My Favorite Meal Replacement Recipe!

I started something new this year - a podcast. Check out my Podcast page for more info.

I also created a Facebook GROUP CHAT community to share discussions, ideas, challenges, victories and questions from those who listen.

One of the Posts I have ongoing is "Whatcha Wanna Hear?" where I ask my listeners to ask questions and then I'll answer them in a future podcast.

One question came in from Gina and I felt it needed an answer immediately.

The question was about meal replacements and my thoughts on them.

Here is the answer, summarized:

• Pre-Packaged meal replacements are garbage.

• If you do a plan or program that calls for daily "meal replacements", then they are not meal replacements - they have become your meals.

• You need to eat your nutrients for satiety reasons, not drink them every day.

• Meal replacements are great if they are truly used to replace a meal on occasion and contain the nutrients of a meal including the fiber.

• Meal replacements should be made from real, whole plants as clean/organic as possible.

• Meal replacements can be changed up depending on the needs for the time - so experiment!

I use what I call my, "Power Punch" as a meal replacement two or three times a week. Typically it is used for my dinner when I need to leave to teach my REFIT® or REV+FLOW class. I made one today and decided to share it with you - and with Gina.

This is my typical recipe - although it does vary some from time to time.

I call this my Power Punch because it gives me a burst of energy!

(Side note: two of my most valuable investments in healthy equipment I've made is in a Vitamix - and Berkey Water filtration system, will save that info for another time.)

Using my Vitamix, I load it with these items in this order:

(all ingredients are organic, minus the orange because it's a clean 15 item which I'll share about later.)

• Frozen mango pieces and frozen pineapple pieces (any frozen fruit will do)

• Kale, chard, spinach (stems and all - nutrients)

• Carrots (don't peel if organic - nutrients)

• A wedge of either ORGANIC lemon or lime WITH peel (loaded with nutrients)

• An inch slice of fresh turmeric or ground

• An inch slice of fresh ginger or ground

• A sprinkle of ground flax seed - approximately 2 teaspoons

• A sprinkle of mint leaves or fresh

• A sprinkle of cinnamon - approximately a teaspoon

• 2-3 Tb of apple cider vinegar

• A scoop of beet powder

• An orange, peeled

• 3 cups of cold filtered water - this makes enough for two smoothies aka Power Punch

Put the lid on and let it go at high speed, pour and enjoy! Will stay in the fridge overnight if you need to prepare ahead.

Is it pretty? No.

Is it tasty and power packed with nutrients?

ABSOLUTELY YES!