This smoothie is kid and teen approved. It is also adaptable to the palate. If you like your smoothie sweeter, use a banana, if not, use pineapple which becomes a more subtle taste among the other ingredients. This is not just a drink, it’s a meal, packed full of nutrients. Use the information below to help you make your greens choice more unique and medicinal.
So why drink a green smoothie? Here are some of the benefits:
- A great way to increase your intake of raw greens, especially nutrient rich ones.
- An easier way to digest your food – the blender has already done much of the hard work for your body, allowing a greater uptake of vitamins and minerals in the gut.
- Green smoothies keep you hydrated given they are a drink, but even moreso because the liquid is digested more fully, given this drink is also a food.
- This smoothie is high in vitamin c, potassium, magnesium, chlorophyl, iron, folate, calcium, electrolytes and good fats from the avocado.
- A sustained level of energy is provided by this smoothie. On their own, fruits digest quickly and their sugar content is metabolised just as fast, giving a short burst of energy. However combined with the good fats from avocado and the greens, the energy given by this combination will sustain you for a longer period.
- The benefit of a green smoothie over a juice with greens is that the smoothie is a complete food, still containing the fibre, essential for a healthy gut.
- Green smoothies are so easy and quick to prepare and entail a small amount of mess.
Which greens should I choose?
Kale, spinach, sorrel, and any variety of lettuce (careful of bitter ones if you don’t like them) are all great in smoothies. Their taste is largely masked by the other ingredients and all you are left with is the goodness and lovely colour from their addition. However you may be surprised to learn that there are many things from your garden that you may include, even if you don’t have a vegetable garden.
There are a number of weeds and herbs that are highly nutritious – moreso than the greens you buy. Click on each thumbnail to read about each of these plants.
Prepare all your ingedients, as per recipe below and then place into a high speed blender.
Blend at high speed until completely smooth (about a minute).
You will be left with a gorgeous, luminous, thick liquid. Taste it for sweetness/sourness and adjust if necessary with more lime juice or fruit.
Our favourite green smoothie
Use this recipe as a guide and adjust to your taste. We all have different palates, some like sweeter than others. Ideally you want to slowly reduce the sweetness of your smoothies in order to reduce your sugar intake. If a smoothie is not too sweet, then it is great to drink a large quantity of it throughout the day as a great source of energy and nutrients. This smoothie recipe serves 2.
Ingredients
- 1 medium sized cucumber, chopped
- 1 large apple, chopped with the skin on
- Flesh from half an avocado
- 1/2 cup chopped pineapple - or if you prefer a sweeter smoothie, one large banana
- 2 tightly packed cups mixed greens
- 2 cups coconut water or filtered water
- Juice from 1/2 lime
- Optional additions: - small knob of ginger, flesh from one aloe vera leaf (washed well to remove all sap), fresh mint
Instructions
- Place all ingredients into a high speed blender.
- Blend on high until mix is completely smooth. This will take about a minute.
- Test for sweetness/sourness. Add more lime or fruit if necessary and blend again.
- Pour into glasses and serve.
