I'm halfway through the Enchanted Chameleon's 2-week Green Smoothie Challenge.
- Green Smoothies are a blended mixture of raw leafy greens, raw fruit or veggies, & water.
- Green smoothies are easy to digest. When blended well, all the valuable nutrients in these fruits and veggies become homogenized, or divided into such small particles that it becomes easy for the body to assimilate these nutrients.
- Green smoothies, as opposed to juices, are a complete food because they still have fiber.
- By consuming two or three cups of green smoothies daily you will consume enough of greens for the day to nourish your body, and they will be well assimilated.
- When you consume your greens in the form of green smoothies, you can greatly reduce the consumption of oils and salt in your diet.
I started drinking green smoothies right before I got pregnant with Sadie, but they didn't jive so well with morning sickness, so I dropped the habit. Suzanne's challenge has me back on track and I've been drinking at least 16 ounces of green smoothie a day for an entire week so far.
My favorites last week were the following:
blueberry, strawberry, rainbow chard, apple
banana, mango, red leaf lettuce
apple, blueberry, ginger, lemon, apple, swiss chard
I've picked up big bunches of organic romaine lettuce, kale, and spinach for this week's smoothies. Also some mango and pineapple to add to the other fruit I always have around the house. Sadie was initially joining me in drinking a green smoothie every day, but I think the spike in fiber was a lot for her system to take, so we've dropped her to every few days (she usually has a non-green smoothie on the other days).
It's been relatively easy to incorporate making these smoothies into my morning routine. They keep me satisfied until it's time for my mid-morning snack, and give me great energy. I've lost weight since starting the challenge, and I love knowing that I'm soaking up all the amazing benefits of these greens. I think this week I'll make a bigger batch each morning and take another smoothie to work with me for later in the day. Yummmm.....
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7 comments:
Yay for green smoothies! We love them! :)
Cheers,
Kristen
So funny that you posted this now because I was coming to your blog to see about your previous recipes. You use lettuce? Really? Does it taste like lettuce?
And your greens are totally raw? Do you ever use protein powder or what form of dairy do you use? Maybe we should just have a phone chat about this - I clearly need some tutoring!
Thanks for sharing. I'm going to start. I'd love to hear your response to Haley.
Thanks for the smoothie recipes... ours are pretty much the same everyday so we could use to switch it up! Plus, I need ideas on different greens than spinach and kale. Oh, and we put flax seed in ours too...just in case you want MORE fiber!
Don't forget, frozen fruit has just as many nutrients, which is awesome for a variety. I always buy a giant bag of blueberries and strawberries from Costco for smoothies! :)
Nikki
So, yes, totally raw greens....they don't taste like lettuce (or whatever green you're using) b/c you add fruit to them which masks the flavor. I don't use any dairy or protein powder. The greens actually have LOTS of protein in them supposedly. I usually put a banana in b/c that helps them be more creamy.
My smoothie this yesterday was
2c water and 2 cups spinach...blend until all the spinach is smooth
Don't add anything else until you've completely blended the water and greens
then I added 1 apple (with skin), 1/2 lemon (no seeds or rind), ginger, 1 cup frozen blueberries. YUM!!!!
before was red leaf lettuce, 1 mango, 2 bananas. yum again!
And today was kale, pineapple, strawberry and banana.
Rachel you rock! Awesome stuff!
First one today and it was awesome..not green though.
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