When it is cold outside it is good to eat warm foods, but the smoothie addicts out there can use warming spices to make cold smoothies a little more seasonally appropriate. Spices can be cooling or heating, affecting how we feel on a very subtle level but affecting our digestive function more noticeably. Warming spices generally promote more efficient digestion and have a detoxifying effect. We want our digestion to move along fairly quickly, if food gets blocked up (many causes can attribute to this including too much acidity, not enough acidity, not chewing thoroughly enough and pancreas and/or liver overload) it can sit in our large intestine and start to ferment, in which case toxins can be released back into our blood stream and we can experience bloating and the socially awkward body’s warning sign of flatulence.
Some of humanity’s oldest systems for maintaining health and vitality, namely Ayurveda (“the science of life” from India) and Traditional Chinese Medicine use spices heavily to aid the body in recovering any malfunction. The backbone of vibrant health- abundant energy, sound sleep, balanced emotions, glowing skin and lustrous hair is considered far and wide to be tied into digestion. What we eat directly affects every part of our body, and how well we can absorb the good stuff and eliminate the bad stuff affects every one of our organs and body systems.
A few easy ways we can help our body recover from bad digestion are to eat lots of blended foods like smoothies and soups, to consume warming spices, and to eat calmly in a place where we feel relaxed. This smoothie hits the first two points inherently, but the third point depends on one taking the time to sit and enjoy it, drinking it slowly enough to really taste all the flavors. Chai tea blends usually contain allspice, black peppercorns, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and ginger, all of which are warming and stimulate digestion. Pumpkin pie spice adds even more cinnamon, cloves and ginger, plus some nutmeg, yet another warming spice. Many traditionally seasonal foods contain these spices- a testament to the fact that back before science and medicine developed to what it is today, people relied heavily on spices to stay in balance. I recommend using herbal chai blends for smoothies, purely for taste. Most of them have strong black tea which imparts a bitter taste into the smoothie that can be a bit overpowering and less palatable.
- 1 cup steeped chai tea, cooled
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
- ¼ cup pumpkin purée
- 1½ frozen bananas
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- ½ teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- ⅛ teaspoon vanilla extract
- To make the chai tea cool faster add in a bit of ice before adding it to everything else, just not too much or it will become overly diluted. Blend ingredients and drink right away or store in the refrigerator and the chia seeds will thicken it up.