Training & Nutrition - Green Smoothies

In a couple threads in the last few weeks some folks have asked about smoothies, i replied about green smoothies, and some folks asked for recipes, and others asked if ya just added veggies to a blender. Instead of answering each individually, i made a new thread for it.

Green smoothies are great for breakfast, and are great for eating more vegetables in your diet, especially green leafy vegetables that usually people only eat during salads. Most folks when they make a smoothie use dairy products and fruit. Green smoothies are just veggies and fruit :) but a lot healthier.

There are all kinds of set recipes, but really, its just toss in what you have. People usually start with a 60/40 mix of fruit to veggies and over time end up at 40/60 fruit to veggies.

I buy a variety of fruit such as banana, kiwi, apple, pineapple, mango, papaya, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, or whatever looks good when your at the store.

For veggies i buy romaine, kale, cucumber, celery, bean sprouts, spinach, dandelion, chard, broccoli, etc. Again its whatever is fresh, in season, and looks appealing to you. Most of the veggies I buy I never ate prior to green smoothies. Kale, chard, dandelion? Never ate it before.

Then I just grab 3-4 fruits, and 4-5 veggies and throw em in a blender. I toss in some hemp seed for protein, add some water or almond milk, and blend the crap outta it for 30 seconds. My blender is 3-1/2 HP. Ive had lawnmowers with smaller motors :)

Theres lots of websites out there with all kinds of info on them, google them if your curious about the nutrtional info on them.

Heres this mornings smoothie. Its mango/kiwi/apple/pineapple with celery/cucumber/broccoli/radish sprouts/spinach

The bitter veggie taste is masked by the sweet fruit so it tastes just like a less sweet fruit smoothie, you just have to get over the green color. My eyes say it'll taste bad, it actually tastes good.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2464/3692950760_dc035373d9.jpg?v=0

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2523/3692152631_42d9fac99e.jpg?v=0

My blender is 3-1/2 HP. Ive had lawnmowers with smaller motors

What are you, Tim "The Toolman" Taylor in your spare time? Is that a Binford Tools special?

Seriously, what kind of blender do you have? I've been thinking about going the veggie/fruit smoothie route for awhile and wasn't sure I could find a blender that would last.

That actually looks really good, I'm going to have to try it!

Thanks for the recipe :)

Seriously, what kind of blender do you have? I've been thinking about going the veggie/fruit smoothie route for awhile and wasn't sure I could find a blender that would last.

haha, ya this is the ultimate blender. If it can blend a snow ski, it can blend my smoothies. Might be price prohibitive for some :) Any blender will do them, just that some may only last 6 months to a year before burnout. But i follow the "go big or go home' philosophy :)

Mines called a blendtec, heres the companies viral marketing campaign, some are hilarious.

http://www.willitblend.com/videos.aspx?type=unsafe

Wow, you leave the fuzz on the kiwis and everything? Crazy.

Looks good though. The idea of radishes is particularly intriguing. Might have to give it a try.

Wow, you leave the fuzz on the kiwis and everything? Crazy.


I dont even take the stems off the apples lol. Seeds, skin, green leafy parts on strawberries, all goes in. Apparently all that stuff has lots of phytothingamajigs and other good stuff we typically toss away. :lol:

Any tips on washing the raw vegetables? I just spray them off with the kitchen hose and drain in colander, but wonder of that's all that it takes. I like the large capacity blender. I've started making a similar (though purple) veg/fruit/berry smoothie and take about 10 oz with me to work to drink with lunch. I keep it in a cooler during the morning with ice.

Any tips on washing the raw vegetables? I just spray them off with the kitchen hose and drain in colander, but wonder of that's all that it takes. I like the large capacity blender. I've started making a similar (though purple) veg/fruit/berry smoothie and take about 10 oz with me to work to drink with lunch. I keep it in a cooler during the morning with ice.

If the skin can take it, a scrub with a rough towel or scrubbing sponge wouldn't be bad. A lot of fruit/veggies come from the market with a layer of wax or pesticides on them, and in the words of Alton Brown, neither of those are good eats. For vegetables that you can't scrub, a rinse may be sufficient, but some people do give vegetables a quick rinse in some water with detergent, or you may be able to get away with letting vegetables swish in a pool of water (good for removing dirt).

And FWIW, eating kiwifruit with the fuzz on is the way to go, smoothie or not — I've done it since I was a kid, so maybe I've been pre-conditioned, but the best way to eat them is coined (~1/4 inch thick), skin on, tossed in plain yogurt :)
I never realised that so many people didn't eat the skins.

reminds me of that old SNL bit, the "bass-o-matic"! Seriously, I think I would have a really hard time w/ the texture, more than the color.

