I’m Here for the Green Smoothie Craze
This breakfast ritual is how I get to the “strive-for-five” fruits and vegetables.
I had to face a lot of hard and soft truths in my journey of self-discovery over the last year. Two of the following have been plaguing me:
I am not actually hungry until around lunchtime under my current schedule and do not require three meals a day.
However, if left to my own devices, I will eat Toblerone and chips for breakfast, effectively ruining my appetite for the next six or so hours.
I’ve also learned that, even as someone who really does enjoy eating produce, it is challenging to get in five servings and fruits and vegetables each day if I don’t put a conscious effort into it.
That’s why I’m all for this green smoothie craze of the past couple of years. It is filling without being gut-busting, it gives me a boost of energy from the natural fruit sugars, and it makes me feel like I’ve set my day up for success. Also, I do actually like the taste of the dang thing, now that I’ve got in the groove of making the trend work for me.
Here are some of my loose rules for my smoothie (or, as my parter affectionately refers to it, “sludge”) making:
I said smoothie, not juice: a lot of my friends over the years complained that “juicing” removed all the fiber from what you were drinking, defeating the purpose of said vegetables. That can’t be the case if I’m blending the entire vegetable down, leaving nothing to waste.
Not all textures are created equal: I do love a bit of kale and celery in these smoothies, but too much and the fibrous bits make it harder to swallow. Adding extra liquid just makes these little chunks sit on top— do yourself a favor, and go sparingly with these ingredients. Other green ingredients like romaine, spinach, and cucumber blend much more easily. It is also important to know your blender for this step. If those ingredients are too sturdy to be macerated by your machine, then don’t use them.
Green doesn’t always mean the color: if I add berries to this smoothie (my fruit of choice for this application because they aren’t too sweet), it will likely turn out a purple-gray color instead. This is all part of my process.
Add spirulina: I was years ago “scammed” into regularly ingesting spirulina, but I’ve got to say I’m hooked. I get a distinct boost of energy from incorporating it into my morning routine, and my smoothie is the best way to do that.
Kombucha makes the heart grow fonder: Once you start doing this routine, you’ll realize just how sweet some fruits (I’m looking at you, bananas) are. I find that a little kick of acid helps meld some of the flavors together better than if I just blended with water. I always have some of my homemade kombucha in the fridge, but I could also add a splash of apple cider vinegar to my concoction to help the process.
It tastes better out of a boba straw: I like a thicker smoothie, and that smoothie tastes better out of a boba straw. This helps to drink the smoothie if you have used a lot of fibrous ingredients like I warned about in Rule #2.
And there you have it! With these rules in mind, here is what I put in my green smoothie.
Breakfast Sludge:
1-2 handfuls of greens (romaine, spinach, or kale)
1-3 celery stalks
1/3 cucumber
knob of ginger (optional)
1 cup berries (frozen is fine) or 1 banana
3 g (1 tsp) spirulina
8-12 ounces of kombucha, 8-12 ounces water with 1 splash of apple cider vinegar
Procedure:
Blend everything together, adding more liquid if necessary to get the desired consistency. Drink immediately.
