Our Ultimate Guide to Green smoothies

Here at SmoothieBox, we love the great taste and health benefits of green smoothies and we want to share it with you!

Green smoothies can boost your energy levels, improve your immune system and are a great source of nutrients and antioxidants that help cleanse your body.

In our Ultimate Guide to Green Smoothies, we'll tell you everything you need to know about these super-powered smoothies.

What is a green smoothie?

Going green is a great choice, especially when it comes to your food. And leafy greens are among the healthiest foods you can find on the planet. They are full of protein, iron, fiber, vitamins and nutrients.

A green smoothie is a collection of fresh leafy veggies like kale, spinach, collards, romaine lettuce and others. It is a green drink that you make in a blender, which keeps the fiber intact. You can get more chlorophyll, containing vitamins A, C, E and K, in your diet.

Instead of juicing too many sugary fruits, you make green smoothies with nutrient-dense vegetables, which keeps your calorie intake in check. Around 50% of a green smoothie is leafy veggies and the rest can be fruits, nut butter and seeds.

 

Benefits of green smoothies

Balanced diet

Green smoothies help to rest your taste buds, and you may start craving healthier food options. You can get good amounts of fiber, fruits, healthy fats and vegetables into your system. Even if you don't like certain leafy greens, several delicious green smoothie recipes can easily mask their flavors.

Increased nutrition

Chewing a large bowl full of salad every day can be a bit boring, but green smoothies add the needed element of excitement. They are nutrient-rich and help you hit the recommended daily intake of 5 servings of veggies and fruits in a fun format. They are excellent sources of iron, magnesium, potassium, calcium, manganese and phosphorus.

Improved digestion

The cells of fruits and vegetables getting broken down in a powerful blender into smaller chunks improve digestibility. The blender does a far better job than your teeth in breaking the tough plant walls. Green smoothies maximize the extraction and delivery of nutrients to your body.

Strengthened immunity

Your body will maintain optimum health with regular consumption of fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants, vitamins and various minerals found in certain foods can protect your body against allergies, seasonal illnesses and specific diseases. Particularly, chlorophyll in green smoothies can enhance the immune system and revitalize your body. You feel more focused.

Radiant skin, hair, nails and eyesight

Green smoothies have cleansing properties where they flush the toxins from the inside. The result is your glowing and radiant skin with decreased adult acne. The primary antioxidant compounds found in leafy greens, like beta-carotene, resveratrol, lutein and zeaxanthin, can make your hair, skin and nails shine. You can even notice your eyesight improving.

Detox and gut health

Green smoothies can help people with gut problems like IBS, constipation, bloating and stomach cramps. The fiber you consume feeds the good bacteria in your gut, acting like a sponge as it passes through the digestive system. Hence, things will move through your bowels better once you start detoxing using green smoothies.

Reduced medical risks

Many therapeutic benefits are associated with green smoothies, such as blood sugar control and lower blood pressure. They can stabilize the LDL (the bad cholesterol) levels in your body. All these advantages can also help you reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, obesity and age-related medical conditions.

 

 

Green smoothie recipes

Someone new to the concept of green smoothies and a practicing person looking for new concoctions can make these recipes without stressing.

All you really need for the perfect green smoothie is your blender. The ingredients can be your choice, but the majority are green leaves.

Detox Green Smoothie

Give a wake-up call to your senses with this anytime smoothie rich in greens.

Ingredients:

• 1 Green Smoothie Mix
• 1 cup unsweetened nut milk
• 1 cup kale
• 1/2 cup frozen mango
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1/3 cup greek yogurt, unsweetened
• 1/4 lemon, peeled

Get a veg-tastic, savory mix of green smoothie with detox properties. It boosts your metabolism and reduces digestive troubles. Kale, pineapple and avocado smoothie.

Spinach Orange Smoothie

If you start your day with fresh fruit juices, then transitioning into green smoothies is easy with this delicious spinach orange smoothie. Spinach and orange contain choline, which helps improve your concentration. A dash of fresh or frozen bananas will thicken to give you a creamy and thick green shake.

Ingredients

• 1 orange
• 1/2 banana
• 1 cup organic spinach
• Hemp seeds optional
• Coconut water as needed

Blend the ingredients on high and coconut water for the desired consistency. Use ice if you like, or frozen bananas will keep it cool.

Blueberry Mint Green Smoothie

Green smoothies are not all green; some have purple hues, too. Get this violent blend that can make other smoothies go green with envy.

Ingredients

• 2 cups frozen spinach
• 1 cup blueberries fresh
• 1 cup blueberries frozen
• 1 large kiwi
• A handful of mint leaves
• Coconut water per your taste
• Ice optional

Freezing the veggies and half of the fruits gives a unique texture to your nutrient-powerhouse purple smoothie.

Fruit-free Green Monster Smoothie

If you have been on the green smoothie diet for quite some time, try the all veggie-, no-fruit recipe featuring the likes of spinach, kale, basil, parsley and mint. Add some honey or cinnamon powder to make the beginner's fruitless smoothie.

