Green Smoothie Challenge

Comment by Mara on March 15, 2009 at 7:52pm

We've never done green smoothies before, but my hubby and I are doing this. Yesterday we had a banana, date, and baby spinach smoothie. It was a lot better than I thought it would be. We'll have to add ice in future smoothies, it wasn't cold enough to suit me.

How are you all doing, and what type of smoothies are you planning to try?

Comment by Jan Ferrante on March 16, 2009 at 11:57am

Hi Mara. That's great! I've been playing around, in the morning I've usually been having pineapple/kiwi/banana with baby spinach. And some cantaloupe, I bought a huge one that isn't ripening the way I like to eat it but it's ok for the smoothies.

One morning I did pineapple/clementine/banana/greens.

I do find that keeping them fairly simpler keeps me motivated because they are faster to make and taste just as good, if not better than having too many things in them.

I just bought a pack of mixed greens to try, they're cheaper and will give more variety. I don't like them plain, I find some of them bitter, but in a smoothie they might be ok. I throw in a date sometimes too, the ones I bought at the grocery store are so fresh that they are just like eating brown sugar :0))

I usually use mixed frozen fruit that come in bags in the grocery store, they give a nice blend. I get the tropical one most times. I like to add some protein powder, some of it is over sweet and high on calories but I found one that comes in a bag at the grocery store (I think I got it at Independent) called Whole Food Smoothie Infusion by Sequel that seems to be mostly ground up green stuff with lots of the usual grasses etc in it. Even my daughter will eat it in a smoothie, and she's quite picky.

They have a website that I haven't even looked at http://www.myvega.com

I find that I almost always like to have some banana in them unless it's a veggie smoothie which I haven't done much experimenting so far with. Also if they seem a little thin, some vanilla or fruit yogurt is nice, although I usually have been using Astro Balkan for a little extra oomph.

I used to have yogurt with peaches, a bit of protein powder and ground flax for breakfast but I've switched to green smoothies, and try to have another one sometime later. I haven't done that every day but I am eating more fruit/veggies for snacks since I'm really trying to cut out the hard cheese and wheat/grains.

I am feeling fantastic. A really noticeable difference. I did have some detox signs for about 4 days or so, but now I feel almost like a new person. Spring is coming, I might have a touch of spring fever too, we've had some nice days lately.

All in all, I am finding that I WANT to eat clean because I feel so much better.

It is kind of like the clutter in the house, once the stuff we don't want is gone, suddenly it is replaced by really good stuff that we didn't even know was there.

btw, you can freeze your bananas in slices and add them in. It will add a little more coldness as well. I bought some ripe bananas on sale and sliced them for the freezer. I like ice in smoothies too.

Keep us posted on your smoothie adventure :0)

Comment by Jan Ferrante on March 17, 2009 at 1:48pm

Are you guys 'green' yet? Since today is st patty's day, it's a nice idea to try to ramp it up a bit. If you've been doing one smoothie, can you try 2 today?

Or have a salad with your meal?

I have been aiming for 2 smoothies and upping my veggie content in meals, so today I am aiming for 3 giant green smoothies (I remind me of the cookie monster from sesame street!)

I had one for breakfast, and one for lunch. One of the things that I like about them is that you can make them really quick.

I had to leave so I made the same one that I had for breakfast again because I really liked it.

It had...

2 clemintines
1/2 banana, maybe a little more
mixed greens (I got those instead of spinach at the grocery store, I like them!)
1 scoop orange metamucil for added fibre and taste (the orange flavour etc is probably not optimal but that's what here so what the heck!)
1/2 scoop green smoothie powder
about 1/2 cup water
ice cubes

Dr. Andrew Weil advises to take 1,000 - 2,000 mg of vitamin C once a day. So I have also added taking a 1,000 mg vit C 3x per day, sometimes I take 2 depending on how much vit c I think I've had that day.

It is good for the immune system and it's also good for preventing aging since vit c helps produce collagen.

I would like to continue on. How about till Friday, with a goal to see if we can play around enough to find combinations that we like and get in the habit of making green smoothies a regular part of our diet plan.

I am also going to be posting some of the things that I've been eating besides green smoothies on the gluten free forum, it is so much easier than I thought to eat gluten free, or at least greatly reduced.

I do eat a bit sometimes but much reduced. If I have good homemade muffins here, I will have one with my afternoon snack. I seem to need something a little more substantial around that time.

Compared to the 2-4 I used to eat at one sitting (sometimes more than once if it was baking day!) it's a vast improvement.

One more observation. I find that when I eat, I am eating slower and really enjoying my food more. It seems to taste better. That is also a healthy thing to do and I think helps me to stop before I get too full.

How have you guys been doing? Any favourite green stuff?

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