From the Department of Improvised Smoothies: I improvised this smoothie yesterday, and then later experienced an effortless mental shift to an interesting blend of steady calm, playful joy and abundant energy. I suspect that the recent regimen of daily sunflower seeds has a little bit to do with that. Or, maybe the heightened mood is a psychsomatic effect, since I know that sunflower seeds help the production of seratonin and dopamine, but my mood has been getting better and better since incorporating them into my nutrition regimen again.
Wait, you didn’t know that?
Here’s the meat of the findings from a 2022 study published at the National Library of Medicine:
“Sunflower seeds provide tryptophan-rich proteins with the potential to protect against depression. Tryptophan is a precursor of serotonin and a substrate for the production of indole derivatives by gut microbiota.”
From “The Antidepressant Effect of Deoiled Sunflower Seeds on Chronic Unpredictable Mild Stress in Mice Through Regulation of Microbiota–Gut–Brain Axis“
Seedy Purple Horse
1/2 raw red beet
4 tbsp honey
3 tbsp raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup blueberries
handful baby spinach, chard and kale
1/4 cup raw, soaked horse lentils
Water as needed or desired
Blend all ingredients until smooth in a drink blender. With each sip, swish the drink around in your mouth before swallowing so that it makes contact with saliva. This is crucial for the proper digestion of any food, but especially important when consuming blended drinks that contain a lot of calories.
