green smoothie with mint
So here is a bit of an introduction to the green smoothies:-) I will soon have a e-book ready and I will let you know but until then, a few things to give you a start. We do not eat enough greens. People forgot to eat greens. we have no time any more for greens. We do not eat enough of that color, period. (and no, I do not refer to mold!) Our brothers the chimpanzees eat something between 70% and 90% greens. No, they do not eat bananas. They do that in the cartoons:-) But when specialists looked at what they normally, in their environment, eat, it's mostly leaves. They chew on leaves most of the day. While I do not entirely know if Darwin was right to say that we "come from" monkeys (haha, don;t ask, otherwise this lil article will be about UFO's..:-) ), what I believe from what science says is that the chimps are as closely to our DNA as it gets. For a better reading you may want to print this, it got really long..
Why green smoothies? Now I don't know about you (I'd like to, though), but I cannot go from tree to tree or stay close to the ground in my garden and pluck & chew on my leaves the whole day:-) And if I think about how much salad I should eat to make up for my salad-less years.. Is there a solution to this enormous problem? You've guessed it, haha, there is. Ok, I'll cut to the chase. Green leaves are good for you. Raw green powders are good for you. And because they are good but do not seem so yummy (at least in the beginning) - it's a good idea to mix them with other stuff, blend them together smooth (hence: smoothies, wink wink) and drink 'em. How to drink 'em To begin with, please do use organic material. Please. For yourself and for Mamma Earth. Ok? And if you cannot buy everything organic, let the leaves be organic. And peel deep everything that can be peeled and non organic.. Do not ever buy non-organic grapes, they are the most sensitive to pesticides (and so are you!).. Make them yummy. Not yummy = you cannot stick with it. Make them sweeter if you need to, in time you will like them less sweet. (mine are sometimes so die-hard that I even cannot drink them - but I believe if go visit some big guys I might find their green smoothies much die-harder than mine).. Do not compare yourself to any-body when drinking your green smoothies. If people make remarks about the color.. forgive them coz they don't know what they're doing.. (I'm still in the Easter mood, could you tell?) If it your smoothie tastes "bad" (aka "non drinkable") after you made them (following a recipe or not) - "repair" them easily with raw organic honey and lemon juice. And water (more about water tomorrow). You will have more smoothie - take some out and add whatever you need. While you drink 'em, chew a bit on 'em, even if they are so smooth and yummy that you would like to gobble 'em up. Chewing your smoothie blends it with your mouth liquids (ok, saliva, but that does not sound so yummy for some) and that tells your stomach what's coming. Don't you want to tell your stomach what's coming? It's up to you, but chewing a bit on your smoothie helps your digestive system produce what it needs to make the smoothie go where it should go. I am one of those peeps who do not want to chew on the green smoothie although I know it's good foe me. I am just so thirsty every time. See? I'm honest. Do as I say, not as I do:-P And as to time in the day, I like to start my day with a smoothie. If somebody is sleeping or you do not want to make time for it before you go to work, you can make it the evening before. Please keep your smoothies (green or not) in glass containers. If you make it in the evening - please put 'em in the fridge. Your green smoothie is also ok the next morning but not as good as immediately after. It oxidizes slightly and after a while you will also feel the difference in taste. That said,even after 48 hours, a green smoothie is a million times much better for your body than fresh ham and eggs and 10 billions times better a Big Mac:-) Do you have to drink a green smoothie every day? You do not have to but I surely hope you'll decide to. After a while it's less complicated to make, like any habit you get used to. My own experience with the green smoothie was so extraordinary that made me want to share it with every person I met on the street, in the metro, the train, FB, you get the picture. You can read about it here if you did not already. I think and feel it is amazing and sad that not everybody knows about the green elixirs. It is a simple change and it is not addictive (well, it is after a while, because your body will crave health, but not addictive like you cannot get rid of it in a sec if you'd want to). It makes you much healthier, gives you energy that the coffee cannot even dream of and it makes you shine from inside because chlorophyl (the green stuff in leaves) is, like the famous Boutenko's say, "liquid sunshine", light turned into cells, cells turned into light. Do you need to buy a Vitamix? Ehmm, yes and no. I did not for more than a year while drinking the green smoothies. In the beginning I had a few really cheap blenders that lasted few months each. They either grew other green kind of strands of stuff than I wanted in different places I could not reach but my smoothie was reaching - either broke up