Any tips on washing the raw vegetables? I just spray them off with the kitchen hose and drain in colander, but wonder of that's all that it takes.

There are a number of things out there that do a bit more then just get some of the loose dirt off:

http://www.veggie-wash.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=654912947
http://www.vermontsoap.com/vegwash.shtml
http://www.safeguardproducts.com.au/
http://organicpharmacy.org/products/Produce.Wash?gclid=CJbl5sqDxJsCFeFM5QodyCMjAQ

My Personal favorite:
http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Friendly-Products-Vegetable-22-Ounce/dp/B000J6EAQA

Or make your own:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/mix-your-own-veggie-wash.html

There are a number of things out there that do a bit more then just get some of the loose dirt off:

http://www.veggie-wash.com/cgi-bin/category.cgi?item=654912947
http://www.vermontsoap.com/vegwash.shtml
http://www.safeguardproducts.com.au/
http://organicpharmacy.org/products/Produce.Wash?gclid=CJbl5sqDxJsCFeFM5QodyCMjAQ

My Personal favorite:
http://www.amazon.com/Earth-Friendly-Products-Vegetable-22-Ounce/dp/B000J6EAQA

Or make your own:
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/mix-your-own-veggie-wash.html

Thanks for the links. I'll try the home made version. I never got sick, as far as I know from eating raw vegetables but have this minor concern that keeps popping up.

I understand you just throw everything together but does anyone have any info on what fruits and vegetables work well together? any fruits and vegetables combos that just taste bad? thanks, this is a great thread and I will now have to pick up a new blender. Think a food processor would work or will it not spin fast enough?

I have not tried a food processor. They may work as long as you chop items up small enough. In my photos I chopped items to make a decent photo, but I could toss them all in whole and still get the same end results. Where normal blenders fail is some of the leafy greens dont get chopped up fine enough to become liquid.

Give it a shot though, cheaper method if it works.

As for fruit/veggie combos. I tried avocado and didn't like it too much, made it too creamy, but if you like dairy smoothies it may be similar. For fruits the ones that work best are sour/tart ones. Even lime and grapes work well. I dont think there is any that wont work, and variety makes it a new experiment every day.

For veggies, I have not found any flavor wise that i dont like, I was missing green veggies from my diet so thats what i have been concentrate on. There are a lot of sites , mostly vegetarian or raw food sites, that might have much more info.

Good luck, and welcome to the green side !

Apple seeds contain cyanide, or so I have read...

Apple seeds contain cyanide, or so I have read...

Apple seeds contain amygdalin which is a cyanide compound. You would have to grind hundreds if not thousands of seeds to cause yourself any harm though. (imagine an all apple seed smoothie).

Personally I find most smoothies nasty myself, especially the vegetable ones, I'd much rather just eat the vegetables unprocessed.

Made one for breakfast today. The blender I have is HORRIBLE ( I was using a mashed potatoe masher to push down the leaves and fruit on to the blade). Looks like I have to go buy another blender. The smoothie tasted pretty good though.

Personally I find most smoothies nasty myself, especially the vegetable ones, I'd much rather just eat the vegetables unprocessed.

I'm the same, I just prefer the fruits and veggies whole.

Apple seeds contain cyanide, or so I have read...

Yes. And many people eat apple seeds for just this reason, as the cyanide is thought to kill cancer cells. Research is sketchy since like many things, you have the underfunded natural medicine folks in one camp vs the billion dollar pharmaceutical companies in the other, so info gets a bit biased :)

I'm the same, I just prefer the fruits and veggies whole.

Thats sorta the point, for many who dont eat veggies this is a way to increase their consumption. There is no way i would sit down and eat a breakfast of spinach, sprouts, cucumber and celery. So although i may prefer each one individually as itself instead of in a smoothie, it just is never gonna happen.

nice job.

Ok well now I have to try this. Can't let me roommates see though... they will think that I have officially lost it ;)

I've tried to add more vegetables to my diet, but they just end up going bad in my refrigerator because I simply never eat them.

I'm the same, I just prefer the fruits and veggies whole.

+1

I look at this and wonder why someone wouldn't just have a nice salad instead ... or add several kinds of veggies & fruit to every meal.

what about/why not using food dye to color it, say red to look like fruit punch

+1
I look at this and wonder why someone wouldn't just have a nice salad instead ... or add several kinds of veggies & fruit to every meal.

