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chlorophyll

Friday Fare

Super Blue Smoothie

July 25, 2014

A few weeks ago, I bought a juice from Vive Juicery (based in Salt Lake City) that had spirulina in it, and a little bit after that Nutrition Stripped (my favorite nutrition blogger) did a post on spirulina milk. I was so intrigued that I quickly went out and bought some spirulina and decided to experiment with it. For anyone who knows what spirulina is, they will know that it is not inexpensive. Luckily one of the Whole Foods at Salt Lake City had it in their bulk food section so that helped me save quite a lot of money as I didn’t need a whole tubful! And voila; this is how I came to create my super blue smoothie!

Super Blue Smoothie

For all of you that DON’T know what spirulina is, no doubt you are wondering what it is and why I am experimenting with it!. Spirulina is a blue-green algae that is grown and harvested from alkaline water . It has a slightly nutty taste and has been said to have a variety of health benefits. These include protecting the liver, anti-inflammatory properties, and has even been said to help increase fat burning during exercise. Spirulina also has a ton of protein (57g of protein per 100g!), contains chlorophyll, iron and a ton of vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids.

Super Blue Smoothie

Hopefully that has convinced you to at least give it a try! A lot of people call spirulina a ‘superfood’ but I am not particularly fond of that name because it suggests that it is an almost perfect food which will magically make you healthier .. which is of course not the case. There is no one perfect food, and we should try and include as many nutrient dense foods as possible in our diet to become healthier. 

Super Blue Smoothie

Which is why I wanted to throw spirulina into a smoothie! I really wanted to make a ‘blue’ smoothie that would of course include blueberries (high in nutrients and low in calories) and other tasty fruits. Although it turned out more blue-green than blue, it is tasty and filled with lots of fruit. It is very refreshing and a little milky so feel free to sweeten it up with honey, maple syrup, stevia or whatever other sweetener you desire.

Super Blue Smoothie

Alice Williams
A delicious and nutrient packed smoothie with spirulina, blueberries and banana!

Ingredients
  

  • 1 and 1/2 cup of milk of your choice almond, coconut, cow's milk
  • 1/2 cup frozen blueberries
  • 1/2 cup frozen sliced bananas slice some bananas and pop in the freezer the night before
  • 1 tablespoon of spirulina

Instructions
 

  • Put all of the ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. Feel free to add any sweeteners such as honey or maple syrup if you wish.
If you make this super blue smoothie then please leave me a comment and let me know what you think about it! And please remember to subscribe to Honestly Fitness so that you are always kept up to date with healthy recipes, workouts and other health and wellness tips.

Honestly yours,
Alice xxx

Health

Project Juice

May 6, 2014

If you follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram you will no doubt have noticed the various photo’s of juice that have been posted.

I was kindly invited by Brandon Waloff, Project Juice’s community wellness manager and certified holistic health coach who attended the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, to visit their location in Russian Hill and to sample a few of their juices. I met Brandon at Mint Studio’s spring open house and chatted with him about Project Juice as he was giving out samples of their juice. Before I go any further, let me tell you a bit more about more Project Juice and what I think makes them stand out from other juice companies.

review of project juice San Francisco

 Brandon Waloff, Project Juice’s community wellness manager at their Russian Hill location

Project Juice is a San Francisco based company that was founded a few years ago by Rachel Malsin and is co-founded with two others, Devon Briger and Greg Malsin. Rachel had various food allergies and began to modify her diet by implementing raw foods and juices which inspired her to live a new healthier lifestyle and to bring this lifestyle to the Bay Area. Fast forward a bit to Rachel moving from Long Island to San Francisco and starting Project Juice after noticing a gap in the market for high quality, cold pressed and organic juices!

Project Juice opened their first location in the financial district in the summer of 2013, then opened their Russian Hill location the week before Valentine’s Day and recently opened another location in Palo Alto. So there is an option if you want to avoid San Francisco traffic!! Project Juice are also planning on expanding to new locations and have a lot of exciting new ventures, such as implementing food into their programs and creating a smoothie bar. Part of their mission is to provide the best juice possible, and all of their ingredients are organic and are locally sourced whenever possible. What I found really incredible about this company is that they realize that diets do NOT work. There is not one size fits all and Brandon, who Project Juice’s certified holistic health coach, will work with people on developing cleansing programs that fit YOU and YOUR needs as opposed to forcing you to stick with a rigid plan that may not make you feel nourished or energetic.

review of project juice San Francisco

So now that you know the deets on Project Juice, I can now continue! Their Russian Hill location was lovely; it had a great ambiance and they had various other healthy food products in stock if you wanted some nibbles with your juice.

review of project juice San Francisco

After sampling a few of their juices and learning a bit more about the company, I was given 3 juices of my choice to take home and try out. I was so excitedddd haha, it was literally like getting an early birthday present (which is on May 22nd, so actually pretty soon)!! I absolutely love all things healthy and Project Juice seriously has so many amazing flavors with unique ingredients. It was extreeemely hard to pick just 3, but in the end I finally decided on D-Tox, Turmeric Mylk, and Swiss Beetz. I had tried D-Tox before at Mint Studio’s spring open house so I couldn’t resist getting a bottle of that, but the other 2 were completely new to me. I chose them because they contained some pretty rare ingredients that I had never seen in a juice before!

D-Tox

review of project juice dtox drink San Francisco

Mmm, this drink was really unexpected for me … but in a very, very good way. I don’t know why, but whenever I see a product that says ‘detox’ I think of something kinda nasty and bitter. D-Tox was far from that, and it was actually very sweet and refreshing. It contains pineapple, mint, apple, and chlorophyll .. I know right, you’re thinking ‘what the heck is chlorophyll’ … Chlorophyll has a number of interesting properties, such as increasing your red blood cell count, is packed full of protein and nutrients, and has been said to help slow down the aging process (you can read more about chlorophyll here)! Very, very interesting and something I have never ever seen in a juice before! You should definitely make this juice one to try if you have a sweet tooth and want a healthy drink 🙂

Turmeric Mylk

review of project juice turmeric mylk San Francisco

Oh man, this juice is awesome!! I was surprised at how creamy it was and how the turmeric blended in perfectly with the rest of the ingredients. Turmeric (a common ingredient in curries) is a spice which has been linked to its ability to help fight various types of  cancer. This juice contains almonds, alkaline water, dates, turmeric, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla bean, and sea salt … mmm, delicious. I made my boyfriend try it (he does not like juices lol) and even he admitted that it tasted great, victory!

Swiss Beetz

 review of project juice swiss beetz juice San Francisco

As the name makes oh so clear, this juice contains beets! It also contains apples, carrots, cucumber, lemon, and ginger which makes for a really cleansing and refreshing juice. It had a lovely sweet and sour taste and the flavor of the beets did not at all overwhelm the other flavors. All of the ingredients complemented each other really well, very impressive. As much as I love beets, they do have a very strong and distinct flavor which is hard to mask! I let my housemate try some as she is a nurse and always interested in trying new healthy foods, and she agreed that it tasted great. I adored the addition of lemon and ginger, my favorite healthy combo of all time. I swear, lemon and ginger tea works everytime I get sick.

So there you have it! Project Juice have so many more flavors to offer and I hope you all try them! They have several locations within San Francisco and a new location in Palo Alto. They have plans to expand so I look forward to seeing where their new locations will be.

review of project juice San Francisco

review of project juice San Francisco

I hope you enjoyed this post! Have any of you ever tried Project Juice before? If not, what brand do you usually buy, or do you make your own?

Honestly yours,
Alice