Sunday, April 29, 2012

Tip #18: Drink green smoothies

About five years ago I discovered green smoothies after reading about liquid salads in Dr. Fuhrman's books. I then found a wonderful website that was just starting out, Green Smoothie Girl,which had lots of information about those mysterious green drinks. I had just bought my Vitamix and I was going to use it, so they looked pretty good. The lady who runs the site, Robyn Openshaw, eventually wrote a book about it, The Green Smoothies Diet. I recommend it for anyone interested in this. Here you can also find information about why she is so in love with GreenSmoothies.

Lately, I have been having green smoothies for breakfast almost every day. I make a whole container of Vitamix (about 8 or 9 cups) and it lasts me for 2 days. Here's what I put in them:

- 3 cups of water
- I put enough greens until I get to the 6 cup line in the Vitamix. I use kale, collards, spinach, romaine lettuce etc. I mix them or use only one, each day is different.
- About one inch of ginger, peeled.
- Half a lemon (whole, with skin and all, organic). I have read that the peel of lemons (or oranges) has anti-cancer properties.
- I usually add also a sweet potato, a beet (with its greens), or 2 or 3 carrots, but some days I just add more greens if I don't have those things on hand.
The green smoothie becomes a lovely red when you add a beet.
- A cup or so of frozen mango (depending on how much room I have left in the Viatmix. Be warned, one time I put too much and it exploded! Unreal. The Viatmix people were very nice and sent me another glass).
- I tablespoon of amla gooseberry powder. This is a recent addition to my smoothies, but I was convinced that I needed to be eating some amla after reading Dr. Greger's post Amla: Indian gooseberries vs. cancer, diabetes, and cholesterol
- A bit stevia to sweeten it.

I drink 4 cups of this almost every day (at least 6 days a week). I like to have two cups for breakfast, some of it mixed with my flax seeds, and the other two cups for an afternoon snack.

As you can see, I use very little fruit. In general, I try to be careful with any sugar, even fruit or carrots or beets. It is part of the protocol I follow to make my terrain (body) as inhospitable to cancer as possible. So, depending on the greens, sometimes the smoothie tastes kind of not great, let me put it that way, although most days it is quite enjoyable (or I'm getting used to it). I do feel much better when I drink it, though. I have more energy, more mental clarity and I know I'm getting lots of nutrients and fiber in a relatively easy way.

Here's another smoothie recipe for you, Dr. Fuhrman's Green Longevity Drink.

Do you make green smoothies? Let me know!