Green Smoothies!!

Sorry I have been such a slacker! I promised a blog post about green smoothies and life got away with me. Well here is the getting started part of my green smoothie post!!
First let me mention some of the benefits of drinking green smoothies:

• Better Nutrition: The average American gets 2-3 servings of fruit and veggies a day. Average child gets 1-2(that includes french fries, potato chips and ketchup, which in my book in no way counts as a veggie!) In one quart of green smoothie there is 12-15 servings of greens and fruit. 12-15!!!! That is already more than triple the amount that the average American gets!
• More energy: If you think about it this one is a no brainer. By drinking green smoothies you are feeding your body nutrient rich foods. Green veggies are full of vitamins and minerals, fiber, and live enzymes. The mix of all these things prevent cancer and other health problems. Greens smoothies are raw and natural. They don't have the chemicals, hormones and preservatives that almost all the food that you buy from the store contains. Greens and fruit are easily accepted and digested by our bodies, which in turn gives us more energy. I have never in my life had as much energy as I have when I drink a green smoothie twice a day. I used to go around with a heavy cloudy feeling in my head but now my head is clear and my body is energized. I actually love to work out now too.
• Better digestion: The awesome thing about greens smoothies is that when you put all the fruit and veggies together and blend them all up we are also getting lots and lots of fiber in our diets. Plant fiber is key to digestion and can carry out a lot of the crap in your system. Plant fiber not only helps in digestion but is also helps stabilize blood sugar, can lower cholesterol.
• Fewer sugar cravings: When you are drinking a fruit sweetened drink all day long you don't crave as many sweets. I have totally noticed this side effect of green smoothies. Also my tolerance for sweets are not what it used to be. When before I could just eat and eat and eat junk food, now it gives me a tummy ache and makes me feel sluggish and tired.
• Weight loss: Green Smoothies are low fat and low calories but tons and tons of nutrition and mostly all natural. A cup and a half of spinach has around 10 calories. I usually put up to 3 cups of spinach in my smoothies and I can't even taste it. I have counted out how many calories are in my usual green smoothie and it is usually between 200-300 calories. So sticking to a 1200-1500 calorie diet is very easy while drinking green smoothies. Also green smoothies totally fill up my stomach so I don't eat as much. Many people have lost a lot of weight doing green smoothies. I lost 32 pounds drinking 2 smoothies a day and working out.
• Less Depression: Many people(including me) have experienced after drinking green smoothies that they are happier and that their depression affects them less. I have had depression on and off sense I was a teenager and I can totally testify that green smoothies do help a lot with my depression.

How to get started:
Start by adding just a few cups of leafy greens(spinach has tons of nutrition and great when you are just starting out and just getting used to the taste of green smoothies) to a blender with some water and ice. You can add a little bit of agave nectar or stevia if you feel the need to have it sweeter. ( I don't add any sweetener to mine I find that the fruit I add makes it plenty sweet) Other greens that you can add are: swiss chard, kale, beet greens, collard greens, celery, and turnip greens. I would suggest sticking to spinach, celery, and swiss chard until you are used to the taste of the greens in your smoothie and then you can branch out and add different greens.

Blend the greens, ice and water until it is smooth with no visible chunks. It should be a nice green color.

Next add a variety of frozen and fresh fruit. I buy the big bags of fruit and spinach(you can totally freeze spinach so it doesn't go bad) at costco or walmart and then I also get bountiful baskets every week. I like to add bananas, apples, oranges, lemon, limes, mangos, pineapple, pears, peaches, blueberries, and strawberries. You can mix and match and decide which combo of fruit and veggies that you prefer. I love to have more of a citrus taste in my smoothies so I add oranges, bananas, mango, pineapple and strawberries to mine. My daughter likes it when we add berries to her smoothies because it makes it purple(her favorite color)

You can add more water or ice if you need to to help with the blending. I like adding frozen fruit and ice so my smoothie is thick like a smoothie you would get at a store, but my husband likes his to be more liquid and less thick. Just experiment and see what you come up with!

I challenge you to have a green smoothie everyday for a week. At the end of the week evaluate and see if you notice all the wonderful benefits from green smoothies. I bet the you will!

My next post will be about more of the nutritious different things that you can add to your green smoothies and how to get your kids to drink this amazing drink.

Happy Smoothie making to you!!

Most of my information came from the green smoothie girl books and class that I went to. For more information on green smoothies go to: www.greensmoothiegirl.com