Green smoothies and green juice are healthy and I’ll show you how to make green drinks quick and easy! They taste good and your body will start to crave them before you know it. So even if you’ve never even tasted one, give it a try now. It’s part of having an ageless body, and you can’t live an ageless lifestyle without a healthy body, can you?
Why Drink a Green Drink?
For starters, you’re getting the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients your body needs to function in their most absorbable form. This will boost your energy and give your digestive system a break from the other heavier food you eat. It’s also a great way to flush toxins from your body which leads to your body looking as good on the outside as it feels inside!
Above all, food is medicine. In fact, I believe whole foods consumed in their natural form (non-GMO), is the best preventive medicine.
Smoothies or Juice?
There are times when you may want to do one over the other. Personally, I like having the whole food, so I mainly do smoothies. I pack mine with protein, carbs and fat to make it a meal. In your juice, you have fruits and veggies.
There are times when a juice as a snack or pick me up in the afternoon is just what the doctor ordered. Juicing isn’t a meal unless you’re on an organized juice cleanse. Make sure you’re following a tested and proven juicing program when doing a cleanse. If you have digestion problems, juicing is a better option for you.
If you eat virtually no fruits and veggies in your diet and you’re looking at this as your sole way of getting them into your diet, you might want to juice. You get a lot more fruits and veggies in a juice because all the fiber has been removed. What’s also removed is all the nutrients, and of course the fiber, that’s in the skins and pulp the juicer spits out. And we all need more fiber!
If raising your blood sugar is a concern, you’re better off having a smoothie so you don’t have the big surge from juicing. Fiber slows the absorption.
Unless there’s a medical reason you can’t do one or the other, they both have merits.
Smoothies don’t require any fancy juicers or have the big mess to clean up afterward. You can start with any blender, but if you want a well-blended smoothie that also blends quickly, I’d go for a high powered blender like this one I use.
How Much Does Making Green Drinks Cost?
Juicing requires a lot more produce because you’re just getting the juice out of it rather than using the whole food. So it’s more expensive. Also, good slow masticating juicers are just as expensive, or more than a professional blender and the juicer only has that one use, juicing.
When Do You Drink It?
On an empty stomach is best for the absorption of the nutrients for both the smoothie and juice. Juices go immediately into your bloodstream and don’t require the digestion process of other foods so you don’t want juice sitting on top of a big meal in your stomach.
The other part of when to drink is…
Can You Make It Ahead?
I say no because as soon as it’s blended the nutrients start to break down. If you’re using fresh, locally grown produce it’s still alive with all the enzymes you want to take in from doing a green drink. It’s a good rule of thumb to make a serving size you can finish in 10-15 minutes.
With a smoothie, there’s only a little chopping of large ingredients like celery, a cucumber
or apple so prep time is really quick. You can go from putting your ingredients on the counter to drinking your green drink in under 5 minutes.
If you want to be done even quicker you can put your portions of greens and herbs together in small bags for each day of the week. You can portion out seeds and nuts the same way. You can cut your veggies the night before if you must, but I’m a big believer in not losing the nutrients that start to drop after you cut the veggies.
How Thick Will It Be?
Some people like their smoothie to be as close to a juice as possible. I like mine packed full of food and just enough liquid to blend it. Mine comes out like a thick cream soup. That may not be something you can get used to, so if that’s the case add more water.
Which brings up something else. Even if you like yours with more liquid, you still want to chew your drink by swishing it around in your mouth and moving your mouth in a chewing motion so you get those healthy digestive enzymes you need working for you.
What Do I Put In It?
The reason it’s called a green drink is that greens are the primary ingredient. In the beginning, when you’re developing a taste for green drinks, you’ll add more fruits. Try 1/3 fruit 2/3 veggies at first. If you have to plug your nose to drink the first one, add a little more fruit, but only a little and scale back as quickly as your taste buds allow.
My basic recipe is below. I don’t use bananas or avocados because they make it too filling for me and I can’t drink as much. I get my daily avocado in other meals. I don’t use almond milk, I use plain water, green tea or coconut water. Just a personal preference.
Caution: You will get too much sugar which could lead to gaining weight if you make this look more like a mango margarita without the booze. Use more veggies!
I’ve been doing a morning green drink for about 2 years and I can do all veggies and room temperature if necessary. At this point, I do about 1/4 to 1/3 cup fruit, which is a small amount for a little sweetness.
You’ll figure out if sweetness or having it cold is the biggest thing for you. Using frozen berries as your fruit or a refrigerated liquid makes it plenty chilled.
What Are the Portions of Ingredients?
There is no correct or incorrect way to make a green drink. A couple handfuls of greens and other ingredients in the amount you like. Don’t pack it so tight the blades can’t turn. Also, there have to be some open spaces between ingredients for your liquid to seep in. Keep those two things in mind and experiment with the right size drink for you.
Load your blender with the hardest, most solid ingredients closest to the blades, with fruit and veggies next and greens and herbs at the other end. Whether that’s top or bottom depends on what you’re blending in.
Recipes:
The interesting thing I’ll tell you about ingredients is that you can put things in your drink you’d never consider eating. Also, if there’s something you hate and can taste from a mile away, stick it in there and within a couple days you won’t taste it at all anymore. I swear!
I have a board on Pinterest waiting for you of recipes and cheat sheets for even more combinations. Enjoy!
My go-to juice:
Carrot, beet, cucumber is my tonic juice when I do decide to juice.
My basic green smoothie:
spinach, kale or chard
celery
cucumber
parsley
mint
alfalfa sprouts
ginger
*turmeric
chia seed
almonds
cacao beans
apple or mixed berries
*To get the full nutritional value of turmeric it needs to be combined with black pepper and oil. I use a tablespoon of coconut oil and a couple turns of the pepper mill.
Definitely, visit the Pinterst board for more info. If you have any questions, I’m happy to answer them here or on Facebook.
If you’re ready to have an ageless body, to get started click here!
Health and nutrition are a big passion of mine because, without your health, all the success you can achieve is meaningless. In 1981 I started seriously studying health, nutrition, and the mind/body connection. I stopped eating meat in 1990 for health reasons and compassion for animals. In 1999 I was diagnosed with breast cancer. In 2005, the day after Christmas, I lost my mother at the age of 69 to lung cancer. Since then, helping others to regain their health by making simple changes has become a driving force in my life.
Until next time, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Just comment on this post here or on Facebook.
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With over 40 years in sales and marketing, along with 45 years studying human behavior, Lynn Pierce, “The Voice of Women Empowered to Create an Ageless Body, Mind & Soul After 50” mentors soul-based entrepreneurs to reach your own personal version of success and an ageless lifestyle. Tell Lynn what the life of your dreams looks like, and she’ll create the blueprints to get you there, along with the sales system to fund it. Lynn is the author of, “Breakthrough to Success; 19 Keys to Mastering Every Area of Your Life”. Claim your free special report, “What Do You Stand For” here
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