Mainly because i dont have an hour to eat breakfast which is what it would take to make then eat what i put in a blender. A kale salad i also dont find appetizing. The smoothie takes me about 2 min to make and about the same to drink.:D

My main reasoning is i was getting zero veggies for breakfast, just at dinner/lunch with salads and sides. Now my breakfast is 100% veggie and fruit, and my daily intake of veggies is about 5-10x than before.

Most people use a lot of salad dressing also which if store bought can be high calorie, fat, processed chemicals, etc. If im going out for dinner, like you i'd prefer the salad.

Nutritionally, the smoothie is better as its broken down more than you can do with chewing.


A plant-based diet (one rich in fruits and vegetables) contains a large amount of cellulose. Humans do not have the enzyme capable of breaking down cellulose,so we cannot utilize cellulose as an energy source. If we eat cellulose-rich, raw greens without thoroughly masticating them, we lose much of the food value. To get as many nutrients as possible into your bloodstream, the plant walls must be broken open to release the nutrients inside the cell. When we simply chew a salad, about seventy to ninety percent of the cells are not broken open. As a result, most of the valuable nutrients contained within those cells never enter our bloodstream..........................By contrast, when you consume a blended salad, you are assuring a thorough digestion of the plant protein. Ninety- eight percent of all the proteins will be broken down into amino acids or very small peptides, and absorption will be almost complete as well. As a result, you absorb almost all the protein in the raw greens, instead of losing so much..

Above cut/paste from http://www.formerfatguyblog.com/2008/04/03/benefits-of-a-blended-salad.html

And finally, a reason to have it instead of a salad......they taste great :)

Mainly because i dont have an hour to eat breakfast which is what it would take to make then eat what i put in a blender. A kale salad i also dont find appetizing. The smoothie takes me about 2 min to make and about the same to drink.:D

My main reasoning is i was getting zero veggies for breakfast, just at dinner/lunch with salads and sides. Now my breakfast is 100% veggie and fruit, and my daily intake of veggies is about 5-10x than before.

Most people use a lot of salad dressing also which if store bought can be high calorie, fat, processed chemicals, etc. If im going out for dinner, like you i'd prefer the salad.

Nutritionally, the smoothie is better as its broken down more than you can do with chewing.



Above cut/paste from http://www.formerfatguyblog.com/2008/04/03/benefits-of-a-blended-salad.html

And finally, a reason to have it instead of a salad......they taste great :)

It is a wonder we survived as a species before the invention of smoothie. :rolleyes:


And taste great is a highly objective opinion, the few I have had have tasted simply awful to me, not to mention they look like the results of the jolly green giant going on a drinking binge.

But hey to each his own :)

I used to drink these years ago before I started cycling and felt great after having one. I just had one today after the spinach in my refrigerator was approaching expiration and once again, I'm feeling pretty good and the ice-cold temperature was really nice on this 90 degree day. If anything, the magnesium from the greens should help keep overtraining symptoms at bay.

I have had a few so far, and I am tweaking my recipe each time. The first time I included celery, and it was simply undrinkable. The celery really dominated the smoothie and gave it a very unpleasant flavor IMHO.

Overall though, I think the taste is slowly growing on me.

I have had a few so far, and I am tweaking my recipe each time. The first time I included celery, and it was simply undrinkable. The celery really dominated the smoothie and gave it a very unpleasant flavor IMHO.

Overall though, I think the taste is slowly growing on me.

Thats how i was originally also. Now I look forward to them and really enjoy the flavour, just took a while to find the right combos and amounts for my taste. But in the end, i now eat easily 5x the fruit and veggies i used to

I have the Oster Professional Series, all metal drive. I bought this at Target. It has one toggle switch. On the up position, I have to keep holding it. On the down position, it will get into a higher rpm and stays until I toggle it to the off (middle) position. It has plenty of power. I think this means the lower rpm position is to start the grinding on larger pieces.

What I don't do is to throw everything in the glass container all at one time before mixing. The easiest things are the fruits. So that's what I start out with in the blender. Then I add the veggies when the toggle switch is on high rpm. If you gradually add the veggies, then you really don't need a super machine to blend it all.

Veggies are fine because of the minerals like those in electrolytes. But what's also important are anti oxidants. These are the dark berries. Most of my fruits are blue berries, acai berries, and pomegranate juice. The acai berries I use are the Sambazon brand organic berry puree. Heath food stores have the acai puree but regular super markets don't. At least not where I'm at.

What combinations? There are bitter vegetables for sure. I stay away from them because there are plenty of veggies that are not bitter and give sufficient electrolyte type minerals anyways. Mustard greens, and bitter mellons are the two I don't use. I tried the mustard greens but it takes too much balancing to make that one right.

