Green Smoothies

Dr. Michael Greger, editor of NutritionFacts website, recently made an extensive video about green smoothies. He emphasized their health value, simplicity and tastiness.

The basic recipe includes leafy greens, berries, and flaxseeds or flax meal. All three of these foods are super-nutritious and they complement each other to provide most important vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, healthy protein and fat. The greens and berries can be fresh or frozen but frozen is quicker and less work. Frozen berries will be less expensive than fresh, but the opposite may be true for greens. Another advantage of frozen is that the smoothie produced is immediately cold if that is your preference. If a high-speed blender is not used, flax meal is a better choice than the seeds since the blender may not break down flaxseeds enough to release their nutrients.

Optional ingredients include banana, pineapple, soy or nut milk, turmeric, and coconut water. Sweeteners, even juices, should be avoided. Since the fine pulverization of ingredients allows much better absorption in the G.I. tract you will be getting most of the nutrients. Fiber is not degraded sufficiently to lose its healthy potency.

Nutritionists have long known that soups are very healthy in many ways. Nutrients from ingredients are easily absorbed and satiety is high. Soup before a meal or as the main course leads to fewer calories eaten over the rest of the day. This effect was not seen with smoothies until researchers looked at different delivery methods. Warming a smoothie seems to have no effect, but drinking the smoothie slowly, at the pace you would normally eat soup with a spoon, does indeed lead to greater satiety and less calories ingested over the rest of the day. The best way to drink your smoothie is to sip it as you might hot coffee or tea. Blood sugar rate of rise and peak, insulin secretion and other measures of good metabolism are enhanced by doing this. The French have much fewer overweight people and much of the reason may be pace of eating, but as more fast food is consumed in France this advantage will be lost.

The downside of smoothies is that concentrated fruits and vegetables are tough on tooth enamel. This problem can be overcome by drinking your smoothie with a narrow, flexible straw so that contact with teeth is minimized. In addition, rinsing your mouth out with water after the smoothie (or eating fruit) saves enamel. Put off brushing your teeth for up to an hour after eating fruits or drinking a smoothie since the enamel will be softer and damaged by the toothbrush in the hour after the smoothie.