Green Smoothies

My kids love green smoothies. They came home from Konnie's house one day very excited about them. (Konnie likes to make popsicles out of the smoothies, too, and kids love them.) I've been learning about green smoothies from greensmoothiegirl.com, and have recently purchased a couple of Robyn Openshaw's books, including The Green Smoothie Diet. I thought I'd post a review of the book, and then my kids favorite green smoothie recipe (though it's my recipe, not from the book).

Greens are some of the most nutritious foods on the planet (iceberg lettuce doesn't count). They are packed with minerals and vitamins, antioxidants, live enzymes, fiber, and chlorophyll. They work like a broom to clean out our insides and they nourish our bodies. Our teeth don't usually grind the greens fine enough to optimize the nutrition we can get from them, so smoothies are a great option. (Also, we don't often add a wide range of greens to our salads, if we eat salad.) If you are trying to eat healthier, green smoothies are a great place to start because they are fast, easy, and delicious.

The Green Smoothie Girl did a survey of her readers who were eating at least 3 pints of green smoothie a week (though she recommends a quart a day for adults), and found that they reported having more energy, improved digestion, fewer cravings for sweets and processed foods, more positive/stable moods, improved skin tone, weight loss (average weight loss of 18.25 lbs), increased desire to exercise, improved sleep, less stress, blood sugar stabilization, shinier hair or dandruff gone, decreased PMS symptoms, and a really long list other great health improvements that were more individual to the readers, like migraines, arthritis, and allergies going away. An interesting one was two readers had their gray hair return to it's natural color, which I've heard has happened to other green smoothie drinkers.

My Kid's Favorite Green Smoothie

I fill my blender with spinach and push it down. Then I add a can of pineapple chunks in pineapple juice. I add one or two handfuls of almonds and about 2 cups of frozen mangoes. Sometimes I add apples or pears.

I have a Vitamix, which is a really high-powered blender. If you don't have a high-powered blender,you might not be able to blend as many greens or whole almonds, and you might need more liquid. Almond milk or almond butter might work as a substitute to add the creaminess that the almonds give to this smoothie.

Berries are a good addition if your family doesn't like the green. A friend of mine calls her smoothies Green Slime Sublime just to make it fun. When you're first trying green smoothies, especially for kids, it's best to start with spinach, which is a sweeter green, and have more fruit than greens. Collards, kale, and chard also taste really pleasant, and romaine works well too. And green smoothies are a handy way to never waste your greens if you buy lettuce or spinach and won't be able to use it before it goes bad, you can just throw it in the freezer and use it for smoothies.