Green Smoothies, A Wonderful Way To Get Our Greens!

Discussion in 'Health & Wellness' started by Yvonne Smith, Mar 30, 2017.

  1. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    My health experiment for this week (yes, I am an "experimenter", if you didn't already guess that !) is with green smoothies. I have been reading Victoria Boutenko's book called "Green for Life", and she talks extensively about the need we have for more greens in our diet.
    We all know that we need to eat more greens; but except for salads and a few wilted overcooked spinach leaves, most of us do not get anywhere near the amount of greens in our diet that we need.
    Greens are an important source of both vitamins and minerals, as well as being high in protein that is much easier for our body to use than animal protein is. The problem is that they also require a whole LOT of chewing, and the digestive enzymes for greens start in our mouth. (I learned this with my last study about enzymes, which is how I ended up at green smoothies.)
    Also, many people do not even like the taste of greens; so between all of these reasons, we don't get very many of them in our diets.
    Most salads are made with plain old iceburg lettuce, which is sadly lacking in the chlorophyll that the darker greens are full of, and which our bodies need. Chlorophyll is very similar in structure to our blood, so it is especially nourishing to that, and readily used by our bodies.

    Another problem with getting enough greens is that it can become harder for us to chew them as we get older. We tend to eat softer foods, and mostly cooked foods, and our teeth and jaws are just not up to the task of chewing greens thoroughly any more.
    For this reason alone, green smoothies makes a lot of sense. Our body can start processing the smoothies right away, and they are easy for us to get a lot more greens than we would if we just ate salads.

    Although I have not given up my morning coffee (as of yet), I am starting my day out with a green smoothie made with either spinach or dark romaine greens, plus fruits to add a nice taste. The worst problem that I had was getting used to drinking something that was a weird shade of green (think camo-green)and even though it smelled great, I closed my eyes to drink The Stuff.
    Victoria says it gets addictive once your body starts using the nutrients, and I now have no problem at all with the color, and look forward to my smoothie each day. I have ordered another book about green smoothies, and a better blender.
    How I wish that I still had my beloved Vitamix ! ! They are the best ever blender in the whole world; but I had to sell it along with everything else when we moved out here from Idaho.

    http://www.rawfamily.com/green-smoothie
     
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    Last edited: Mar 30, 2017
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  2. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I love green veggies and like them juiced, sometimes I'll splurge and buy one at a juicing bar because I don't have a juicer but my daughter and son do...the ones that are sold in stores aren't that great because most add some other things to them.

    Think you might be talking about something different though in a smoothie. I have no problem drinking anything green so that's not an issue for me.

    Also the only little bit of fruit I liked added is some green apple. I know one recipe has kale, spinach, maybe a little celery and/ cucumber and a little lemon and ginger and green apple....might be missing something but not much.
     
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  3. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    Morning @Yvonne Smith , good article. It is so hard to get enough vegies, especially high-quality, and I know the greener vegies are so healthy for us. I want to try a green drink but so far I haven't put one together. I have no problem making protein drinks with fruits/yogurt, and now I do a yummy, spicy drink that has done wonders for my whole digestive system.

    I love the greenest leafs I can find, including spinach (sometimes just plain spinach salad w/onions and a few other yummies). My friend and neighbor colleen has a garden that I am helping with this year and I will get more fresh goodies if it turns out for us. Also a nice farmers market. The one thing I miss in a "green" concoction drink would be some flavor, or I should say sweetner maybe. I will take a look at your recipe, and some others because I know I need more of this stuff in my diet.

    I'm wondering about a mixture of fruit and vegie?? I haven't looked at your recipe, but it wouldn't surprise me to find a drink that has both?? Maybe??
     
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  4. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Greenjuices are also very healthy, and there is a whole documentary out about people who have improved their health by using juiced drinks. The main difference between green juices and green smoothies is fiber, and other solid nutrition that is in the smoothie. Since you make it in a blender, nothing is wasted, whereas in a juicer, all of the pulp is left, and often just thrown away.
    We also need more fiber in our diets than most people get; so this is another thing that green smoothies (or any kind of smoothie) adds that is beneficial for us to drink.
    By adding more or less water to the smoothie, we can make them as thick or as thin as we like them, and you can also use a strainer if the blender leaves extra pulp that you do not want to drink; but I blend mine longer and drink everything.

    Fruits and veggies are also great @Denise Happyfeet . Although we include greens with vegetables, technically, they are not vegetables at all, but instead, they are leaves and sometimes grasses. Some of what we call vegetables are actually the fruit of the plant, like tomatoes, green peppers, and squash. Some are actually a grain, like corn. Some are legumes, like beans and peas.
    So we just lump all of these together and call them a vegetable, regardless of the differences. I added a carrot into my green smoothie this morning, and one of my favorite drinks as a child was when my mom made a drink with carrots and pineapple juice in the blender. It was healthy and delicious, and I loved it !
    Although most of the green smoothies have fruit in them, some can also be made that are savory or spicy, with adding vegetables or tomato juice instead of fruits. I tried making a kind of V-8 drink, but it came out the ugliest green, and I didn't like it; so that one is on the back burner for a while, at least until I find a better recipe that I like.
    I also sometimes add a little Braggs ACV or the liquid coconut oil to the smoothie because they are both very healthy, too.
    The Kindle store has some eBooks for green smoothies that are quick and easy to read, and some are free, or very cheap. For more in-depth information, I definitely recommend reading "Green For Life" and checking out Victoria Boutenko's page called www.rawfamily.com .
     
