Green Smoothies

    When we went to Idaho a friend introduced us to the Green Smoothie.  Running a lot makes me want to eat healthy.  Anyone else notice this?  We tried these green smoothies and now we're hooked!
    There are so many incredible benefits from drinking greens. In my green smoothies I blend kale, chard and spinach. Kale helps to release toxins from the body and also helps with weight loss! Spinach has tons of healthy protein. And all three have amazing amounts of vitamins, minerals, fiber, ... they are a power house of everything a body needs. By blending the greens it helps to unlock all the nutrients so our bodies can easily digest and make use of all the good stuff. If we were to eat like gorillas (who we share 98% of our genotype with) who chew their food to a pulp, we really wouldn't need to eat much animal protein because we can get plenty from fresh vegetables. Gorillas eat very little animal protein, but are large and the jungle leaders.
     I've been researching lots on nutrition and the more I read the more I realize there is that I really don't know. Nutrition is such a vast and largely debated subject, I think of it as a large cave with so many areas to explore, lots of different paths and caverns, there is still a lot to dig up and so much I might never realize. However... I've been trying to apply what I know so far and I like how I feel. And I have noticed how great I feel when I drink the green smoothie.

    Looks, uh... kind of gross? If the green scares you, add more berries and it will turn more purple. These smoothies are so super super healthy and we CRAVE them! In my green smoothies I fill up the blender with kale, chard and spinach and juice from 1/2 a lime, and some water and blend it up really well. Then I add even more spinach and blend. Then I add half a banana, frozen berries to make it taste good, and ice. Blend it up really well and enjoy! We drink about a quart of it a day.

    The beautiful thing about the green smoothie is you can make it however you like. This is just the way I like mine. If I want it to taste sweeter I add more berries, and as we are getting used to it we add less and less. You can add any or do less of any ingredient you want. Some variations I've done: replace the water with carrot juice or apple juice. We've tried grinding flax seed and adding it, apples, apricot nectar, peaches... I go through a 2.5 pound bag of spinach in about 5-7 days. By drinking 1 quart of green smoothie a day I get 15 servings of fruits and veggies!

Bridger thinks they are YUMMY!

These charts show the nutrition facts for chard, kale and spinach after they have been boiled down. Cooking the greens may cook out some of the nutrients but it will be about the same density as by blending them, so you get an idea.