Some fruits that are in season are best left alone. For instance, papaya and mangoes. They're sweet and the flavor is aromatic and delicate. Even adding a banana to these would ruin the flavor. Why spend a lot of money for exotic tropical fruit and proceed to ruin its essence? I would rather eat those as a snack by itself or dessert, but not blended with anything else. If you ever been to an Indian restaurant, they do make a nice drink (a type of smoothie) out of mangoes. Now that tastes ok. I think the name is Lassi. The Filipinos eat mangoes when they're still green. Never tried that yet.

The base recipe that has worked for me for ages:
-1 apple, sliced
-1 banana
-1 4oz. bag of spinach, baby lettuce or spring greens
-dash of stevia
-dash of coconut oil or low-fat yogurt, for the reason that you absorb many fat-soluble phytochemicals only in the presence of fat, and therefore are better off adding a little bit.

And then to that I'll sometimes add a handful of frozen blueberries or frozen pineapple/papaya, or grapes.

The blueberry one is the best because when you add enough of them, the color goes from green to blue.

RE: Acai - I think most of those "superfoods" are mostly just marketing and there's plenty of benefit from just eating fresh local produce as it is. Also, greens such as spinach have plenty of antioxidant value as well.

http://sfappeal.com/news/images/soylent_green-749218.gif

respect to the OP. this post got me fired up, and i picked up a used commercial vitamix blender (with the cover for quieter use). i'm blending up everything i can find.

Came here to say thanks for starting this thread. I've always had trouble eating enough vegetables, and a few months ago got a pretty decent blender. So far I had been mostly making the equivalent of milk shakes with the thing, generally using a banana, some berries, and milk.

So the last few days I've been tossing a bunch of veggies and such in there, and also switched from milk to "rice drink", along with a scoop or two of whey protein if after a ride. As I type this, I'm sipping on a smoothie containing a banana, an apple, an apricot, some broccoli, a stick of celery, tablespoon or two of pre-packaged egg-white, a few strawberries, a handful of dried goji berries, and I can't even finish it I feel so full.

Any idea how many calories something like this contains? Those packaged "green" smoothies in the store are something like 400 calories for a small bottle. I'm curious if this method, since it makes it so much easier to consume a relatively large amount of veggies, can amount to overdoing it.

Generally, the fruits have sugar and that will boost up the calories. The veggies are much lower in sugars and therefore less in calories. I went on nutritiondata.com and looked up some common fruits listed above.

1 cup mashed banana size 225 grams = 200 calories
1 cup raw apples size 125 grams = 65 calories
1 cup apricots size 155 grams = 74 calories
1 cup strawberries size 125 grams = 49 calories
1 cup kiwi 177 grams = 108 calories
1 cup mango 165 grams = 107 calories
1 cup papaya 140 grams = 55 calories
1 cup thompson grapes 151 grams = 104 calories
1 cup pineapple 165 grams = 82 calories
1 medjool date 24 grams = 66 calories
1 cup blueberries 148 grams = 84 calories

Now compare this with some veggies:

1 cup kale 67 grams = 33 calories
1 cup chard 36 grams = 7 calories
1 cup spinach 30 grams = 7 calories
1 cup broccoli 91 grams = 31 calories
1 leaf romaine 6 grams = 1 calorie
1 cup peeled cucumber 133 grams = 16 calories
1 cup unpeeled cucumber 52 grams = 8 calories

this thread made me buy a bag of spinach and a cucumber :) I also got some bananas and mangos, probably the most amount of fruit/veggies I've ever purchased in one trip.

Awesome !

I'm glad i motivated some people and helped them find a way to eat more veggies. :)

As for calories, they can get up there, but as Garfield pointed out, they are almost all in the fruit. You can fill the blender with veggies and they barely amount to a banana. When i started I had more fruit than veggies, now my blender is more veggies than fruit. Both ways I believe are less calories and whole lot better than a bowl of cereal and milk.

Ive pretty much settled mine to apple/kiwi/pineapple for fruit. Thats about 200 cal. All the veggies I put in are about 75. Hemp protein adds 120. For a grand total of 400 or so calories and thats a full blender. Almost more than I can eat. And i'm stuffed till lunch.

Black Box, im like you, now when i go shopping to the produce store i have a whole basket full of stuff. Where I used to have just some bananas:)

Adds a whole new meaning to "Go Green' lol

there's a really simple recipe that makes the creamiest green smoothie...it's almost like ice cream.

2 apples
2 pears
fill the rest of the blender with spinach (3 massive handfuls generally)

add a little water to get it going. this makes a lot of smoothie, so you can save the rest in a jar.

when im ready for a drink, i just fill up a cup with some ice, fill the rest with smoothie, dump it in the blender, blend, then back in the cup.

