Are green smoothies really worth it?

[AutumnAir]

I've just started on green smoothies - got a blender and have whizzed up a bunch of stuff every day for the last 5 days. (My blender's only about 400V so not terribly powerful, so I do get lumpies rather than smoothies, but I'll deal with that. I can't afford a better blender right now.)

But my question is:
My average smoothie looks something like this
60-80g greens (spinach, kale, various lettuce leaves)
300g tinned fruit
1-2 bananas
Couple of handfuls of other fresh or frozen fruit, like berries, mandarins, etc.

So in there I have *maybe* one serving of veggies and maybe 6 or 7 servings of fruit. (Going on 80g per serving of fruit or veggies) That seems like an awful lot of fruit! But then I still have to eat another couple of servings of veggies during the day, but feel totally bad if I eat any more fruit, like as a snack, since I've already had way more than I need to.

Am I doing it wrong? Or missing the point? Help!

[Dandelionkid]

That's a good point. I think I will increase my spinach/fruit ratio in my smoothies. Fruit is still great for us so I really don't mind getting extra fruit as long as it is helping me reach my green veggie goal.

[FairyRae]

I've read a 'formula' for mixing 60% fruit to 40% greens. Maybe try adjusting your ratio of fruit to greens??

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Try adding cucumber to up your veggies. It tastes soooo good with the fruit (I never would have thought!). I freeze it in little coins on a cookie sheet, then put them in a freezer bag. I put maybe 1/2 a cucumber in each smoothie with yogurt, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, spinach, banana, and avocado. Yum!

[avendesora]

i can do a smoothie with a half a banana, ~2/3 c. of acidic fruit (pineapple chunks or oj), and then half a bunch of kale. That's a pretty good ratio.

The more you do smoothies, the more your tastebuds will adjust and you won't need all the fruit.

Aven

[dfunk98]

are you drinking these smoothies w/ food, or in place of? i find that it's just not enough for me in the a.m.-when i make my smoothies. i really need some "solid" food in me, as well, or my stomach just doesn't feel right.

also, i've been reading some smoothie recipes that have a large quantity of ingredients-not alot of different things just a large amount of them, kwim? anyway, for me, i try to only go food shopping 1x/week and buying that much would send my grocery bill through the roof. i just bought a bunch of frozen fruit and spinach from trader joe's, but i wonder if my smoothies are nutritious enough. i guess maybe i'm overthinking it. today's smoothie has 1 banana, spinach, strawberries and pineapple and some water. it filled a 12 oz. glass for me and 2/3 full of a 10 oz. cup for each of my 2 kiddos. i'm still having a hard time getting ds (21 mos.) to drink it and he's the one who needs it the most. any suggestions?
thanks for listening to my rambling!!

[laohaire]

I don't know how many "grams" of greens I put in, I just put in the whole bunch. Which is a LOT of greens. I add a banana and I used to add maybe 3 strawberries but I don't bother anymore. It tastes like banana, not greens. Because of all the fiber it's VERY filling so it can be hard to get used to eating, but no doubt there's a ton of greens and not an extraordinary amount of fruit when I do them.

[tbone_kneegrabber]

we usually do a bunch of fruit, some greens, some liquid (occasionaly juice if we have it in the house, or "milk" or yogurt). once in awhile pea protein powder.

But I don't drink it because I *need* more veggies, I get lots of veggies, I just drink them because they are good and ds LOVES them so they make him happy

[lil_earthmomma]

I love green smoothies.

Mine have three or four BIG handfulls of greens. Like, the whole blender full. Then I pour in some milk and yogurt and blend. Then for flavor I add frozen fruit, either a handful of mixed berries, or some mango, etc. And sometimes a banana.

I don't limit fruit or veggies in my diet though. :

[KnockedUpButtercup]

I do a banana, a cup and a half of frozen fruit (currently I'm loving this giant bag of mango/strawberry/pineapple from Super Target), and two big handfuls of spinach. Plus about a cup of water, to blend.

I also like banana/frozen blueberry/spinach, but it's not as pretty, lol.

