Friday, January 21, 2011

My Usual Breakfast



I usually start my day with a Raw dish, such as a green smoothie.  I know that this does not look that appetizing, but they really are very good and full of nutrition.  The great thing about a smoothie is that when the fruits and vegetables in them are blended, the nutrients in the fruits and veggies are more readily available for your body to absorb.  Because of this you will have almost instant energy from it.  You will also have more energy because your body does not have to exert a lot of energy to digest it.  Did you know that your body actually uses quite a bit of energy to digest food?  So, a cooked dish is going to take a lot more of your energy to digest than a Raw dish, leaving less energy for you throughout the day.   The green smoothie is also a great way to get more greens into your diet.  Greens are SO nutritious and I need to dedicate an entire blog post just to them.  We need to eat more of them, for sure.  When blended with fruit, you can barely taste the greens.  This is a great way to get your kids to eat spinach.  Did you know that greens are actually a very good source of protein?  That's right, you don't have to rely on animal products for your protein.  The green smoothie is also an easy way to get a lot of fruits and veggies in your diet.  Who can really sit down and eat 2 apples, 1 banana and a bunch of greens?  I know it would be hard for me!  But it sure is fun to drink!


Here is the recipe for the smoothie that I made.  It's a very basic recipe.


Basic Green Smoothie:
2 apples, peeled and cored
1 banana (this is what makes it creamy like a smoothie made with dairy)
A couple of handfuls of greens (I used baby spinach)
Water to desired consistency


Blend together!


A green smoothie can be made with any fruits or veggies you have in the house.  Just use a ratio of 50% fruit and 50% greens.  It's fun to experiment.


I challenge everyone to drink a green smoothie a day for two weeks.  I am sure you will feel a difference!

6 comments:

  1. Greens can also be a great source of calcium for people who avoid dairy products. There are some that have high calcium absorption and some that have low absorption.

    High oxalate foods (low calcium absorption)
    beet greens
    chard
    rhubarb
    spinach

    Low oxalate, calcium-rich vegetables (high calcium absorption)
    broccoli
    collards
    kale
    mustard greens
    turnip greens

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  2. Thanks Tess! I did not know all of that in regard to calcium absorption. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. We had our first green smoothie this morning! I was suprised that the flavor is actually pretty good. You can't taste the spinach at all. Neither my husband nor I cared for the texture at all though. What can we do to make it a more palatable texture? Do you think freezing the apples and bananas overnight and adding some ice would help?

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  4. It depends. What was wrong with the texture? What ingredients did you use? Can you describe what was wrong?

    There could be several problems.

    You may not have blended it long enough. I was doing this at first. You have to blend for a while. It might actually warm it up a little from blending. Also, your blender may not be strong enough to really blend it well, but my guess would be that you didn't blend long enough. I ran into this problem at first too. I used to only blend a few seconds and it was chunky and weird. I haven't timed it, but it blends for probably a minute or two. Mine turns out like a real smoothie now.

    You can definitely always add ice or freeze your fruit. I actually froze a banana for the first time yesterday and I liked how cold it made it, but it did intensify the banana flavor.

    If you don't like the texture, you're not going to want to eat it often. I am sure we can figure this out. :)

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  5. lol! Yeah. My husband ended up giving his to Melanie. :o) It was that it was just a sort of chunky strange texture. My husband thought it was the texture of applesauce. That is probably a good description. I like the taste of banana, so maybe I will need to try the frozen banana and a little ice. I will try blending it longer tomorrow too. I used the same ingredients you have listed.

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  6. I really think this is from not blending it long enough. A frozen banana will not fix the problem, but it will keep it cold as blending it a while can heat it up. (Sometimes my smoothies get pretty warm and I have to stick them in the freezer for a while.)

    If it's still not smooth after blending it for a while your blender may not be powerful enough. But, like I said, I really think you just need to blend it longer. (I start cleaning up and putting things away while it's blending. It blends for a straight minute or two.)

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