Green Smoothies

We have recently discovered green smoothies and love them! We have been having smoothies regularly since last fall, and I had been adding liquid chlorophyll to the boys smoothies, but had never considered actually just adding a bunch of fresh greens.

We recently joined an organic fruit/vegetable co-op and are using the abundance of fresh greens at our fingertips to add a lot of healthy things to the boys diets. We typically start with a blender full of spinach and 1/2 cup of water. After blending this we add our fruits, it varies each time but we like to add bananas, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, hemp milk and frozen acai. The past two weeks we have also been adding kale, which from what I've learned can absorb toxins from the body. We have also been adding one-quarter of a raw beet to the smoothie, and the boys have said "yum" each time.

I say we're making green smoothies, but a lot of times after I'm done adding our berries, beets and acai they are more like reddish-brown smoothies. But hey, I'm not in it for the color. It's all about pure nutrition! You can see how much my boys enjoy the smoothies by checking out their smoothie mustaches ;-}

Here is some information I received when joining the co-op about green smoothies and some good combinations. Happy blending!

1. Green smoothies are very nutritious. I believe that the ratio in them is optimal for human consumption: about 60% - ripe organic fruit mixed with about 40% - organic green vegetables.
2. 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, the green smoothies literally start to get absorbed in your mouth.
3. Green smoothies, as opposed to juices, are a complete food because they still have fiber.
4. Green smoothies belong to the most palatable dishes for all humans of all ages. With a ratio of fruits to veggies as 60:40 the fruit taste dominates the flavor, yet at the same time the green vegetables balance out the sweetness of the fruit, adding nice zest to it. Green smoothies are simply the best tasting dishes for the majority of adults and children.
5. 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. The molecule of chlorophyll has only one atom that makes it different from a molecule of human blood. According to teachings of Dr. Ann Wigmore, to consume chlorophyll is like receiving a healthy blood transfusion.
6. Green smoothies are easy to make, and quick to clean up after. Many people told me that they do not consume green juices on a regular basis because it is time consuming to prepare green juices and clean the equipment after juicing, or to drive to the juice bar.
7. Green smoothies are perfect food for children of all ages, including babies of six or more months old when introducing new food to them after mother’s milk. Of course you have to be careful and slowly increase the amount of smoothies to avoid food allergies.
8. When you consume your greens in the form of green smoothies, you can greatly reduce the consumption of oils and salt in your diet.
9. Regular consumption of Green smoothies forms a good habit of eating greens. Several people told me that after a couple of weeks of drinking green smoothies, they started to crave and enjoy eating more greens. Eating enough of green vegetable is often a problem with many people,
especially in children.

Some good greens to add to green smoothies: parsley, spinach, celery, kale and romaine. Good fruits for green smoothies are: pears, peaches, nectarines, bananas, mangoes and apples. Strawberries and raspberries taste superb in green smoothies, when combined with ripe bananas.

Delicious combinations.
Mango-parsley
2 large mangos
1 bunch parsley
Water

Peach-spinach
6 peaches
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
Water

Mango-weeds
2 mangos
1 handful of lambs quarters, stinging nettles, purslane, etc
Water

Strawberry-banana-romaine
1-cup strawberries
2 bananas
½ bunch romaine
Water

Apple-kale-lemon
4 apples
½ lemon juice
4-5 leaves of kale
Water

Kiwi-banana-celery
4 very ripe kiwis
1 ripe banana
3 stalks of celery
Water

Pear-kale-mint4 ripe pears
4-5 leaves of kale
½ bunch of mint
Water

Finger banana-spinach
10 finger-bananas
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
Water

Bosc pear-raspberry-kale
3 bosc pears
1 handful of raspberries
4-5 leaves of kale
Water