Beauty and Health Tips

A couple of days ago I wrote about benefits of juicing and recommended a great juicer recipe for green cocktail. Today I’m going to write about green smoothies, i.e. smoothies made from fresh, raw fruits and greens. They are great for your improving your health, and losing weight fast. 

The need for more greens

Did you know that our ancient ancestors ate up to six pounds of leaves per day? They spent their days wandering from one place to another, picking and eating leaves as they went. Now, we all know that greens and veggies are good for us, but how many of you could eat such amount of greens each and every day?

And yet on the nutrition front, dark leafy greens, are, calorie for calorie, perhaps the most concentrated source of nutrition available. Not to bore you with statistics, just to remind you, that these veggies deliver a bonanza of vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, small amounts of Omega-3 fats, and of course fiber. The darker the leaves, the more nutrients the vegetable usually has.

So, we all know we need to eat a LOT MORE greens, but – it takes a REALLY LONG time to actually chew all this stuff… And good chewing is really important too…but, wherever there is a problem, there is also a solution…

Green smoothies

You can call them green smoothies, drinkable salads or salad straight from your blender. It’s MUCH faster to drink the same amount of greens that it would take to properly chew it. I’m assuming, that unlike a cow that spends whole day chewing grass on a green meadow (I know, most modern cows don’t do THAT any more, which is actually quite depressing to think about), you don’t have all day, because you have THINGS to do in your life. Like reading this blog, ha, ha.)

So that’s what I do with my salads when I’m pressed for time, and I suggest you try them too. Smoothies only take about a minute to prepare, and a minute or two to drink.

Some combinations you may want to try:

• Spinach, bananas, strawberries
• Spinach, apples, bananas, celery, some lemon or lime juice
• Spinach, bananas, mango
• Lettuce, bananas
• Lettuce, cucumber, bananas
• Lettuce, celery, blueberries

Add some water or ice cubes and blend. Experiment and have fun with various kinds of greens and fruits. Make sure fruits you add are really RIPE, especially bananas, as they are added for sweetness. This is what beautifully ripe bananas look like:

Greens to add to your smoothies: lettuce, spinach, arugula, dandelion, kale, etc., etc. Young, tender greens are best. Iceberg lettuce can be used too.

I used to do a lot of juicing in the past and I still try to do it - I made a commitment to do it at least 2-3 times a week (here is a page where you will find some great juicing recipes, including V8 raw juice recipe and one of my favourite juicer recipes for mango papaya juice).

But let’s face it – juicing is quite time consuming and really messy. My problem is over since I started making green smoothies. Making smoothies is a super easy way to eat lots of greens, and a great alternative to juicing. It makes following a healthy diet so much easier (like the one I wrote about in my post about my magic formula to How to Get Rid of Cellulite ).

It is much faster, less messy, and you also get fiber in addition to juice. These smoothies are really great for getting rid of cravings for sweets and unhealthy foods, so if you are trying to lose 5, 10, or 20 pounds, these are great for losing weight fast. (To read more tips about fastest way to lose weight with diet and healthy lifestyle, visit page http://www.fastestwaytoloseweightfat.com/). If you have acne, healthy diet may also help you improve any skin problems that you may have, such as acne (see also acne removal treatment).

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