Spinach, Carrots, and Lemon: A Medicinal Drink to Eliminate Toxins
When we talk about using spinach in smoothies, we most often think of a mixture with apple, celery, and lemon juice, or perhaps a mixture with banana and milk. However, there’s another delicious blend that’s very refreshing. Just combine spinach, carrot, and lemon.
For some, this drink is simply a soft drink. That is, a natural and hydrating drink to enjoy cold, usually in hot weather, or simply after some kind of physical exertion.
Others take it as an alternative to industrial beverages, which nowadays cause so much concern about their effect on health. On the other hand, there are those who consume it in order to eliminate toxins from their body and thus improve their health.
Whatever the reason for its preparation, the truth is that it’s a good option for those hot days when it’s necessary to stay well hydrated.
Learn more: Fruit and Yogurt Smoothies: Why Make Them?
What are the benefits of these ingredients?
Let’s take a look at the nutrients that the ingredients of this drink can provide, according to data from the experts of the Spanish Nutrition Foundation (FEN) and the 5-a-day Association.
- Spinach: This vegetable is a source of protein, fiber, iron, potassium, folate, vitamin C, A, E and b-carotene.
- Carrots: Carrots are source of vitamin A, vitamin B9 (folic acid), carotenoids and, in smaller quantities, vitamin C, vitamin B6, iron, iodine, and potassium. It also provides small amounts of phytosterols, the most important being beta-sitosterol, followed by stigmasterol and campesterol.
- Lemon: This fruit is a source of vitamin C, organic acids and flavonoids. The pulp also contains organic acids, mainly citric acid and to a lesser extent malic acid (which are considered responsible for the sour taste of this food), acetic and formic.
A purifying beverage with spinach, carrots, and lemon
By drinking this beverage together with a meal or snack, you’ll be able to mitigate and keep food cravings under control. In this way, you’ll avoid snacking on unhealthy foods, such as industrial snacks, pastries, and the like.
Ingredients
To make this toxin eliminating drink, we will need the following ingredients:
- 2 handfuls of fresh spinach (50 g)
- 2 carrots
- Juice from 1 lemon and its peel
- 1 glass of water (200 ml)
- 1 spoonful of honey (25 g)
We recommend choosing organic ingredients, especially if the goal is to eliminate toxins. Otherwise, we run the risk of hindering the purification since there could be pesticides that are harmful to our health.
What should you do?
- First, squeeze the lemon and keep the juice. If it is organic, we can also grate its peel a bit and add it to the drink.
- Mix the lemon juice with the other ingredients: spinach, carrots, water and honey .
- If we want to make a smoothie-like drink, we’ll want the texture texture to be creamy. The drink will be very rich in fiber and satiating.
- If we choose the juice, we will have a lighter drink. Both options are very refreshing.
Don’t miss: Five Spinach Smoothies that Promote Weight Loss
How do we drink it?
You don’t need to consume this drink on an empty stomach to make the best use of its ingredients. Serving it fresh at a snack or a meal is enough. Nor do you need to substitute main meals with this drink, so you don’t have to go hungry.
If you want to lose weight, purify or eliminate toxins from the body, it’s best that, besides including this drink in our diet, you improve your eating habits and try to adopt a healthy lifestyle. It’s worth bearing in mind that the perfect combination is a healthy diet and daily exercise.
What’s more:
- When consuming this or any other natural drink, it’s best to leave out any type of sweetener. Rather, enjoy the sweetness of the food as it is.
- Also, don’t consume large quantities of any drink like this, no matter how natural it is. In other words, you must try to maintain moderation.
- Spinach can be replaced by a little beet, purple lettuce, or a piece of fruit of our preference.
This spinach, carrot, and lemon drink is just one of the healthy alternatives that can help us mitigate the heat on those summer days, but we can always research and prepare other recipes.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- GARCIA DAMBORENEA, R., SANCHO, J. L. D. E., VILLAR COLSA, F., GOMEZ ULLATE, P., LAMPREABE, I., OROFINO, L., & MU�IZ MARTIN, R. (1977). LOS DIURETICOS. Gaceta Médica de Bilbao.
- González-Molina, E., Domínguez-Perles, R., Moreno, D. A., & García-Viguera, C. (2010). Natural bioactive compounds of Citrus limon for food and health. Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpba.2009.07.027
- Peñuela, J. M. (1994). Influencia de los procesos de cocción y conservación sobre el contenido de nitratos y nitritos en espinacas (spinacia oleracea l.). Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Servicio de Publicaciones. https://doi.org/10.1179/1476830511Y.0000000011