Raw Green Smoothies for Health

[HolisticWellness.com]

I am becoming increasingly excited by raw green smoothies--smoothies that are a blend of dark greens, water, fruit, and other healthy ingredients. The theory is that we are primates and need to ingest copious amounts of greens for optimal health. My staff and I have been drinking greens for several weeks and feel better than ever--so energetic, clear, and content.

Just wanted to share and support Steve's wonderful site and efforts--from one website to another!

Kristin Kapp
CEO, Holistic Wellness - Your Virtual Wellness Center

[qborden]

Krisin,

I agree with you on the value of green smoothies. They are easy to make, tasty, and full of good things for you.

Quincy

[Matt]

Can someone post a sample recipe? It sounds pretty simple, but I'm worried about the taste.

[rossio]

Hello

I have got a couple on my blog, but here is my personal favourite:

Ingredients:

1 avocado, peeled and chunked
1 lime, peeled and halved
1 cucumber (add more or less to change consistency), roughly choped
Tofu 1/2 to 1 cube (silken or soft)
Soy milk - try to find unsweetend (again add to taste/desired consistency)
1-2 big handfuls of fresh raw spinach leaves
Ice to taste (if your blender can handle ice)

Directions:

Peel the avocado and lime and thoroughly wash the cucumber (if it is a thick skinned cucumber, peel some of this away). Then place all of the ingredients into a blender and whizz it all up. If you are particularly keen on lime then you can garnish with some of the zest! This recipe, in my opinion works best with limes, but if you are keen on lemons that try that too (or a combo of both!).


I love this - especially after the gym...

Enjoy!
Ross

[Lucinda]

^^ Soy is not a health food!

I love green smoothies!!!

My favourite is-

1 pear
3 handful's of spinach
1.5 cups of water (approx)

(all organic).

[rossio]

Originally Posted by Lucinda

^^ Soy is not a health food!

Based upon...?

Ross

[ReallyGoodIdeas]

there's a bunch of evidence that says soy is not very good for you, check out:
Soybeans Can Damage Your Health

I made a green smoothie the other night:

half a dark green lettuce (could also use spinach, or bok choy whatever)
1/2 avocado
about 1/6 pineapple
about 1/6 cantaloupe (rock melon)
sprig of mint.

peel avocado, wash lettuce, peel fcantaloupe, pineapple and chop into chunks. Stick them in the blender and hit the button.

Yum.
Hazel

[Baltar]

Originally Posted by ReallyGoodIdeas

there's a bunch of evidence that says soy is not very good for you, check out:
Soybeans Can Damage Your Health

I don't want to hijack this thread, but just want to point out that I would take that article with a very large grain of salt, based on the exaggerated, manipulative (and maybe even false) information I've seen on that site. For instance the article suggests that soy increased the risk of pancreatic cancer in test animals. The truth is that soy was found to increase risk of pancreatic cancer in rats, but this has not been found to occur in any other animals (or humans). According to the Wikipedia the only conclusive effect of soy on humans so far is on the thyroid gland. Though based on what I can tell, the only source Wikipedia cites for this statement is a news article. I would prefer to see an actual scientific journal reference myself.

[thadroe]

Originally Posted by Matt

Can someone post a sample recipe? It sounds pretty simple, but I'm worried about the taste.

Using Spinach and Swiss Chard are the best...you'd be surprised at how little it affects the taste when you add a couple handfuls to a fruit smoothie. Also a small amount of baby romaine is tastes ok.

On the other hand, Kale and some other dark greens are pretty harsh when it comes to adding it to smoothies.

For the rest of the smoothie, I like using dates and oat milk with just about any mixture of fruit.

Thad

[rossio]

Indeed

The soy debate is for another article and while I agree that probably at least 50% of soy products are either full of sugar or processed junk - there is little solid evidence in my mind to say that soy is definitively good or bad.

So not to hijack any further - I think that any smoothie containing the base of avocado, cucumber and spinach is a good start. Then just take it from there and add whatever takes your fancy/is in the fridge!

Have a wonderful day
Ross

[Dave Kaminski]

I buy mine - I don't use the juicer often enough to justify making a smoothie. The cleaning process would be easier if it were done more often, but it seems extremely tedious to use a blender from time to time.

I like Naked Green Machine as my number one, Odwalla Superfood as number two, and Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness as number three.

You'll see me drinking a lot more Bolthouse than anything else though. It's substantially cheaper!

[elainevdw]

Originally Posted by thadroe

On the other hand, Kale and some other dark greens are pretty harsh when it comes to adding it to smoothies.

I had no idea kale could be eaten raw! I thought it was one of those vegetables that you had to at least lightly steam.

[elainevdw]

Originally Posted by Dave Kaminski

I like Naked Green Machine as my number one, Odwalla Superfood as number two, and Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness as number three.

You'll see me drinking a lot more Bolthouse than anything else though. It's substantially cheaper!