completely after my using it intensively. Money thrown out of the window. What I experienced, though, is that a cheap blender is also less powerful and does not blend as good. You have to put 10 times more work into making the same amount of smoothie, with much less quality. I bought my Vitamix in a rush of adrenaline one day, after breaking the 5-th cheap blender. If I was not on adrenaline I would've probably bought a Blendtech:-) But as it is, Vitamix was since then my best friend in the non-talking world. (that is, Vitamix is kinda 3 horses screaming while blending.. but not talking). At that time I already had a Hurom slow juicer and that was my best friend before the Vitamix. That's how the world goes round:-) There was life before Hurom and life after I got the Hurom. Now it's the same with the Vitamix.. Books I've read about it and vids on youtube I've seen I will list them somewhere, not today. I probably have seen EVERY vid out there until a few month ago - when I decided to stop looking:-) And i've read some 10 books only on green smoothies and lots & lots of others on raw food. I can make it easier for you and give you the shortcuts. That is all you need to know:-) What started me on the green smoothies was a garl I saw one day on Auntie YouTUbe with a green stuff glass in her hand, i will soon interview her and thank her personally. I really believe she saved my life. And that is how it goes, she showed her light to the world and she touched me. I give it forward to you and you and you. What if I do not like the color of my green smoothie? I am lucky that way, Green is my fav color. If only looking at my green stuff pictures makes you gag, you can still go around it and make it muddy color or purple or whatever appeals to you. Mix it with many blueberries or strawberries, or other fruit that is strong colored. In the winter you have the frozen ones. Or close your eyes. Please do not let the color of your glass keep you from getting all the health advantages the greens will give to your system. (thank you!). How to make your best smoothies. Following my recipes is a good start. If you want to be adventurous and start experimenting please avoid starchy stuff. Do not put cabbage and fruit in your smoothie, it will lead to some explosions in your intestines that would make Fukushima jealous. (not that I'm making fun about that, i'm not) (..neither would you if you experienced the above) Yes to leaves and fruit together (tomatoes and cucumber are also technically fruit) And if you are a starter (which maybe you are if you got that far into this article), you can also make some fruit smoothie of any kind and add raw green powder stuff.. Start gently. Some green powders have a stronger taste than others. I was ambitious and put 3 spoons of Spirulina in my first 0.5l spirulina smoothie.. Ehhhhm do not do that if you are not ambitious like me (the next day used less spirulina in my smoothiem though). Rotate your greens! I will not get into why at this moment (very scientific and kinda long) but please do not drink spinach smoothies for 1 month every day. There are lost of yummy leaves out there, let them surprise you. If you follow my recipes here you will be safe with that coz I rotate my greens as much as possible. If not, just buy once a week a few kinds of leaves and rotate them within the weeks. As a beginner you could use around 100-150g of green leaves in a 2l smoothie so that should give you an idea of what to buy. Arugula - do not use much of it when you start (not more than 100g in a smoothie), it has a very strong taste taht could throw you off. There are also a lot of wild healthy amazing greens out there (and maybe in your back yard if you are not close to a polluted street). I will write about that in the future.. Try mint and cilantro, basil, parsley and other herbs to make it even tastier. Best powders:
You can best use powders when you cannot get the fresh leaves - or to supplement if your smoothie is not green enough. (believe me, after a while it can happen that you think it's not green enough:-D..) Do you feel cold? You can make your smoothie with a bit of warm water (do not cook it!). I found that after a few month the green smoothies gave me so much power that I experienced my first having it warm in the winter. In that moment when you feel cold, though, maybe use some cayenne pepper and / or ginger. Turmeric works also but it is more for long term. One last mention: the green raw milks are also "green smoothies" but the fresh fruit&leaves work best for every day, I recommend having the green milks only once in a while (intuitively, in the winter more often than in the summer, at least that is how it works for me). And listen to your body. You know best what's good for you if you start really listening and you get past that layer of "I want to eat chocolate/sausage every day at every meal for the rest of my life".. Anyway, if you got reading this far it means you are interested in the green smoothies (either that or you really really like my humor!). I am really glad to inspire you to drink the green stuff and if you have questions, please let me know and I will let you know. Much abundant green love from me, see you on the shining side! Comments are closed.
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