Nutritious liver detox smoothie with apples, spinach, banana, carrot, parsley, turmeric, lemon, walnuts, and hemp protein powder. This healthful, filling smoothie is packed with everything you need to help cleanse and revitalize your body.
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I mentioned in my Anti-Inflammatory Carrot Ginger Smoothie post, I always like to start the New Year with a smoothie recipe or two to help clear out any over-abundance we may have entertained during the holidays.
And also, who doesn’t love a great, nutritious smoothie?
You may have noticed, I like to give a theme to each of my smoothie recipes.
For instance, the Immunity Boosting Tropical Smoothie, Good Digestion Smoothie , Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie, Healthy Gut Smoothie and Aphrodisiac Smoothie recipes I’ve posted in the past do just what their titles suggest. 😉
And now? It’s time to detox our livers.
Why Liver Function is Important:
I know, not exactly the sexiest topic in the world, but bare with me here, because this stuff’s important.
We typically don’t think about each of our organs when we’re sitting down to a meal with family, are going out for a night on the town, or simply making day-to-day food choices. It’s easy to overlook the parts of our body that aren’t immediately obvious, but the liver serves some pretty important functions.
Storing vitamins, minerals and glycogen, removing toxins from your bloodstream, producing bile to digest fat and break down hormones, balancing protein, fat and sugar in the bloodstream, and eliminating old red blood cells are just a few of its many functions.
Signs Your Liver Needs Help:
Some tell tale signs that your liver isn’t working as well as it should is if you experience bloating or gas, constipation, heartburn or acid reflux, anxiety or depression, have a difficult time losing weight, experience chronic fatigue, excessive sweating, and more.
So basically, if your liver’s pissed, other systems in your body will react to let you know something’s up.
When we think of liver damage, we typically think of excessive alcohol consumption, but it’s entirely possible to have an improperly functioning liver without drinking.
Common causes of liver damage are eating processed foods (in particular, hydrogenated oils and refined sugar), alcohol consumption, having autoimmune disease, taking certain medications, not getting the proper nutrients from your food (malnutrition), and more.
In this sense you can see the importance of taking a load off your liver, throwing it a metaphorical bone to help it do its job more efficiently so that your overall health is in tip top shape.
How to Support Your Liver:
Step 1 in your liver detox journey is to remove processed foods from your diet, and add foods that support and detoxify your liver.
Foods like the ones you see in this smoothie recipe will help you get rid of toxins and will nourish your organs so that they aren’t overly taxed.
Your goal is to lower systemic inflammation by removing pro-inflammatory foods from your diet, and instead incorporating anti-inflammatory foods.
We’ll discuss the cleansing properties of this smoothie in a moment, but I want first to discuss the protein component.
I often add protein powder to my smoothies if I’m using them as a meal-replacement in order to ensure I get adequate protein for the day.
Protein Powder:
I used Hemp Protein Powder in this smoothie to give it a plant-based protein boost, making it a well-rounded meal-in-a-glass, or excellent pre or post-workout snack. If you look at the ingredient list on the back of the package, the only ingredient is hemp protein powder. No added anything, no sweeteners, artificial flavors, etc.
For me, this is key in choosing a protein powder, because I feel everything but the protein is unnecessary. The powder blends easily in smoothies and can also be incorporated baked goods, pancake batter, and/or oatmeal.
I’ve mentioned this is past posts, but I learned a few months ago that I wasn’t consuming enough protein, so I’ve been hyper-vigilant about my intake.
While I do eat animal protein, I like to derive some of my protein from plant-based sources as well.
Since I have a sensitive digestive system, many protein powders mess with me, but hemp protein works like a charm! Adding it to a smoothie or energy bars/bites is an effective, easy-to-process form of protein.
For those interested parties, we can geek out a little more on the liver detox front. I researched which foods help detoxify your liver and added my favorites to this smoothie.
I use apples, carrots, banana, walnuts, spinach, parsley, fresh lemon juice, fresh turmeric, a dash of cinnamon, and almond milk.
Ingredients for Liver Detox Smoothie:
Apples: Contain a good source of pectin, which is necessary for the body to cleanse and release toxins from the digestive tract. In this sense, apples help the liver handle the toxic load.
Carrots: high in plant-flavonoids and beta-carotene which can help stimulate and support overall liver function
Bananas: Potassium is essential to keeping your liver healthy and it’s also imperative for cardiovascular health, lowering bad cholesterol, and lowering systolic blood pressure. Psst! Sweet potatoes are an even better source of potassium than bananas!
Walnuts: Walnuts help the liver in detoxify ammonia, and are also high in glutathione and omega-3 fatty acids, which help keep the liver clean. Walnuts are best consumed when liquified to make them easier for your body to digest, so adding them to a smoothie is quite brilliant!
