Treat, prevent cancer and reduce oxidative stress by guzzling a monumentally amazing smoothie every day.

(This is not medical advice. Always consult your medical professional and if you doubt their opinion, politely ask them to provide evidence in the literature.)

Thankfully, I do not have cancer.

But in the last six months, complacency with regard to my health is something I actively avoid. I engage with my food, what it is doing to me and how it will promote healthful living minimising the risk for developing preventative disease states. Life is precious so don't take it for granted.

During my biomedical science days of university, I studied a course in exercise physiology. My engagement with my studies got me seriously working out. I wanted to markedly improve my cardiovascular fitness and I did. I ran and ran and RAN. Before long, I felt like I could run anywhere and for any duration. I felt better than I did before.

If only I had of taken a nutrition course. Maybe I would have found the mountain of evidence in the medical literature on healthful living earlier and more importantly, put it into practice.

Time to invigorate your morning with veggies!

One of the easiest ways I find to get in all my greens and those particularly healthful spices (turmeric and ginger) is to drink a green smoothie each day. I loosely use the term 'green' because I have so much kale in it. I'm surprised I'm not photosynthesising my own sugars, to be honest.

However, with the addition of beetroot, blueberries and the orange of the mango chunks, it ends up turning into a delicious, yet brown sludge. Between a student at school calling it my 'vomit smoothie' and Hayley labelling it as my 'dirt smoothie', it hasn't been given the love it deserves. And that just sucks.

It sucks because it has evidence behind it. I've pored over the literature ad nauseam and have come to the conclusion that eating cruciferous vegetables like kale, cauliflower and broccoli is unequivocally health promoting. If you're still not sure, go and check out PubMed or for easier information absorption, NutritionFacts.org.

Is this a recipe or a rant? You'll find out soon. I promise.

I've only chopped the fresh ginger up like this for photographic effect. To be honest, I could just chop off a single chunk from the main rhizome (ginger root) and toss it into the Thermomix. Having a powerful blender makes life a breeze.

The inclusion of a handful of basil in my smoothies is basically just for variation - and the fact I have heaps of it growing on my balcony makes a big difference. If you grow basil hydroponically or buy organic, apparently they have a higher phenolic antioxidant content due to stresses on them from either bug attack or being stressed grown in water. Higher phenolics is a good thing!

Parsley is a must in my smoothies as it is rich in vitamins and minerals and counts as a leafy green vegetable.

I found it interesting that just 30 grams of parsley provides over half your required intake of vitamin C. In addition, a bit of further research took me down the rabbit hole of Apigenin, a flavonoid (plant pigment) found in parsley, onions and chamomile. It's been demonstrated to inhibit metastases (spread) of colorectal cancer and is generally accepted to inhibit tumor growth in animals.

It's never been easier to grow your own medicine on your balcony. Unfortunately, I've been using so much of mine that I've had to buy outside sources to allow for my emaciated plants to regrow.

How to whip up the Brown Cancer-Beating Beast in a beat.

I use :

• 3 large handfuls of curly kale
• 2 sprigs of basil
• 2 sprigs of fresh mint
• 1 cup of curly parsley
• A fifth of a raw beetroot
• 1/2 can of tomatoes
• 1/4 tsp ground turmeric (or half an inch of the fresh root)
• 1 or 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped ginger root
• 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries
• 1 cup of frozen mango pieces
• Approximately 500 mL water

What do do with it all.

• Add all the greens to a high powered blender. We use a Thermomix, but I'm sure that a Vitamix or Blendtec would work equally as well. Buzz them around until they're sufficiently small.

• Throw everything else in and blend it roughly.

• Scrape down the sides and add about half a litre of water. (You can add more later if it's too thick for your liking or you can't pour it into your drink bottle. Real dilemma, people.)

• Blend on high until the contents are smooth.

• Pour into a glass, add ice and garnish if you want or just guzzle it down ASAP and get on with smashing out life, yo!

I wasn't lying. It's brown AF.

Variations of colour to your smoothie.

If you're looking to create a dazzling healthy smoothie for friends (with the idea of impressing them), you can forgo using the blueberries, beetroot and tomatoes and add more mint for a lustrous green smoothie.

OR

If you want to imbue a purple to your smoothie you've never truly experienced before, halve the blueberry content, add twice the beetroot and omit the greens and the tomatoes.

Experimenting with different ingredients will yield differing results. The key to remember is that colourful fruit contains pigments just like paint. You mix them all up and you get poo brown. It doesn't look particularly appetising, but your body rejoices in an inner jubilation in the presence of these spectacularly healthful phytochemicals.

Tell me about your crazy concoctions. If you recently started drinking veggie smoothies, have you noticed a change in your vitality or energy?

All the best,

Nick.

All content is original.

Disclosure: This article was not a paid promotion and was not self-upvoted. Nor were there any affiliate links.

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