Smoothie core - A multi-purpose mix that full of anti-oxidants, anti-inflammatories, and polyphenols

By: Tom Cloyd - 2 min. read (Published: 2025-11:24; reviewed: 2025-11:24:1521 Pacific Time (USA))

[Incomplete - under development]

This mix of remarkably diverse ingredients is used in my Tiger soup and my greens smoothie with legumes. Mixed up in a number of individual portions, it’s ready to use with very little effort. Once you have the ingredients on hand, you can make up multiple batches of the dry mix with only a little preparation time. I regularly mix up 16 portions, each placed in its own little 1/2 cup lidded jar. To mix those 16 portions takes me 45 minutes - not quite 3 minutes a batch.

The recipe came from my reading of a truly exceptional book1, authored with such focus and impressive scholarship that I had to take its recommendations seriously. The author’s respect for science runs deep, and he is superb at explaining it. His writing is fun to read and resolutely informative at the same time.

THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS - not the recipe, but the writing of it. The ingredients need explanation - documentation, actually. I’ll have to get to this as I find the time - in the next few days.

  • Source: Developed through study of Greger, M., & Stone, G. (2017). The how not to die cookbook: 100+ recipes to help prevent and reverse disease (First edition). Flatiron Books.
  • Makes: portion for one smoothie, or one day’s consumption

Ingredients

This recipe is for one portion, to be mixed into 12 oz. hot water. For detailed explanation and justification of each ingredient, see Ingredients - explained

  • 1/4 c ground dry okara (optional)
  • 1 T flax (ground)
  • 1 T peanut butter or peanut butter powder
  • 1/2 T oregano
  • 1/2 T nutritional yeast (importanta both for nutrition and taste)
  • 2 t ground chia seed (could be increased to 1 T)
  • 1 t macha powder OR 2 bags of green tea (I like Costco’s Kirkland brand, because it has macha tea in it)
  • 1 t amla powder
  • 1 t creatine monohydrate (optional)
  • 1/4 t cinnamon
  • 1/4 t tumeric (plus a pinch of ground pepper)
  • 1/4 t fiber (optional - see below)
  • 1/8 t clove (ground)

Mixing procedure

Place ingredients in small a container. When making a smoothie, shake the container to mix the ingredients, then add the mix to the hot water while stirring vigorosly. A nice option is to stir into the hot water 1/2 t vegetarian broth paste, before adding the mix.

Ingredients - explained

1/4 c ground dry okara (optional)

Okara is the ground soybean pulp left-over from making soy milk at home. It’s incredibly versatile and nutritionally valuable.

Note that in savory (not sweet) smoothies, one can substitute 1/2 cup mild bean, unless the recipe already has in it a legume of some sort.

1 T flax (ground)

1 T peanut butter or peanut butter powder

1/2 T oregano

1/2 T nutritional yeast

2 t ground chia seed (could be increased to 1 T)

1 t macha powder OR 2 bags of green tea (I like Costco’s Kirkland brand, because it has macha tea in it)

1 t amla powder

1 t creatine monohydrate (optional)

1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t tumeric (plus a pinch of ground pepper)

1/4 t fiber

1/8 t clove (ground)

  1. The book: Greger, M., & Stone, G. (2015). How not to die: Discover the foods scientifically proven to prevent and reverse disease (First edition). Flatiron Books. Michael Greger, M.D., is a physician and educator; Gene Stone is the author of many books on plant-based nutrition. ^

 

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