Greens in morning shake

michelle_howe
michelle_howe Posts: 12 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Does adding a handful of spinach or kale (and other veggies) to your morning shake really have all that many benefits?

I think I'd personally rather eat the greens whole (and not have to choke down a green drink), but a coworker is set in her ways believing its "healthy!

What does everyone else think?


She uses spinach or kale, cucumer, celery, berries & banana
I use protein powder, berries & sometimes greek yogurt.

Replies

  • dragoness07
    dragoness07 Posts: 22 Member
    Hi :) I am a great green smoothie fan and I just enjoy the taste of them. If you would like to find out a little more about them I suggest to read the books by Victoria Boutenko and her family who kind of "invented" green smoothies. Her books are quite interesting and contain lots of different recipes.

    Apparently when you take pureed greens into your body they are better digested and you take more of the nutrients in. In fact, greens are known to help digest other foods through stimulating the secretion of the digestive enzymes. However, they SHOULD not be prepared with any other than fruit and water.

    They are also good for keeping in shape and IMO very tasty :)

    Just give it a go and see if you like them.
  • kfbayard
    kfbayard Posts: 16 Member
    I like using greens because I know that no matter what happens with eating the rest of the day, I'm getting at least one serving of them in. That said, I think the green you use can make or break the smoothie.

    Kale adds more of a "green" taste and is tough for my blender to break down, so those smoothies tend to be a bit more "meaty". It doesn't bother me but I can see how it would be off putting to others.

    The past week I've been using a mixture of spinach and beet greens, and I notice no "green" taste, and they break down well in the smoothie. Wouldn't know it had greens in it other than the smoothie is green.

    I pretty much use what ever green looks good at the farmer's market that week.
  • Luvmichnata
    Luvmichnata Posts: 186 Member
    I've tried both spinach and kale. I do not like the kale and the spinach I use a handful and I don't even taste it.
    I happen to like spinach anyway but honestly don't mind it in my shakes.
  • blondageh
    blondageh Posts: 923 Member
    I love my banana, chia, coconut water, kale smoothies in the morning. You pair anything up with a banana and you don't taste the green but it sure does look healthy!
  • aelunyu
    aelunyu Posts: 486 Member
    The whole point of juicing to get your greens in is that you can consume like 2 bucnhes of spinach, 2 of kale, wheatgrass, apples, etc in just 1 cup of juice...

    the whole notion is to super-load your body with the healthy benefits of these greens in an easy to stomach portion (1 glass of juice).

    imagine sitting there and eating 2 bunches of spinach and 2 bunches of kale, 3 apples, and like half a cup of wheatgrass, maybe throw in 5 kiwis. It would take forever.
  • thisismeraw
    thisismeraw Posts: 1,264 Member

    Apparently when you take pureed greens into your body they are better digested and you take more of the nutrients in.

    When you chew your greens they are also pureed by the time they get to your stomach provided you are chewing properly. You don't have to have them all ground up in a shake.

    OP, I put greens into my juice however don't in smoothies just because I don't like the little bits of greens in my drink.

    If you don't want to add them to your smoothie, don't and eat them instead. Putting them in a smoothie doesn't make them better for you... it can help you get more into your diet than if you were to eat them.
  • lsmsrbls
    lsmsrbls Posts: 232 Member
    Sounds like you're both happy with what you're eating and that's great.
  • melissaloveshair
    melissaloveshair Posts: 19
    I like adding in spinach to my protein shakes. I usually do 1/2 cup of spinach, 1/2 cup of frozen strawberries, scoop of chocolate grass fed whey protein, and water.

    I am not always to best at making sure to eat vegetables, so this is a way for me to add some in to my food.
  • michelle_howe
    michelle_howe Posts: 12 Member
    Yeah I can understand JUICING them to get the benefits but just a handful of spinach in my shake... pfftt may as well leave it out!

    TO each his own! :)
  • lisamarie1780
    lisamarie1780 Posts: 432 Member
    Does adding a handful of spinach or kale (and other veggies) to your morning shake really have all that many benefits?

    I think I'd personally rather eat the greens whole (and not have to choke down a green drink), but a coworker is set in her ways believing its "healthy!

    What does everyone else think?


    She uses spinach or kale, cucumer, celery, berries & banana
    I use protein powder, berries & sometimes greek yogurt.

    I'm a firm believer in eating. You want spinach? Add it to lunch or dinner with a bit of fish or meat or eggs.... why do you need to juice it for breakfast....?
    Also. ... eat what you want .... not what I tell you or what your co-worker tells you or what betty with the big *kitten* tells you.
    I am so tired of the juicing posts. So tired
  • jwdieter
    jwdieter Posts: 2,582 Member
    She uses spinach or kale, cucumer, celery, berries & banana
    I use protein powder, berries & sometimes greek yogurt.

    I use all those ingredients except the cucumber and celery in my shakes.
    Not much point in putting cucumber/celery into a shake imo. But different strokes for different folks.

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