The “Green” in Green Smoothies

Admittedly the dark green color of many of the Green Smoothie recipes I make can be unappetizing to many people. Some think they can leave out the green and still get the same energizing benefits, but that is just not true.

Throughout history civilizations have known the importance of vegetables. Vegetables have always been part of a meal, and fruits were only used as a snack or dessert. Our ancestors harvested the most useful plants and sowed thier seeds throughout our land. Most of the fruits and vegetables we now eat were introduced into the diet in the 16th century.
Green vegetables provide many essential minerals that are not found in fruit, including calcium, magnesium and selenium. Most fruits we eat today are very low in calcium. Thats why you see things like “Fortified” fruit jucies, by themselves, they just dont have enough nutrients. Similar to my discussion of supplements and vitamins compared to smoothies, these “Fortified” food products do not allow your body to absorb the vitamins and minerals as well as the natural source.

Green vegetables are among the most important foods for our health. They almost all have high levels of two important phytochemicals: carotenoids and chlorophyll. These two vital antioxidants are know to protect against coronary disease and protect against tumors. The green color in vegetables comes from chlorophyll, the darker the vegetable, the more chlorophyll. Many of my smoothie recipes contain a nice dark green spinach.

Not all vegetables are created equal though. We have all seen sad looking vegetables in the store. And they don’t only look bad, they do not contain the same nutrients as a healthy looking vegetable. Factors such as amount of sunlight, soil properties, types of fertilizers and pesticides used all impact the amount of nutrients in a vegetable.

Green leaf vegetables are a tremendous source of folates and folic acid (B vitamin) that is essential for cell growth and reproduction . These green leafy vegetables also have a large amount of vitamin C. Most people think of fruits for Vitamin C, but its extremely high in veggies such as spinach, broccoli and parsley.

Preperation of vegetables also has a huge impact on the amount of nutrients that make it into your body. The less vegetables are processed the better

The intake of all of these is essential for human health. Green foods should be cut as little as possible before washing and cooking them to preserve these essential minerals. Just cutting up veggies and exposing them to air allows some of the antioxidants to oxidize. The best method for getting the most out of your smoothie is to go right from washing your veggies to the blender. While we don’t want the foods over processed before we eat them, most people don’t chew traditional presentations of vegetables enough to release the proper amount into our body. Blending the vegetables allows the nutrients and antioxidants to be easily absorbed into our bodies.

So don’t leave out the Green Vegetables just because it doesn’t look appetizing. There are many great recipes that may not look attractive, but taste great and are great for you.

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