Before Raw I Loved Green Smoothies...

[katy.j]

I used to drink them almost every day for the past 6 months or so but now at 100% raw for the past month I really have to force myself to make and drink them.

I know I need my greens and I'm not a leafy salad fan either so I'll have to stick with them but anybody else had this experience.

I feel like I'm liking fruit in general less and less. Like I need something heavier to go with it. And this from a gal who would eat a flat of strawberries in a day before going raw.

[DebB]

My husband isn't raw, but eats very healthy SAD. He's pretty burnt out on smoothies. He drank them daily for the time he was raw and that was it for him.

Now, after several months, he'll have a little glass (maybe 1 cup) of mine occasionally and said he's going to try them again in about a month. *Ü*

[CathyA.]

Yup.. definitly been there. I too am off the gs. I just don't want it. I've been doing some mono eating.

[katy.j]

Yup.. definitly been there. I too am off the gs. I just don't want it. I've been doing some mono eating.

Do you do anything else to get your greens? I might have to train myself to eat salad. Or maybe I'll try savory smoothies. The few I've tried though I haven't loved.

[kgarrett]

I am in the same boat. I am not so into the green smoothies anymore. I still make them and have some on occasion. I have trouble getting my greens when I am not having a gs. I also am not into salad that much. I don't like the work of making them. I am going to have to train myself to eat salad as well. I like my salad with a good amount of salt and that helps. Also advacado, seeds, tomatoes, peppers, beets, carrots and I try to add some crunchy romaine lettuce instead of just the organic sprinig mix.

I would love some ideas for greens as well. I am going to try to make the kale chips.

[papaya-berry]

I'm assuming that you have already tried changing up your ingredients. I get tired of the same combination of ingredients very quickly.

I'm allergic to bananas so instead I use zuchinni. It will help to balance out the greens and fruit without adding any sweetness. Your body seems to need less sugar to enjoy the taste of things (which is very good).

[Dimond]

There's hundreds of Green Smoothie recipes. It's pretty impossible to get sick of them. Not to mention they can be savory, not just sweet. Or a combination of both. They can be in soup form too. There's plenty of fruit, veggies, nuts/seeds, superfoods, spices, and all kinds of other flavors to ensure you can always find something that will suit you. You can also add greens to puddings, dressings, pate/dip, sauces, juices and many other meals. You can have lettuce wraps, pasta with a sauce that has blended greens, pizza with chopped spinach, dehydrated crackers with greens, etc. Greens can be added to chocolate desserts undetected. There's also tons of salads and many don't need much work at all. The choices are endless.

A mini electric chopper is ideal for creating fast salads.

[katy.j]

There's hundreds of Green Smoothie recipes. It's pretty impossible to get sick of them. Not to mention they can be savory, not just sweet. Or a combination of both. They can be in soup form too. There's plenty of fruit, veggies, nuts/seeds, superfoods, spices, and all kinds of other flavors to ensure you can always find something that will suit you. You can also add greens to puddings, dressings, pate/dip, sauces, juices and many other meals. You can have lettuce wraps, pasta with a sauce that has blended greens, pizza with chopped spinach, dehydrated crackers with greens, etc. Greens can be added to chocolate desserts undetected. There's also tons of salads and many don't need much work at all. The choices are endless.

A mini electric chopper is ideal for creating fast salads.

Good advice. Thanks. I probably do just need to mix it up a bit. Its just funny that i never tired of my green smoothie recipe before going raw - my body was probably just so happy to get some raw food and greens in it that it didnt care if it was the same eveery day

What do you do with the electric chopper? Do you mean like the cuisinart mini-prep?

[Katie P]

If your body isn't wanting them, don't eat them. It's that simple :) Your body will regulate itself

[CathyA.]

one of my favorite simple things to make is romaine wraps stuffed with sprouts, avacado, and radish.

[katy.j]

If your body isn't wanting them, don't eat them. It's that simple :) Your body will regulate itself

Yeah, I think my body wants the greens just not the sweet combos. And when I think of mango or pineapple (one of which I always put in my green smoothies) I'm kind of turned off of those too.

