I have a strong immune system and I'm generally successfully at staving off illness or keeping it pretty mild when I do get sick. But for about the last month, I've periodically felt like I'm fighting something off, which is annoying. I know I'm not getting enough sleep, and that's job one. Locking the cat out of the bedroom at night, sad as it seems, is helping with that.
But I also don't think I've been eating as well as I could, and too often I find myself mindlessly gobbling down something that doesn't make me feel good (or that I don't even enjoy very much), and thinking that I need to make some changes. I can just tell that I'm undergoing some kind of dietary shift, which I posted about over on mavenhaven last week.
Enter the green smoothie.
There are eleventy billion raw food sites and green smoothie recipes out there, and advocates of particular high horsepower blenders--and while I have to admit that I sort of covet the Blendtec, the nice thing about green smoothies is that you don't really need any dietary philosophy, recipe, or special equipment to make them.
So I'm just adding a green smoothie every day, and I'm going to see how it goes. Here's what I am drinking today:
Green and Mean
Two handfuls of spinach (stems are fine)
A deveined leaf of dino kale
A deveined collard green
A handful of parsley
A kiwi, with some of the peel removed
A banana
1/4 cup applesauce (fresh apple chunks would be great too)
1/4 of an avocado
Water
(A blender of some description)
Blend leafage and water first, adding more water as needed to get everything well blended. Add fruits one at a time. Drink slowly, maybe not in a single sitting. The flavor is fresh, lightly sweet and fruity, with a grassy undertone. If that bugs you, add more fruit. This made about 24 ounces.
You'll notice I'm starting slow with the tougher greens. I'm not interested in instigating a bunch of toilet troubles, as my boyfriend likes to call them, so you're not going to catch me chugging these or drinking an all-kale smoothie any time soon.
This is day two of the experiment. I'll keep you posted.
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I love your profile....slow jogger :)
And, I'm loving the green smoothies, too. I'm excited to see so many people embracing them.
Have a great weekend!
I'm sorry, it doesn't matter if your spinach is presented nicely or you put the smoothie in a sunny window, it just looks gross.
But if someone made one for me every day I would drink it. Those look like ninjas of dietary wholesomeness.
Oh hater, I cannot believe you don't think this looks beautiful and invigorating. And seriously, they are deelish. I recommend making one yodamnself and getting on the ninja train. Plus, if you add a lot of mixed berries, it will be purple instead of green.
Maven, this reminds me of the drink Dr. Oz made for Oprah. She said "it's a glass of fresh."
Dr. Oz's green drink
2 cups spinach
2 cups cucumber
1 head of celery
1/2 inch or teaspoon ginger root
1 bunch parsley
2 apples
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1/2 lemon
I just made my third smoothie, and I vastly improved it by doubling my blend time. I used the "frappe" setting on our old Osterizer, and it is light and creamy. Today's was 1 handful kale, l collard leaf, small bunch of parsley, half an avocado, ripe banana and half a Cameo apple. All organic. On my first smoothie, my banana wasn't ripe enough, and the whole thing tasted like premature banana. Anyway, thanks for the inspiration.