1-2 pounds of greens a day

[mel_s12]

So I've been weighing out 1-2 pounds of greens every morning and trying to consume them over the course of the day. This is surprisingly easier than I thought and I feel GREAT!! It's only been a few days but I would definitely recommend this. I've been making a huge green smoothie in the morning with a bunch of kale/spinach or whatever I have.. then I make salads or green juices or anything else over the course of the day that uses greens. I find that having the mindset of having to eat lots of greens keeps my mind off of eating too many nut heavy foods. :D

Just thought I would throw this out there... :p

[RawSinger]

Cool-I always feel better when I up my greens, even though I haven't maintained this for any significant period of time for one reason or another. This is silly, but I always worry about eating too many greens. I have this weird fear that if I eat too many, my skin will take on a green hue :o I know it would be pretty hard to eat that many greens but it's still in the back of my mind. My cousin's hands turned orange when she was eating a lot of carrots. But anyway, it's great that you're eating more greens. What positive changes have you noticed?

[SmilingRawDancer]

Every now and then I can get 2 lbs in - I did the other day, but it was through juicing and salads :) Still can't stand those green smoothies (blehh).

I def. feel better with more greens :)

[dreamrawalwz]

I'm just curious about how many cups 1-2 pounds would equal in greens.

[SmilingRawDancer]

2 pounds is around 900 grams, and 1 cup of collards, chopped is 36 grams = 25 cups.
For kale, one cup chopped is 67 grams =13.43 cups of greens.
Lettuce, 1 cup shredded is 36 grams = 25 cups of greens.

1 HEAD of lettuce is 360 grams. (These are averages from the USDA.)

....for me, it was about 2 heads of greens. I did one head of romaine, and one head green leaf lettuce, and then some collards and kale on the side.

[mel_s12]

Positive things I have noticed so far is increased energy, nice and smooth skin, and decreased desire for heavy nutty foods

[avanderland]

Holy cow, SmilingRawDancer, that's a lot of cups of greens! Thank you for the translation, I have a MUCH better idea now of the amount of greens I am eating... And am definitely going to work on upping it!

[mel_s12]

1-2 pounds is generally 2-3 bunches depending on the size of the bunches. I have a little scale that I use to weigh it out after cutting off the stems. It comes out to so much.

I am wondering though if one should up the greens even more if they are juiced?

[parsnip]

Wow. I've been averaging about a bunch and a half of greens (usually a bunch of spinach or chard or kale in smoothies and half a bunch of something else in a salad), and sometimes I feel like all I do is buy/wash/blend/chop/eat greens! I've also been adding a lot of sprouts to my salads (and, less successfully, to my smoothies -- am eagerly awaiting my shipment of clover sprouts to try). I eagerly await the increased energy and clear skin! :)

I am definitely not turning green. I just checked. :)

[mrsbatch]

Hi all
I am very new to all of this finding my way.
I myself probably eat 1-2 lbs a day between juice drinks and raw salad's.
then at night I have steamed vegies and some steam fish or chickcen.
doing this for about 2 weeks and lost 5 lbs lbs, I have 60 to go..
it is amazing to me I just dont have cravings for my usual bagel with creamcheese, cheeseburgers with onion rings on and on and on LOL
I am so happy to have all you wonderful people to write to and share this journey.

[Zaphirah]

TWENTY-FIVE CUPS OF GREENS????? How is that humanly possible? Seriously, how do you do it?

I eat 1 head of romaine, and I thought that was alot! :eek:

[mel_s12]

TWENTY-FIVE CUPS OF GREENS????? How is that humanly possible? Seriously, how do you do it?

I eat 1 head of romaine, and I thought that was alot! :eek:


A whole lot of green smoothies, salads, and green juices! :D

[SmilingRawDancer]

I eat 1 head of romaine, and I thought that was alot!


The thing is, that is alot. Look at the rest of America - they get the iceburg lettuce on their burgers, that's it.

I don't know where the 2 pounds thing came from, I think it has to do with eating as close as possible to what primates eat....but 1 bunch of greens a day is AWESOME for anyone.

For those with a juicer, it's more achievable to get 2 in.

[Mialsse]

Just ONE of my salads a day has atleast 2 heads of something. Plus fresh dill and sprouts - that's a lot of greens. lol. I love HUGE salads.

Then there's my green smoothie in the morning that always contains atleast 3big (and I DO mean BIG) handfuls of some type of greens.

I love my greens! :D

[gritsnla]

I have been putting one big handful of some type of green in my smoothies. But now I will try to make larger ones. I had been thinking of getting more green smoothies in. This is a good push in that direction. Thanks!

[steveoregon]

I don't know where the 2 pounds thing came from

Part of that came from David Wolfe. From his Sunfood Diet book, page 279 (what he typically eats):

"2 pounds of Kale and/or wild green food from my gardens or the canyon near my house"

A few weeks ago, I weighed two pounds of leafy greens, and was surprised to find out how MUCH that really was when you look at it.

