Disappointment with Green Drinks

[BlueBell]

I was reading all about how great green drinks are for you, so I poked around in Alissa's book and found her Green Drink recipe. I went out and bought all the ingredients it called for and juiced it all together about 15 minutes ago.

I have to say, it is the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted. I could only stomach half a cup, and even then I thought I was going to be sick. As I sit here in type, I can still taste it in my mouth, even after having half of a watermelon to wash away the flavor. I still feel a bit queasy even now.

How do you guys do it? I mean, I know people have different tastes, but I can't even imagine drinking this every day. I can't even finish what I made. I'm really disappointed, too, because I love juice and I really want to start having more greens.

Any suggestions? I really need them.

[Banshee]

Try smoothies, usually about a 60/40 ratio (fruit to greens in blender), or start higher with the fruit and work your way up with the greens. The same can be done for juicing.....add more fruit to mask the "green" flavor. As you get used to the greens, you may be able to drink that recipe later on (or maybe not). Good luck!!

[Livingsunfoods]

I agree with afavro. Try that and see if it works. Also it may take some time to acquire your taste for greens. Don't force yourself if you don't like it, you can make yourself sick. If you increase your intake over a period of time you should start to eventually crave greens on a regular basis. I found that reading Victoria Boutenko's book "Greens for Life" was very helpful in explaining this. :D

[Somtam]

I put frozen fruits and some crushed ice into my green smoothies as I think room temp green smoothies are horrid, just horrid. I don't put any dark-colored fruits like berries or pommegranate seeds into my smoothies either as it results in brown smoothies which taste great but look horrible. (Yeah, I'm a picky eater...)

Experiment with different ingredients and techniques and have fun with it. But don't give up on it. Green smoothies rock!

[michigan roman]

for me i mostly stick to mono foods and salads + water . and like you the juiced greens i dislike . so i get my greens mix in my salads everynight . and if i juice , which i do mainly only for fasting , its sweet fruit like pineapple or apple diluted with a little water .

[Rawkinlocs]

If a green juice or smoothie is too "green"-tasting, all you have to do is add in more fruit. For some, it takes a while to be able to appreciate the taste of greens...there are some here who actually eat greens by themselves or drink green drinks (juice and smoothies) alone with NO fruit and LOVE them!

So, until your body and tastebuds adjust, you can alway just add more fruit to them until it's to YOUR liking and then as time goes on, perhaps you will find that you are adding less and less fruit and actually liking the flavor. Recipes are just guides in most cases...if you make something to the letter and it doesn't appeal, try tweaking to your own tastes just like you may have done with cooked food.

[Tirza]

I consider myself a very strong-minded person, so when I was diagnosed with cancer, I decided that ought to be enough motivation to train myself to completely change my diet. OUT went the Coke and all other like abominations. I decided I was going to have green drinks instead. So at first I was using one of those green powder mixes, a really high quality one. First, I tried it with water. Yech! Then I tried it with orange juice. Double Yech! Then I tried it with apple or pineapple and I still couldn't enjoy it. It just tasted so GRASSY or something!

But I had an extremely powerful motivation, remember, so I thought, this isn't going to beat me. I am NOT going to live by my taste buds and the perversions I have forced them into becoming accustomed to....

For some reason I thought of trying to mask it with tomato juice, making it like a kind of V8 thing (I love V8). I even added a bit of cayenne pepper to it to give it some snap and make it into a "Spicy V8". Then I added a little fresh squeezed lemon juice. BINGO! That did it for me! It totally masked or blended or complemented the flavours of the green mud. I was thrilled - now I had instant lunch, instant energy, and new hope for a healthier future.

Later on when I became a little more educated I decided that I should try to do this stuff FRESH. I came across the Energy Soup recipe by Ann Wigmore. For my own personal health issues I thought I should do that. By that time I must have become accustomed to the tastes because I really loved my variation of it, using a pineapple juice base.

You should evaluate your reasons for wanting to do this. If they are at all vague and unfocused, your mind is most likely going to give in to your body's craving for its accustomed tastes and you will have a very hard time, makng it very unlikely to succeed. I am not saying to just "plug your nose, drink it and stop complaining"! No, I am saying if YOU have a good enough reason to want to do it, please try to persevere until you find a way that it can be done. If you are set on finding that way, you will. If it takes a different combination, or just easing into by increasing the amounts of greens - per - fruit ratio, then try to be patient until you find the formula that is uniquely acceptable to you. Hopefully you will eventually be able to say along with so many of us, that we relish those green smoothies so much that we wouldn't do without them now if we could at all help it - not for ANYTHING. I still do the V8 thing and add raw beets (so it's like a cold borscht) now and then, but my very favourite is the one with the pineapple juice base, the banana, apple, and the greens - usually parsley, cilantro, and spinach. :D YUM It's just like nectar to me. I start to salivate first thing in the morning now, just anxious to taste that fresh fresh fresh delicate taste. And as far as "digestive regularity" is concerned, those smoothies take care of it very well.

