Over the years we've used many fruits and vegetables to make our smoothies. Papaya was one of the ones we started out using a lot of for its benefits with breaking down proteins and aid in the digestive process. It's a great fruit to have on hand. It's high in vitamins A, C, Folate and E and easy to incorporate into your diet with a little creativity.

Did you know that eating papaya can also help to balance or get rid of inflammation in the body?

Here's some more things it's got going for it:

It has a high source of protein splitting enzymes called papain and chymopapain which have been shown to improve healing from burns and break down scar tissue.
Its orange color is a great indicator of its natural beta-carotene source.
It's great for the heart, lungs, eyes, connective tissues and post-surgery wound healing.

These are a few of the reasons and benefits of adding papaya to your vegetarian eating plan.

Here's a smoothie recipe I love making using papayas.

1 cup papaya [with seeds is optional, and a great spicy addition to your drink]
1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple
1 cup fresh ginger
1/2 cup raw almonds [pre-soaked are the healthiest]
48 ounces mango nectar
1 - 1 1/2 cups ice [optional]

Combine all of your ingredients into a high powered blender and blend on high until smooth. Add ice, if you want the smoothie to be cold, and blend in high until ice is completely incorporated and no chunks remain.

The beautiful thing about this smoothie is that, not only is it filling, but it's healthy, tasty and extremely cleansing and warming. It has the kind of fire to it that can warm you from the inside out.

Quick note...

If you're not use to the spicy fire of good ginger, you may opt to start out a little more on the modest side, in regards to the ginger and put half of the cup in and see how that works for you. This smoothie packs a wallop and it gets things moving. I think it's a healthy change from the traditional sugar-bogged smoothies out there.

Give me a holler and let me know your stories on how this worked out for you.

As always, it's been my pleasure sharing this recipe with you. Until next time...