Green Smoothie question

[skeenan37]

I have been drinking green smoothies for about a month now. I've been using the powder - not fresh greens. Anyway, I decided to buy fresh greens and use them instead. Oh my, the taste is terrible. It makes me feel sick! I've tried adding more fruit, almond milk, honey....anything to help with the taste! (the greens I'm using are collard, rabini (sp?) and spinich.

My question is: Can I just use the powder and skip using the fresh. I know most of the posts I've read say that people drink the fresh and only use the powder when necessary. Is the powder just as nutritional? Am I getting the same benefit?

Thanks,

Shelly

[Werevegan]

Try using romaine or other lettuce instead of the greens you've been using. Drop in a couple of carrots and an apple; you'll feel like you're drinking energy straight from the earth!

I personally use a heart of romaine, two carrots, and a small gala or green apple. This is what I drink for breakfast. :)

[jaurequi]

skeenan37, I agree with werevegan (by the way, are you still vegan? ;)): Use milder greens for now.
How about a green leafy cabbage? Try some vegetables too like maybe celery and a non-sweet fruit like cucumber. I love cucumbers and use them in my salads every day; but, ever since Alissa was on the Today Show and mentioned how great they are for skin, I've been adding them to my smoothies too :).
Also, a handful of parsley leaves are good too.
You can also try using one green at a time, like, maybe just lettuce, or just spinach.
You may be objecting to the stronger greens; use the darkest greens you can get that are mild. Bok choy is a staple of mine and I find it nice and mild. Stay away from bitters for now, you may find you can add more and more variety and start more combos as you get used to them; I now use very little fruit in mine!

Best,

[dragonfist70]

i love bok choy to it actually tastes chinese in raw soup :D

sometimes it's nice to have a banana or two with lot's of celery spinach and dandelion including an apple and a few scrapes of mango with a bit of water and blend. also berries wild blackberries being my new favourite after blueberries.

and sometimes if it feels it's missing something i throw in some cinnamon with vanilla.

just mess around you'll find your perfect green smoothie :d

i wonder if anyone makes actual veggie smoothies excluding fruit. how do you make it good if so? i tried a sweet potato and carrot with cucumber and i almost vomited lol

[jaurequi]

Mmm, bok choy soup! That sounds yummy. I'll have to try making something up like that, thanks for the suggestion!

Strawberries are good too; for some reason, I don't care for berries in my smoothies except for these.

And YES! Vanilla can make a world of difference!

[Werevegan]

Actually, I erred in my suggestion: the mix that I offered is what I JUICE, not a 'smoothie'. I've tried blended salads and couldn't stand the taste, either. But if you make a FRUIT smoothie and add some greens, as the others have suggested, that should work fine.

Let us know what you decide to do and how it works for you. :)

[dragonfist70]

no prob :)

yer i thought of how i could make a delicious almost miso like soup without soya. i used black olives onion tomato bit of avacado and olive oil then thre in some bok choy red peppers more tomatos thyme bit of cinnamon and cayenne and it was great i loved every bit and i made zucchini pasta and added that last.

mhmm strawberries were my fav with cacao until i went of it i love wild starwberries the most ever tried the wild blackberries so different from store ones

[raw4sue]

I hope you keep experimenting. I LOVE my Green smoothie and actually crave it now.

I use about a cup of Kale, handful of lambs Quarters, handful of parsley, dandelion and sometimes leftover lettuce greens and a cucumber. then I almost always add a banana, then maybe a coupla grapes or 1/2 and apple. It REALLY tastes so healthy and fresh and delicious. This is about the best combination for me.

Keep trying.
;)
Sue

[jaurequi]

ooh, that sounds good, dragonfist. You know, mentioning cinnamon made me think of Chinese five-spice! That sounds wonderful.
I was thinking mushrooms would be a great addition to a bok choy soup. Maybe some seaweed to flavor the broth...
Love the zucchini noodles too! they would be great for a soup like this.

I absolutely crave smoothies now too, raw4sue :)

[dragonfist70]

oo sea weed + mushrooms ill have to try that sounds really yummy :D

a green smoothie i made yesterday turned intoa thick almost like cold rice pudding

lot's of berries
1 papaya
an apple
2 bananas
handful of parsley
2 stalks celery
abit of cucumber
half a coconut blend that last to make the pudding crunchy
add cinamon and raisins on top and mix

this is a nice treat but please don't make it all the time it's very sugary even with the veggies.

[Werevegan]

Okay, what makes a smoothie a 'green' smoothie? Are we talking actual color, or does the fact that your 6 banana, 2 apple, and a handful of berries smoothie has celery or lettuce or some green veggie in it make it a 'green smoothie?'

