Deliciously Detoxifying Green Drink
Don’t judge… I sometimes have trouble getting in all my veggies.
It’s not that I don’t love ‘em. I actually do.
But between the cleaning and prep, the perishable nature, my family’s differing preferences and getting creative with ‘em so everyone at the table will enjoy them, I sometimes just run out of ideas and energy.
Only about 14% of Americans meet the RDA of 5 servings of fruit and vegetables. Wow… no wonder we have an obesity and diabetes epidemic in our country.
I typically recommend my clients get about 6-9 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruit a day. Oy vey! Sometimes, that just feels like a lot, doesn’t it?
Well, about two years ago, after resisting for many years, I decided to try making a blended green drink. This is different from juice which removes all the fiber. And while vegetable juices have their place, they can be really difficult for blood sugar handling and leave out all that important fiber.
What I’m talking about is taking a bunch of greens into the Vitamix (or any high speed blender) and blending away. To my surprise, it’s DELISH. And to my even greater surprise, my husband LOVES it so much he has taken it upon himself to make it for us. And now, getting in those 6-9 servings of veg has become so much easier… YAY!
There are endless possibilities of what you can put into a green drink. It takes some trial and error to find what suits your tastes, so play around with it until you find one you like. Here is what we’ve landed on for a sure thing. The recipe doesn’t need to be followed exactly. Use what you have on hand. This is a nice balance of sweeter tasting vegetables (romaine and celery) that lighten up the flavor, the dandelion greens are great for the liver, the citrus helps balance and synergize the flavors and the kale gives it a rich green taste.
Delightfully Detoxifying Green Drink
Ingredients (organic whenever possible)
1 bunch of Lacinato kale
5 Romaine Leaves
2 stalks celery
⅓ bunch of flat leaf Italian Parsley
1-2 cups fresh or frozen pineapple (use just enough to make it palatable without being sweet)
5-10 dandelion greens (these are super bitter so start slow)
Juice of one lime
Juice of one lemon
2+ cups water
Put in a high speed blender and process. Taste and adjust as needed. I typically find myself adding in more citrus, water or pineapple.
Note: I recommend eating a meal within 20 minutes of drinking to keep blood sugar steady. If you’re wanting to use this as a meal, I would add some healthy fat (like nut butter) and protein (I use a grass-fed, non-denatured whey protein or I will have a piece of animal protein on the side).