Beauty Smoothies 101 HOW TO MAKE DELICIOUS, NUTRIENT DENSE SHAKES AND SMOOTHIES FOR A STUNNING COMPLEXION BY ERICA JONES, MHS

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2 Beauty Smoothies 101 HOW TO MAKE DELICIOUS, NUTRIENT DENSE SHAKES AND SMOOTHIES FOR A STUNNING COMPLEXION BY ERICA JONES, MHS 2

3 Introduction Let s be real. We all want to have flawless skin that has a radiant glow. Because a gorgeous complexion is a sign of beauty, it s a sign of health and there s just something really sexy about a woman with beautiful skin The good part is, that pretty much anyone can get glowing skin. The bad part is that most people don t know how. What most women do is focus on buying all of the latest, greatest products or therapies to artificially create a beautiful complexion, which really should come from the inside out. What I mean is that while choosing the right products is important and some treatments and therapies can help, the foundation of beautiful skin starts with what you re putting inside your body. Most of us don t want to hear that. We may want to believe that we can binge on cookies and pizza and still use the right products to have perfect skin. But it doesn t work that way and deep down we all know that. You really are what you eat. 3

4 The foundation of a beautiful complexion starts with The 3 Nutritional Essentials for Beautiful Skin: 1. Remove processed sugars from your diet as much as possible. 2. Replace bad, toxic fats with healthy fats. 3. Replaced processed foods with healthy, whole foods as much as possible. If you can do those 3 things consistently for at least a few weeks, you ll be well on your way to clear skin. One of the best ways to load your body up on vitamins and nutrients that are essential for a beautiful complexion is to regularly add shakes and smoothies to your diet. Shakes and smoothies are ideal for a few reasons: 1. Since they are in liquid form they are quickly and easily absorbed by your body. 2. They make it easy to add raw greens to your diet if you generally find them unpalatable. 3. They make it simple to add beauty boosting herbs and spices to your diet like fresh ginger, basil, mint and turmeric. 4. They can be substituted for a meal or snack on the go. 5. You can achieve all 3 Nutritional Essentials for Beautiful Skin in just one smoothie or shake. 4

5 Most people understand that shakes and smoothies can be a healthy beverage choice, but most sabotage any health and skin care benefits by making smoothies that are super sugary and/or lacking in nutrients. I m going to show you how easy it is to create a delicious and refreshing smoothie that s packed with vitamins to beautify your complexion and your body. Step 1: Choose a Low Sugar Liquid Most people use fruit juice or cow s milk as a liquid base for a smoothie. Both are terrible choices. Fruit juices add next to nothing in terms of nutritional benefit and what little they do add is a write off when you consider how much sugar they have. Common fruit juices for smoothies are apple juice, pineapple juice and orange juice. Just 1 cup of these juices contain 24, 25 and 21 grams of sugar, respectively. That s a lot of sugar and a lot of empty calories in one supposedly healthy drink and that s not even adding the fruit yet! Some scientists are even concerned that the sugar in smoothies and fruit juices could be posing a risk to health. This is the exact opposite reason why most people drink them. And all of that sugar certainly isn t going to benefit your skin. Cow s milk is an inferior choice first, because unless it s organic the milk is most likely full of hormones from corn-fed cows. Not only can this throw your hormones out of whack (leading to breakouts) but cows that are not grass-fed produce milk that has a terrible fatty acid profile compared to cows that actually eat grass. 5

6 Fatty acids are important because consuming bad fats leads to bad skin. Plus, if the milk isn t organic the cows are most likely eating corn that has been sprayed with pesticides just another way to add toxins to your system. Finally, conventional cow s milk is pasteurized which kills most (if not all) the enzymes that would help you digest the milk. Digestive issues are directly tied to skin issues like acne and eczema. And did I mention that just 1 cup of cow s milk has 13 grams of sugar? Better than juice, but still not as great as the alternatives. The reality is that unless you re using organic, raw milk or kefir there s just no real benefit to using cow s milk or it s byproducts (like yogurt) in your smoothie. So, do yourself a favor and choose a more nutritious liquid like pure, filtered water or nut milk as a base. Most unsweetened nut milks contain 0g of sugar, but the key is that you have to buy them unsweetened. The sweetened versions can still add an unnecessary amount of sugar to your diet. Here are some options to choose from: Almond Milk Brazil Nut Milk Coconut Milk Hazelnut Milk Hemp Milk 6