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  5. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    So happy to find Braggs a good price as I use it daily. I like raw vegies best, and try to not over-cook or steam them if I choose to fix them that way. I love coconut oil and it's sweet too, so that is a good choice. I wonder how long before it would solidify again in a drink?? I'm learning how great nuts and seeds are too, getting more of those, as well as the oils our bods need;)

    I'll take a look at my Kindle store too @Yvonne Smith All I have is a blender, pretty sturdy, but haven't decided on any sort of juicer. I don't remember if you mentioned having a juicer? If so, I wouldn't want some huge thing to clean, but maybe they have minnies for one-peep families like me;)
     
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  6. Missy Lee

    Missy Lee Veteran Member
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    Not really into smoothies but going to look into that book advertised in the article about uncommon fruit.

    I try to follow the 5 to 10 a day fruit and veggie rule. I will throw chopped up kale into soups, salads or meatballs, stuff like that.

    And I have not used iceburg lettuce in years. Romaine is my choice.
     
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  7. Denise Evans

    Denise Evans Supreme Member
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    I tried Kale, which I believe is right at the top of the nutritious greens @Missy Lee good for you. I only tried it in a salad, then one other time, someone told me to put it in the oven for a bit and make a snack of it crispy.

    Sounds like you get all you need;) I manage at least 1 apple a day, but vegies are way easier for me to get enough of as I slack badly on my fruits;) Been doing better lately though.
     
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  8. Missy Lee

    Missy Lee Veteran Member
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    Denise, if it makes you feel better I also had an apple or two today....cheated...it was inside an apple pie :D
     
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  9. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I have been adding one or two green smoothies per day to my diet, and I feel like they are giving me a lot of nutrients and I have no arthritis pain, and my body feels like I can move more smoothly when I am walking.
    Yesterday, I went out foraging with Robin, and we tromped around in the trees and weeds, and I dug up a few starts from blackberry bushes and the wild sand plums. I was able to do this and came home still feeling energetic, and I think that even my balance might be getting better, although I am not sure about this part.
    In any case, I intend to keep on drinking the green smoothies and getting my nutrition from the greens this way, so I have been reading more and listening to more of the youtube videos about how nutritious they are, and easy to digest, as well as some of the illnesses that they have helped people to overcome.
    Today, I was watching this video by Sergei Boutenko, the son of Victoria Boutenko. They are a Russian family, who live in America (in Oregon, @Denise Happyfeet ), and the whole family was in poor health when they started. The mother was overweight and had arrithmia (like me), the father had arthritis and thyroid issues, the daughter had asthma, and Sergei had juvenile diabetes, which is supposed to be the "incurable " kind.
    By changing what they ate, they were able to overcome all of these illnesses, and live a much more productive life.
    This is a long video; but if you are interested in watching it, it is well worth the time it takes. Sergei is an amazing speaker, and will hold your attention all the way through the video.

     
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  10. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I love greens but for awhile I had kale overload and stopped eating it , still ate spinach a lot though.

    Now I'm back on kale but I prefer baby kale.

    I've also been buying baby kale mixed with other greens, those are good! When I go to my daughters she always makes me my favorite green drinkmwith her juicer/masticator. It's really refreshing.
     
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  11. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    Do you have a recipe for a simple green beginners smoothie @Yvonne Smith?
     
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  12. Babs Hunt

    Babs Hunt Supreme Member
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    Once when I went grocery shopping I accidently bought what I thought was 2 bags of frozen chopped spinach. When I got home and went to put them in the freezer I saw one bag was actually chopped kale. So when I decided to cook them I used half the bag of spinach and half the bad of kale mixed with a little butter and real bacon bits with some cajun spice thrown in. I had never tasted kale before but it was really good mixed with the spinach.
     
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  13. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    The baby kale cooked isn't much different than spinach in my opinion. Regular size raw kale always makes me choke for some reason...it tickles my throat...so I have to either juice it or cook it a tad.
     
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  14. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    I think that each person would have their own favorites because we all have different tastes. I really like greens mixed with pineapple, because I LOVE pineapple, and also because it is very anti-inflammatory and a natural pain-killer, plus it has a lot of healthy enzymes.
    I also like mango, and sweet apples, and pears are also delicious. Banana is good in just about any kind of smoothie. Grapes that are getting a little too old to just eat work perfect in a smoothie, and just about any kind of berries are also good.
    Just start with about 2/3 fruit of your choice and add some greens. As you get used to the color and taste, then add more greens; but keep enough fruit for the good flavor. I put the greens in the blender first, add water, and blend until the greens are smooth. Then I add harder fruits next and blend more, and then drop in soft ones like bananas and strawberries last. By that time, the smoothie is well blended. Add water (or fruit juice) as needed for the right thinness and sweetness of flavor.
    I also add fresh ground flax seed or chia seeds to mine, and sometimes a scoop of protein powder. You can kind of make it however you want to, and then experiment to see what blends you like the best.
    Also, look on the Kindle store, there are free eBooks on Kindle, as well as recipes online, that have all kinds of ideas for making smoothies.
     
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  15. Chrissy Cross

    Chrissy Cross Supreme Member
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    I think once our hot summer starts I'll be making more of these as a meal by adding protein powder, I've never added that before but it's a good idea.
     
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