The Thing About Green Smoothies

There have been a few articles around the health traps lately about how The Green Smoothie might not be so good for you, there are references to TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) which suggests they can be dampening on the system and Ayurveda which says it is not good for certain dosha types. Everyone is different, so you may be perfectly fine chugging back the green goodness every day, and carry on if you are, but if you think that it isn't quite working for your constitution then read on!

I know it makes it really confusing when you’ve been told that The Green Smoothie is the hottest thing in health and everyone should be doing it, only to be told, well maybe it’s not so great after all. The last thing I'd want is for that to put you off and back onto less healthy options to start your day!  Having adapted and adjusted my smoothie routine over 20 years, I’d like to give you my take on this from a more practical perspective.

Let me explain what happens when you drink one.

First and foremost , fruit is really designed to be eaten on it’s own. Blending it with green plants which are high in cellulose and slower to digest means the fruit will sit around in your stomach fermenting rather than in your guts, helping feed the good bugs down there and releasing all their valuable nutrients. It’s also the best way for the simple sugars in fruits to be absorbed.  Indigestion is often caused by the inclusion of fruit with a meal. It means you’ll get an uncomfortably full feeling for some hours, and whilst some people think this would be a benefit, it’s really not, you need the fruit out of the stomach, it’s designed to be a ‘quick exit’ food, meaning it leaves the stomach and does it’s work in the gut and then leaves, so don’t hold it up is the rule. Blending breaks down the cellulose in greens to a point (especially if you have a high speed blender)  but it still takes a bit longer than the fruit to digest.

Secondly, assuming you have the requisite blend of frozen berries, bananas and some green leaves, depending on your constitution you’re taking in a very cold meal first thing in the day, which can be quite taxing on the digestive system as you’re needing a fair bit of energy to warm that up.

I thaw anything I plan on using the night before and I will add a little warm water as well, I drink my smoothie at room temperature or just a little cooler and I add warming things like turmeric and ginger to the juice I use as a base (more on that shortly!).

Wait, I hear you say, what about the greens then?

Juice them!!! Green juice is the most potent superfood combo imaginable!  I would juice the equivalent of two large salad bowls of greens in one go. I would never sit down and eat that and I would struggle all day to digest it if I did. We want the concentrated goodness out of the greens but all that cellulose is going to tax our tummies. By juicing, we release all the precious chlorophyll and other goodness that is really going to nourish our blood, alkalanise our bodies and enrich us with loads of concentrated vitamins and minerals. Chlorophyll has an identical chemical make up to human blood, it just has magnesium in the centre instead of iron, so it’s just brilliantly assimilated the minute we drink it, through the porous mucosal tissue in our mouths and then through every cell in our bodies as we gulp it down. Because it’s liquid it gets straight to work, no fibre holding it up. Work your tastebuds up to having no fruit at all in your juice, start with an apple and reduce it down. Add a squeeze of lemon at the very end after you’ve removed all the pulp (if you plan to put it in your compost or feed the chooks, you don’t want citrus in your pulp) Lemon juice helps you absorb all the nutrients.

Don’t have a juicer? Don't stress! Check out my easy peasy juicing method with a blender and juicing bag on this post here: http://rawambitiongoddess.blogspot.com.au/2013/12/0-0-1-517-2953-noodle-creative.html 

Hang on, did you just make fibre sound bad?

Fibre is great and you  should still eat salads , but here, I’m talking about getting a  large amount of nutrition into your system really fast, more than you could comfortably eat. I promise you, if you give yourself a green juice first thing each day, you will be bouncing off the walls with energy!

Can I add green juice to my smoothie if I don’t like the taste?

Yes! because you’ve removed the cellulose, you won’t slow down the fruit’s digestion, so you can still have a ‘green’ smoothie by using the green juice as your liquid and adding in your room temperature fruit. Also great to add in some Udo’s oil or Hemp oil, a little fat helps you absorb some of the fat soluble nutrients.  Blend away!

What else can I add?

Whatever feels right for your body! So if you want to use a raw protein powder or some super foods like spirulina, go right ahead, just vary to dosage according to what feels good. 

***A little note: EVERYONE is different, I know people who can take it icy cold and have no issues, who blend anything and everything and rock on, these notes are to help explain how certain foods work, some people with more sensitive constitutions will really benefit from evaluating what they're doing, don't just blithely follow the leader if you don't feel fantastic!