I also really liked Victoria Boutenko's book "Greens for Life" very much. Besides a LOT of data, explanation and rationale, she has a ton of recipes in there with so many taste variations that most anyone should be able to find one or more to suit them.

I wish you the very best of luck with this.



OOPS! Sorry, I forgot to mention that in the Energy Soup Green Smoothie that I love so much, I add 1/2 an avocado. This S M O O T H E S it out so fine. It makes it nice and creamy and mellows any sharper flavours so nicely. I have been out of ripe avocados a couple of times and it just wasn't the same at ALL. Besides, avocados have a lot of nutritional benefits.

[Veganforlife]

Yes - I second reading Victoria Boutenko's "Green for Life" book. Excellent!

[luna99]

I add a little agave syrup to my green smoothies too.

like this morning I did a handful or two of kale, frozen peaches, agave syrup, and enough water to thin it out and get it moving.

it was yummy!
good luck!

[ella]

great advice everyone! i just wanted to add--

start with rawks green smoothie- that is heaven! :D
i've said it a million times already, i know.

it's half a pineapple, one orange, an apple, handful of greens (spinach, kale or whatever- try spinach first) and water- just a small bit. experiment too.

it's delicious- but as you get more used to that- add just a bit more greens.

don't force yourself to dive into a huge green tasting drink straight away. ;)

[Ginger]

I love green juice with lots of lemon! :D

[eatyourbroccoli]

add a bit of orange juice. cuts the bitterness very very well

your tastes will probably also evolve the longer youre raw. you never would have caught me drinking straight green juice a year ago. now i can even handle celery/parsley juice..bitterness and all.

[pearlgirl]

My current fave is very simple: 1 mango and a few handfuls of spinach. I drink it almost every morning. Now, mind you, it's Kermit the Frog Green but it has a mild flavor and is sweet because of the mango. Maybe that can get you started or at least help?
The sky's the limit from there on out - best of luck!:)

[jocelynAZ]

You've received a lot of great advice here. I wanted to second the suggestion about adding agave. I too add a little agave to my smoothies (if it needs it!) and they are soooooo delicious!!

I was a totally picky eater prior to raw foods. My first salad wasn't until my senior prom in high school! LOL! I would even pick out the tiniest carrots in my egg rolls (filipinos call these lumpias)! So going raw and eating anything with any veggies was a total shock to me (and my parents)!

But the clincher for me to go raw was having my first smoothie. My hubby made the most delicious green smoothie I had ever tasted up to that point. It was a green color, so of course that was already a red flag for me, but he really encouraged to try it. When I did, I could not taste the greens at all! All I tasted was fruit! So, that began my personal journey to raw.... Heehee!

Here's what my hubby made. We now call it the Popeye Smoothie!

Apple juice - about 1 cup
Banana - 1 to 2
Spinach - a handful or two
Ice (if you like it colder)
Add water if it tastes too sweet or is too thick
If you want it sweeter, you can add a little more apple juice or more banana


Hope this helps!! Btw...this is what we used to get my parents and sisters and their hubbies into green smoothies too. :)

[Tirza]

for me i mostly stick to mono foods and salads + water . and like you the juiced greens i dislike . so i get my greens mix in my salads everynight . and if i juice , which i do mainly only for fasting , its sweet fruit like pineapple or apple diluted with a little water .


While I appreciate where you are coming from, I think that Victoria's book plainly shows that we just can't get enough greens just by eating salad. I was thinking about that and estimating about how many leaves there actually are in a serving of salad and I don't think it is enough to make much nutritional impact.

To even counteract the pollution in the air we breathe plus all the pollutants that have absorbed into our systems that now lurk all through our bodies, just waiting to make trouble, I really feel that we should make a really concerted effort to consume a LOT more greens. Victoria maintains that greens should be classed in a whole food group by themselves. I still eat salads - love 'em, but even if I wasn't dealing with the cancer issue, I would definitely be going for a huge increase in greens in my diet ....now that I know....

