Why have green smoothie if eat salads?

[veggievamp]

I guess I should not ask this as an either/or question exactly, I know you can have both, but when I look at recipes with salad type ingredients I just wonder why pulvarize when you can have the crunch? I am big in texture as I have found out doing this! I thought maybe because you can get more greens in your body, but I have big salads most days. I can see if one juices the greens and fruits you would get alot of the juice, but then no fibre and for now I like my fibre :p

Just curious since so many have the green smoothies every day. Not sure I can eat a liquid salad for breakfast, least not yet! I actually haven't been able to bring myself to do green smoothie with lettuce or kale, etc, but I do use the green powders. Just don't want to throw more stuff out I don't like, this is getting expensive!

[GlimR]

I don't think most use green powders, just greens. IMO it would be ideal to do both, have greens in your smoothies and in a salad type meal. Why?? Variety of greens #1, and more of them. The more greens you eat the better because they hold so many life giving nutrients. So....one case when more is definitely better.

You can make the smoothie sweet. I typically add, fresh squeezed OJ, mango, pineapple, frozen bananas and several HUGE handfuls of spinach. You really don't taste the greens at all this way. I have the smoothie for breakfast and the salad for lunch or dinner. The combinations of fruit and greens are endless. If the thought of drinking your greens seems gross to you, add just a little to start and see how that goes. I definitely recommend adding frozen fruit of some kind to make it cold. You get 100% of the fiber from both the fruit and greens this way too, as opposed to juicing. Also, blending the greens breaks the fiber down some and makes their nutrients more easily accesible to the body, less work to assimilate.

And.......

They taste great!!!!!!!

[dreamrawalwz]

most people don't chew nearly enough and even if they do it's very difficult to break the cell walls of the plants. That's where a blender is of assistance. It does thurough chewing for us so the nutrients are better assimilated and absorbed during digestion.

[veggievamp]

I forgot about the breaking down the cell walls, now that it is mentioned, it all comes back to me HEEHEE. I wonder if this is why some people - older ones in my family - say they get heartburn from raw veggies. Maybe a green smoothie would be good for them?

[Zuri]

I forgot about the breaking down the cell walls, now that it is mentioned, it all comes back to me HEEHEE. I wonder if this is why some people - older ones in my family - say they get heartburn from raw veggies. Maybe a green smoothie would be good for them?

Definitely, 'cause I can't eat raw kale salad and the other tougher greens. It feels like it just sits in my tummy. Green smoothies really do make it easier for me to digest. I love it!

[Veganforlife]

That's exactly why I consume green smoothies. Because it's broken down and I eat so much MORE greens that way.

As far as for older folks - this is my long-term goal to get GS's out into nursing homes, for inner city kids to plant, blend, and drink greens and one day to take my GS campaign on the road to Africa! Can't you see those beautiful babies over there with their beautiful smiles consuming green smoothies? And how healthy they would be - WHOA!

So yes, GREEN SMOOTHIES ARE THE WAY TO GO BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Frecs]

That's exactly why I consume green smoothies. Because it's broken down and I eat so much MORE greens that way.

As far as for older folks - this is my long-term goal to get GS's out into nursing homes, for inner city kids to plant, blend, and drink greens and one day to take my GS campaign on the road to Africa! Can't you see those beautiful babies over there with their beautiful smiles consuming green smoothies? And how healthy they would be - WHOA!

So yes, GREEN SMOOTHIES ARE THE WAY TO GO BABY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah...umm...sure...I can see those African kids plugging in their vitamixes...into...well...a solar panel?....:confused:

My thought is this...chewing does more than just break up the food...it mixes the food with saliva which begins the digestive process. So, unless you hold the smoothie in your mouth and mix it with saliva, you are still bypassing an important step. I just try to be more conscious of chewing well. But, I think green smoothes or "energy soup" does make it possible to consume greens one might not otherwise enjoy eating in a salad...like kale....

[tammay]

Veggievamp, I'm with you. I'm also totally a texture person and love to eat my greens raw because of the crunch. I'm trying to get over the thought of drinking my greens as something - well, that's just not done :D.

I think I also have in my mind that to "drink" your greens you have to have massive quantities - like a whole bunch of spinach or kale or something. I know that's not true, though, as I have Green for Life and some of the recipes there call for less greens than I would eat in a salad.

I'm planning on entering the Sept challenge so maybe I'll try out some of the smoothies in the book in the evenings instead of my usual raw veggies with lime juice and see how that works.

Texture, incidently, is also why I don't soak nuts - I like them crunchy and soaking makes them too soggy to enjoy for me.

