Green Smoothie Question

[Ireland]

I've been reading all kinds of stuff on green smoothies lately and I'm wondering something...

I thought we weren't supposed to mix fruit and veggies at the same time because fruit digests faster and ferments if left in the stomach too long. (as it would if veggies were eaten at the same time)

Anybody know about this?

Also, one other question...I'm noticing my blood pressure creeping back up. (I haven't been eating as well as I should) Does anybody know what foods are a natural dieuretic?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Shannon

[swingbolder]

I'm certainly no expert, but I did read (on my raw food list) that once you blend the fruits and veggies together they are digested at more of an equal rate, bc they've already been broken down so much by the blending.

In any case, I haven't had any problem digesting my green smoothies (no gas, bloating, discomfort etc.) so I'm going to stick with them.

[Rawkinlocs]

WoW,

There are even contradictions with the food combining thing, I've found out.

I have a chart here that I printed off and here is what it says:

Sweet Fruits (bananas, dates, raisins, dried fruits,etc.) - Best combined with celery and lettuce. Do not use with acid fruit.

Sub-Acid Fruit (grapes, apples, pears) - Combine with acid or sweet fruits, but not with both. Good with lettuce or celery.

Acid Fruits (oranges, pineapple, lemons, tomatoes, etc.) - Best combined with sub-acid fruit but not with sweet fruit. Good with lettuce and celery.

Vegetables - Combines well with most foods.

Proteins (nuts, grains, etc.) - Best combined with salads. Do not sue with sugar and starches.

Starches (squash, pumpkin, corn, carrots, potatoes, egg plant, etc.) - Best combined with green salads (no tomatoes) Do not use with protein and fruit.

Melons - Best alone. Does not combine well with other foods.

As far as the dieuretics, not sure, but I'm sure others can and will be able to help you with that.

I, like Swingbolder, do not have a problem mixing greens with my smoothies. I generally use celery and spinach (or kale) but have used lettuce too.

[blue_sky]

i found a website that lists these as diuretics:

Anise
* Celery
* Onion
* Parsley
* Eggplant
* Garlic
* Peppermint

I have also heard that melons and asparagus will do the trick.

Good Luck!!

;)

[Pailani]

I'm dealing with candida/blood sugar issues so I can't do much fruit alone. If I were to follow the frit-alone rule, I wouldn't be able to eat fruit at all! Doing the green smoothies has worked fine for me, though. Maybe later my body will be more pure and I can simplify and eat fruit alone.

[Autumn]

<<Does anybody know what foods are a natural dieuretic?>>

I've always done well with celery and watermelon.

[Ireland]

Thanks everyone, I just got home from the store with lots of fruit and greens. I'm gona give it a shot....

[Revvell]

is a GREAT diuretic. My husband finds orange juice to be.

Enjoy and

Injoy~

Revvell

[Ireland]

Well, I just had my first green smoothie.

1 stalk of celery
1 small bunch of parsley
2 apples

And it's good!

Finally, a way to get my greens that tastes good! And I don't even have to put ranch dressing on it to make it palitable!

Thank you :)

[angelandarose]

What are some other Green Smoothie Recipes? Never even heard of a Green Smoothie till I came to this board. HA!

Thanks!
Angie

[Revvell]

every day my husband and I have organice oranges and bananas blended with kale or chard. Yummmmmy!!!!

Injoy ~

Revvell

[Ireland]

Here's some info from Frederic Patenaude's e-newsletter I just received yesterday:

Green smoothies are fruit smoothies with green vegetables blended into them. It’s probably the best way to increase your green (and fruit) consumption. When we eat greens in a salad, most people do not chew well enough for the nutrients in greens to become assimilated. For that reason,
deficiencies can occur even if plenty of greens are eaten. Additionally, eating big salads often encourages more the consumption of fat and salt, in order to make them palatable. Not so with green smoothies! That being said, eating greens and fruit in more traditional ways is still recommended, but I think everyone should experiment with the concept of green smoothies.

ODE TO GREEN SMOOTHIES

by Victoria Boutenko
http://www.rawfamily.com

As the Russian proverb says: New- is something old, that has been long forgotten. This summer I re-discovered green smoothies. What do I mean by green smoothie? Here is one of my favorite recipes: 4 ripe pears, 1 bunch of parsley and 1 big cup of water. Blended well. This smoothie looks very green, but it tastes like fruit. I like green smoothies so much that I bought an extra blender and placed it in my office, so that I could make green smoothies throughout the day. More than half of all the food I´ve had in last several months have been green smoothies. I have so much more energy and claritythat I have removed green juices from my diet. (Juicing has been something that I’ve been doing regularly for years.) Green smoothies have numerous benefits for human health.

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.

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.
Green smoothies, as opposed to juices, are a complete food because they still have fiber.
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.

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. Many people do not consume enough of greens, even those who stay on a raw food diet. 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.

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.


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.
When you consume your greens in the form of green smoothies, you can greatly reduce the consumption of oils and salt in your diet.

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 of my favorite greens to add to green smoothies:
parsley, spinach, celery, kale and romaine. My favorite
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
1/2 bunch romaine
Water

APPLE-KALE-LEMON

4 apples
1/2 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-MINT

4 ripe pears
4-5 leaves of kale
1/2 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

[angelandarose]

I just had my first GREEN SMOOTHIE! YUMMY! :D

Here's what I put in it:
1 Mango (BTW, do y'all peel them? Is the rine edible?)
1 Celery stalk
1 Handfull of Romaine
1 Bunch of Parsley
1 cup of Water

I can do this, this is very very good!!
Thanks for turning me on to green smoothies! :D

Love,
Angie

[Revvell]

found the rind of the mango to be edible. I just take a sharp knife and do the deed. My loving husband got us a ceramic knife at the Natural Products expo this past weekend. Dayum! It is wonderful! Expect to see us selling these on our dancingdragon site soon!

btw ~

In Alissa's vid, the first recipe she does is mango and banana (or was it papaya and banana?) *shrugs* Whatever. Take one of each, toss them and some greens into the blender. If you need to, add water for smoothness.

Injoy ~

Revvell

[RawTruth]

I peel even organic mangoes. Actually, I love the ritual of halving it and scoring each side into chunks, then popping those chunks out (oftentimes right into my mouth!). This is the way they're sold from Mexican and Central-American fruit carts. Yumm.

[karotw]

I tried my first green smoothie this morning - 2 pears and a handful of dandelion greens. Quite tasty - just a little tiny bit of a "green" taste - which I liked - and very sweet. The color was a beautiful green : )

I'm thinking that this might really help me with getting more greens each day, as I'm really, really tired of eating salad after salad after salad these days!

Wishing everyone else a great green smoothie day :D