I'd like to point out that a lot of store-bought green smoothies are mostly fruit smothies with spirulina and/or algae and some wheat grass thrown in to change the color to "green." Of course, all of those things are good for you, and they say a serving of wheat grass juice is equal to several servings of veggies -- but if you're looking for a mostly veggie smoothie, those don't have as many veggies as a smoothie with main ingredients of avo, spinach, and cukes!

[thadroe]

Originally Posted by elainevdw

I had no idea kale could be eaten raw! I thought it was one of those vegetables that you had to at least lightly steam.

It can be eaten raw...but I don't really recommend it. I've tried it many times but it just doesn't taste very good... unless the growing conditions of the kale were just right. Even then it's not all that great if it's raw.

One thing to add to all this...If you want to cram a LOT of greens into your diet, blended salads are pretty good and can sometimes be a little bit more appealing than a smoothie when it comes to greens. It's basically where you blend or process the greens into a bit of a thicker mixture than a smoothie and eat it like a thick soup...kind of like gazpacho.

The avocado mix recommended above would work well by adding some good flavored vinegar...also I've done a sweeter version I read about with bananas, baby greens, a little orange juice, then mix in some sweet vinegar like pear vinegar, fig vinegar, etc....then put it in a bowl and sprinkle some nuts and raisins in it.

Thad

[rossio]

Originally Posted by thadroe

blended salads are pretty good and can sometimes be a little bit more appealing than a smoothie when it comes to greens.

In fact, that is probably the easiest and most simple way to answer the original question in this thread:

Just make a salad and then throw it all in the blender!

Easy!

[stephencp]

I like to use Dr Schulze's Superfood in my green drinks.
DR. RICHARD SCHULZE'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Stephen
Power-Book Library: Free personal development, success, inspiration and motivational classics
Personality and Growth Bookshelf

[iry]

Originally Posted by stephencp

I like to use Dr Schulze's Superfood in my green drinks.
DR. RICHARD SCHULZE'S OFFICIAL WEBSITE

Hi, I only came to know about Dr Schulze few months ago. The products seem convincing and I am keen to try. I would like to know how do you feel about the product? Does your health/body improve?

[Jaben]

Originally Posted by elainevdw

I had no idea kale could be eaten raw! I thought it was one of those vegetables that you had to at least lightly steam.

A farmer at the local farmer's market this summer told me the nutrients in Kale are fat soluable and can be extracted by frying in oil. I've been eating Kale raw for a couple of years and my refrigerator is always stocked. It feels really replenishing to me. I like to make a marinated kale salad using flax oil, liquid aminos, garlic and almond butter. The raw fats seem to tame the sharp flavor well.

For juicing, I've recently discovered this recipe from "Real Food, Real World"
8 to 10 large kale leaves
1/2 bunch parsley
3 stalks celery
1/2 apple
1/2 lemon.

I've been making it with a whole apple and I add a peice of fresh ginger. I suppose this isn't really a smoothy, but since kale was mentioned and kale is a personal favorite of mine (eaten raw) I wanted to mention it.

[Lucinda]

^^ Flax oil is rancid once it has been heated, that's why it's always kept in the fridge at the store. Oil's should not be heated. The only oil which can remain stable after heat, is virgin coconut oil.

[anoldsmoothie]

Hello, all. This is my first post. I found the forum in a general search on smoothie forums that gave me this thread. So, I signed-up because I've just started to take smoothies and have set up a WordPress blog called thesmoothiesite @ thesmoothiesite - Tell us how you buy ingredients for and make your smoothies..

I also am the admin for a facebook fan club page called Friends of the Public Market with its associated blog at Fans of the Public Market. The FB fan club has over 10.5K likes.

thesmoothiesite is meant to be a place for folks to contribute smoothie recipes, tell how they make them and which blenders/smoothie makers they use.

So, glad to be a part of this very interesting page. It ought to help me keep out of trouble while I'm trying to retire gracefully at my Retiring Gracefully blogspot.

[stanmrak]

Originally Posted by Dave Kaminski

I buy mine - I don't use the juicer often enough to justify making a smoothie. The cleaning process would be easier if it were done more often, but it seems extremely tedious to use a blender from time to time.

I like Naked Green Machine as my number one, Odwalla Superfood as number two, and Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness as number three.

You'll see me drinking a lot more Bolthouse than anything else though. It's substantially cheaper!

The big difference between home-made smoothies and juices and store-bought is that store-bought products have to be pastuerized and are usually exposed to high temperatures to do so. So, you're not getting raw food.

I also don't think soy is healthy. It may be, but there are better alternatives - rice, almond, coconut and hemp milks. Why use soy? Better still, homemade coconut or almond milk made in a Vitamix. I'd consider any packaged milk substitute to be a processed food. At the very least, make sure it's USDA organic. Otherwise, you don't what's in there. Not everything has to be on the label.