[Snowflower]

Ya, I think it's worth it. My understanding is that part of the reason blending the greens is so good is to make them more bio-available. Also an easy way to get in an avocado, spiralina(sp), wheatgrass, flax, blue green algae, sea veggies, ect......

[CrunchyChristianMama]

Originally Posted by dfunk98

i'm still having a hard time getting ds (21 mos.) to drink it and he's the one who needs it the most. any suggestions?

Have you tried letting him drink it through a straw? Straws make everything fun. Especially if they're curly shaped. My 11 mo. DD loves them. I drink through the straw so that it's full. Then I take it out of the smoothie and she sucks it out of the straw. She likes to tilt her head back while she drinks it so I can't seem to have her suck it straight out of the glass.

[nicolelynn]

I find equal parts fruit and greens work nicely: 1 cup of each. The fruit has to be perfectly ripe though or it's blah. I also add 3 TBLSP of hemp seed to my smoothies and in additional to all the nutrients it adds it also adds creaminess.
Plus just enough water to get the right consistency.

My favorite fruit combos are blueberry-banana, strawberry-peach, pineapple-papaya and kiwi-green grape. Oh yeah, and I second drinking it with a straw..makes it that much more enjoyable and easy to consume.

Oh, and mine is my mid-am snack. I never feel satisfied drinking breakfast no matter how many calories, protein, fiber etc are in it. I have to "eat" breakfast haha. But it works for me cuz I need to put on weight.

[weliveintheforest]

I think with that much fruit it's not great. A whole banana is actually a lot of sugar, which I never really thought about until fairly recently. I used to eat a lot of smoothies with bananas and other fruit, but now when I make them I try to make it mostly raw milk, greens, avacado and a half a banana per person (max) with a handful of berries for colour if I have them. I also add some coconut oil and aloe juice if it's handy.

If your two year old won't eat it, try making a popsicle with it, my kids love that.

[WuWei]

I add two cups of greens, heaping cup of frozen fruit and some mineral water to blend ~4 cups. Thick and yummy.


Pat

[AlwaysByMySide]

I don't know how many grams of spinach go into mine...I use a Magic Bullet, fill the entire thing with spinach (relatively tightly packed - at least two handfuls), add some yogurt and/or tofu, and THEN throw in the fruits. I generally only use about 1/2 cup of fruit, sometimes some OJ if we have it, or actual pieces of orange or grapefruit or other citrus, but that's making one at a time.

My big concern with the OP's recipe is that tinned fruit generally is in heavy syrup or some other kind of sugary liquid. That's a LOT of sugar.

I would up the greens. I can't taste spinach at all when it's mixed in with any fruit, particularly with bananas.

[carnelian]

I make a juice base first of celery, carrot, cucumber, ginger, beet and apple. Then I blend that with a good handful of kale, some ice and occasionally half a banana

[La Sombra]

You ask if you're missing the point and in a way, I kind of think, yes! My particular belief is that if you are eating fresh, healthy foods and you are ENJOYING it that you shouldn't worry so much about the exact portions of fruits vs. vegetables! In other words, I trust our own instincts and sense of balance than I trust whatever science claims to tell you the exact portions of fruits versus vegetables (and how are they making that distinction, anyway?) you need to be eating.

I have been very inspired by people like Michael Pollan, Marian Nestle, Alice Waters and others, though, who urge a common-sensical and PLEASUREful diet!

(I, too, though, would substitute the canned fruit [which is cooked, processed and loaded with refined sugars] for something fresh or frozen!)

[CrunchyMamaToBe]

Well, they are worth it to me to keep the spinach under control!

I don't worry about how much fruit goes in them - just a big handful of spinach with whatever fresh or frozen fruit we have, plus juice and/or water. I would say 1/3 to 1/2 of my green smoothies are greens and we usually use a banana to make them creamier. This morning we used an avocado and that was really good, too. And apples thicken up smoothies more than you would think.

And we don't use them as "meal replacement." We have them *with* breakfast or sometimes with lunch.