 

 

Healthy greens to add to smoothies

Spinach

Spinach is a miracle veggie that contains over 20 different nutrients. It is rich in calcium, iron, potassium, protein and vitamins, including B-12. It can improve vision, boost heart health and immunity. Its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties revitalize your skin cells.

It has a mild taste and the soft leaves blend with any other vegetable and fruits. Make a go-to green smoothie with this superfood prime and apples, berries or bananas.

Beet greens

The leaves of this powerful root vegetable provide a higher level of nutrition. So, the next time you see boots with deep green leaves, instead of cutting and throwing them out, consider making a puree.

Beet leaves taste like spinach and are soft and mellow, producing a texture similar to a blended Swiss chard green smoothie. Since the flavor does not overpower any fruit, you can add sweet or citrus fruits like oranges, grapes, apples, figs, berries and peaches.

Swiss chard

Swiss chard has a natural salty taste to its tender leaves, making it a great choice for blends with sweet fruits. Swiss chard comes in several colors and is highly nutritional with calcium, iron, manganese and many more. The phytonutrient content alone is impressive and unique, which can stabilize blood sugar levels and boost heart and lung health.

Its palatable taste is versatile with a slightly bitter and earthy flavor. Pair it with bananas, citrus, kiwi and pineapple to make delicious green smoothies.

Romaine lettuce

Romaine lettuce may be one of the best leafy greens to sneak into someone's smoothie to help them get their daily dose of veggies. It has ever such a mild flavor that goes undetected when you add any fruit—converting a newbie into a green smoothie addict with this easy-to-make and nutritious food.

The leaves are delicate and crisp and are full of minerals like copper, phosphorus, zinc and potassium. Your skin, bones and blood benefit from the vitamins A, B and K in lettuce.

Kale

Jump on the global kale bandwagon and enjoy the benefits of fiber, phytonutrients, beta carotene, vitamins K and C. It is a cleansing, immunity-boosting super green, which also protects your lungs.

It has mild bitter and earthy notes. If you are just beginning your green smoothie journey, you can start with a mellower baby kale variety and blend with sweet fruits like bananas and mangoes—level up as you master this craft.

Collard greens

Collards are sturdy, thick and bitter leaves from the cruciferous vegetable family, where cabbage and broccoli belong. You get an abundant amount of fiber, minerals and antioxidants.

Make sure to power blend the leaves to make a smooth pulp and ensure happy sipping. Pair it with nuts, seeds, healthy fats and flavorful fruits like peaches, cherries or berries.

Pro-tip:

Try steaming your greens to help with digestion. Adding a lot of raw leafy greens like kale can make it hard for your body to digest and process all that fiber, even if it's blended up.

 

Try a cleansing green smoothie

Green smoothies have excellent cleansing properties to clean the body inside out. As the luxurious fibrous content travels through your stomach, it absorbs all the toxic gunk and flushes it out. Your digestion and metabolism improve and you start eating better.

Several celebrities, A-listers and sports persons also vouch for green smoothie detox programs to rest their dietary habits. In the process, they get clear skin, improved eyesight and other health benefits. However, it is far superior and beneficial to a simple juice cleanse.

With green smoothies, you do not filter out the pulp of the veggies and fruits after blending. Hence, there is no loss of fiber; actually, there is no waste at all. You consume the leafy greens whole, as puree, and peel certain fruits, remove the seeds.

Another reason for the effectiveness of a green smoothie cleanse is that it is not a starvation fad diet. Your stomach feels full after consuming green smoothies and you don't have hunger pangs or cravings until your next meal. This advantage makes green smoothies ideal to be meal replacements.

Why does your body need a cleanse?

Your body gets exposed to harmful substances regularly. Even when you are going to the gym five days a week and eating healthy, environmental toxins surround you all the time.

Pollutants like exhaust from cars, cosmetics, perfumes, food additives and cleaning products in the house contain several elements that can create adverse reactions in your body. Besides, you may be naturally allergic to pollen, cats, dust, etc. Either way, your body needs to purge from the continued exposure and consequent dangers.

For this reason, proper cleansing or detoxification is the right way to minimize these effects.

The human body has various natural systems in place for detoxifying the cells. Examples are kidneys that filter your blood and excrete urine and intestines that remove waste products through bowel movements.

Cleansing green smoothie recipes

Green smoothies are your best option to neutralize and eliminate toxins from your body. Here are some smoothie ideas that will help you get your greens in AND taste good. they're easy to prepare - all you need to do is combine all the ingredients in a blender!

Simple cleansing green smoothie

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup fresh spinach
• 1/2 cup fresh kale
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup mango
• 1/2 cup pineapple

Green detox smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1 red beet, raw
• 1/4 cup raw broccoli
• 1 green apple
• 1/2 avocado
• 1 cup strawberries
• 1 cup pineapple
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Super green cleansing smoothie

Ingredients

• 2 cups baby kale
• 2 ribs celery
• 2 cups organic spinach
• 1 green apple
• 1 cup banana
• 1 tablespoon grated ginger
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon raw honey

Have them religiously for seven to ten days during your breakfast.

