Boy Wonder enjoying a green smoothie
I’m on week five of a daily green smoothie. We all know that the most nutritious foods are green leafies, and it gets boring to eat piles and piles of the stuff each day, even for someone like me who loves their greens. One way to get oodles of the stuff in a really enjoyable form is to drink a green smoothie.
Spinach from my garden
Green smoothies are basically around 40% green leafy vegetables, with the rest made up of fruit and water. I’ve been experimenting over the past month with different combinations and have used all sorts of greens from spinach to kale and cos lettuce. I really didn’t care for kale in my smoothie and think I will stick to juicing it instead. It turns out it is important to rotate the greens used (explanation here).
I found sometimes that my smoothie would form layers and be really frothy. I discovered that this is from not using fruits that are high in soluble fibre. When it happens now, I just add half a banana in and whiz it up again – it comes out perfectly!
The favourite combination so far (loved by Informed Papa, myself, and both children – yes, my six month old sips green smoothies and my two year old begs for them!) has been spinach, orange and pear. I’m finding myself craving my daily green smoothie, and sometimes I’ll make more than one in a day.
There are plenty of testimonials online of people who have taken up green smoothies (see some here). Some people find that their warts drop off, their moles get smaller, their cholesterol drops, they lose weight, their medical conditions improve and so on. I haven’t experienced any dramatic changes, but my diet has always been quite good and largely plant based. I do think my skin feels nicer!
Rookie error - this is what happens when you don't seal the blender lid properly!
There are so many resources around for green smoothies – websites, YouTube clips, apps, blogs, FB pages. Have you tried one? If not, go for it! I’d love to know your favourite combination! You might even like to try the Green Smoothie Challenge!
