Superfoods can be fun. I really quite dig them. I think it’s because I was a witch in a past life. So to me, adding a bit of this and a bit of that over my vitamix (in a sexy ‘I’m a witchy alchemist’ kind of way) is a bit of a modern day interpretation of the crazy cauldron shit I used to get up to all those moons ago. Magick.
The thing is, they can also be a massive pain in the arse when you’re first starting out with them. Getting to grips with the benefits and how to combine them can be a bit of a nightmare. When I first started out with superfoods, a few months before I even discovered the whole raw food thang, I was combining green powder with milk in my cereal (I mean, seriously. Can you actually believe?) and maca with water. Jesus. No wonder the powders went straight to the back of my cupboard never to be seen again. Puke-tastic.
So yeah, it totally helps if you know what you’re doing. Getting from A to Z with superfoods can result in some pretty awesome disaster smoothies along the way. Oh the gods, the stories I could tell…
Fear not.
I’m here to give YOU the benefit of my disaster experiences and oh-so-sexy superfood know-how (kinda) to ease you of the very pain you may or may not encounter along the way. I know, I know, Saint Emma has a nice ring to it, right?
Moving on.
First thing’s first, if superfoods ain’t your bag then leave ’em out. I talked about that shizzle here. You don’t need to have superfoods to have a good time.
Keep it simple. Stick to one, two or three superfoods at any time. You don’t have to overdo it adding absolutely fucking everything in to the mix. For starters, you’ll not be able to determine the effect a particular superfood is having on you and secondly, you’ll potentially arse up the taste.
Choose wisely. Do the research to find out the benefits of a given superfood and decide whether this is something you’d like to bring in to your world. Each one has a particular nutrient profile and list of benefits. Whilst they’re all touted as THEE powder for you if you want to transcend dimensions, turn invisible and have copious sexual liaisons with Johnny Depp, Jeff Buckley and Michael Hutchence (latter two back from the dead, of course), the truth is that you need to go and find out from other sources (i.e. not just the people selling it) whether these are in fact true and then decide.
Have a bit of common sense. To me, it makes sense that algaes such as spirulina, chlorella and the likes, deep dark green and full of chlorophyll are going to add potentially more to my diet than other powders that are perhaps geared more towards rebalancing e.g. ashwaganda. It of course depends on what you’re after (see point above).
One at a time. There’s not much point investing in a whole bunch of powders that do the same thing e.g. adaptogenic powders include maca, suma and ashwaganda. Invest in one of these at a time to see how you go.
If money is tight you can always buy a blend where they’ve put together a whole bunch in one bag for you. I like the Energy and Vitality Mixes that Inspiral have brought out. Namely because there isn’t fifty billion ingredients and because they’ve intelligently combined the superfoods that go well together. Available in Grassroots if my boyfriend hasn’t bought them all…
Lastly, I think it’d be useful to leave you with a list of what I think works really well together in a smoothie, to save you the effort of figuring it out for yourself.
Nice one!
Maca – goes well with banana to give a really malty flavour. I’d use with nut milks and cacao. Ditto Suma and Ashwaganda.
Cacao – I used to add this to green smoothies but now that gies me the boak. I combine with nut milks rather than water, add in bananas, strawberries, raspberries, oranges, mint… Combines well with maca, suma, any mushroom powder including reishi, chia, can mask green powders if you don’t use too much green, it pretty much goes with fucking everything.
Green powders including Spirulina, Chlorella, Barleygrass, Wheatgrass, Crystal/Blue Manna – usually in green smoothies or smoothies in general with bananas to mask taste. Also citrus fruits mask the flavours of these. Use a little at a time to build up taste. Use a fucking teaspoon and avoid shaking the bag over the vitamix as this will result in an algae-fest that you’re too scared to drink for fear of turning in to a unicellular species.
Chia – blends in everything to thicken up, add omegas and generally make you a warrior. True.
Mushroom powders – Reishi is my all time fave but I can seriously only take it with cacao. Chaga, Cordyceps, Maitake, Shitake, the whole damn mushroom tribe, in my opinion, CACAO, vanilla and nut milks to ensure it goes down niiiiiice.
Baobab – fruity little number, as such, goes well in fruit and green smoothies.
Bee pollen – I like to add to bananas and berries in fruit smoothies. Generally goes well in everything.
Goji berries – don’t tend to add these much to smoothies but yeah, fruity ones work best. I don’t tend to add to milks.
Hemp – in all it’s various forms, I blend with milks and cacao.
Pine pollen – haven’t been able to find anything that truly masks the taste. Tastes like you’re eating your furniture.
Purple corn and Acai powder – works well in fruit and green smoothies. Would possibly blend with milk and berries for a berry milkshake that’s more purple than Prince in Purple Rain.
So yeah.
It’s more than cool to experiment, that’s what life’s all about, right? And if it makes you feel like a witch all the better. And who knows, maybe if you eat enough superfoods you’ll actually fly and turn men in to toads or toads in to princes or whatever the shit it is that witches did back then. Burn mostly. Misogynistic puritan church-going bastards.
I’m not bitter.
Leave a Reply