Tam

[Veganforlife]

Yeah...umm...sure...I can see those African kids plugging in their vitamixes...into...well...a solar panel?....:confused:

My thought is this...chewing does more than just break up the food...it mixes the food with saliva which begins the digestive process. So, unless you hold the smoothie in your mouth and mix it with saliva, you are still bypassing an important step. I just try to be more conscious of chewing well. But, I think green smoothes or "energy soup" does make it possible to consume greens one might not otherwise enjoy eating in a salad...like kale....

Where there is a will, there is a way!

GS's as SOON as they hit your mouth, they are being consumed into one's body. I know if I chose to chew as much greens as I consume daily? I'd still be chewing last week's salad clear into next month!!!
But to each their own...;)

[barose]

Texture, incidently, is also why I don't soak nuts - I like them crunchy and soaking makes them too soggy to enjoy for me.

Tam

Soaking certain nuts does have a digestive purpose, its not just for texture. :)

For me, I'm not a huge fan of green smoothies taste wise, but I do notice a huge difference physically when I blend greens vs chewing them. Dont get me wrong, during my SAD, then "healthier" cooked years, I always had large (mixing bowl sized) salads. Even now, I still eat large salads daily, but if I were to chew my salad to the point where its totally broken down, I would be eating it all day - like a cow.

[Veganforlife]

Texture, incidently, is also why I don't soak nuts - I like them crunchy and soaking makes them too soggy to enjoy for me.

Tam

Once the nuts are "sprouted" you can dehydrate to get that crunchy and the enzyme prohibitors have been broken down AND the nuts are still living. I do it all the time. My fav is almonds, sprouted, sprinkled with some Celtic salt, then dehydrated until crunch - talk about good! Yum-OH!!!!

[SharonC]

Quote from Joel Fuhrman, M.D....(Books - 'Eat to Live', 'Disease Proof Your Child', and 'Fasting and Eating for Health')

"Blended Salads or Green Smoothies
Eating raw greens and fruits blended together to make a smooth, creamy treat is quick and convenient. The greatest benefit of blending is the increased absorption of important nutrients. All plants cells are surrounded by a cell wall that must be broken open to release the nutrients inside. As a result, most of the valuable nutrients contained within these cells never enter our bloodstream. Blending raw, leafy greens guarantees a higher percentage of nutrients absorbed into your bloodstream. By just chewing your food you absorb about 15 - 25% of the nutrients, but blending makes your body able to absorb up to 95%!"http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/bul...ewsletter.html

Quote from Russell L. Blaylock, M.D. from his book ' Health and Nutrition Secrets that can save your life' ... (Also wrote, 'Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills' - he is a retired Neurosurgeon)

"Unlike animal cells, plant cells contain a wall that we cannot digest, and therefore must be mechanically cracked open to get to the phytochemicals. We do this by chewing. Unfortunately, most of us do not chew our vegetables until they are a mush - which is the optimal state for nutrient absorption in our bodies - but, you can blenderize them to achieve the same effect.

If you're unable to prepare ten servings of fruits and vegetables a day, I highly recommend using a blender to make up a liquid supply. If you eat whole vegetables, your body can absorb only about 30 percent of the available nutrients, whereas juicing or blenderizing allows up to 90 percent absorption.

Drink at least twelve ounces twice a day of your blend. At first, this may provide too much fiber, and may cause diarrhea. In that case, dilute the blend by half with distilled water. Once you adjust that, gradually increase the amount of blend and reduce the amount of water. It may take a couple weeks to accomplish this.

The vegan diet - which disallows all animal products, including eggs and milk -is one of the healthier diets you can follow. In particular, the Hallelujah Diet, developed by George Malkmus, contains an excellent blend of furits and vegetables that has been shown to significantly reduce disease rates, and in some cases, produce dramatic improvements in some very serious diseases."

[Veganforlife]

I followed Dr. Joel's program and was very successful with it before discovering raw.

[veggievamp]

Quote from Joel Fuhrman, M.D....(Books - 'Eat to Live', 'Disease Proof Your Child', and 'Fasting and Eating for Health')

"Blended Salads or Green Smoothies
Eating raw greens and fruits blended together to make a smooth, creamy treat is quick and convenient. The greatest benefit of blending is the increased absorption of important nutrients. All plants cells are surrounded by a cell wall that must be broken open to release the nutrients inside. As a result, most of the valuable nutrients contained within these cells never enter our bloodstream. Blending raw, leafy greens guarantees a higher percentage of nutrients absorbed into your bloodstream. By just chewing your food you absorb about 15 - 25% of the nutrients, but blending makes your body able to absorb up to 95%!"http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/bul...ewsletter.html

Quote from Russell L. Blaylock, M.D. from his book ' Health and Nutrition Secrets that can save your life' ... (Also wrote, 'Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills' - he is a retired Neurosurgeon)

"Unlike animal cells, plant cells contain a wall that we cannot digest, and therefore must be mechanically cracked open to get to the phytochemicals. We do this by chewing. Unfortunately, most of us do not chew our vegetables until they are a mush - which is the optimal state for nutrient absorption in our bodies - but, you can blenderize them to achieve the same effect.

