Cressida Elias - Green smoothie joy: Recipes for living, loving, and juicing green

W e are more aware than ever of the reasons why we should eat healthy. And we know that whatever we put into our bodies we are going to get out of them in terms of energy and health benefits. But with our busy lifestyles, it is often very hard to eat good food on the go and most of us tend to pick up fast food, unhealthy snacks, or packaged food to save time. Getting that "five a day" serving of fruit and veggies can prove to be a difficult task! That is where smoothies and juices, prepared fresh in your kitchen, can help solve the problem. I am always amazed and excited at the variations of fruit and veggies you can put into a blender or juicer to create a delicious smoothie that is easy to drink. For example, just adding two large handfuls of spinach into a juicer or blender will add some bright green and a lot of nutrition to your smoothie! But if you took the same amount and added it to a salad insteadwell, you would probably find it hard to munch through it all in one sitting! Some people add extra ingredients such as protein powders or oats to make a satisfying meal out of a smoothie, saving cooking time! Some people just use greens and fruit for a mealtime smoothie and find it perfectly nourishing.

So smoothies are now the new "fast food" and you can even buy blenders with jugs that double as cups so you just blend and go...so what are you waiting for? You many think that drinking several cups of store-bought fruit juice from the supermarket or caf should supply your body with enough vitamins. However, most of these juices have added sugar or sweeteners, or are from concentrate, or have colors and "natural flavors" added, and have all been pasteurized. To explain briefly: Sugar can come in a variety of forms such as cane sugar, white sugar, beet sugar, corn syrup, dextrose, fructose, succanat, sucrose, and so on. Taken in excess, these forms of sugar can lead to problems with increased insulin (a hormone) levels in your body which in turn affects your blood sugar levels. Too much insulin creates insulin resistance, which is associated with obesity, fatigue, high blood pressure, diabetes, and other diseases. Also, excessive ingestion of these sugars will exhaust your pancreas and adrenal function.

Still want your sugary fruit juice? Artificial sweeteners are not recommendednatural sweeteners such as stevia and xylitol, if you must have them, are recommended instead. Obviously, many colors and "natural flavors" in storebought juice are artificial some people are particularly sensitive to themand they are not something you want (or need) to be taking when you are going for extra nutrition! Pasteurization - normal or flash (meaning very fast) kills bacteria and prolongs the life of the juice (important for supermarkets) but this process can also cause a loss of nutrients and important enzymes. Concentrated - this is when a fruit is squeezed, the water taken out of it so it can be transported more easily, then the water added back later. Micronutrients such as antioxidants are thought to be lost in this process. So to really get the most out of your fruits and veggies, and unless you can go to a juice bar and watch them make your juice, you need to make your own and drink it as soon as possible while completely fresh. When a smoothie calls for juice, make your own and then add to the blender.

This does of course mean you need to buy a juicer or get a combined blender and juicerwe'll get to that later. The question has been raised as to whether green smoothie enthusiasts drink too many greens and that this could become toxic to the body. There is no evidence that anyone has become sick from drinking nutrientfilled smoothies, however; everything in moderation. If you consumed only green smoothies every day then your diet would not be balanced and you would be creating other health problems for yourselfbut this is just common sense. A few green smoothie benefits They can help detox and cleanse your body to generally improve your health or help heal conditions such as acne. Smoothies give real energy kicks and make a nice caffeine replacement.

They are fast and easy to make and you can blend and go. You can also make and store them in the fridge for about two to three days. You can pack a smoothie with different fruits and veggies you probably would not eat all in one day. Kids enjoy making them and drinking them, so you can hide some veggies under the taste of their favorite fruits. They are packed with enzymes and vitamins. The essential nutrient in greens (chlorophyll) helps to purify your blood and helps to eliminate bad breath and body odor and is great for anemia.

The antioxidants and phytochemicals present in veggies give you energy for a healthy snack or a meal replacement if you are dieting. Greens are alkaline; this is great for your health as ingesting alkaline food will help balance your acid/alkaline level, which can help prevent or heal many different health problems. I hope you enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed writing it. If you are just starting out and making smoothies for the first time, stick to the recipes and when you feel more confident, start to experiment with different fruit and veggie combinations. Good luck!

S ome people prefer to juice their raw food and others prefer a blended smoothie. They are both nutritious and I will try to explain in brief the benefits of both.

If you put veggies and fruit in a juicer, you will leave the fiber and pulp behind and just get a liquid full of vitamins, enzymes, and lots of micronutrients, including the raw food "x factor" that will definitely give you a buzz. Some people prefer the liquid because the body is able to absorb the nutrients in minutes rather than a couple of hours because there is no fiber or pulp to slow down digestion. If you throw fruit and greens into a blender then you will be getting a more fulfilling drink because the "meat" of the food is still in the drink, but the cell walls have been broken down to a more digestible (liquid) form that you couldn't accomplish on your own unless you chewed for hours! So you will still benefit from all the nutrients that the fruit or vegetable has to offer. However, drink your smoothie slowly as your body still needs time to digest the fiber and drinking them too quickly can cause bloating. Rest assured that once you start sipping a green smoothie, your body will begin absorbing the nutrients immediately. Fiber is important for your body as it helps the elimination of waste, which is vital for cleaning out your colon.

Drinking two or three green smoothies a day will fill you up and supply your body with essential vitamins and minerals. Just having one juice and one smoothie a day can get you incredible resultsincreased health, vitality, and weight loss. Bear in mind that if you come across a smoothie recipe that requires juicemake the juice yourself. That way you can be assured of its freshness. Fruits are considered "cleansing" and veggies are "nourishing," so ideally you'll want to get both fruit and veggies into your smoothies. But sometimes you may just crave a fruity snack or treatnothing wrong with that! Generally, green smoothies are approximately 60 percent fruit and 40 percent vegetables, which makes them taste a lot better than 100 percent vegetable juices because the fruit content makes them a bit sweeter.

Next page