Drink your greens

If you want the health benefits of a diet rich in leafy greens but are finding it hard to get excited about yet another salad, drink your greens instead. Making a smoothie that includes spinach and kale for example, is a surprisingly tasty way to consume these leafy greens...really! It also allows for easier digestion.

Here are a couple of suggestions:

Sweet and Spicy Green
Blend together 2 cups of spinach, half of a regular cucumber (or use a whole Persian cucumber), 1 kiwi, ½ cup of apple juice, ½ teaspoon of freshly grated ginger root, 1 tablespoon of *Total EFA with pure fish oil (you can also use flax seed oil, or borage oil or use 1 tablespoon of crushed flax seeds). If too thick, simply add a little water or a bit more apple juice. Slowly sip on your way to work or with dinner… better yet, have it twice.
*Total EFA with pure fish oil can be found in the refrigerated section of the vitamin and supplement aisle at the local Whole Foods. I really recommend this particular one because of its light taste - it has a slight citrus flavor.

Green in Disguise
If the thought of drinking something green is too traumatic for you, try this one.

Blend together 1 cup of spinach, 1 cup of kale (remove and discard stems), 1 banana, ½ cup of blueberries (you can use frozen ones), ½ cup of apple juice, ½ cup of water, 1 tablespoon of Total EFA with pure fish oil (or suggested substitution from above). The blueberries in this smoothie will change the color from green to purple… so your green-phobia can stay safely intact while you get all the benefits of leafy greens.

Experiment on your own by combining your favorite fruits with spinach, kale, collard greens etc. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to get all the iron, fiber, B-vitamins, calcium and more each day when you drink your greens.

For more ideas and a little bit of humor, check out this video from Tim VanOrden’s Running Green Project. http://tinyurl.com/oxlalo