7 Here s a link to a blog post where you can see how easy it is to make homemade nut milks in just 5 easy steps. Pure, filtered water is also a healthy option. Please note that I did not include soy milk because soy is not a health food and it does not have beauty promoting properties. If anything soy is known for throwing hormones off balance which can (in mild cases) cause hormonal acne and breakouts and (in severe cases) it can promote cancer growth. Step 2: Choose Low Sugar Fruits or Berries For the same reasons mentioned in Step 1, popular smoothie fruits like pineapples, bananas and mangoes should not be the main show. I m not saying don t include them ever, but these types of fruits should be used in moderation to add sweetness to a smoothie instead of being the prime source of nutrition. Better choices are fresh or frozen berries or low-sugar fruits like green apples. Berries are high in antioxidants, which help fight the signs of aging. Plus, they are lower in sugar but they taste delicious. Citrus fruits like lemon, lime and grapefruit can be juiced to add brightness to your beverage and gently detox the body. Green apples are lower in sugar than many other fruits and they can add a touch of sweetness without going overboard. 7

8 Here s the list of fruits and berries to choose from: Blueberries Strawberries Raspberries Blackberries Granny Smith apples Lemons Limes Grapefruit Step 3: Add a Healthy Fat Healthy fats are one of the most important macronutrients missing from the average diet. They are also one of the foundations for good health and they are imperative for a beautiful complexion. A great way to add healthy fats to your diet is to throw them in a smoothie. It doesn t get any easier than that. Not only can they add a richness that will satiate you for hours, but they also taste delicious and can add a nutty, buttery flavor (depending on which fat(s) you choose). 8

9 Here s some options to choose from when you re looking for healthy fats to include: Almond butter Avocado Cashew butter Chia seed (mix in after blending the smoothie) Coconut butter Hazelnut butter Hemp seed Peanut Butter (ideally from Valencia peanuts) Sunflower seed butter 9

10 Step 4: Add a Clean Protein Powder Adding a protein powder to a beauty smoothie is a great way to boost your intake of essential vitamins and nutrients that benefit your skin. The problem is that most protein powders are complete junk. They are made from protein isolates instead of concentrate. They are made from denatured proteins which are inferior to their un-denatured counterparts and they are full of chemicals and filler ingredients. Gross for the body and gross for the skin. I recommend completely avoiding protein powders that you find in mainstream vitamin stores. Just bypass them altogether. Last I checked, none of them carried anything half decent, so save yourself a trip. The best place to shop for protein powders is either online or in a reputable health food store like Whole Foods (even then you have to read labels to make sure that what you re buying is legit). To save you the headache of digging through tons of different protein powders that taste like garbage, I m going to recommend my favorite 3. They are made from 3 different types of proteins (whey, pea/plant-based and hemp) and they taste awesome. Please note that I did not include powders made from soy protein. Soy is an estrogen mimicking (and GMO) ingredient (linked to cancer) that I don t eat and I wouldn t recommend anyone that I love eat it either. So please stay away. 10

11 Here are my Top 3 Protein Powder Recommendations: 1. Designs for Health WheyCool or PaleoMeal: This is a great product. Made from grass fed whey protein, Designs for Health is a physician grade un-denatured, concentrated protein powder. It s pure, without filler ingredients and it tastes delicious. My absolute favorite is the Strawberry and I ve used it many times to make shakes and smoothies that taste great. You can find these protein powders here: WheyCool and PaleoMeal. 2. Vega: This is a plant-based powder made from pea protein. It has tons of vitamins and nutrients and it comes in the best tasting flavors. Vanilla Chai, Vanilla Latte and Berry are my favorites. The small size packets are perfect for travel and they re great for trying the different flavors without committing to an entire canister. You can order Vega here. 3. Nutiva Hemp Protein Powder: This organic protein powder offers another alternative to junk proteins. Hemp seed is a complete protein because it has all 9 essential amino acids. The Nutiva brand is also organic, non-gmo, gently processed from raw hemp seeds and comes in a BPA-free container. It doesn t get any better than that. 11

12 Step 5: Add a Natural Sweetener (optional) You may not feel the need to add a sweetener to your smoothies at all (I typically don t). But if you ve been drinking smoothies from mainstream smoothie shops or you re used to smoothies with juice as the liquid base, you may need some sweetener to help your palate transition. Let me just say that with the exception of Stevia, I don t recommend adding most sweeteners in this list to smoothies on a regular, long term basis. That said, they are great transitional ingredients as you become more accustomed to a less sweet smoothie that is ideal for producing glowing skin. Options for sweetener: Stevia (best choice) Bananas Maple Syrup Raw honey (local is ideal) Dates 12

