You can’t have a green smoothie cleanse without greens!
What makes a green smoothie green? Having greens in it of course! In my opinion, the difference between a fruit smoothie and a green smoothie is that in a green smoothie, the majority of the smoothie is green vegetables. I would go so far as to say 2/3 should be green. That means, for example that you could mix up 3 cups of green veggies and 1 1/2 cups of fruit and that makes your smoothie green.
If you do want the full kit and caboodle of information, then how about being a Super Green Clean Participant in this smoothie cleanse.
And here are SOME of the Green Goodness Greens and the awesome things they do for us.
- Kale: Abundant in calcium, lutein, iron, and Vitamins A, C, and K, has seven times the beta-carotene of broccoli and ten times more lutein and tons of much needed fibre. The naturally rich sulfur content of kale helps boost the body’s detoxification enzymes helping to clear carcinogenic substances.
- Collard Greens: They offer an excellent source of vitamins B6 and C, carotenes, and manganese. An excellent source of vitamin A, mostly in the form of beta-carotene, which has been shown to help protect against cancer, heart disease, cataracts, and other diseases of aging through its antioxidant properties. Vitamin A also helps keep the immune system strong.
- Romaine Lettuce: Beta-carotene is the chief disease-fighting nutrient found in the darker-colored greens. A dark-green color also indicates the presence of folic acid, which helps prevent neural-tube birth defects in the beginning stages of pregnancy. Most salad greens are also notable sources of vitamin C, potassium, and fiber.
- Zucchini: Helps asthma as it contains Vitamin C, which is a powerful antioxidant, and has anti-inflammatory and anti-histamine properties. The vitamin C also helps to prevent diseases, like scurvy, and bruising. Regular intake of zucchini effectively lowers high homocysteine levels- a risk for cardiovascular disease. Zucchini also prevents the risk of having multiple sclerosis (MS).
- Cucumber: ( fruit by the way) is one of the best natural diuretics helping flush the body. In this way, it is helpful in kidney and urinary bladder disease as well as liver and pancreatic diseases. The potassium content of cucumber makes it highly useful for conditions of high and low blood pressure. Another bonus is the presence oferepsin , an enzyme that helps to digest protein. The high silicon and sulphur content of the cucumber is said to promote the growth of hair, especially when the juice of the cucumber is added to the juice of carrot, lettuce and spinach…. hmmm hair growth smoothie idea?
- Celery: Contains phytochemical compounds known as coumarins that have shown effective in cancer prevention and are capable of enhancing the activity of certain white blood cells- thus boosting immune response. Coumarin compounds also lower blood pressure, tone the vascular system, and can be effective treating migraines. Due to the high levels of potassium and sodium, celery-based juices are great electrolyte replacement drinks.
- Spinach: The very high calcium content strengthens bones. The A and C vitamins in plus the fiber, folic acid, magnesium and other nutrients help control cancer, especially colon, lung and breast cancers. The flavonoids in spinach help protect against age related memory loss.
- Beet Greens: Beet greens, believe it or not contains a larger amount of nutrients than beet roots, and most of us just toss these away. The greens are richer in iron, calcium, and Vitamins A and C. Both the greens and roots are a good source of phosphorus, magnesium, iron, and vitamin B 6.
- Avocado: Protects from cholesterol related heart diseases. It reduces the risk of cardiovascular diseases and is used both in prevention and treatment of prostate and breast cancers. Avocado contains necessary minerals like potassium, calcium, vitamin C and K, folic acid, copper, sodium and dietary fibers. Oleic acid in avocado can be used to lower cholesterol level in the bloods can be used to treat skin disorders and helps people suffering from digestive and circulatory problems
- Parsley: Rich in Vitamin A, several B Vitamins and Vitamin K and contains more Vitamin C than most citrus fruits. It boosts the immune system and can prevent against many infections, colds and other diseases. Parsley can be useful in preventing and easing conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and certain cancers. Parsley contains volatile oils that have been found to inhibit tumor formation and contains antioxidant compounds that help prevent free radical damage to cells.
Photo courtesy of http://www.csa.com
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I need a creative way of getting my Hubby to eat mustard greens, collard greens, and kale. Any suggestions? He is very against even trying them. Hehehe I feel like I have to hide them like you would with a little kid!
Kale pesto might work Katrina, as long as he’s not around when you’re making it.
Katrina- try a smoothie! But seriously, the pesto is a great idea! I’ll post my kale recipe in the next day or so. With kale- sauteeing in a stir fry, chopping up and putting in stews and soups (esepcially if they are pureed- he won’t even know they’re there). I just mix some mustard greens in with salad greens- they are too spicy to disguise. I often mix collards in when I make curried lentils or chickpeas. Adding some lemon to them helps take away the bitterness.
I had to laugh at Katrinas comment because my husband is the same way when it comes to greens and veggies. If he had it his way we would just eat corn, carrots, and peas. lol.
I was surprised to learn that cucumber was a fruit. Never had heard that before.
I know my naturopath gave me a list of foods to consume less of because they can suppress the thyroid. Such as kale, spinach, cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, turnips.
She has suggested that I do go ahead and consume spinach to benefit other health reasons. But I was wondering if you can tell me what would be some great ingredients to use in my green smoothies that would benefit the thyroid?
Mmmm kale smoothies make my mouth water!! I remember the first time I tried mustard greens…. threw a huge handful into a smoothie…. oh my gosh! It burned my eyes! Bad idea!!
Thanks again Meghan for your wonderful information! I always appreciate learning more! I’ve started a list of things that interest me to try, and tomorrow I’m going to venture out to see what I can find.
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Cococnutgal- That is very funny about the mustard greens in the smoothie.
Kari- I would venture that the nutritional benefit of cruciferous veggies you mentioned like the cabbage and cauliflower would certainly outweigh any detriment that they might do to your thyroid. It is true that they go have mild goitrogenic effects- mean slow the action of the thyroid but I have two points on this. The first is that steaming them dramatically reduces this effect and the other is the absolute most harmful thing for our thyroid is high glycemic foods- refined flours, and sugars sweets, dried fruits like dates, rice cakes etc. These stress the adrenal glands by spiking blood sugar levels and when the adrenals become fatigued the thyroid shortly follows. Tough for me to explain here but you naturopath should be able to explain it more detail…
As for the thyroid and smoothies. The best thing to put in the smoothie would be spirulina. All sea veggies are great for thyroid as they are rich in iodine. Kelp is one of the best and you can by it as flakes that you can sprinkle on food. Dulse and apples is a good snack (mental note to blog that one) and nori sheets also make a great snack to munch on.