Tropical Green Smoothie - Banana and Coconut

I've tried to convince you to drink green smoothies before, and I'm not giving up! They taste bright and refreshing, and on the mornings after a particularly rough night in baby land, they give me energy.

This mix gets it's tropical taste from the combination of banana and coconut oil, as well as the usual suspects of spinach, almond milk, and a handful of ice. It would also be delicious with the addition of pineapple or mango.

Let's go back to the coconut oil, though. According to Organic Facts.com:

The health benefits of coconut oil include hair care, skin care, stress relief, maintaining cholesterol levels, weight loss, increased immunity, proper digestion and metabolism, relief from kidney problems, heart diseases, high blood pressure, diabetes, HIV and cancer, dental care, and bone strength. These benefits of coconut oil can be attributed to the presence of lauric acid, capric acid and caprylic acid, and its properties such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, antifungal, antibacterial, soothing, etc.

That's a whole lot of good stuff. There are a bunch of sites that suggest a multitude of uses for coconut oil, such as this one, this one, and this one.

I use it for cooking, sometimes to replace butter, melted with chocolate to make a shell coating (amazing on ice cream, or in a bowl with a spoon...), and mixed into a smoothie, as I did here. Topically, I use it as a lip balm, and it's the best one I've ever tried. Smoothed on my skin, it helps my perpetually dry hands, and works very well as an after-shave leg balm. It definitely tastes and smells like coconut, though, so if you like that, great!

Let me know if you have any other favorite uses for coconut oil, or if you give it a try!

Comments

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