Heart Healthy Green Smoothie
Premature Ventricular Contractions (PVCs) is a heart condition where you have an irregular heartbeat that consists of a normal beat, followed by an extra beat, a slight pause, and very strong normal beat. It basically feels like your heart skips a beat when it happens. It aggravated my mom for several months, so she decided to cut out sugar and processed foods and BAM! Problem solved!
Or so we thought…
Recently the PVCs came back and she cut out sugar and processed foods again, but this time with not as much luck in solving the problem. This time she’s been having some heartburn and shortness of breath, which is affecting her running and other daily activities, so we decided to whip up a power smoothie to kick the PVC’s butt!
The main things we were going for in the smoothie were high levels of potassium and magnesium. Potassium helps manage the contractions of the cardiac muscles, so as potassium levels in the body change, so do the muscle contractions. Increased levels of potassium have also been linked to a lower risk of developing hypertension, which can lead to strokes, heart attacks, and kidney failure. Magnesium supports the rhythmic activity of the heart, so lower levels of magnesium in the body can result in an abnormal heartbeat.
Hmmmmmm… now to the drawing board!
We did lots of research and ended up creating a delicious, heart healthy smoothie to kick some PVC butt.
Heart Healthy Green Smoothie
Makes one 4 Cup Smoothie
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Almond Milk
- 1 Banana
- 1/2 a Frozen Avocado
- 2 Cups Spinach
- 2 Tbsp. Raw Cacao Powder
- 1 Tbsp. Ground Flax Seeds
- 1-2 Tbsp. Peanut Butter
- 1 1/2 Cups Ice
Directions:
Add all ingredients to a high powered blender and blend until smooth and creamy.
Nutritional Breakdown
We packed quite a bit of Potassium and Magnesium into the smoothie, coming up with a grand total of 1454.5mg of potassium and 67% of the Recommended Daily Allowance of Magnesium! SCORE!
To up the numbers even more, go for the whole 2 Tbsp. of peanut butter, we only used one. It will also make it more reminiscent of a chocolate, peanut butter, banana milkshake! Mmmmmm, my favorite!!!
-Hunter (AKA Peanut Butter)