I would say that you just about have to get them into smoothies or some other concentrated way - how would we have the time to properly chew enough, - our jaws would not likely withstand the amount of chewing that it would require to get it just "in the leaf". ;)

Go to: http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=22618&highlight=raw+food+pyramid to see a really neat poster I got that shows a Raw Food Pyramid. Notice the importance of greens. You can't get that with salads alone. Just the greens alone are one of the largest components. THEN you have the regular vegetables, and the sprouts and herbs and algae (and seaweed). That is a LOT of green! To my mind, it makes sense to pack them in whichever way I can in as many imaginative ways as I can.

Cheers!

[EastCoastie]

BlueBell,

Already a number of good points have been raised. I would like to reinforce some of what Tirza said because often times, our perspective is as important as whatever action we are taking. (The wisest man who ever lived said, "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.")
You should evaluate your reasons for wanting to do this. If they are at all vague and unfocused, your mind is most likely going to give in to your body's craving for its accustomed tastes and you will have a very hard time, makng it very unlikely to succeed. I am not saying to just "plug your nose, drink it and stop complaining"! No, I am saying if YOU have a good enough reason to want to do it, please try to persevere until you find a way that it can be done. If you are set on finding that way, you will. If it takes a different combination, or just easing into by increasing the amounts of greens - per - fruit ratio, then try to be patient until you find the formula that is uniquely acceptable to you.

On a personal level, green smoothies have been a regular part of our life since reading Victoria's book almost two years ago. In fact, we have them when we travel and have gotten almost all of the friends/family members we've visited with over that period of time, hooked on them.

My husband's normal smoothie is something like this:
4 oz purified water (or coconut water)
1 orange (no peel)
1 banana (I omit this if we are sharing because I am not a huge banana fan)
1 cup frozen fruit usually mango, peach or pineapple
Greens (we only use organic) - red/green or multi-colored chard, kale, collard, spinach - We pull the leaves off the stalks because the stalks can be very bitter. I ruined a few smoothies before learning from Victoria this is the case. Anyway we normally we use about 4-5 big leaves of greens.
This generally yields around 32 oz of green smoothie

Personally, I have moved past the green smoothie phase and prefer more of a lazy person's green juice (I don't want to have to clean my juicer so I throw everything in the blender). Currently my favorite is 4 oz water, greens (same amount as in the hubbies smoothie), a chunk of organic ginger, 1 (peeled and seeded) lemon. Often I throw in a clove of garlic for the anti-parasitic benefits.

I have discovered, as my husband has, that our tastes do change. A year ago I couldn't stand coconut water and now I just LOVE it.

Don't give up...
EC

[Tirza]

See edit on my first reply (Post #7). I forgot the mention an important ingredient in the Smoothie.

[greenfeline]

Adding sweet ingredients like more apple and/or carrots works well. Also as stated earlier lemon will help too. One time in my juice making experimentation I put a whole beet in my juice. Now for me, too much beets have a sharp taste I cannot handle. Me being me, however, I could not bare for it to go to waste so on instinct I squeezed a lemon in and presto! It was now a fairly good juice. :p

[BlueBell]

Thank you everyone, you've all been incredibly helpful. I was very disappointed with the pure-green drink and I'm glad to hear I can add fruit and still get the benefits of green.

I'm hesitant to make smoothies, because my blender isn't the greatest, and unfortunately (I really hate this part) I don't have a Vita Mix. They are way too pricey for my budget (which is currently $0 as I am not working at the moment).

I guess I can try to make a green smoothie and see how it works out. I copied down a few of the recipes you provided me, so I will see where that gets me.

Once again, thank you so much.

[ella]

hi bluebell- sometimes you can find an inexpensive vita-mix or blendtec on ebay- i love my blendtec and i believe it's less expensive than vita.

also- you may be able to find one that has been used just for demo on their website. it's really worth it- your smoothies will be awesome! :)

[Banshee]

I've had my vita-mix for about a week, and I just love it, but.......
I did make smoothies for awhile with a regular blender, the trick is more liquid and run it longer (if you can stand the noise). They were a little grittier than what I'm getting now, but def drinkable!

Enjoy!!

[Tirza]

You are more than welcome. We are all such crusaders for the "Raw" way, aren't we?

Although many have high powered blenders, there are also many who have "regular" blenders. Do a search here and you will find all kinds of threads started by people who were asking if they could "make do" without the super blenders. Apparently you can. There is a someone on here who said she picks hers up at garage sales and they do fine. So don't despair.

