Green Smoothies

I have recently started making Green smoothies. They are green in the sense that you add greens. A combination of about 60% fruit to 40% greens is usually good, as the fruit will over power the sometimes-bitter taste of greens.

Greens are biologically very hardy on a molecular level as they contain cellulose. Nutrients are stored within the plant's cells and their cell walls need to be ruptured to release them. This requires a significant amount of chewing, which humans struggle with, our jaws are not strong enough. Those of us who have kids know that they DO NOT chew their food well or sometimes at all. We also need strong stomach acid, which many of us lack.

To get enough greens, blending them in a smoothie is ideal as it ruptures the plant cell membranes releasing nutrients very easily.

Greens are loaded with amino acids, (the building blocks of protein), minerals, vitamins, fiber & chlorophyll and enzymes that the body needs for proper energy and digestion.

And a smoothie is raw food so you aren't cooking out all the nutrients. Having a toddler eat raw veggies is not possible as I mentioned above that they don't chew their food well enough (nor do adults really) so a smoothie is an ideal way to have them get a super nutrient snack/meal.

I don't have any trouble getting them to eat fruit, but greens are hard except for green beans and they LOVE avocado's. But again they don't chew it well.

This one is purple more so than green because it has blueberries which takes over in color. This smoothie is all organic blueberries, strawberries, banana, spinach, romaine lettuce, flax meal and plain yogurt.

These are some options for fruits and veggies to use.

Fruit- Mango, raspberries, blueberries, peach, orange, pear, apple, banana, avocado, strawberries, pineapple, blackberries, papayas, grapes, pomegranate juice, goji berries.

Greens and herbs- Spinach, lettuce, kale, celery, parsley, mint, chard, asparagus, bok choy, cucumber

Other add ins- Non fat or low fat plain yogurt, spirulina powder, agave nectar or honey, flax meal, lemon juice, fresh ginger, ice.

The possibilities are endless really.

You may find it more economically friendly to find some of the stuff such as fruit frozen. I find Trader Joe's has a nice selection of frozen organic fruit.


Give this simple smoothie a try:
Strawberry-banana-romaine (or spinach):
1-cup strawberries
2 bananas
1/2 bunch romaine or 1/2 cup spinach
Water to blend