Green Smoothies

USD Inflation Swap

Just wondering if putting spinach and kale in smoothies gives you as much nutritional value as eating it in whole form.

Lukker-

You'd lose some of the fibre but generally greens are good to juice. Veg and smoothies are good, fruit smoothies lose a lot of nutrition in smoothies and usually contain a high amount of sugar because there is a good few portions of fruit in them.

raspberrypie

Sorry OP, I don't know anything about nutrition but I have a question of my own.

We bought a powder mix from the States it has a bucket load of stuff in it which I'll outline below. My question is, all these ingredients seem good to us but then we know zero about nutrition, maybe someone who does know can answer. Thanks.

Ingredients:

Organic Alfalfa Grass
Oat Fiber
Wheat Grass
Organic Barley Grass Juice
Barley Grass
Alfalfa Grass Juice
Rice Bran Solubles
Spirulina
Chlorella
Calcified Red Marine Algae
Various Kelp Spices
Calcium Ascorbate
Vitamin A Acetate
Strawberry
Cranberry
Blueberry
Blackberry
Bilberry
Cherry
Apricot
Papaya
Orange
Grape
Pineapple
Grape Seed Extract
Beet
Parsley
Kale
Spinach
Tomato
Brussels Sprout
Asparagus
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Carrot
Cabbage
Celery Seed
Garlic
Ginger
Amaranth
Quinoa
Millet
Buckwheat
Garbanzo
Kidney Bean
Lentil
Adzuki Bean
Flax
Sunflower
Pumpkin Seed
Chia Seed
Licorice Extract
Organic Stevia
10 different types of proiotics

Sorry the list is long but these are the ingredients. We add filtered water to one scoop of powder. It's green, as expected I guess. Smells slightly like licorice. Tastes sweet, that's probably the stevia. Wish it didn't taste so sweet and had a more natural taste.

rustyzip

Kale can be detrimental for some people if you eat a lot of it raw. Google kale, smoothies & oxalic acid.
Much better absorbed lightly steamed and refrigerated/frozen.

Chancer3001

rustyzip wrote: »

Kale can be detrimental for some people if you eat a lot of it raw. Google kale, smoothies & oxalic acid.
Much better absorbed lightly steamed and refrigerated/frozen.

Bollox.

Read this

http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/green-smoothies/why-green-smoothies-will-not-devastate-your-health/

Kale is awesome. Horse it into you

_Whimsical_

Chancer3001 wrote: »

Bollox.

Read this

http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/green-smoothies/why-green-smoothies-will-not-devastate-your-health/

Kale is awesome. Horse it into you

I think it depends on the person as it says in your article. If you've ever had kidney stones I'd stay away from raw kale. If you don't know if you've any sensitivity I'd say start slowly enough with it until you see how you tolerate it.

I think I'm going to start steaming first and freezing anyway as I know someone who had a horrible brush with food poisoning that her and her dr felt came from a raw veg diet, most of which was smoothied. She ended up hospitalised and only fully saw the back of some serious effects of the bug after 4 months. It was really nasty. She was told never to eat totally raw stuff anymore without blanching at least and that've seen more cases of it as more people have been eating raw and that leaves are often the culprits as they always get an individual wash or peel. I've noticed a bit of dirt on kale & spinnach leaves in those tesco bags of it lately, it's making me squeamish now!


Does anyone steam/blanche spinnach or kale and freeze it? Do you have any tips ?

rustyzip

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I think it depends on the person as it says in your article. If you've ever had kidney stones I'd stay away from raw kale. If you don't know if you've any sensitivity I'd say start slowly enough with it until you see how you tolerate it.

I think I'm going to start steaming first and freezing anyway as I know someone who had a horrible brush with food poisoning that her and her dr felt came from a raw veg diet, most of which was smoothied. She ended up hospitalised and only fully saw the back of some serious effects of the bug after 4 months. It was really nasty. She was told never to eat totally raw stuff anymore without blanching at least and that've seen more cases of it as more people have been eating raw and that leaves are often the culprits as they always get an individual wash or peel. I've noticed a bit of dirt on kale & spinnach leaves in those tesco bags of it lately, it's making me squeamish now!


Does anyone steam/blanche spinnach or kale and freeze it? Do you have any tips ?

I wash the kale, throw it in my blender (a blend tec so high speed) with a good splash of boiling water. Put it on high for a minute so it'cooks; sort of and then freeze it in large ice cubes or silicon molds.. so handy as takes up less space and is washed and will cool down the smoothie/juice i make in the future and make it a bit creamier as it's frozen.

niallb

I used to blanch the Kale when I started juicing it, but haven't done for the last few months. I like the taste of it, and have had no ill effects.
I also use a few cubes of frozen spinach when it's out of season.
I add them in the blender after juicing everything else.
I don't think my juicer would thank me.

My usual morning juice (feeds 2+)

2 carrots
2 sticks celery
2 handfuls of fresh spinach
Half a small head of Broccoli
3-4 large leaves of fresh Kale (optionally blanched)
One peeled lemon
One inch of ginger
One green apple

Optionally I add a spoon of spirulina and some matcha green tea powder.
Part of every juicing recipe should be "then dismantle and wash your juicer immediately". It's easy when it's wet!

My current juicer is a Sage BJE410UK, and it's holding up well.
My last one was similar, and bit the dust by me cracking the top dome dropping it. The blade had survived two years of daily juicing without any trouble.

niallb

Another one I'd add to the mix if I had some around in the morning is Bok Choy.
It juices really well and has a significant amount of protein compared to many other veg.

dastardly00

Anyone else have anymore nice green smoothie (not juices ) recipes? Or links? I'd like to increase my vegetable (and fibre) intake