Bare Bones Baobab Milk

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Recipe Notes

From Serene... Here’s a three-ingredient milk drink recipe to help heal your gut, boost your immune system, help you shed weight and so much more…

We’ve all read that health starts in our gut. Your gut microbiome (the bacteria in your intestines) affects everything from your immune system to your metabolism and so much more (such as skin and mental health). In fact, 70 - 75% of your immune system is housed within your gut.

If we’re going to talk gut health, we need to talk about the African Hadza tribe. They eat one of the most ancient diets on earth (they’re still considered hunters and gatherers) and they have astounding health. Modern conditions such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension do not plague them and scientists believe it is due to the fact that they have one of the healthiest gut microfloras in the world. It is 40% more diverse than the average gut biome of those of us living in the western world.

Baobab fruit is the staple food of the Hadza diet. If you haven’t heard of baobab yet, it is a fruit that grows on trees in Africa. It is the only fruit that dries into a powder inside its large shell while it is still hanging on the tree. (Those are baobab shells you see sitting on the table in front of me and the white pebble looking things I’m holding are the pods that the powder naturally dries around). Click here for the post with the picture!! This powder is more than a super food… it is a super food on steroids because it outshines almost all other foods in multiple ways. It has the most antioxidants of all foods on this planet… so its disease fighting abilities are through the roof. It is antiviral, antimicrobial, anti-inflammatory, anti-aging, powerfully blood sugar balancing and skin beautifying and trimming to boot. It is rich in zinc, magnesium, calcium, B vitamins and many more nutrients.

But more than anything, we need to talk about its vitamin C content. It has 8 – 10 times the amount of vitamin C of oranges but here’s the important part… this vitamin C is highly bioavailable to your body in whole food form and because baobab is also naturally high in iron. If you lack iron you can’t absorb vitamin C. People deficient in vitamin C have trouble shedding weight and they often have adrenal problems. Baobab helps weight loss (and boosts your adrenals) through its highly absorbable form of vitamin C but also through its special fiber. Although baobab is essentially a fruit, it has zero net carbs due to it being predominantly a fiber. This fiber powerfully balances blood sugar, has shown in studies to reduce weight, suppresses out of control appetite and keeps you full for longer.

I heard of how the Hadzas mix baobab powder with water to make a citrusy type of milk which they drink for breakfast on a daily basis. Tim Spector, a scientist from Kings College London, went to live with the Hadzas with the intention of following their diet and lifestyle to see if it could change his gut biome. He is a world traveler who had taken 50 other samples of his gut while eating in styles of other cultures but had never seen his gut health go up or down very much. In just three days of eating like the Hadzas (drinking their Baobab Milk and eating their meat, honey and berries) he gained over 20% more microbe types in his gut. He was astounded.

Personally, I’ve been using Baobab now for a few years in my Trim Healthy Mama eating lifestyle. I generally have about 3 Tbs, a day and my health has never been better. But learning about this baobab milk and Mr. Spector’s experience with it intrigued me. Spector said the Baobab Milk for breakfast left him extremely full, so much so that he wasn’t interested in much lunch (although he did eat some since the Hadzas did). I decided to come up with my own Baobab Milk knowing it could help people increase gut biome, regulate blood sugar and suppress over the top urges to snack!

Pearl and I talked about this baobab milk on last week’s podcast, Episode 168~ We Have a New #1 but had not finalized it yet. Well, here it is… all the benefits of baobab plus the immune enhancing, appetite suppressing and muscle preserving benefits of pure CFM Whey protein to enhance the power of this recipe. Whey’s creamy and clean bioavailable protein gives the right mouthfeel and strengthening qualities that befit wearing the name “milk”.

Baobab Milk is a simple recipe… no need to go complicating it up too much. It is not intended to taste like a shake or a smoothie although it can certainly be jazzed up to “all dat” if you must but I wanted to keep it truer to its tribal origin. It is designed to be light in calories so you can add it to any meal. It tastes a little tart, a bit like an acidophilus yogurt drink and that makes sense due to the positive impact it will have on your gut.

It makes an incredible start to the day by priming your digestive tract (so to speak) but can be sipped with any meal or snack to increase the feeling of satiety. If you want to have Baobab Milk 3 times a day with your meals… go for it! Just know that some people who are not used to Baobab have to start more slowly as its fiber is very powerful. If you feel a bit bloated at first, just reduce amounts of baobab and work your way up.

I have three variations of Baobab Milk for you here so you can find your perfect cup… like Goldilocks… find your own just right. I prefer the Bare Bones version but that’s me… I am not a sweet freak and like to be a food traditionalist. Pearl thought it might be too “naked tasting” for many people so we created the other two milk options together. For the vanilla versions… if you don’t have our TH Pristine Vanilla Bean whey, you can add just a scant doonk of stevia and a little natural vanilla extract but… honestly… can I be a bit bossy and say again… I don’t want you trying to make a big ol’ sweet drink out of this… it is milk… it is purposeful… enjoy the natural citrusy, yogurt flavor of its nature and do right by it.

Can’t do dairy at all? Sub the TH Pristine Whey Powder with 1 tsp Integral collagen (but you will need a tiny bit of sweetener and flavor to mask the hinting taste of collagen).

Love,

Serene

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Complimentary Recipes

• Tad Sweet Baobab Milk (FP)
• Creamy Good Baobab Milk (FP)

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Baobab... A Multi-Talented, Multi-Tasking, Immune- Boosting, Multi-Vitamin, and Mineral One- of- a- Kind Supplement Resource.