13 Additional Shake and Smoothie Add-Ins Here s some additional ingredients that are easy to add to smoothies for health and beauty benefits. I call these the Beauty Boosters because they can help with nutrient uptake, improve digestion, support cellular structure with healthy fats and add a host of vitamins and nutrients to your daily diet. All are beneficial for a glowing complexion as well as optimal health. Coconut kefir is a great source of healthy fat and probiotics which aid in digestion. Flax seed (ground) is a good source of omega-3 which is anti-inflammatory and an essential fatty acid that most people are deficient in. Greens (spinach, kale, collards, etc.) are anti-inflammatory, packed with essential vitamins and nutrients for beautiful skin and they help stave off cancer and disease. Maca powder can help to increase energy, stamina and your libido. Probiotics help to promote a healthy digestive system which is closely tied to your complexion. Psyllium husk adds fiber to clear out your colon and help with nutrient uptake. 13

14 Sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds add a delicious crunch to any smoothie plus they are a source of protein and healthy fat. Herbs and spices open the door to a wide variety of flavors and they can help remove toxins and impurities from the body. Here are some of my favorite herbs and spices: Basil Cardamom Cilantro Cinnamon Ginger Mint Turmeric Here are some of my favorite smoothies for glowing skin: 1. Coconut Berry Smoothie This is my staple smoothie and one of my absolute favorites. I usually make it at least once a week. It s so tasty. Click here for the recipe. 2. Green Tea and Berry Smoothie I call this the super antioxidant smoothie because it s made with green tea and frozen berries. It s also very refreshing and the perfect pick-me up after a long day. Click here for the recipe. 14

15 3. Strawberry Mint Shake Mint is a powerful antioxidant, soothing to the digestive system and delicious in this creamy strawberry shake. The Strawberry Mint recipe and all others can be found at the end of this e- book. 15

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17 About Erica Erica Jones is a natural and organic beauty guru, health food enthusiast and creator of TrueBeautyYou.com. After struggling with acne and persistent breakouts for years, she finally found the solution to a gorgeous complexion. Erica is a firm believer in natural and organic beauty products with pure ingredients and living a lifestyle that supports a radiant glow. In 2010 she and her husband founded Designer Health Centers, a health consultancy for executives and entrepreneurs to reach their peak state of health. They have worked with clients in multiple countries all over the world. Together, they have also spoken on international stages from Australia to Toronto promoting a message of health and high performance. Erica and her husband have a 1-year old son and reside in the suburbs of North Atlanta. She loves reading, photography, cooking delicious food and leading women all over the world in recognizing their God-given gorgeousness! To learn more about Erica, click here. 17

18 Beauty Smoothie Recipes Coconut Berry Smoothie Serves 1 Ingredients 1 to 1 ½ cups of frozen mixed berries 1 cup of Brazil nut milk or other milk of choice (like Almond Milk) 1 heaping tablespoon of coconut butter 1 heaping tablespoon of coconut kefir Protein powder of choice (I love plain Vanilla and Vanilla Chai Vega and this Strawberry Protein Powder is super healthy and it s SO yummy) Steps Add the milk to the blender first. Then add the berries, coconut butter, kefir and protein powder. Blend until smooth. Serve. Refreshing Antioxidant Green Tea Smoothie Serves 1 Ingredients 1 cup of green tea, cooled 1 ¼ cup frozen blueberries (or mixed berries) 2 drops of Stevia Pinch of cinnamon Protein powder of choice (try Vega Protein Powder in Berry) Steps Bring 1 cup of water to boil, pour in a cup and steep a bag of green tea for 3 minutes. Set in your refrigerator to cool (I let it cool for 30 to 40 minutes you just want it cool enough so it s not melting the berries when you blend). Add all ingredients to a blender and mix until smooth. Serve. 18

19 Cooling Strawberry Mint Shake Serves 1 Ingredients 1 cup of Fresh Strawberries, sliced 1 cup of canned Coconut Milk (preferably chilled) 1 heaping tablespoon of coconut kefir or coconut butter 1 cup of ice A few mint leaves (to taste) Stevia to taste 1 scoop of your favorite protein powder (optional) Steps Combine all ingredients in a Vitamix or high powered blender and mix until smooth. Serves 1. Thanks so much for reading this e-book! I hope that you ve found some great, useful tips. If you enjoyed this read and you want to see the rest of my 5-Part Online Beauty Course to Flawless Skin, then click the link below to get instant access to Lesson 2! YES! Send Me Lesson 2 in my Crash Course to Flawless Skin! If the button doesn t work for you, then paste the URL below in your browser: / 19