The food that you eat on a daily basis really does play a huge role in how you end up feeling and how much energy you’ll have throughout the day. If your diet mostly consists of processed junk foods then you’re most likely going to end up feeling sickly and lethargic. Conversely, if you eat a diet that’s made up of all natural whole foods, you’ll end up feeling healthy and energetic. And as far as feeling healthy and energetic goes, I’ve personally never felt better than when I was eating a paleo style diet. To this day, I still love making yummy paleo smoothies, like this anti-inflammatory paleo spinach smoothie. Not only does it help lower chronic inflammation in your body to help prevent disease, but this smoothie tastes absolutely incredible as well.

Give Inflammation the Boot

I can’t say enough good things about how great this smoothie really is for helping to fight off inflammation within the body. Which is a good thing too because thanks to modern research, we now have a much better understanding of just how deadly chronic inflammation can be. It has been directly linked with multiple types of disease, including cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and heart disease. Thankfully, there are quite a few healthy food options that all have proven anti-inflammatory properties, such as leafy green veggies like spinach. (1) When making this recipe, you can choose to add either two cups of fresh spinach or ½ cup of frozen spinach — both options will provide you with a ton of disease-fighting antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits.

While we’re on the topic of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits, you’ll also be adding a single cup of frozen cranberries into this smoothie. While cranberries are commonly used as a remedy for certain types of urinary infections, they’re also packed full of anti-inflammatory compounds that are extremely beneficial when it comes to human health. (2) You’ll also be using ½ of a frozen banana and ½ of a medium sized apple in this recipe. Both of these ingredients help to add even more vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants into the mix.

There’s still one other fantastic ingredient that you’ll be using with some incredibly potent anti-inflammatory benefits as well — one teaspoon of fresh ginger. It’s one of my favorite ingredients to add into my smoothies because it adds a slightly spicy hint to their taste while providing numerous great health benefits. Ginger is great for your gut health, relieving nausea, reducing aches and pains by lowering inflammation, and even providing certain anticancer properties thanks to the antioxidant gingerol. (3)

This paleo smoothie is also a rich source of polyunsaturated fatty acids thanks to the addition of two tablespoons of hemp seeds. They’re also a great protein source that provide numerous essential nutrients as well. The high fat content found in hemp seeds definitely help to make the smoothie more filling too. After adding in the hemp seeds, you can then sweeten the recipe up a bit by adding in some raw honey before finishing it off with some water and ice. I’d definitely recommend making this smoothie at least once or twice a week to get the most out of its anti-inflammatory benefits, especially if you suffer from ongoing aches and pains.