A Heavenly, Healthy Drink
Smoothies are a beloved drink of many people. Due to their vivid colors and superb sweetness, smoothies are often thought of as a drink designated to quench a person’s desire for a treat, as opposed to a drink designated to benefit a person’s health and wellness.
When people think of the smoothie colors orange, yellow, pink, and purple, they start to salivate at the thought of the sweetness of the fruit flavors of mango, pineapple, strawberry, and wild berry. As for the color green, people have the propensity to think of dull-tasting broccoli, spinach, and kale; therefore, they do not even want to associate the undesirable color of green with their delicious smoothies. However, most people are not privy to the fact that green smoothies are both a heavenly and a healthy drink.
The benefits of a green smoothie include, but are not limited to:
Weight Loss
Almost everyone who includes green smoothies in their diet reports weight loss. Green smoothies promote weight loss in three ways: lowering a person’s daily calorie intake by replacing a meal, increasing a person’s consumption of fruits, vegetables, and fiber; and changing a person’s cravings from unhealthy foods to healthy foods.
Boosted Energy
A glass of a green smoothie in the morning is a superior boost of energy than a cup of coffee because it is all-natural. People who have started their day with a green smoothie have reported significant boosts of energy. A sufferer from chronic fatigue syndrome even reported being healed by a green smoothie diet.
Nutrition Supplement
Green smoothies are an excellent source of vitamins A (in the form of beta-carotene), B (all except B12), C, K, E, and folate. Some recipes can provide as much as one-hundred percept of a person’s daily vitamin intake.
Green smoothies are also an excellent source of the minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, potassium, and copper. There is no need for a person to spend money on multiple different vitamins and minerals at the health food store or fervently read each nutrition label of every food he/she intake. Green smoothies provide all of the necessary vitamins and minerals.
Stronger Immunity
Green smoothies render a meal of fruits and vegetables in one intake. They also render a large dose of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. With these nutritional benefits, green smoothies arm a person’s body to fight against diseases and infections. The best immune-boosters to include in a green smoothie is citrus fruits, cranberries, and ginger.
Mental Clarity
Consumption of healthier food naturally increases a person’s mental acuity. On the contrary, unhealthy foods tend make a person feel like he/she is in a mental fog. Green smoothies’ delivery of fruits, vegetables, and nutrients definitely contribute to a person being able to think clearly and focus better. Green smoothies also possess an anti-inflammatory property, so it reduces inflammation in the brain and body, making a person more productive.
A Beauty Benefit
A plant-based diet, which is provided by green smoothies, lowers high cholesterol. A person, who was diagnosed with high cholesterol at twenty-three years old, dropped his/her cholesterol by forty-five points by the time he/she was thirty years-old. His/her LDL, which is the bad cholesterol, fell within the normal range.
Fruits and vegetables, which are provided by green smoothies, have been show to naturally lower high blood pressure. In general, green smoothies have been shown to reduce the risks of cardiovascular disease.
Helps Reduce High Cholesterol and High Blood Pressure
Juicing or drinking fruit juice does not render all of the digestive benefits of a green smoothie. The reason behind that fact is green smoothies provide fiber and nutrition, which is only provided by consuming the entire fruit and vegetable. Juicing or drinking fruit juice does not render the entire fruit and vegetable; therefore, they do not provide fiber and nutrition, which are essential for colon health, superior digestion, and strong immunity.
Improves Digestive Health
Juicing or drinking fruit juice does not render all of the digestive benefits of a green smoothie. The reason behind that fact is green smoothies provide fiber and nutrition, which is only provided by consuming the entire fruit and vegetable. Juicing or drinking fruit juice does not render the entire fruit and vegetable; therefore, they do not provide fiber and nutrition, which are essential for colon health, superior digestion, and strong immunity.
Helps with Seasonal Allergies
Many people favor the seasons fall and spring because of the mild weather. However, many people also dread them because their seasonal allergies leave them feeling sick, with no cure to turn to. Many people reported their seasonal allergies lessening in severity after including green smoothies in their diet.
Green smoothies have desirable benefits for everyone. However, in order to reap these benefits, a person must know how to make a green smoothie. Green smoothie recipes are not one-size- fits-all. There are a plethora of delightful green smoothie recipes to satisfy a variety of different taste buds.
Here is one recipe that makes the epitome of all green smoothies from 100daysofrealfood.com:
You will need:
- Spinach ( Two Cups)
- Water ( Two Cups)
- Mango (Quantity: One)
- Pineapple (Quantity: One)
- Bananas (Quantity: Two, at least one frozen)
Steps:
1. Measure two cups of spinach into a dry measuring cup. Throw into the blender when measured.
2. Pour two cups of water into the blender. Start blending. Blend until all of the spinach chunks no longer exist.
3. Throw one mango, one pineapple, and two bananas (at least one frozen) into the blender. Blend the mixture until you get a smooth consistency.
4. Pour into a cup, mug, or mason jar of your desire.
5. Sip that heavenly, healthy green smoothie, reaping all of the benefits of a green smoothie.
All frozen fruit can be used, if the person desires to add chill to the smoothie. If the person attempting this recipe is allergic to any of the fruits that are used, he/she is free to substitute any of the fruits with another fruit. He/she should still keep the one-to- one ratio in mind. Again, a person can feel free to take liberty and tweak this recipe because green smoothies are not one- size-fits- all.
Conclusion
Green smoothies’ benefits go beyond the nutritional. The prime is example of this is it eliminates a common battle between parents and children. Parents always tell their children to eat their greens; however, with the modern innovation of the blender, parents can now tell their children to drink their greens in the form of a sweet, delightful smoothie. This will be a battle parents and children no longer have to fight.
Green smoothies are also convenient for people who are always on-the- go in today’s busy society. All a person has to do is blend it, pour it in a cup with a lid on it, and head out to work or his/her agenda for the day. Years ago, no one would have predicted that a beverage would be a symbol of human progress.
A common misconception regarding food is that healthy foods cannot taste heavenly. While this may have been true before the invention of the blender and may still be true in some circumstances, it is definitely a misconception when it comes to green smoothies. Green smoothies are sweet and savory way for a person to receive all of their nutrition in one dose. The color green in the food world should no longer be associated with dull-tasting broccoli, spinach, kale, etc.; it should be associated with the heavenly green smoothie.
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