Green Smoothies!

This delicious green smoothie has

• half a cucumber, peeled
• half a lemon (i squeezed the juice right into the blender)
• handful of dandelion greens
• handful of romaine lettuce
• one banana

 I'll be honest, it may not LOOK delicious, but it is my favorite one so far, and i've been making green smoothies for months. For the past couple of days, i've been going to bed late (im trying to get myself on the night shift schedule), sleeping in late, making myself some coffee when I wake up, and then getting my day started. How do I feel? One word: awful.  Here's the silver lining in my sad story: I've been craving vegetables. So this morning, I woke up and listened to my body. Instead of coffee, I made a green smoothie, and for the first time all week, I feel great. Clear-headed and energized, I am ready to take on the day.

Lets talk about green smoothies! Some obvious, straight forward, simple facts: 

• They are easy to make and easy to clean up.
• They give you a clean, natural jump start to your morning without caffeine! 
• They kick off your metabolism and digestive system and set you up for a great day
• Leafy green vegetables are good for you!
• In order to obtain nutrients from green vegetables, every cell of the green leaf has to be ruptured.
• In order to get these nutrients from merely chewing, you would have to spend several hours a day chewing at the same pieces of greens. 
• When you blend green vegetables, the cells are ruptured and the nutrients made available for you.
• When you add a piece of fruit to the blender with the leafy greens, the green flavor is masked and it tastes like a fruit smoothie. 
• If you have a more acidic body composition (like myself) you should consume 80% greens in your diet
• There ARE greens that have a lower oxalate content than others, so even if you have kidney stones (like I do) you can still drink and enjoy the benefits of green smoothies!

Okay, so now for the scientific stuff:

1. There are two types of omega fatty acids: omega-6's and omega-3's. Omega-3's (the good guys) thin the blood, enable our hearts to beat properly, our eyes to see, and our brains to make decisions faster and more clearly. Omega-6's do the opposite: they slow the metabolism, thicken the blood, and cause inflammation of the tissue. People who eat diets high in Omega-6's experience heart disease, stroke, asthma, diabetes, and tumors. 
2. Over the past decades, our food has become richer in omega-6's and deficient in omega-3's. Cattle used to be fed grass, now they are fed soy and corn. People who eat meat should know that the animal they are eating is not giving them omega-3's but rather omega-6's because of what the animals are being fed. Even fish is fed grain at the fish farm.
3. Good news! Fortunate for us, Omega-3's are abundant in leafy green vegetables. They are found in spinach, romaine, and arugula to name a few. 
4. It is also found in sprouted flaxseed, sprouted chia seeds, and flaxseed oil. Flaxseed oil is the only oil that does not contribute to cancer! That's why it's the only oil allowed for patients at the Gerson Institute in San Diego. (If you haven't seen the movie, it's amazing. People who have been diagnosed with incurable cancer that has spread to all organs of their body come from all over the world and are cured within weeks, by diet alone. Most of the diet is green juices.)

There are so many websites that you can browse to learn more about green smoothies. Basically, they're amazing and the health benefits are many!

  Click here if you want to learn about how this mom cured her son's TYPE I diabetes by juicing greens. They are called "the green family" and have made many books and dvd's. 

Click here if you want to read this gal's story and get some delicious smoothie recipes. 

This website is also a keeper in my opinion.

  Click here if you want to learn about juicing fruit and vegetables. Juicing is different than making a smoothie but I thought I'd throw this in there. (This site is amazing because it has foods best for your body type.)  I have an acidic body type, and others I know have an alkaline body type. This explains why I've never really been drawn to orange juice, peaches and tomatoes (acidic food). These foods also cause indigestion and breakouts for me. If I would listen to my body I could have come to this conclusion on my own, but it took reading scientific evidence for me to believe it and stop eating these foods. 

  

 So there you have it. It's easy, it's healthy, it's common sense. Your body will thank you.