I think that there are a few tips to using the regular ones, like doing the greens first with the liquid and using the pulse button. I would take out all the hard centre spines from the greens, and maybe then chop the green leaves coarsely before blending. Or if you have a food processor, you can do the chopping even better in there. Then you whiz it all together in the regular blender and it should go fine. It might not be so milkshake smooth as with the super blenders, I don't know, but it is sure adequate. Do try to get a good (even second hand one) as soon as you can manage it though, for the texture is the best with them and you will give yourself the best chance of "getting hooked" like most of us are.

Let us know how you do. We're all curious now - to hear how you make out on your taste experiments as well as texture.

[tammay]

I put frozen fruits and some crushed ice into my green smoothies as I think room temp green smoothies are horrid, just horrid. I don't put any dark-colored fruits like berries or pommegranate seeds into my smoothies either as it results in brown smoothies which taste great but look horrible. (Yeah, I'm a picky eater...)

Experiment with different ingredients and techniques and have fun with it. But don't give up on it. Green smoothies rock!

Somtam, I thought I was the only picky eater around here :D. I can't drink smoothies with hemp protein powder because of the sickly brown-green color even though the taste is fine :eek: .

Bluebell, As for green smoothies, I've also had issues with the idea of drinking a pure green smoothie (though I appreciate all the amazing benefits). I'm also not much of a juice fan at all (don't even own a juicer...) I have been making green smoothies lately in the afternoon and, just as everyone suggested, I put fruit to mask the taste. For example, I made a smoothie yesterday with 1 cup chopped cucumber, a bit of mint and basil, 1 cup frozen fruit (half of which was mango) and lime juice. It turned out not bad, a nice dull orange because of the mango, and not too overpowering (except for the mint but I love mint).

Check out my raw food blog if you're interested in recipes for green smoothies. I try to post them when I can.

Salads made of just greens, though - now that's a whole different story :D.

Tam

[jocelynAZ]

Bluebell ~ We didn't have the $$ for a Vita-mix until 8 months ago (and we've been raw for over 2 years now). Prior to that, we used an Oster blender and it worked very well for us. I would highly recommend the Oster "beehive" blender, if you're looking for a decent lower end blender. This will run you about $49 - I think.

Nothing compares with the Vita-Mix, but until you can afford one, we've found that Oster blenders work pretty well (above the other lower end blenders). I would also suggest that one not buy a blender less than $40 -- those cheaper models really don't blend well at all.

Hope this helps! This is based on me and my hubby's experience with several blenders prior to getting the Vita-Mix. :)

[RawCutter]

Any suggestions? I really need them.

changing your screen name to GreenBell may help

[JEN]

Im not a huge green juice fan myself but my favorite green juice is 1 small head of romaine, a small handfull of baby spinach or a little kale, 2 apples, and 2 lemons. It really tastes a lot like lemonade. If you make it and you taste too much green just add another apple and lemon or start with less greens. Best of luck!!

[Strawberry Pie Face]

Hubby is totally SAD and against anything green. Seriously.

He also won't eat or drink celery (he gags), ginger, parsley, grapefruit or beets.

He was under the weather the other day (he gets ill only about once per year). We made a deal ;) and he drank the above ingredients juiced with LOTS of parsley (blood cleaner) and a few carrots and oranges.

I told him to hold his nose and chug it like he took medicine as a kid, but I also made him say "I love you" 10 times after so his energy was positive (just in case). He laughed, but did it.

He looked at me stunned and said it didn't taste bad, and asked for more. :D

BTW - he felt better in a few hours rather than a few days.

Play with the ingredients until you can tolerate the taste. I used to drink green juice wit LOTS of sweets. Now I prefer it with lemon, ginger and only a bit of orange or carrot.

[Stina]

I've mostly switched from green smoothies to green lemonades now. Thank God for my Champion juicer. I guess my body just needed to lighten up. I do like smoothies but only with frozen bananas and I need to take it easy on bananas. So, I juice a whole lemon, peel and all, half a cucumber, some kale, a few stalks of celery, a couple of apples, maybe a little parsley, maybe not, maybe a little ginger, maybe not.... and presto, do I get energy. Wonderful, blessed, precious energy. It's really working for me, and that lemon strangely cancels out the greeness of the drink. If I did green lemonade for breakfast, a salad for lunch, and a smoothie for dinner, I think I'd start levitating with Raw power.

[Carol K]

My very first introduction to green drinks was from the Raw Food Detox Diet book. That author suggested adding a lemon, ginger and an apple to the juicing process. I use a large bowlfull of kale, spinach, lettuce, arugula, whatever I have in the fridge with the lemon, ginger and apple, and even my husband loves it! You hardly taste the green.