Greens-making me cringe

[LeanAndHungry]

I have been trying to find good greens. I have spent a good deal of money on them, but most of them leave me cringing as I chew and swallow them. Sometimes I get the chills because they're that bad. What's the deal here? Are they rotten? Are they even worth eating like this? I am at a loss here. I feel like giving up on this raw thing because it's impossible to find quality greens.

[jaurequi]

Hmmm... are you making green smoothies? I'd start there -- use LOTS of fruit, if you have to.
I love greens, myself; I drink my smoothies straight! Lol. No fruit in my green smoothies these days.
Weird, I guess ;).

[sport]

You could give the greens a miss for a while if they are putting you off raw. Eat the raw things you like and after a while as your body clenses your taste buds will change and your tolerance for greens will rise. How are you trying to take greens. Are you doing green smoothies. Putting some in a blender with bananas may work. If you are eating them in a salad then a nice dressing may be the answer.
Stop being so hard on your self to start with. Further down the road if you still can not take greens then we will have to recomend that you take wheatgrass shots in the other direction. You will not even taste them that way and it still gets into your system.

[LeanAndHungry]

Actually, I once found one bunch of kale that was actually really good. I made a few smoothies with it, but actually chewed on a leaf of it all by itself once and it was good. Then I made one or two smoothies with no fruit with that kale. I really liked it. So I don't think it is a taste bud issue. The stuff that I find now has dark spots on it, or it isn't crisp, or it smells bad, etc. I bought some collards today and it has tiny black spots on it.

It bothers me because I have spent a lot of time and money already looking for good sources of greens and have yet to find a single reliable one. I can get the plastic boxes of baby spinach, but that gets old, and those are pretty expensive, and I hear they may add sulfur to those. Is that true?

I have no problem finding adequate fruit. I need greens though because my teeth are already in bad shape and eating so much fruit might make them worse.

In the other direction? Are you saying what I think you're saying?

[jaurequi]

Oh, that's awful! You mean you just can't find fresh? Oh, geez, that's awful.
Do you have a farmers' market nearby?
Are you buying only organic? Perhaps, until you find a good source for organic, you might just buy conventional from a regular supermarket but make sure to wash the leaves well (right before using).

As well, you can do parsley, spinach, chard, and various lettuces, which are pretty much available all over. The lettuces vary in flavor quite a bit and using different ones will make your otherwise boring same 'ol spinach smoothies taste good.

Also, there are cabbages -- red, dark green, light green, bok choy (one of my favorites; very high in calcium)

You can also try using fresh broccoli or the leaf-ier broccoli rabe. I also consume the leaves of my vegetables, such as carrot tops, beet tops, cauliflower greens, etc. It all adds up :).

Best,

[sport]

"In the other direction? Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
Yes that is exactly what I was saying but that was when I thought that you just could not stand to take the greens.

You could try sprouting things like red clover and brocoli and alfalfa which develope into green leaves. I consider them as part of my daily greens.

[misslinda]

Sport offered awesome advice--growing your own quality greens in the meantime while you complain to the produce manager about their stock or lack of--don't be afraid to question to the produce clerks about the quality of the foods.

I have become rather acquainted with my grocery people as being a loyal customer and I never heistate to ask for fresher stuff if they have in the back. Hey, you pay for it, you should get fresh stuff. Don't take the risk of eating old or molded stuff.

[LeanAndHungry]

"In the other direction? Are you saying what I think you're saying?"
Yes that is exactly what I was saying but that was when I thought that you just could not stand to take the greens.

You could try sprouting things like red clover and brocoli and alfalfa which develope into green leaves. I consider them as part of my daily greens.

Do you need sunlight for that or can the sprouting take place in low light?

[misslinda]

this site offers some helpful tips in the meantime.

http://www.allorganic.net/sproutseeds.html