I need to work on the mixture... a lot. Probably needs more fruit.

http://i555.photobucket.com/albums/jj443/black_boxwbs/drink.jpg

A word of caution. Vitamin K is a coagulant - it helps the blood to clot, but this can lead to blood clots. If you are prone to blood clots, or if you are going to be sitting for long periods of time (like on a long flight), you may want to reduce your Vitamin K intake.

Or if you are on a blood thinner (like I am - Warfarin), you will have to watch your Vitamin K intake because it can reduce the effects of the blood thinner.

The RDA of Vitamin K is quite low ... 1/2 cup of broccoli, for example, gives you three times the RDA.

These sites list (among many others) foods that are high in Vitamin K.
http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/food/vitamin-k-foods.htm
http://www.vitamin-update.com/definition.cfm/id/5.html

Kale
Collards
Spinach
Turnip Greens
Beet Greens
Brussel Sprouts
Broccoli
Onion
Lettuce
Asparagus
Avocado
Cabbage

Well thats the first time i've seen someone advocate to not eat your veggies....:)

Well thats the first time i've seen someone advocate to not eat your veggies....:)

It took me by surprise too.

I developed DVT on a 17-hour flight between LA and Melbourne in June, and was hospitalized for 14 days in early August when what I thought was a cramp in my calf just wouldn't go away.

25 abdominal injections later, and massive daily dosages of Warfarin, I was released ... but I'll be on Warfarin for at least the next 3 months, if not more.

My left calf was chock full of clots and one large one had come up into the thigh, completely blocking the main vein there. If it had moved, it's next stop would have been my groin, the next stop is the abdomen, and the next stop is either the heart (heart attack) or lungs (pulmonary embolism).

I've been out of hospital now for almost 4 weeks, but can still hardly do anything more than a slow walk because of the clots which are still in my leg (although they are smaller now, and letting some blood flow) and because of the Warfarin. My Dr has told me that it could be up to 6 more weeks before I'll be able to do anything resembling strenuous exercise.

My INR level (the speed at which my blood clots) has still not stabilized, nor is it in the range they want it. I happen to LOVE the Vitamin K vegetables, and soy, which is another Vitamin K food. I'd eat buckets of the stuff if I could. But I suspect my love for Vit K foods helped get me in this situation (along with several other factors), and I suspect my love for Vit K foods is also why my INR level has not stabilized. It's really hard not to eat the foods I love.

I thought all those foods were 100% good for me ... I had no idea they could have a very bad side effect.

As far as I know I can, however, eat the non-dark-green fruits and veggies ... like oranges, carrots, etc.

We just can't win in this game, eh... :notamused:

We just can't win in this game, eh... :notamused:

It's all about moderation and variety.

Great thread. I had never considered veggies in a smoothie before, but I'm hooked now.

Found that darker fruits- blackberries, dark cherries etc prevent the slime green look, helpful when trying to convince the better half that spinach and broccolli belong in a breakfast drink :)

Haha, yes purple smoothies look more appetizing than green :)

I'm not too into the whole green smoothie thing but i thought you guys would like this tip. Sprouts have anywhere from 10-30% the nutrition of greens, they also taste better(imo). My favorites are Sunflower and onion, i buy them by the pound from the local guy at the farmers market. They go bad relatively quick so i would stray away from buying them from the store, the quality is always vastly inferior (sadly)

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2651/3904372684_8feb73be70.jpg
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/mazaev/3904372684/sizes/m/)

yummy...

Love'em, been on the smoothie band wagon for about a month and a half and without changing anything else I've noticed several positive changes. Weight loss, energy gain, better sleep, no need to sleep as long as before and a certain bedroom activity has increased in duration. But hey, that's my humble, non scientific, experience. Started with just fruit, then added baby spinach for the nutrients.

I'm still having green smoothies every day for breakfast since i started this thread. Healthiest meal i have all day hehe

I'm too lazy to make smoothies and clean a blender all the time, but I do enjoy an Odwalla Superfood or similar products from Naked and Bolthouse Farms. Here's the Superfood ingredients:

Apple Juice, Peach, Mango, Strawberry and Banana Purees, Spirulina, Soy Lecithin, Vitamin C (Ascorbic Acid), Wheat Grass, Barley Grass, Wheat Sprouts, Jerusalem Artichoke, Lemon Bioflavonoids and Nova Scotia Dulse.

It's $3.50 a pint or so, but can be had for about $9.00 per half gallon in some stores.