Green Smoothie Power For You and Your Family

I have been Twittering about Green  Smoothies for come months now and last week a few of us did the Green Smoothie Challenge. For my challenge I drank smoothies twice per day and only ate lunch. I also stayed away from take-out other than fresh salads from the grocers.

All that tweeting sparked the interest of many Twitterers and so I decided to post about the power of Green Smoothies for you and your family.

photo credit: tillwe

To start with a green smoothie is simply a fruit smoothie with some added greens. That is it. The reason why Green Smoothies are so valuable is because we don’t always chew our food well, so we miss some of nutrients our body needs to maintain good health. What you don’t chew comes out as waste. With a green smoothie as are able to turn the greens into a digestible liquid that is easily absorbed into the body allowing beneficial vitamins and minerals to enter.

With a green smoothie you get nutrients, energy and stamina to last through the day. Throw out the coffee with that horrible caffeine that gives you a boost and then knocks you down for the count. Get rid of all those sugary snacks that make your kids climb the walls and scale across the ceiling. And, ladies remove those MMs from your stash drawers. Instead take a little time to make a green smoothie for your family and get that healthy stuff inside.

Maybe you are wondering if kids will like it. Let me assure you that they will. The thing to remember it that the fruit is what you taste more than anything else. Yours kids may say that the color is strange but hey just tell them that they are kinda weird too. Plus not all green smoothies are actually green.

For me it was easy to introduce my boys to green smoothies, because Brehane and AJ have been taught health principles from a young age. AJ had asthma as a child and had to learn how to take better care of himself through diet. Brehane was born into a healthier environment. Not a perfectly healthy environment but healthier all the same.

Brehane even helps me make the smoothies; sometimes reminding me that we need to make them. He gets
his step stool and I grab the fruit and veggies. He adds the fruits while I add the greens and water. We make
a pretty good team.

Here is my smoothie process:

• I don’t use milk of any sort but if you feel a need to so then do. But I encourage you to just use some plain water because the flavor is better. If you think about it when you get a smoothie from some place like Jamba Juice they don’t use milk. They use fruit and ice with whatevery booster you may be getting in the smoothie. I do use coconut milk on occasion but that is for my Pina Colada Smoothie.
• I freeze my fruit and greens.
• I use mostly bananas, berries, and mangoes for my smoothies. Never use melons because they should be eaten alone and not with ny fruit or vegetable.
• I use spinach, parsley and romaine lettuce as my greens.
• I sweeten with agave nectar or molasses.
• I use ice on occasion but I find that freezing the fruit works just fine.
• I try to drink my smoothie within 20 minutes so that I don’t lose the nutritious benefits.
• I drink 32 ozs of water behind my smoothies for a full feeling and to help move the nutrients through the body. If you can’t drink that much try 8 to 16 oz but I do suggest you drink a little water after.

That is really it. Pretty easy huh!

Here is a simple recipe that kids will love too (this recipe makes about 32 to 38 oz or 4 to 5 cups)

Mixed Fruit Green Smoothie

3 bananas (if you are allergic to banana try another fruit like nectartines or pineapple)

1 cup of any berry ( I use blue and black for antioxidant power)

1 mangoe cut from seed

1 1/2 cup frozen spinach

1 handful of parsley

1 1/2  cups of water (add more is your smoothie is too thick)

Add the fruit first to the blended and then the water and blend on high for about 3 minutes or until everything is good and mixed well.

Are you a green smoothie connoisseur? Do you have a favorite recipe to share or a blog post that the Vegan Family Living visitors can read? Are you new to this whole thing and have more questions? Or do you just like the post?

Please do share.

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