Greening Your Smoothies

Greens are everywhere - power greens, supergreens, fresh greens, wheatgrass shots ...but what are you supposed to do with them? Greens can be a little bit overwhelming when you're first trying to incorporate them into your diet. People always ask me how to add them and what to do to make them taste good. The first thing I look to when answering this question is my Blendtech!

Adding greens to your favorite fruit smoothie is a fabulous way to get the power packed nutrients that greens offer. If you didn't read Lauren's post, 10 Reasons to Eat Your Greens, go dot it now! Now I know, the color that greens turn smoothies can be a bit off putting. Most of us aren't used to drinking something that looks like toxic sludge or worse, something bright green *gasp!* - it looks like slime, not food!! Well, it is food...and it's food that's great for you. My simple advice, get over it! And if you just can't get over it, do what my boyfriend Stephen does, drink it with your eyes closed.

Ok, so now you're going to take the green smoothie plunge, but you're not sure how. Well, it's super easy! You can start by adding fresh greens to your smoothie or a super greens supplement. If you're adding fresh greens, the ratio for a green smoothie should be 60% fruit and 40% greens (collard, spinach, mustard, kale, or swiss, green or red chard). You really can't make a mistake, more fruit, less greens and add your favorite liquid and blend. I often use coconut water or just plain water. Sometimes I use fruit juice, but this does up the calorie content of the smoothie. I also like to add my own nutritional boosts to the smoothie like maca powder, acai (pronounced ah-sa-eeee, which is available in the freezer section at Whole Foods or your local health foods store. I usually choose the sugar free acai), flax oil, hemp seeds or almonds. You can add a little honey or agave for sweetness.

You can find a number of fabulous supergreens in Whole Foods or your favorite health foods store. They range from froze wheatgrass shots to powdered supplements. When buying supergreens supplements it's important to choose organic. Supergreens are super concentrated which means, if they're not organic, you're also going to get super concentrated pesticides- yuck!! I use Green Magma Barley Grass Juice Powder or Pure Synergy.

There really isn't a specific green smoothie recipe to follow, it's kind of like a stew, a little of this and a little of that to suit your tastes. Just experiment and see what works for you!.

Terra's Favorite Green Smoothie

1/2 c. Diced Mango

1/2 c. Diced pineapple

Coconut water

1 Frozen Wheatgrass Shot

1 tbsp of Green Magma Barley Grass Juice Powder

Put it all in the blender and blend! This smoothie will come out electric green with a sweet tang because of the mango and pineapple. It's my favorite!!

Keep it Fresh!

~ Terra