Posts Tagged ‘leafy greens’
Cleansing can be done a variety of ways, and through a variety of systems and programs. Generally cleansing is done by taking a natural laxative and flushing a large portion of the waste stuck in you colon out of your system which then allows for not only better digestion but also the absorption of nutrients you would receive through diet and cleansing agents as well. This delivery system is usually through juice, and it can either be through the process of selecting fresh fruits or vegetables and juicing them through a machine, or buying organic not from concentrate bottled juices and using that as an alternative to the preferred method of juicing.
This form of body detox or colon cleansing can sometimes be too much for certain people to take, and they may need to start out slower and build up to a juice fast or juice cleanse as it were. This alternative method is known as the green smoothie cleanse. A green smoothie cleanse is just as it sounds its mostly a mostly green fruit smoothie because you add greens to it, such as but not limited to, kale, collard greens, spinage, chard, and other dark leafy greens. Leafy greens are different form standard “vegetables” as they are considered to be a “green” or “leaf” and as such can be mixed with virtually any other kind of food. There are no set rules for what fruits and greens you have to use, and that’s one of the green smoothie benefits, you can mix and match what feels and tastes right for you. A green smoothie recipe I generally recommend is one that consists of mostly berries as the base fruit and kale and spinage as the leafy greens. I advise using frozen fruit for a thicker consistency but fresh is always great too, blueberries, blackberries, aronia berries, and cranberries always make a great and healthy base, along with a banana or two for thickness and sweetness, you have a great fruit smoothie base to ad greens to.
The Reason this cleanse works so well is that you are getting the WHOLE food not just a fraction of it like juicing, and you also get lots of fiber often 10-20 grams or more per glass. This fiber does two things: one, like all fiber, this fiber within the smoothie helps keep you regular and allows your body to naturally do what a laxative does for you. Reason 2, the fiber slows down and evens out the absorption of sugar contained within the fruit, which unlike juice which has no fiber and can spike your blood sugar levels, which can be very dangerous for many. If you are going to try the green smoothie cleanse, and I hope you do, because they are great to do every day, I recommend getting a high powered blender so you can really get an even consistency and so you can also really break down the fibers and unlock the nutrients contained therein. A standard blender simply won’t cut it, and you will likely ruin the blender as a result, the two models or brands I recommend are the vitamix models or my personal favorite-the total blender from blendtec. The total blender is super easy to clean, is very durable, and had automatic smoothie settings so you don’t have to guess what works, it really gets the job down and I highly recommend it.
With the advent of high powered blenders and a more health conscious society the idea of making smoothies at home instead of paying the very expensive prices for smoothie bar smoothies and juices has become quite popular. An even newer trend is the wonderful creation of what many call green smoothies, these little wonder elixirs allow for ALL the beneficial ingredients that make up the fruit and leafy greens to be consumed whole and as a result, are one of the best sources of natural fat burning foods. There is a debate within the health community whether a person should juice or blend and I’ve struggled with that question too when I started out. The answer I came to was both had their place and if you can do both regularly if not daily you’ll get the benefits from each wonderful source of vitamins and nutrients. In future articles ill detail the differences both subtle and obvious between blending and juicing but for now I’ll extol the virtues of smoothies, particularly, green smoothies, and how they too allow for a Total Cleanse and detoxify the body.
First and foremost and it’s something I’ll likely get into in a separate article because there’s so much to praise about it, the best blender for blending is the Total Blender by BlendTec. This appliance as of this writing is about 400$ but is worth every penny as it makes the smoothies effortlessly, is an easy cleanup, and is very durable.
Fruits if juiced too much can be too much sugar for the body to take in one shot and can be very detrimental to one’s health if done regularly due to said sugar, but at the same time you want to mask the often times unpleasant taste of the low sugar veggie juice. In this case you want to make a smoothie instead, this allows for the full nutritional value of berries and other fruits to be consumed while also incorporating lots of leafy greens like wheatgrass (which are not technically veggies) that can be mixed with anything (unlike actual veggies including starches like carrots or other types as well which have a tendency not to play nice when digested at the same time with fruits as a whole food albeit blended food). These are famously known as the green smoothies and there are many great recipes out there ill detail in another article. These taste amazing as well just for a healthy treat.
One of the greatest benefits of any smoothie but particularly green smoothies is due to the fiber content (very dense in leafy greens) which regulates all the sugar in the blended fruit that ends up missing in the juiced drinks. This fiber also helps in digestion and getting your regular does of 25-30 grams of fiber per day, which in turn can also help boost your overall fat burning capabilities by speeding up your metabolism. As a result, it is really one one of the best natural weight loss solutions out there. Please look forward to more information on these wonderful creations and stay in good health!
