Tag Archives: Green Smoothies

Green Smoothies Final Update

The 30 day challenge is over and we feel great. Every day that I drink a smoothie in the morning, I feel better. My husband says they make him more… er… regular I guess is a nice way to put it. Even Peanut is starting to drink them again and says she likes them. We’ve continued to make them nearly every day and I plan on continuing for the indefinite future.

I’ve been experimenting with adding flax seed. Flax seeds have some wonderful benefits, including high fiber content and Omega-3 fatty acids. Once again, I don’t taste anything different at all when I add them. They do make it thicker, so you have to keep that in mind. I’ve started adding them every day (though I decrease the avocado to 1/4 instead of 1/2 to make up for the thickening properties).

I’ve also been experimenting with adding other vegetables. My husband doesn’t like fresh tomatoes much, but they’re great for you. I’ve figured out that I can add 1/2 a tomato to our smoothies without noticing it at all. If you add more than that, you may taste it a bit (though not enough to keep my husband from drinking it). I can also add quite a bit of carrots without noticing it at all. Broccoli is a bit more tricky to add and I haven’t been able to not taste it when I’ve added it, but maybe I need to start off slower.

I feel like this challenge has given me a jump start to eating more healthy. I still don’t eat perfectly (As I type this, I’m sipping a cup of coffee with creamer), but I’m feeling more like I want to take steps in that direction. We’ve started drinking kombucha daily. I’m planning on drinking raw milk. I feel like taking healthy snacks when we’re out. I don’t want to eat out as often. I want to start running. Overall, I just feel great. I’m sure a lot of it is in my head, but that’s okay. If mind games make me healthier, I’m okay with it! Here are a couple more recipes if you want to venture out of the norm. Until then, I hope you’re all drinking (or at least thinking about drinking) green smoothies and feeling great like us!

Flax Seed Experiment

15 strawberries

2 kiwis

1 mango

1/4 avocado

1 orange

1 Tbsp flax seeds

4 big leaves kale

1 handful spinach (there was a lot of kale)

ice

I had a lot of issues with this one. First off, I added the orange and extra strawberries because the flax seeds seemed to make the smoothie thicker. The kale leaves were really big, so I didn’t add as much spinach, but it still ended up a lot more green than normal. Lastly, we drank this one after Peanut went to bed because I forgot to make them in the morning and we were gone all day, so that with the extra additions made way too much smoothie. I kept some of it in the fridge to add to the next day’s smoothie. Probably enough for another adult honestly. Couldn’t taste the flax seeds at all though! 

No Spinach! Ahh!

2 oranges

1 lemon

1 lime

1/6 pineapple

2 kiwis

1/2 avocado

1-2 Tbsp flax seeds

1 handful baby carrots

13 leaves red chard

ice

After slowly increasing the more potent greens in our smoothies, I decided it was time to truly delve into the realm of going no-spinach. I  purposely made the flavor fruit in this one really powerful (oranges, lemon, lime, pineapple). It’s really good! I couldn’t taste the greens at all. 

Green Smoothie Challenge Update

So I’ve gotten really bad at updating about this challenge. I’ve also gotten really bad about keeping track of the recipes I do. I’ve tried taking pictures of the smoothies before I blend them to help me write down the recipes, but the problem with that is that I sometimes add more fruit based on how it tastes and I don’t add the greens until it’s blended once. I can tell you that all of my smoothies have 1/4 an avocado, spinach to fill the container, some sort of other green (generally 1-5 leaves, depending on the green), and ice. Beyond that, I’m trying new combinations every day.

So how are we feeling? My husband still can’t give me a clear answer on if he feels better or not, but he complains when I don’t give him a smoothie. One day that I forgot (I have a horrible memory), he told me that was why Peanut was complaining of a stomach ache. Though she’s not drinking as much of hers as I’d like. I think I may have scared her off with a few crazy ones I tried.

How do I feel? I can describe it in one word: vitality. I just feel great. Full of life. It sounds corny to me as I type it, but it’s truly how I feel. I’m accidentally forgetting to take my placenta pill more often and I don’t even realize until the next day. I’m sure that it’s not just the green smoothies. It’s pretty much impossible for other factors to not cause an effect on real-life experiments, but I’m certain that they’re helping me. I feel better on days that I’ve had a smoothie in the morning.

We’ve started drinking bigger smoothies. I always fill my husband’s cup to 24 ounces (used to do 20 ounces) and then I fill Peanut’s cup and mine (both of which don’t have ounces written on them like his). If I’ve filled Peanut’s and mine is as high as it’ll go (which should be over 24 ounces because it fits over 3 cups), I give my husband some more. We’re also putting more greens in than we used to, mostly increasing whatever the non-spinach green is for the day. We rotate that green between collard greens (which I now add 2-3 leaves), swiss/red chard (at least 5 leaves), and green/red kale (at least 5 leaves). If anyone has some recommendations on other greens we can add, I’d love to hear them. Probably about a year ago I tried romaine lettuce in a smoothie and thought it was gross. I’m sure there are other things we can try though.

I’m also looking into what other vegetables we can add. I feel like our fruit drawer is constantly needing to be refilled, but our veggie drawer not so much. My husband really doesn’t like V8-type drinks, so a full on veggie smoothie or juice is out of the question, but I’d like to sneak other things in the same way I’ve done the avocado (which I can’t taste whats-so-ever). Maybe I’ll start experimenting with it. Toss in a carrot? How about a stick of celery? Or a tomato?!? Little bits at a time to see if we can tell the difference or not.

Now you get some recipes! (I’m not putting info on chopping anymore because you really have to do what your blender requires)

Citrus-y Goodness

1/2 pineapple including core, tough skin removed

2 oranges with pith, zest removed

1/2 lime with pith, zest removed

1/2 lemon with pith, zest removed

1 banana peeled

1/4 avocado with skin removed

6 leaves red chard

spinach to fill the container (about 2 handfuls as much as I can possibly grab at once)

ice (about two big handfuls and a little handful)

Strawberry Old Favorite

2 apples with everything included

2 oranges with pith, zest removed

12 strawberries with everything included

1/4 avocado, skin removed

3 small-ish leaves of collard greens

spinach to fill the container

ice

Holy Moly How Many Limes?!?

3 limes with pith, zest removed

1/2 lemon with pith, zest removed

3 oranges with pith, zest removed

1 apple with everything included

1/4 avocado, skin removed

5 leaves of red chard

spinach to fill the container

ice

Strawberry Banana

15 strawberries with everything included

3 bananas, peeled

1 apple with everything included

1/4 avocado, skin removed

2 big leaves collard greens

spinach to fill the container

ice