[Raspberry4]

Smilingrawdancer - I know what you mean. I am sorry to say that the green smoothies go down really hard for me in that I have not found a taste yet that suits me. ANd I don't want to add alot of fruit just to mask the greens taste because too much fruit and my hypoglycemia kicks in about an hour later.

Anyway...1 to 2 pounds of greens, huh? Who knew??? I will get out my old WW scale and start a measurin'. Maybe I can fit it in here and there. I am interested in juicing - just feel too lazy to deal with the prep and clean up for now (sorry, but that is the truth!)

Oh well...it is something to aspire for that is for sure! :)

[Raspberry4]

Hey - maybe I can put greens in with my raw soup too? I usually make it with almond milk or coconut milk - but I could try adding in some greens to it too.

Do herbs count as part of the greens (I could then use parsley and/or cilantro bunches)?

Sorry to post twice - you guys are getting me thinking. I'll be dreaming about my greens tonight!

;)

[menat]

1 pound of greens in a smoothie sounds too much. Now two???? Not including the other things you have to add in your smoothies. That is a whole lot of drinking going on.

I get way too much juice just doing half an orange, a handfull of frozen spinach and half an apple and a handful of frozen berries. That is like 2 days worth of juice there, because it is so thick, I have to add water to thin it out and that makes my smoothies last longer.

Whew! You people are hardcore. I can't imagine a lot of greens like that to drink in a day, or a meal? How do you do it?

[RawSinger]

I can understand this whole mega-green thing. When I make Kale Salad which calls for 1 head of kale, I can usually eat the entire thing in one night-and that's just dinner. Although, I don't actually know how much your average head of kale weighs. 2 lbs of greens = no small feat. Nice going!

[Zaphirah]

how do you people hold a job? Seriously! I'd be in the bathroom every 15 min.! :eek:

This has been my big turn off to the GS. I can drink a quart with no problem, but then I can't leave the house for 2-3 hours. :o So I often put it off til later in the day when I know I don't have to be anywhere, but then I rarely drink a GS later in the day, for some reason. :confused:

[Raspberry4]

I think it is 1 to 2 pounds over the course of the day, not 1 pound in a green smoothie - or did I miss something???

[gritsnla]

ML S12 - Could you post your smoothie recipe? esp. how much fruit.

Or could you post just one day's worth of eating and perhaps some measurements of greens that you are doing? Anything to give us novices an idea of how to better add the greens in.

Thanks!

[mel_s12]

Honestly, my days are always different. It's just recently that I've been trying to get a ton of greens in and it works. I make myself a BIG smoothie in the morning usually with a bunch of kale, 2 bananas, a mango (changes everyday.. just general calculation).. Then I store this in the fridge in a big jug and drink it over the course of the day starting with 2 cups or so in the morning. Then for lunch or dinner i'll make a salad or some other recipe using greens. And whatever left over greens I have from being weighed that morning, I juice with apples or cucumbers or whatever and drink it up.

The '1-2 pounds' thing comes from people saying (and I can't quote you exactly what books) that all the iron/calcium/amino acids etc that you need, you can get from 1-2 pounds of dark leafy greens. We can't rely on nuts and seeds for all our essential minerals, because if we did we would be consuming far too much dietary fat. (Yes, I know it's good fats but too much is too much. After all, mother nature wraps them up in hard shells for a reason.. so we don't have too many).

[Eveleaf]

Mel, I agree about the nutritional need for that many greens.

I've been raw for nearly two years, and whenever I plugged my intake into a nutritional calculator, I *always* was short in some key area - calcium, iron, selenium, something. I didn't stress over it because I knew that my diet was a million times better than it had been in my SAD days, and also because I always supposed the RDAs aren't really accurate for RAW people. For example, we know that we need less calcium than the average American because we aren't consumming all that animal protein every day.

On the other hand, I'm 45 days into my Juice Feast, and for the Feast you really do have to juice 1-2 pounds of greens every day. It's really not that hard - a green juice or two combined with a large salad would do it, if I wasn't Feasting. And NOW, when I put my daily food into a nutritional calculator, I'm getting between 100 and 5000% of the RDA for everything. It's really amazing. All without comsumming a single nut or seed.

Variety is key. You don't want to be doing 2 bunches of spinach every day and nothing else, assuming you're covered. That's why I love my green juices, because you can throw just about anything in there with your celery, cucumber and apple. To me, it all tastes the same. Spinach, kale, romaine, red and green leaf, bok choy, chard. Yes, sprouts and herbs count too, so don't forget to include alfalfa sprouts, clover sprouts, broccoli sprouts, cilantro, parsley, dill, basil, etc.

Once I put the focus on the greens, my dependence on fruit sugar and fats just really passed into memory.

[mel_s12]

Eveleaf - EXACTLY! :D