday,

trying to convince myself that I love raw celery... etc.

I've found that sipping them blended together through a straw is

not only DELICIOUS but super easy to prepare!

The recipe I'm sharing today is for one of the many Green Smoothie recipes I make regularly.

(If you like this recipe, please comment and I'll definitely share more scrumptious smoothie recipes!)

 You'll need a knife, cutting board, and a blender.

Ingredients:

2 organic bananas

1/2 pint of organic blueberries

1 large organic cucumber

1-2 cups freshly cut organic pineapple

1/4 pound organic strawberries

1/2 pound organic spinach {I use half the "clam shell"}

1/2 cup almond milk

Now the super simple part:

                                            Rinse.

        Chop. 

                                           Dice.

                                                  Slice.

                            Place in blender. 

                Blend til completely smooth 

                                 (add water or more almond milk if needed). 

Sip + Feel incredible!