Parsley: Contains a high concentration of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, enzymes, chlorophyll and volatile oils, all of which support healthy liver function. Parsley, along with other fresh herbs, is known for its awesome liver and kidney support.
Lemon: High in vitamin C, which helps the body break down toxic materials into substances that can be absorbed by water.
Turmeric: Turmeric assists enzymes that actively flush out dietary toxins, making it a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant.
Spinach: Extremely high in chlorophyll, leafy greens soak up environmental toxins from the bloodstream. They neutralize heavy metals, chemicals, and pesticides and also help protect the liver.
Cinnamon: I love adding cinnamon to my coffee and smoothies both for flavor and for improved blood circulation. While cinnamon isn’t known for its liver-cleanse properties, I adore its circulatory benefits.
Foods That Detoxify Your Liver:
More liver cleanse foods that I didn’t include in this smoothie are papaya, beets, artichoke, asparagus, kale, and Brussels sprouts, cabbage, lime, avocados, green tea, grapefruit, and garlic. Feel free to play with your smoothie ingredients and perhaps consider adding papaya, beets, avocado, kale, and/or grapefruit.
What else can you do to help detox your liver? Drink raw vegetable juice (think leafy greens and beet juice), make sure you get plenty of B vitamins, Vitamin C and iron in your diet, take a milk thistle supplement and/or a dandelion supplement, and/or consume beef liver or take a liver supplement.
Recipe Adaptations:
If you’re intolerant to bananas, consider adding 1/2 cup papaya or ¼ to ½ a cooked (and cooled) sweet potato in lieu of the banana – as it turns out, sweet potatoes are an even better source of potassium than bananas, so you can’t go wrong by making the switch!
Whether you went off-the-charts bonkers with alcohol and food during the holidays or not, being mindful of your operating system is a sure way to maintain health long-term.
So there we have it! A smoothie that fills, nourishes, detoxes, and revitalizes! Pour it in a pretty glass, sip it out of a fancy straw and feel your liver (and the rest of your body) thanking you for the vacation.
My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your all your support!
If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo on Instagram and tag @The.Roasted.Root!
More Healing Smoothie Recipes:
- Tropical Immunity-Boosting Smoothie
- Carrot Ginger Smoothie
- Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie
- Turmeric Lassi
- Chocolate Beetroot Smoothie
- Green Superfood Smoothie
- Strawberry Mango Spinach Smoothie
- A Green Smoothie That Actually Tastes Good
Sluuuurp!
Liver Detox Smoothie
Ingredients
- 1 ripe banana peeled*
- 1/2 green apple cored and chopped
- 1 medium-sized carrot peeled and chopped
- 1 handful baby spinach
- 1 1/4-inch nub turmeric root, peeled
- 1 Tbsp fresh parsley chopped
- 3 walnut halves
- 2 Tbsp Hemp Protein Powder
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- 1 pinch cinnamon optional
- 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk see note**
Instructions
- Add all ingredients for the smoothie to a blender and blend until completely smooth. Taste smoothie for flavor and add more cinnamon and/or some honey to taste.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
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Hello,
I recently did a blood test, and my liver levels are slightly elevated. After reading your article, I’m looking forward to trying your smoothie recipe, along with other measures I know I need to take. One of these is drastically reducing my intake of refined sugar. My question is, how often should I consume the smoothie?
Thank you for the helpful information.
Hi Joseph! As long as the smoothie fits within your diet (daily carbohydrate goal, protein, calories, etc.), you can drink it daily 🙂 Because I’m not a daily smoothie drinker anymore, I would say 2-3 times per week is great, especially if you’re getting fresh fruit and veggies from other sources. If your doctor recommended a low-carb diet, I would omit the banana – you can replace it with about 1/2 cup of steamed cauliflower (that has been chilled) to make up some of the volume) if you’d like. Know that this method doesn’t taste incredible as the banana makes the smoothie more palatable, but food for thought 😉
It’s great you’re making other adjustments to your diet, as eliminating refined sugar will help improve your health overall, so huge kudos to you for doing so! I know it can be a challenge at first, but I promise it gets easier and easier the longer you go. Enjoy!
I’ve let myself get into some real trouble with my liver…. I’m 50 and my liver is not functioning properly which has led to exhaustion shortness of breath… I’ve worked out my whole life but I have done my share of partying as well… Never have I had any health issues so this is all new to me. I’m going to try your recipes and switch to a Mediterranean diet.. I’ll check back in a month and give you an update if you like.
I’m sorry to hear about your health struggles, Marco! I know it can feel overwhelming to change your diet, but it sounds like you’re keeping a positive attitude and have a great plan! Best of luck, and feel free to keep me updated 😉
Any updates on your health and if good, what do you attribute it too?
