andre nickatina

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.

stu842

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.

Jarery

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

Garfield Cat

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.

andre nickatina

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.

Ka_Jun

illwafer

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.

Mazaev

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.

Garfield Cat

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

black_box 

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.

Jarery

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

illwafer

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.

black_box 

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

Machka 

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.
https://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/food...in-k-foods.htm
https://www.vitamin-update.com/definition.cfm/id/5.html

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

Jarery

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

Machka 

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.

Mazaev

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

Machka 

It's all about moderation and variety.

TBatty

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

Jarery

Haha, yes purple smoothies look more appetizing than green

hemprider

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)

Mazaev

yummy...

tbastian

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.

Jarery

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

LesterOfPuppets

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.