A green smoothie is a blended drink containing fruit, liquid (pure water is the best), and some type of dark leafy greens. If done with fresh organic ingredients, this is one of the healthiest, most nutrient dense meals you can consume. I myself do these in the morning and/or post-workout!
Why should you and your family drink a green smoothie every day?
Here are some quick facts. Green smoothies:
- Increase energy (which, by the way, enriches every area of life!)
- Quick and easy. Make and pack for a long day with little effort and time!
- Delicious! Easily modify to meet the taste bud needs of anyone in your family.
- Highly nutritious. Greens are the most nutritious foods on the planet and thus make these LOADED with minerals, vitamins, protein and other nutrients that are bioavailable to the body. (Bioavailable means that your body can easily use the nutrition in the foods so you know it will be assimilated, even if you have digestive challenges.)
- Hydrate. Greens contain the purest form of water and thus ward off the serious side effects of dehydration.
- Cleanse and purify. The blood of the plants contain chlorophyll which cleans and purifies our blood and alkalinizes our pH.
- Gently detoxify. Gently and naturally cleanse and detoxify the body by feeding the cells what they need, allowing them to get rid of toxins and other foreign proteins that they don’t need or can’t use.
- Balance hormones. Greens increase iron and other critical nutrients that are important for a healthy endocrine system, which helps to balance hormones. Aid weight-loss. Since fat tissue is loaded with toxins, greens help the body release excess weight. (See #7)
- Increase immune system efficiency. A cleaner, healthier body means a better working immune system.
- Prevent nutrient deficiencies (and all the conditions that come with them!). Think of this as REAL health insurance, only less money and better tasting. A green smoothie is more powerful than any multivitamin I’ve ever seen!
- Easily digestible. The greens in smoothies are easy to digest and assimilate due to the pre digesting done by the blender. Again, this can be great for those with digestive challenges.
- Great for any age! These are great from babies to adulthood (starting around 6 months old). Green smoothies were one of my baby nephews first foods!
- Help with brain development (in children) and focus (in all ages). This is just as important in children as it is as we age.
- Raw food– Green smoothies are raw and therefore contain necessary digestive enzymes to be properly broken down and assimilated. Thus they require very little energy to digest them, meaning your energy can be used for other more important things (such as work, hobbies, sex, etc.), which is awesome.
- Aid in proper elimination of toxins by adding fiber and water to the diet.
- Customizable. Customize to meet your specific health needs by adding certain foods. There are lots of superfoods or supplements that can easily be added for specific health goals.
- Safe for diabetics (and most other conditions) by adjusting the type of fruit that is used.
- Excellent for radiant hair and skin. The water, minerals and chlorophyll will help create the most beautiful glowing skin and shiny hair.
So, now that you know the reasons WHY you should have green smoothies, let look at HOW.
Basic smoothie formula
Here is a quick smoothie formula that you can adapt to meet your taste and nutrient needs. For best results, use all organic ingredients.
- Take a large blender and add 2 cups fruit (whatever you like best, fresh or frozen). Next, add 2-4 cups of greens. (If you’re new to green smoothies, start with less and work toward more greens as your taste buds change.)
- Then add a couple of ice cubes (unless you’re using frozen fruit) and about 2 cups of liquid (more or less to desired consistency).
- Finally, blend up and enjoy!
After you have done this for a while, you may find it easy to reduce the fruit and add more greens. But for starters, begin with more fruit. If it’s still not sweet enough, reduce the greens a bit and add a couple of dates.
I personally put Greens Mix powder in addition to fresh greens in my smoothie daily for extra nutrition.
Again, remember, with these or any others, the goal is for you to ENJOY it. If it’s too thick, dilute it with a bit more water… If it’s not sweet enough, add more fruit or a couple of dates… If it’s too bitter, use sweeter greens like spinach instead of kale… etc.
The Challenge
If you’re not already doing Green Smoothies, I have a challenge for you… For the next 10 days, enjoy a fresh green smoothie every day and let me know what changes that you feel/notice. You will no doubt experience some change– I can’t wait to hear!
Recipes to try
Winter Green Smoothie: 1 c. berries, 2 c. spinach, 2 c. water, tiny piece of fresh ginger
Red Green Smoothie: 2 c. red romaine, 2 nectarines, 1 c. strawberries, 1 c. water
My favorite: 2 c. kale, 1 large apple, 1 large pear, 1 piece of celery, 2 c. water, 1 tsp. Vietnamese cinnamon
Mike’s favorite: 2 frozen bananas, 2 c. strawberries, 3 c. spinach, 1 c. Fresh almond milk, dash Vietnamese cinnamon
ENJOY!
Nothing said or implied in this post is intended to treat, cure, diagnose or prevent any disease. It does not take the place of a health care practitioner. It is for educational purposes only.
This article was originally published at New Hope Health Blog.
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