Green Smoothies

texasokie

I've been reading about green smoothies and wonder if anyone drinks them? Sounds like they are really good for you but don't know a lot about them...like how many do you drink in a day? What kind of vegetables/fruits do you use together? Are they as healthy for you as they sound like they are?

angieroo2

I don't find they gave me all of the benefits that they claim to provide, but they are tasty.

Try something like this:
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/01/skinny-green-monster-smoothie.html

I make a modified version (regular peanut butter, no greek yogurt) when I make them.

thefewsteps

Spinach is bearable but I cannot do kale. Horrendous. As long as you put in a fruit, you should be okay as far as taste.
I personally only make one, say, every month or so. I can get all my vitamins through eating solid food, separate from each other.

TheDarlingOne

I got really obsessive about them - and now I'm kind of over them ha! But they do taste alright.
One I leaned towards was:

1 frozen banana (the frozen fruit helps it thicken up to smoothie qualities fyi)
1 cup spinach
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1 cup water (I used actually Arizona diet green tea with ginseng and honey, just to give it an extra flavor touch)

I found you pretty much don't taste the spinach ever - and that WOW does banana have the strongest flavor ever!! Never notice it just munchin on a regular, non frozen one by itself - but you put it in this smoothie and it'll be banana central, and you won't taste the spinach at all --- bu it'll be the most beautiful green color!

Beauty of a smoothie - you can experiment til you find the version you're crazy about

I've had it like listed above, had it with just the green tea and spinach, i've had spinach with grapes (NOT A FAN), spinach with strawberries - one of my faves is taking dark chocolate almond milk + frozen raspberries + 1 scoop protein powder + handful of spinach. That's a rich dark raspberry flavor, almost like dessert! woohoo lol.

Also - Heathy Choice has frozen greek yogurt now in different flavors - only 100cals a cup. Sometimes I add one of those if I want a bit thicker, more creamy, milkshake like consistency with the greens and fruit.

just watch your calories you're putting in - and your proteins and stuff, and you're all good. the combinations are endless

cacleghorn

I've been using them, lately, to try to get in more leafy veg (as opposed to "meaty" veg, like broccoli, bok choy, beets, which I have no problem fitting in).

-1 banana
-4 strawberries or other berry
-lots of spinach or arugula (1-2 cups)
-ice + water
is extremely tasty (The spinach flavor disappears and the arugula gives it a slightly spicy flavor.), and blends pretty smooth is my bottom-of-the-line Oster blender. Celery blends well too, and gives a crisp flavor. Dinosaur kale doesn't blend as well and leaves chunks. Beet leaves blend pretty poorly and leave chunks and fibrous strings. The same is true (for me) of oranges--the leave a lot of pulp in the blender (coming from a person who prefers pulpy storebought orange juice), so if you're using that for your fruit, clean the pulp off thoroughly.

I've been playing with other recipes (apples+carrots+a bunch of greens or green bell pepper+apples+beets+greens), which sometimes don't have a very good texture. I hear bananas and avocados (or yogurt, if you eat it) are key for creating an even texture, and you should think about incorporating those if you have them on hand. When I make a smoothie I don't like, my solution is to strain it through a piece of scrap fabric--a hack for juicing, I suppose, so it doesn't go to waste. (I like making carrot juice now, that way, haha, with just carrots.)

As far as its health benefits go, just use good sense. Maybe it aids somewhat in absorption of micronutrients, but the primary benefit is that smoothies are another way to present vegetables to people. So, its health benefits are essentially the benefits of eating a more plant-based diet. That's not to discount the hype, though--any way you prefer to eat vegetables is better than no way.

And, what TheDarlingOne said, watch out what you put in your smoothies. If your goal is to just squeeze in more veg, adding yogurt or peanut butter as the thickening base is fine--but then it's a different smoothie than what Robyn (GreenSmoothieGirl.com) advocates.

squiggyflop

I drank my very first green smoothie today. I am a vegetable gardener but I hate veggies, so I was looking for a way to eat them without gagging.
I made a smoothie the size of my head today with about 340 calories in it. It would have been like a hundred less if I used some other liquid than milk.
1 cup milk
2 really giant handfuls of spinach
1 cup strawberries
An 80 calorie pack of blueberry nonfat greek yogurt (for protein and creaminess)
1 banana

Lets look at nutrition,
Milk= 11% potassium, 10% vitamin A, 4% vitamin C, 30% calcium, 25% vitamin D, and 8 grams of protein.
Strawberries= 90% vitamin C, 2% calcium,
Dannon light and fit blueberry greek yogurt= calcium 15%, and 12 grams of protein
1 banana=1.3 grams protein, 1% calcium, 12% potassium, 8% magnesium, 2% iron, 2% vitamin A, 17% vitamin C, 22% vitamin B6,
Baby spinach= 3 grams protein, 162% vitamin A, 42% vitamin C, 452% vitamin K, 7% vitamin B6, 7% calcium, 15% iron, 18% magnesium, 15% potassium,

So thats
Potassium= 38%,,, vitamin A= 168%,,, vitamin C=153%,,, vitamin D=25%,,, calcium= 55%,,, protein= 24.3 grams,,, and im too lazy to add the rest up.. but clearly its a vitamin rich food. It is virtually fat free, or would be if bananas didnt have that tiny bit of fat in them.

squiggyflop

Also if you are looking for a way to cheat, you can puree spinach (with a few tablespoons of water) ahead of time, pour the baby food like substance (technically it really is home made baby food) into an ice tray and freeze and then place in air tight bags or containers. This way you can buy in season and have the greens last longer. It might even lead to finer smoothies. Just pop a few cubes in the blender with the frozen fruit and blend away.

veronikaf

i really like them! i think that they are a really simple way to get in some veggies and fruits in the morning, and they are downright tasty imo

mine:
2 cups spinach
1 banana
1 cup frozen mango OR 1 cup frozen 4-berry blend
1 cup almond milk
0.5 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp ground flax

i also had one from a smoothie store the other day that was downright scrumptious... not sure the proportions of the ingredients but it was kale, spinach, apple juice, orange juice, pineapple and mango. WOW it was good

lyrical_melody

I drink them every morning. I have found that I looove the following:

1 cup frozen unsweetned blueberries
1 cup water
3 cups spinach
1 medium sized banana

Delicious! I have been trying to search for green smothies that would utilize almond butter and/or take away the banana. I feel like I eat too many bananas and I'm not sure if thats a good thing or not, haha! Nonetheless, I dont want to get bored with drinking the same thing in the morning, even though its DELICIOUS! Variety is the spice of life, right?