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Green fruit and vegetable smoothie recipes
A glass of health a day to keep disease and aging away
Fresh fruit and vegetables are important in our diet because they provide nutrients essential for our health - vitamins and minerals, as well as cellulose which helps to regulate digestion, and other chemicals that are anti-oxidant and anti-cancer.
I find smoothies especially beneficial because I can eat some fruit and vegetables I normally don't like the taste of (like cucumber or grapefruit) - they get camouflaged among all the other tasty stuff!
If your kids don't like something, try this - if you don't tell them it's in the smoothie, they won't even know it ;)
NOTE: Images and texts presented here are my own original copyrighted creation, unless otherwise noted. Please do not use them without my permission.
How I pick my ingredients
I try to pick the fruit and vegetables so that I get the most of the vitamins and minerals in one meal:
- one citrus fruit - orange, lemon or grapefruit - because they're rich in vitamin C
- banana - it's very filling, and contains a lot of potassium
- leafy green vegetable like spinach, chard or kale
- root vegetables such as carrot or beetroot
- cucumber - has antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer benefits and it's great for your skin
- ginger - has powerful antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects
- berries like blackberries, cranberries, blueberries, blackcurrants etc. when they're available, because they're rich in minerals
- sometims I add broccoli which is rich in protein
I also pick the ingredients by taste - I have tested several combinations that were not very tasty - I will present here only my best recipes which I assure you taste good.
Take a look at the Fruit nutrient chart and vegetable nutrient chart to pick which fruit and veggies to add to your smoothies.
Ingredients
- 1 apple
- 1 banana
- 1/2 cucumber
- 3 leaves of chard (with stalk)
- a small piece of ginger
- juice of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Wash the fruit, take out the apple seeds and cut all the ingredients into small pieces, or just put them in your blender.
- If you don't have a high-end blender, a hand-held blender will work, that's what I use.
- Add the lemon juice and dilute with water to make it drinkable - the total will give you about half a liter of smoothie.
Smoothie recipe books - Don't want to experiment with your own recipes? There are hundreds of recipe books already available
Supergreen smoothie
Another variation of the green smoothie above, with a few ingredients replaced by even greener ones.
Ingredients
- 2 kiwis
- 1 banana
- 1/2 cucumber
- 1/4 of broccoli head (with stalk)
- 3 -4 chard leaves
- small piece of ginger
Instructions
- Wash the fruit, peel the fruit and cut all the ingredients into small pieces, or just put them in your blender.
- If you don't have a high-end blender, a hand-held blender will work, that's what I use.
- Dilute with water to make it drinkable - the total will give you about half a liter of smoothie.
Smoothies make for great "cocktails" for kids celebrations
Smoothies can be green, purple, red or orange.. add bright colored straws, slices of fruit and you have a fun and healthy drink the kids will enjoy.
Useful web sites
- Eat to Defeat
Did you know that certain foods help prevent cancer? This web site has a list of such foods, and if you register you get access to many recipes. - World's Healthiest Foods
Find out which are the most healthy foods and what they're good for
Budget blenders on Amazon
Related
How do you like your green smoothies?
Good stuff! I've been doing "Green Morning" but with rainbow chard or kale, and a handful of ice. After burning out a few budget blenders, I spent for a higher end one at a home show...Vit-a-mix is a pretty sweet blender... leave it running long enough, and you feel none of the seeds: so you can throw in the entire fruit!
Nice work on the lens.
- Author
@Jpentel: Thanks! Gotta add some more recipes :)
It's amazing!!
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