Recently, I have been playing around with smoothies using a variety of different superfoods.
Superfoods provide excellent health benefits and many of them are loaded with antioxidants.
This is particularly the case with two of the superfoods that I used this morning to make a Maca Berry Blast smoothie.
Maca comes in powder form and originates from Peru. Thousands of years old, Maca is believed to enhance your energy, stamina, and endurance. Some men claim that it also helps with the libido.
Maqui berry comes in powder form as well and is considered the highest antioxidant berry in the world. It has an ORAC score (which measures antioxidant activity) of 616. Its closest competitor, acai, has an ORAC score of 185, which is 3x less than maqui berry.
Organic ingredients used:
- 1 glass of Brazil nut milk. (See video below for how to make nut milk. I used 3 cups of cold filtered water and 3/4 cup of raw, unsalted Brazil nuts.)
- 1 banana
- 3/4 cup of blueberries
- 1 teaspoon of maqui berry powder
- 1 teaspoon of maca
- 1 teaspoon of coconut palm sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon of raw coconut oil
- 1.5 tablespoons of Boku’s protein powder
Finally, put all of the organic ingredients into the blender for 20 seconds.
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If you are having this smoothie for breakfast and want it cold right away, be sure that you make the nut milk the night before and keep it in the fridge.
Or, the other option is to put the filtered water in the fridge the night before, so it is sufficiently cold when you make the smoothie in the morning.
Give this Maca Berry Blast a try and let me know what you think!
Max,
Great demo on making nut milk and the subsequent smoothy. One concern/caution: my understanding is that Brazil nuts are very high in selenium and that more than a couple a day can lead to health issues. Have you heard that?
Thanks Ken.
I have not heard that but I definitely eat Brazil nuts in moderation. Maybe a few times per week.
Live well,
Max
I’d be interested to see what you think about SunWarrior protein powder and how it compares to the Boku. Just curious.
Thanks
Max,
Thanks for the smoothie recipe, it looks yummy! Where do you get your macqui & maca powders? I use my own Juice Plus Complete plant based protein powder which is packed with nutrient dense ingredients like, blue green algae, spirulina pacifica, pumpkin & pomegranate powders and even ancient grains like amaranth, quinoa and millet. It tastes so good that you wouldn’t even know that it contains brocoli, radish and alfalpha sprouts! I usually throw in a handful of kale, and some flax & hemp seeds as well. I like variety, though, so would love to try adding the macqui & maca powders next time.
Max,
Thanks also for the demo on making nut milk! I usually use store bought almond milk, but now I’m going to try making my own!
Hi Marlene,
Sun Warrior is not certified organic, and I prefer Boku’s ingredient mix.
Live well,
Max
Hi Julie,
I’m glad you found it useful. Yes, making nut milk is super-easy and my guess is that you’ll never buy store-made nut milk again.
Live well,
Max
Hi Julie,
Thanks for your comments! In the post, there are links to where you can buy maqui berry powder and maca. I like Sunfood products a lot.
Live well,
Max
Max,
I ordered Maqui Berry and Maca powder from Sunfoods – and when my husband saw them sitting on the counter he asked why I was using this — and mentioned that there is a lot of controversy about it (Maca??) and ingestion has caused many problems for people. He couldn’t elaborate — so I looked it up and there are some warnings…can you speak to this and tell me what you know and how much is too much?
Thank you.
Hi Carol,
This is the first that I have heard about a controversy around maca, and I have never had a problem with it.
Of course, I always use it in moderation – no more than a few times per week.
Live well,
Max