If you're unable to prepare ten servings of fruits and vegetables a day, I highly recommend using a blender to make up a liquid supply. If you eat whole vegetables, your body can absorb only about 30 percent of the available nutrients, whereas juicing or blenderizing allows up to 90 percent absorption.

Drink at least twelve ounces twice a day of your blend. At first, this may provide too much fiber, and may cause diarrhea. In that case, dilute the blend by half with distilled water. Once you adjust that, gradually increase the amount of blend and reduce the amount of water. It may take a couple weeks to accomplish this.

The vegan diet - which disallows all animal products, including eggs and milk -is one of the healthier diets you can follow. In particular, the Hallelujah Diet, developed by George Malkmus, contains an excellent blend of furits and vegetables that has been shown to significantly reduce disease rates, and in some cases, produce dramatic improvements in some very serious diseases."
I don't know how to word this to make sense but here goes....simply put then, would a green smoothie, with less greens then a big salad, have as much or more digestible nutrients as big salad that does not assimilate as well?

I think that was another big question for me, smoothies don't call for as much greens as a salad so it didn't seem to make big deal to me whether I had them or not.

[SharonC]

I don't know how to word this to make sense but here goes....simply put then, would a green smoothie, with less greens then a big salad, have as much or more digestible nutrients as big salad that does not assimilate as well?

I think that was another big question for me, smoothies don't call for as much greens as a salad so it didn't seem to make big deal to me whether I had them or not.

Makes sense to me! That is what I have concluded based on what I have learned about blending verses chewing and how much better I feel when I consume GREEN SMOOTHIES. There is a common saying that it's not what you eat, but what you absorb. I feel like I absorb more blending than chewing even when the quantity is much less.

[veggievamp]

Well all I can say is GLAD I ASKED THIS QUESTION! ;)

You peeps are endless source of wisdom and help, thanks dahlings!:D :D

[Riiiya]

well, first i always heard that calcium in greens is rather poorly absorbed by our bodies - so pre-chewing them =blending, helps us get most of what we eat :)

and also- there is just something magical about greens- the more you can eat of them, the better.. and they help with digestion for me whether it's with sugary fruits or with heavy nuts!

[Frecs]

Where there is a will, there is a way!

GS's as SOON as they hit your mouth, they are being consumed into one's body. I know if I chose to chew as much greens as I consume daily? I'd still be chewing last week's salad clear into next month!!!
But to each their own...;)

Any you definitely have the will! :)

It definitely takes time to chew really well...

[SharonC]

Veganforlife,

I love your picture and your motto - "2 words, GREEN SMOOTHIES"!!!!!!!!

[EmJo]

I I think that was another big question for me, smoothies don't call for as much greens as a salad so it didn't seem to make big deal to me whether I had them or not.


You can put as much greens into a smoothie as you want. When first starting out, you want to put less greens until you get used to the flavor, and then you can increase the ratio of greens to fruit. Like salads, one of the fun things about green smoothies is changing the ingredients and experimenting to find what excites your tastebuds. :)

[SharonC]

You can put as much greens into a smoothie as you want. When first starting out, you want to put less greens until you get used to the flavor, and then you can increase the ratio of greens to fruit. Like salads, one of the fun things about green smoothies is changing the ingredients and experimenting to find what excites your tastebuds. :)

This is so true. I think most of us who regularly consume GREEN SMOOTHIES have increased the amount of greens over time. I now add several drops of stevia to a Vitamix blender full because I add more greens now, and they are not very sweet. If I go for a few days without them, I can tell a huge difference!

[veggievamp]

I used to use the Greens powder from health food store and I noticed a dif in myself so should be interesting to see how live greens will work for me. I also have what I hope is better green food powder now as well. Not loving the smell or taste of the powders but choking it down cause I know it good for me!

[raven]

Even though the green smoothies are more assimilable than green salads, you should still chew them, as you should juices. Victoria Boutenko emphasized this during her Raw Summit teleconference recently.

Suzy

[barose]

Even though the green smoothies are more assimilable than green salads, you should still chew them, as you should juices. Victoria Boutenko emphasized this during her Raw Summit teleconference recently.

Suzy

I know this is a separate topic, but she also exercises her teeth by chewing. I noticed when I drank a lot of smoothies, soft fruit and less solid food, my teeth doesn't feel as strong. Now I chew on carrots or celeary - anything hard.