Improve Memory with a Pennywort Avocado Smoothie

Pennywort Avocado Smoothie

A while ago I listened to a webinar on teaching and on one of the interviews, a teacher named Mary Robinson Reynolds told the story of how, when she was able to convince parents of children with ADHD to take a special drink containing Gotu Kola, Bacopa Monnieri and green tea, they immediately improved. Apparently, the Gotu Kola and the Bacopa helped to improve memory and the Bacopa also improved intellectual activity. 

Since then I've always wondered what Gotu Kola and Bacopa Monnieri were. In fact, I did recommend them to one of my parents to try these herbs on her child but I think she was like "What in the world is that?" So much for that advice! 

But recently, I've just discovered quite by chance what Gotu Kola is. The other name for it is pennywort. I know pennywort! I used to drink it when I was younger. My mum used to blend it with water and sugar and gave it to us to drink. She always said that it was anti-inflammatory because it has cooling properties (the yin and yang, hot and cold of Chinese medicine). This is a typical cooling drink from Vietnam called Nuoc Rau Ma. (If I make this myself nowadays I would substitute the honey for the sugar.)

This was how I discovered it...I was shopping with my mum down in 'Chinatown' or Vietnamtown (keep in mind that we are in Sydney Australia). We were walking along the sidewalk outside the shops dotted with old Vietnamese grandmas hawking their wares. Mum stopped at one of them and asked me if I wanted any rau ma that this old woman was selling and I thought, 'oh yeah it's been a long time since I've had that'. 

Pennywort aka gotu kola

Later on while I was reaching for the usual spinach to go into making our daily smoothie, I thought 'why not try the pennywort?' Light bulb moment! In my smoothies, I've always either used kale or spinach so this was a breakthrough. I used about three handfuls of the pennywort so you can't really taste it as much as you can taste the avocado. My children drink all the smoothies that I make so I'm sure your children will like this too.

After I made the smoothie, I decided to do some research on the pennywort to see what health benefits there were apart from my mum's tale of anti-inflammatory. Everything pointed to it being a memory booster and that it was also known as gotu kola. Now I can recommend it to that parent again. 

If you want to boost your child's (and yours) memory (and cool your insides) then drink this smoothie daily.

Delicious, healthy and a memory booster

Instructions:
1. In a nutribullet, place one ripe banana, one avocado,  one tablespoon of raw honey, three small handfuls of pennywort and fill it up with almond milk to cover three quarters of the nutribullet.

2. Blend until smooth.

3. The avocado will make the smoothie quite thick so if it's too thick for you then dilute with more almond milk to taste.

4. Enjoy!

If you'd like more smoothie recipes, then check out the book below. It contains smoothies recipes. I've been on their subscription list for about 2 years now and the recipes they give out are delicious and extra healthy. They were the reason how I discovered smoothies and why my family loves smoothies.

Click on the books to have a look and order (they contain my affiliate links):

If you can't find any pennywort near you then you might like to try growing them from seeds yourself. You can get the seeds through Amazon (my affiliate link). I've read the reviews and it seems hard to grow from seeds (although once it's established it'll be like a weed). So please read the reviews to see what some people did to make them germinate (one person soaked the seeds in water before planting).


If the taste of a smoothie is too thick for your child then try Pennywort Juices - where you can combine one type of fruit with the pennywort. It tastes just like any fruit juice but with the added benefits of the pennywort. Click here to see the combinations that I recommend.