Last week, I wrote briefly on the benefits of green tea. When it comes to increasing your intake of cancer-fighting catechins, doctors Richard Béliveau and Denis Gingras (authors of Foods that Fight Cancer) recommend that you choose Japanese green tea over Chinese.
If you haven’t yet acquired a taste for green tea, I suggest you start with this recipe from Toronto’s much-loved vegetarian restaurant Fresh (www.freshrestaruants.ca). They have kindly given me permission to share their recipe with you.
Shamrock Smoothie
Ingredients:
• 1 banana
• 1 tsp agave
• ½ tsp peppermint oil (or less if you use full strength oil)
• 1 T Matcha green tea powder
• 12 oz vanilla soy milk
Put the ingredients into a blender, blend and enjoy.
Agave is a sweetener, made from the agave plant. According to www.glycemicindex.com, the glycemic index of agave ranges from 10-19 whereas the glycemic index of sugar (sucrose) is 60-65. It has 20 kcal per tsp (sugar has less at 15 kcal) but because agave is sweeter you may be able to use less. It is available in some supermarkets and health food stores.
Matcha is made from shade-grown tea leaves. The tea bushes are covered to prevent direct sunlight several weeks before harvest. The dried leaves are de-veined and de-stemmed, and stone ground to the fine, bright green powder known as matcha. When you consume matcha you are consuming the entire leaf – so you don’t use a tea bag or diffuser, just add the powder to the smoothie (or hot water if you are making a cup of tea). You can find it in tea shops and health food stores.
By: Jean LaMantia, Registered Dietitian
