Make Easy Green Drinks that Taste Great

Alkaline Green Nutrition that Your Family will Enjoy

Sep 3, 2009 Mary Earhart

Who needs costly, gritty or awful-tasting green drinks? Fresh greens are the best source of vitamins, enzymes, minerals, anti-oxidants and the alkalizing, anti-inflammatory, cholesterol lowering, ulcer-healing, cancer-fighting properties we associate with green foods. All you need is a good blender and/or a juicer to make your own miracle green drinks.

Nutrition

Most people do not get enough greens in their diet. Our relatives, the chimpanzees, munch on greens constantly and also have higher amounts of digestive acids that humans have probably lost due to modern reliance on processed food. Fortunately, larger helpings of greens can be taken with the help of machines such as blenders and juicers, which also break up plant fibers and make them more digestable.

According to an article in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (Jan. 4, 1995), the chlorophyll found in green leafy vegetables binds with and changes three cancer causing substances found in meats and mold and renders them harmless to the body.

Green leafy vegetables contain eight essential amino acids. Yes, greens contain protein! To up the protein content of your green drinks, add sprouts. Sunflower sprouts taste great and are easy to grow or obtain in most groceries.

Blender Drinks

If the taste of greens is unpalatable to you, consider disguising them in a smoothie. Children love the beautiful light green color and they never taste the spinach!

You will need:

• A powerful motor is needed to completely blend greens. If your blender only tears the leaves into small pieces, you may need a better appliance.
• Four frozen bananas
• Four cups of water
• Two large handfuls of spinach, washed and trimmed
• One teaspoon vanilla
• Stevia or maple syrup to taste

1. Blend all ingredients at high speed.

If you don’t have frozen bananas, use regular bananas and add ice cubes. Experiment with other ingredients, such as carob powder for a chocolate flavor, chopped frozen fruits, cinnamon, or use orange juice or non-dairy milk (almond or coconut milk work well) instead of water. Try using dates instead of other sweeteners.

Don’t be afraid to add Probiotics, too. A tablespoon of flax seed or chia seed, or flax oil, will add Omega-3 essential fatty acids. Smoothies are great for additional hidden nutrition! Try using one handful of kale or romaine or green or red leaf lettuce, or sunflower sprouts instead of spinach. Add more greens if you like the taste.

Green Juice

If your family likes commercial vegetable juice, they’ll love this fresh version! Add sunflower sprouts or substitute them for some of the greens if you wish.

To make three glasses you will need:

• A twin gear juicer works best for greens, but a single gear will do.
• one stalk of celery
• one bunch of parsley
• one bunch of spinach, or a head of romaine or green leaf or red leaf lettuce
• four medium tomatoes
• one large cucumber
• one red bell pepper

Follow these steps:

1. Wash and trim all ingredients.
2. Put all ingredients through a juicer.
3. Mix juice all together in a large pitcher.

Green juice should be ingested right away to take advantage of peak nutrition, but if it has to be kept for later, exposure to light and air should be minimized. Refrigerated in a dark bottle that is filled to the top and capped with a tight fitting lid, green juice will keep for one day.

Adding more tomato, a tiny bit of beet, and carrots will make the juice taste more like commercial vegetable juice. Some like the taste of apple, which makes it sweeter. Celery contains natural sodium, but if added salt is desired try stirring in dulse seaweed flakes for added minerals.

Parsley has properties similar to those found in wheatgrass, and should be used in small amounts at first to avoid stomach upset. The good news about greens, besides the wonderful energy-boost you will get from ingesting more of them, is that a green habit is easy to form. Taste buds change as they get used to more raw food, and the body begins to crave fresh greens. Soon, the sight of a salad will make your mouth water!