Discover Benefits of Drinking Green Smoothies and Green Juices

You can call them green smoothies, drinkable salads or salads straight from your blender. The fact remains that it’s MUCH faster to drink the same amount of greens that it would take to eat (and properly chew) the same amount of greens, fruits and vegetables. When you make a green smoothie, the blender will do the chewing for your!

Smoothies only take about a minute to prepare (with a good blender, such as Blendtec or Vitamix), and a minute or two to drink.

There is really no excuse not to have them!

Important: Do not just gulp down the entire glass of smoothie quickly, though. It is recommended that you drink your smoothie slowly – mixing it with your saliva for best digestion and assimilation of nutrients. 

Green Smoothies versus Green Juice

Drinking freshly made juices made from vegetables, greens and fruits is an excellent way to add important nutrients to your diet. However, just adding juices is not the ideal solution for at least two reasons.

One problem with juice is that it’s too concentrated. If you add a lot of fruit and sweet vegetables (such as carrots), the juice will contain lots of sugar, not good for diabetics or people with candida problems. If you’re making green juices from greens such as parsley, kale, etc. – you need to be aware consuming large amounts of them can be mildly toxic. So, while drinking a reasonable quantity of vegetable juice every day, such as 8 or 10 ounces is OK, but if you go beyond this amount, I believe you’re not doing your body a favor.

Another problem with juice is that you leave behind the valuable fiber that slows down the absorbtion of nutrients and provides the feeling of fullness. Drinking a juice is not a “satisfying meal”, although it may be a   nice appetizer.

I used to do a lot of juicing in the past and I still try to do it, but let’s face it – it is quite time consuming and really messy. My problem is over since I started making green smoothies. Making smoothies is a super easy way to eat lots of greens, and a great alternative to juicing. It is much faster, less messy, and you also get fiber in addition to juice, so you get that feeling of satiety.

Preparing Green Smoothies

The idea to blend various kinds of leafy greens, fruits and vegetables to create a liquid soup with a baby food consistency is not new. About 5 years ago that Victoria Boutenko (from the Raw Family) greatly popularized the concept of the Green Smoothie.

The Green Smoothie is essentially a blended salad made with fruits and leafy greens, with some optional water, blended at high speeds to smooth consistency. Generally, hard or savory vegetables such as carrots or tomatoes are avoided. Only fruits and leafy greens are included.

Great Ingredients For Your Green Smoothies

GREENS: kale, bok choy, chard, spinach, parsley, romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, mint, basil, cilantro, or other.

FRUITS: bananas, pears, apples, mango, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, kiwi, pineapple, melon, papaya, watermelon, grapes, or other.

VEGGIES: cucumber, celery, avocado (small amount only).

Some fruit and green combinations you may want to try:

• Spinach with bananas and strawberries
• Spinach with apples, bananas, and some lemon or lime juice
• Spinach, bananas, peaches, mango
• Romaine lettuce with bananas
• Romaine lettuce with cucumber and bananas
• Romaine and celery with blueberries
• Parsley and ripe pears
• Parsley, celery, apple and pears

Add 1-2 cups of water and blend until smooth. Adjust proportions to your liking. Try to experiment with different greens and fruits. Fruits are added for sweetness, so make sure they are really RIPE, especially bananas. Beautifully ripened bananas look like this:

Spinach, strawberries and bananas – ready for a green smoothie

Okay, so I need to add more spinach here, but I really love sweet taste of bananas! 

In the beginning, when you are just starting out with the green smoothies, you may want to add just a little bit of mild tasting greens (such as spinach), to let your taste buds get used to the taste. Start adding more greens of various kinds (many of them are stronger tasting) later on.

Greens to add to your smoothies: spinach, arugula, swiss chard, dandelion, kale, collard greens, beet tops, and whatever else you can find in the store or in your garden. Young, tender greens are better. Iceberg lettuce, although not very green at all, can be used too.

This is what a green smoothie looks like:

Photo by elvisripley on Flickr.com

Green smoothie

Don’t be discouraged by its “greeneness” – it tastes delicious, trust me on this!

Just try it for yourself, OK?

Green Smoothie Recipes

Here are more ideas for your delicious green smoothie creations. Feel free to adjust the quantity of ingredients:

•1 head of spinach
•1 apple
•1 banana
•1-2 cups of water

•1/2 head of spinach
•1/4 cup of raspberries
•2 cups of water
•1/2 cup of strawberries

•1 small pineapple, peeled, cored, and chopped
•1 large mango, peeled, cored, and chopped
•½ head romaine lettuce
•a tiny piece of fresh ginger
You may want to add some water.  

•2 leaves kale (kale is rather strong tasting, so you may want to start with less)
•2 bananas
•1 cup of strawberries or bluberries or raspberries
•1 cup of water

•5 pieces of green leaf lettuce
•1 ripe mango
•1 apple
•1 cup of water

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