Green Smoothies and Food Combining

[tisha]

I told someone recently about green smoothies. I was telling her how I made mine. It varies but it's usually almond milk, frozen bananas, maybe another fruit like strawberries, and something green like spinach, kale, collards or romaine. She said, "That sounds...(pause)...(I'm thinking she is going to say "Great", but instead she says...) "Gassy". She asked me about food combining and wasn't it a bad idea to combine fruit with greens. I have read some about food combining, but not a lot. I told her that I did not have a problem with gas or bloating when drinking green smoothies.

What do you think? Is this an okay combination?

[Eva]

It's fine. Green, leafy veggies are not a problem. Supposedly if you put stuff like celery or cucumbers, other veggies that are not leafy it would be a problem.

I would be the first to get gas (pre-raw I was the queen of stinky and frequent gas!), and I never have gas as a result of green smoothies with green, leafy vegetables.

[Bampot]

What do you think? Is this an okay combination?

Yes I think mixing greens and fruit is fine. Have you read Vicotia Boutenko's book 'Green for Life'? It explains alot, and goes into why greens together with fruits are so beneficial.

[belleadonna]

Maybe it gives her gas. But if it doesn't bother you, keep doing it!! Not everyone is the same. :)

[EZ rider]

I have been concerned about the food combining combination of greens and fruits since I found this forum and heard about the green smoothie. In fact I have been avoiding those so far. Its good to hear your opinions and experiences with green smoothies and indigestion and gas. I may do some experimenting paying close attention to my digestion as the determining factor. Thanks for this thread.

[veganman]

I use celery quite often with no problem - very yummy, too!

[menat]

Quite frankly, I stopped farting since I have been juicing and I use celery, cucumbers and lots of collard greens.

Okay, I didn't STOP farting, I just to do it as often. You got to fart sometimes.

[moncha moncha]

Greens mix with anything, including fruit. In fact, greens help all food digest better. Celery also mixes well with fruit.

I think your friend was referring to the almond milk as the "gassy" component to your smoothie. Nuts don't mix well with fruit.

[barose]

I do well with my almond milk fruit smoothies come to think of it. I didnt when I used the store purchased crap years ago though. Maybe the OPs friend had commercial almond milk in mind?:

[EZ rider]

I'm trying to figure this out. Do food combining principals not apply to smoothies ?

[GHOST27M]

I'm trying to figure this out. Do food combining principals not apply to smoothies ?

Yes and no I would say.

If you think about it gassy means hard to digest. your blender as done alot of the work for you.


if you sit and eat all the food you put in a smootie I'm sure you would bloat a bit

[tisha]

EZRider, I took Bampot's advice and looked up food combining in Victoria's book.

She says, "greens are not vegetables." That is what confuses people. She said, "Greens are the only food group that help digest other foods."

I remember reading this. When I stumbled onto her book, I read it in one sitting. I was fascinated with the idea of getting more greens in volume and having them actually taste good. I remember reading that greens should have their own food group. I thought that was novel and that the SAD Pyramid definitely needed to be redone.

[EZ rider]

"greens are not vegetables."
Thats worth checking out. I will try out the green smoothies and see how they go down. I have noticed that greens do seem to be easy to digest when broken out of the fiber. Maybe they will digest OK. Its certainly worthwhile to check it out. Thanks for the info about greens.

[Raw Angel Mom]

As some has mentioned. Greens goes with everything including FRUITS. Greens aren't vegetable they are categorized that way but they aren't.

I tent to have problem when i eat fruit with something heavy and i try to avoid this but WITH GREENS NO PROBLEM. On raw diet, there isn't any rule, you just follow your body. Especially at first, you shouldn't worry about food combining.

[solarliving]

In reference to Victoria's book, she claimed chimps were known to wrap fruit in green leaves. As far as gas goes, when I started the smoothies 2 years ago, I did have some, but I think my intestines severely needed a cleaning. Now, I never fluff :p

[EZ rider]

As I stated in my post above I have noticed that the green juices digest very easily when broken out of the fiber. What if ? -- the green juice in a smoothie is digesting easily but the green fiber is not mixing well with the fruit and causing some people to be a little "gassy" ? If this were to be the case then a green smoothie that is made with a green juice base and fruit blended in should not be "gassy" even to someone who is sensitive to digestive upset. I am going to check this out on myself by making a green juice in my juicer and using it as the base in the blender and adding whole fruit to it and blending. Should be an interesting experiment. :)

PS - I think I'll make it a green juice & bananas smoothie and that should be a good test. I'll be away from my puter for a little while as I am going to the store to get the bananas right now.

[EZ rider]

I am going to check this out on myself by making a green juice in my juicer and using it as the base in the blender and adding whole fruit to it and blending. Should be an interesting experiment. :)
I'm back from the Safeway store where I got a bag of "ripe" bananas cheap. They were 19 cents per pound and the bag was 4.47 pouds = .85 cents for the whole bag. There were 13 bananas in the bag so thats 6.5 cents per banana. :) I put about a quarter head of romaine lettuce and a stalk of celery into the juicer and juiced em. I put the juice and 3 bananas into the blener and blended until smooth. It was a good tasting drink. :) It shouldn't take very long to digest that as they were both in liquid form and easy for the body to digest. I'll just sit back now and wait for a report from the rear. :)

[EZ rider]

I'll just sit back now and wait for a report from the rear.
It has been over an hour since I drank my experiment. I have been unable to detect any differece or changes from the norm. I don't feel gassy or bloated and I havn't had any report from the rear. My conclusion is that green juice and fruit work OK for me. :) I have noticed one differece however and I wasn't looking for it but couldn't help noticeing it. I havn't been hungry since the smoothie and I'm still not hungry. My day is usually nothing but fresh juices in the morning and usually I get a hunger signal from my body for more juice every 15 to 45 minutes. Not today ! After the green smoothie I am still awaiting the return of hunger.

[Eva]

OK now that was a funny report. "from the rear" oh goodness.

Thanks!

[moncha moncha]

There's some great food combining info here. (http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/digestive-physiology-and-food-combining/)

[tisha]

EZRider, I'm not discounting making a green juice smoothie, but I think the point of doing greens in smoothies is so that you can have the benefit of the fiber that greens provide.

Since the green juice smoothie seemed to work with no complications;) , maybe you should experiment with adding greens right to the smoothie next time.

I love buying the bags of bananas that are cheaper. They are perfect to freeze for smoothies. Frozen bananas blend up the smoothie to soft serve consistency. Yum.

This morning I fixed an almond milk, flax seeds, frozen banana, frozen berries, romaine and spinach smoothie. It was really good and filling.