You can use superfoods in general to boost your smoothie on an everyday basis. But sometimes you may want to add even more, especially if you start to feel under the weather and you want to prevent getting full-blown sick. Having some simple but powerful healing foods or supplements on hand gives you a natural medicine kit at home, ready to blend into an extra-healing green smoothie when needed.
As soon as you feel the first symptoms of a cold, sore throat, cough, or general malaise, try adding some of these healing supplements/foods to your green smoothie to give your immune system an extra boost. Combine that with plenty of water and rest and allow your body time to heal naturally.
For any extreme symptoms, high fever, or serious medical concerns, consulting a doctor is always best.
For cold and flu
If you feel a cold coming on or you’re in the throes of a full-blown flu, add foods that are naturally high in vitamin C to your green smoothie. Fresh parsley, kale, pineapple, orange, lemon, papaya, kiwi, cantaloupe, and strawberries are all great options.
In addition, add some grapefruit seed extract (GSE) to your daily smoothie until you start feeling better. GSE is a powerful antiviral, antifungal, and anti-parasitic agent and often helps nip foreign invaders in the bud. Add 12 to 15 drops of grapefruit seed extract (GSE) for adults and 3 to 5 drops for children. Be sure to dilute the GSE in your smoothie and not drink it straight because it’s strong stuff!
You can also add echinacea and goldenseal, natural herbs that are known to be powerful immune boosters. These herbs are easiest to add in a liquid or tincture form and are often sold together as one supplement combined. Add one dropper full of the liquid to a smoothie for adults.
Whether goldenseal is safe for children is unknown, so don’t use this herbal combination in smoothies for kids.
For a sore throat, add fresh lemon, ginger, and manuka honey to your smoothie. This natural combo is perfectly safe for everyone, including children. Manuka honey is a special honey collected from the wild, uncultivated tea tree bush in New Zealand. It’s pure, raw, natural, unpasteurized, and organic.
Most importantly, manuka honey has amazing antibacterial properties. Add two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice, an inch-by-inch piece of fresh ginger, and two tablespoons of manuka honey with your other smoothie ingredients, blend, and drink.
For upset stomach
Anti-inflammatory foods such as fresh turmeric and fresh ginger are very helpful for an upset stomach. Add a small slice of each to your smoothie and blend until smooth.
Fresh banana and apple are good fruits to help calm an upset stomach. For nausea, you can add a small amount of fresh peppermint leaves or a little pure peppermint oil to your smoothie.
For migraine headache
Magnesium deficiency has been directly linked to migraines in a number of major studies, so putting magnesium-rich foods in your smoothie can provide relief. Magnesium is known as the relaxing mineral because it helps calm the nerves and release tension in muscles. Add pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, flaxseed, spinach, kale, or Swiss chard to your smoothie to boost magnesium naturally. Raw, unsalted seeds are best.
Cayenne pepper can also help. It helps equalize blood pressure and thus relieves pressure in the head region. Add a dash of cayenne to your smoothie; if you can stand the taste, add a bit more.
If you suffer from nausea because of the migraine, try adding some fresh ginger or fresh peppermint leaves to your smoothie.