I'm no diet lawyer, I'm just trying to make sure I know what everyone is talking about. I already screwed up once in this thread, talking about juice instead of smoothies, so I just want to make sure I'm on the same track as everyone else. :confused:

I'm sure I could eat a ton of 'green smoothies,' it it means adding a leafy green or some other vegetable to a fruit smoothie! :D

[dragonfist70]

does't have to look green berries will usually die the colour darker if blackberries blueberries etc . i said 2 bananas lol

[FreshAir]

My smoothie is a dark, rich green color. I put in the blender:

1 peeled orange (this neutralizes the bitterness of the greens)
approx 1/2 c water (otherwise the greens are too dry to blend)
2 big leaves of dark curly kale (like the decorative stuff they use on salad bars)
handful of collards
handful of spinach
1 pitted date (does a really good job of sweetening the drink)
This all fills the blender to the top, so I blend for about 1 minute to really break down and liquify the greens. Even if you taste it now, it's not bitter! At SweetLips suggestion, I started freezing my greens, and adding them right out of the freezer. This way it makes a shake without adding ice cubes, plus you don't have to worry about your greens going slimy on you (ick!).

Then I add:
2 or 3 ripe bananas
4 or five strawberries (frozen if I don't have fresh)
Blend all together for about 20 seconds, and you have a delicious, filling smoothie. You won't believe something with so much greens in it could taste this yummy!

Now, you can share this - it makes about 2 full glasses for me. But, I work in an elem school office where breaks just don't happen, so I need something that keeps me full from 7am til 12:30 for lunch. It's hard to snack when you're the only one in the office and the phone never stops ringing. Plus, with all the kids (like kdgnrs who don't like to use kleenexes) and papers I handle, I really don't like to eat without washing hands, so that makes snacking while working kind of tough!

With this smoothie for breakfast, I feel like I get a big bunch of my greens for the day, a ton of energy, and I stay even keeled all morning (meaning patient and smiling, even when the people I deal with all day aren't!) I find myself sending them positive vibes when I see unhappy faces coming thru my door, and most often, this works! -Dianne

[dragonfist70]

mhhm sounds delish! my dad gets back from cyprus soon he's bringing me lot's of carob pods it will be my first time etaing them can't wait :d

[jaurequi]

dragonfist70's coconut suggestion might help, skeenan37. It would definitely make it creamy.

werevegan, yes, you're not supposed to juice the greens :). THis way you get the whole plant/all the benefits of eating greens. This is a convenient way to get them into your diet without all the chewing and fuss of prep. so,they most likely will be green, depending on how much you add. Sometimes they turn out dark when you use dark fruit like dragonfist70 mentioned.

FreshAir, I love green smoothies for the same reason: I really get sustained energy; an overall great feeling (and mood!); and the most important -- they really were the missing link to complete balance that I was lacking. I will never give them up: I'm a GSer for life! :)

[sweetgoddess]

Dianne,~ your user name really suits you. I am going to try out your smoothie recipe. Thank you.

WereVegan~
you'll feel like you're drinking energy straight from the earth! I am very corny, ha, and that sentence gave me goosebumps. :p

Blessings~

[skeenan37]

My question is: Is the powder just as nutritional? Am I getting the same benefit?

Thanks,

Shelly
Just wanted to bring this question up again.

Thank you all for the great ideas. I'll keep trying different blends!

But what do you think about the above question?

sk

[dragonfist70]

i myself would believe fresh veggies are more nutritious but ive never tried green powder before so i may be wrong. but id rather have the fresh veg

[jaurequi]

I'm sorry that I don't know any factual source to point you towards; however, just in general, I would think it would not be as beneficial, as fresh, ripe, whole foods; however, that does not mean you will not get adequate nutrition/benefit per your reasons for making these in the first place.
I think it probably varies by individual as well, in terms of what your particular body actually absorbs/utilizes.
How's that for a resounding, "maybe"? :D It's hard to know, sorry!

[dragonfist70]

don't worry someone very helpful will get back to you on this.. :)

[Rawkinlocs]

I personally would lean more towards the fresh greens myself. For one, depending on the source of the green powder, you never know how high the temps were when they dried them out before making them into powder. If dried at too high of a temperature, more than likely you won't be getting all of the nutrional value of the greens as you would with them fresh.

I sometimes wonder if when people think green smoothies are awful tasting if you're using too many greens to start out with.

I know that when I went to the talk by Victoria B., the green smoothies they served tasted awful to me...nothing like what I make at home. For one, I tasted more greens than I did fruit and second, it wasn't sweet. The assistants who made it didn't make it very palettable IMHO.

But when I make them, I make sure it's sweet and that the flavor of the fruit shines through more than the flavor of the greens.

I suggest starting out with a pretty high ratio of fruit to greens and then as time goes on, maybe add a little more greens, then a little more.

But as it was suggested by werevegan, you don't have to use stronger greens, you can use milder ones like romaine or green leaf lettuce. Parsley is also good as well as baby leaf spinach.

[sport]

Alissa sells green food powder on her website and you can thrust that. I opened it today and added some to my watermelon juice but I put fresh greens in my smoothie

[Helen Of Tennessee]

Hi Rawkinlocs,

You are the only other person that I have found that mentions greenleaf lettuce. It is my favorite, for salads, but I never hear of anyone else eating it or using it in their smoothies. I have never tried it in my smoothie, but I will now, now that you suggested it.

<>< Helen of Tennessee

[Werevegan]

I agree with werevegan (by the way, are you still vegan?

Werevegan
Pronunciation: 'wir-", 'wer-, 'w&r-, vE-g&n
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural were·vegans

: a person transformed into a vegan or capable of assuming a vegan's form when the mood is full.


:D