Just made a thick? green juice with apple, celery, lemon, ginger, dandelion greens and parsley. Tough to get down thanks to the consistency but feels and even tastes good.

[Dimond]

I have an inexpensive black & decker mini electric chopper (model EHC650) that I got for like $15 at the time. I chop most veggies in it when making salads-carrots, green beans, garlic, cabbage. It's also good for chopped salads like kale. It's great for grinding nuts, making ice cream, etc. You can use a food processor too. The chopper allows for quick & easy prep and cleanup instead of a blender or processor.

I love mixing savory and sweet. For example, here are two of my favorites:

Mango Tomato Soup
Mango
Tomato
Garlic clove
Optional: Greens
Blend. Also makes a great dressing.

BananaAvo Pudding
2 Bananas
½-1 Avocado
1 sm Garlic clove
Optional: Greens
Blend.

I've added a cup or two of baby greens to these.

[indianfairy]

If you have been enjoying your green smoothies and then find your self going off them after about three months there is an explanation that could be the reason. Nature puts a little bit of poison in the fruits and greens. It is an alkaloid. It is in extreme minute quantities. The reason it is there for example is to protect a species or plant from dying out. Imagine a beautiful cherry tree full of cherries. The birds will come and eat them. With the small amount of alkaloids present, after a while the cherries no longer taste good, so the birds look for something different to eat. Thus nature protects the cherry from being made extinct. A risk if every cherry tree was eaten at once. The same principle for the green smoothie. Alas we all like what we like and will eat our favorite given the choice. However after a while the alkaloid builds up in our body and our favorites no longer taste good. Time to use another green in your smoothie. It will taste good again. Each plant does not have the exact same alkaloid. Natures way of protecting itself. Variation and diversity good for you, and for nature.

[cara4art]

indianfairy's post makes total sense! I was heavily into the chard and kale for months for my smoothies since I got my Blend-tec, but lately I'm really enjoying green smoothies with dandelion leaves, parsley and spinach(along with whatever fruit and chia seeds). Since it's spring, and those dandelion leaves are seasonal now, it's a great time to be attend to your liver - dandelion leaves are awesome for that, the parsley is great for one's adrenals, and the plenty of spinach is great for elimination, along with the chia seeds. One can't go wrong with such beneficial stuff. This combo on me just feels really therapeutic(I was just telling my acupuncturist this today in fact - she approves). Bottom-line, since there are all kinds of greens out there, change it up and feel the love once again!

[Dimond]

I think it was more the fruit sweetness rather than greens that was the issue.

[neurosport]

why would you want anything sweet in your diet ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBnniua6-oM

the sweetest thing in my diet right now is carrots and onions.

and i would hesitate to drink carrot juice because it's too sweet.

[kgarrett]

I watched that video recently - didn't pay attention to all of it but, it isn't talking about naturally occurring sugar in our foods. It is talking about sugar added to foods being a poison. He actually says that an apple, for example, is ok because it has the right amount of sugars and fiber for the sugar not to be dangerous to us.

Though I would hesitate to drink carrot juice or any juice actually to often, other than during a juice fast, because of the concentration of sugars without the added fiber.

[nadien alexandra]

Im not really in to green smoothies. I am however obsessed with fruit smoothies. always have been.

but.... to get my greens, I make a lot of Nori wraps (which is dried seaweed) and I wrap that around lots of sprouts, avocado, zucchini strips, cucumber, shredded carrot, tomato, sundried tomato, and some oil and spices... a combination of some or most of those things. I'm really loving ginger right now, so i put ginger in those a lot.

another thing I do is make zucchini and cucumber pasta "noodles" and make a fresh sundried tomato sauce. It honestly takes about 5 minutes to make this pasta dish and it's so tasty.
(psst.. It's in this cookbook:
http://jonsiandalex.com/media/recipebook/)

[CathyA.]

love nori wraps.