When you say “1/2 lemon, juiced” are you saying JUST THE JUICE from half a lemon? Or is it 1/2 a lemon WITH NO JUICE in it?
Hi Riley! Just the juice from half of a lemon. So cut a lemon in half and squeeze one of the halves into a blender. It should be between 2 and 3 tablespoons worth of lemon juice 🙂 xo
Thank you very much I enjoyed the read, I think I have a over worked liver and need to give it some loving definitely going to this smoothie.
Hi Chadene! My pleasure! In this day with so much processed food and alcohol consumption, many of us could give our livers a break. Hope you enjoy the smoothie! xo
Today I made this to be healthy, tomorrow I will make it because it was delicious!
Ahh I’m so happy to hear it! xo
What is the best time of the day to drink this ? And how do you know it helps with liver? Thank you.
Hi Rafia!
I typically try to get all my fruit carbs in before 2pm, so I think either for breakfast, snack or lunch works great. The smoothie is designed to support the liver by assisting in the detoxification process. That said, it shouldn’t be used to treat medical liver issues, as a doctor should be consulted in those cases 🙂
Hi Do we have to drink liver detox smoothie every day? If not then how many times a week and his long? Please guide and let me know thanks
Hi there!
Smoothies like this are safe to drink daily, though I don’t think it’s necessary to drink them every single day or multiple times per day. The human body is designed to heal and detoxify on its own, so while it is wise to add foods that help with cleansing the liver, it doesn’t need to be a source of stress by any means. I’m not a medical professional and am not familiar with your health profile so I wouldn’t be able to offer advice on what you would need to do for your health specifically. Just in general, maintaining an a whole food centric diet that doesn’t include excess sugar or inflammatory foods is probably more than enough for the average human to have a healthy liver. 🙂 Hope that helps! xoxoxo
@Julia, thank you so much for your reply. Actually I have GERD and also my energy level is low and it’s difficult for me to lose weight so that’s why I am asking that in this kind health how many times a week I should drink this smoothie. Secondly do you have any suggestions for liver cleansing pills? Please let me know if you have any suggestions regarding liver pills. Thanks again
Hi Mis!
I feel unqualified to answer these questions, since I truly have no medical experience, however if it were me, I would take actual liver pills. Vital Proteins makes a beef liver pill, and Heart & Soil makes a great one too. If the goal is to revitalize and clean your liver, consuming actual liver is probably the most effective bet 😀 Again, I don’t have qualification to stand on medical advice, so take this as my own personal opinion.
I added a jalapeno pepper to mine and unfortunately it was to spicy to drink.. But I saved and will brush it on my chicken breasts or use it as a barbecue sauce..
Oh no, sorry to hear that, Rick! Crazy how some jalapenos are very spicy and some are mild…never know what you’re going to get. 😉
I have a difficult time with the “slimes” texture spinach gives smoothies. Any suggestions? Spinach salad, yum, spinach in smoothie not as much.
Hi Jean!
You can omit the spinach if you don’t like the texture 🙂 Save it for salad! xo
Can you use powdered tumeric. I can’t find fresh in my area
Hi Sue! Yes, absolutely. You can add 1/4 teaspoon to 1 teaspoon of ground turmeric to the smoothie, depending on your taste for turmeric. If you’re new to it, I would start light and work your way up 😀 xoxo
@Julia, thanks for the info. I did find tumeric on amazon, but when that’s used I can switch.
Thank you for sharing the recipe. I’ve been drinking it daily with a few modifications. I replaced the spinach with dandelion greens and use unsweetened coconut milk (or water) instead of almond milk. I’m using the papaya instead of banana– great suggestion. I’m working on liver repair and hope this will help my healing over time. Thank you!
I’m so happy you enjoy it, Paula! Thrilled you like it with the papaya!:D Cheers to great health xoxo
I left out the honey, used a whole apple. It’s totally delicious. I can’t believe I haven’t tried this sooner. I’ going to work my way through all of her recipes.
I’m so happy you like it, Gayle! Thank you for the sweet note 😀 xoxo
@Julia, I don’t see honey in the recipe?
Hi Pam! The honey is optional 🙂 If the smoothie tastes “too green” I recommend adding 1-2 teaspoons, or to your personal taste. I try not to add sweetener, but I totally get it when folks need a little sweet to take the edge off of a healthy smoothie. Hope this helps! xoxo
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Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Brandon! My warmest wishes go out to you…stay healthy and happy!! xoxo
@Brandon Dan, which products did you use for hepatitis B.
Please share information thank you.
Do you cook the sweet potato or put it in raw?
Just noticed the instuctions for cooking the sweet potatoes
Really interesting a helped a lot