 

 

Green smoothie diet

If you are expecting quick results with any diet, you may succeed, but at some cost. Besides, a green smoothie diet is not a fad or phase that you go through; you can reap long-term benefits when you make it a lifestyle choice.

Consume green smoothies as a supplemental source for your daily fix of recommended levels of fruits and vegetables.

When you are following a green smoothie diet seriously, it is advisable not to do it for more than ten days. Note that this time limit is for those who do not wish to intake anything else.

Others that have raw vegetables, salads, sprouts and nuts can extend this period per their requirements or until they achieve their goal. But the primary factor to consider is that you should not tamper with your health.

What not to do on a green smoothie diet?

While you open up your body to the world of energy-boosting nutrients, here are some common mistakes to avoid:

Throwing everything into the blender

You may think that quantity is crucial and throw in just about any vegetable in the blender. But blending a whole garlic bulb or potatoes in the mix does not make green smoothies. Be careful about the right veggies to add with raw blends.

Not adding enough leafy greens

The star players in green smoothies diet are the dark green leaves. You can make fruit-less, nut-less and low-fat blends, but the whole point in making good-tasting green smoothies is to eat more greens quickly. However, you may add powdered green superfoods like kelp, alfalfa, green tea, spirulina, matcha, chlorella, barley grass and wheatgrass.

Not rotating your greens

Having the same greens every day is not only boring to make and consume, but the body also may get used to the routine. It can send your body cells into a complacent mode. So, keep changing the greens to kickstart the cells and supply your body with nutritional balance.

Storing your smoothie outside the fridge

You can make many green smoothies in advance and store them for up to two days to a week but in a refrigerator. Use glass containers for the best results; grab one in the morning and start your day on a healthy note. But if you leave it on the counter, it loses its nutritional value. Some may turn sour or go bad.

Foods to eat on a green smoothie diet

Whether you are replacing one meal per day with green smoothies or having two smoothies and one meal a day, you must be extra cautious with what you consume the rest of the time.

During your green smoothie diet, you can take:

• Crunchy veggies like celery, carrots and cucumbers
• Plain Greek yogurt
• High-protein and high-fiber snacks like hard-boiled eggs and seeds
• Healthy fats like unsalted nuts and unsweetened peanut butter (within limit)
• Low-sugar fruits like avocado, apples, oranges, berries, etc.

 

Breakfast green smoothies

It is vital to get as many nutrients as you can during the first meal of the day.

Breakfast green smoothies provide you the much-needed energy to go about your strenuous tasks throughout your workday. They make you feel satiated, and hence, you don't feel hungry for a while.

What to add to your breakfast green smoothies?

Green veggies

The main ingredient around which you make a green smoothie is healthy greens. You can use dark green leaves like spinach or kale, microgreens like spirulina or cruciferous veggie like broccoli. The greater number of greens you have, the better. Take 1 cup of each green.

Frozen fruit

It is best if you can avoid ice and water while making breakfast green smoothies. You will get a creamier and smoother blend when you use frozen fruits like banana, pineapple, berries and mangoes. One cup of fruits, peeled and diced, make for one serving.

Liquids

Unsweetened almond milk or any plant-based milk can work well with your favorite green smoothie. They make the texture more appealing as the blender helps make a smooth paste of the veggies. You can mask other strong flavors, such as kale when you use raw honey or plain yogurt and other liquids. Depending on the servings and the amounts of other ingredients, go up to 2 cups.

Seeds

Amp up the nutrition in your breakfast green smoothies with chia, flax or other seeds that are fiber-rich and provide healthy fats. ¼ or ½ tablespoon of each will suffice.

Green smoothies are easy to make with the shortest of preparation times. Or, you can grab a pre-made smoothie from the fridge, which is just as good. You can drink all the nutrients in one go. Or, make a green smoothie bowl if having a bit of crunch is what you need; for inspiration, have a look at these recipes:

Citrus spinach green smoothie bowl

Ingredients

• 1 cup spinach
• ½ cup frozen pineapple
• ½ orange
• ½ ruby grapefruit
• 1/2 cup fat-free plain Greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Blend all these until smooth and pour in a bowl, topping off with chia seeds, heart-healthy cashews and unsweetened coconut flakes. It serves two.

Quinoa mango green smoothie

Ingredients

• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 1 cup mango diced and frozen
• 1 ripe banana
• ¼ cup cooked quinoa
• ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
• ¼ cup hemp hearts

Add everything in a blender to get a creamy smoothie with a unique texture. Adding quinoa allows you to get the full benefits of whole grains along with the chlorophyll-rich leaves. Add banana toppings to make one serving.

Glowing green smoothies

Skin is an exposed part of your body, which encounters the highest number of toxic environmental pollutants.

Among the many beneficial nutrients, green smoothies provide antioxidants like lutein and zeaxanthin, which are vital for skin health. They keep it radiant and wrinkle-free and can prevent other age-related issues.

Having glowing skin can all come down to how much fruit you put in your green smoothie.

It is indeed true that green smoothies contain low levels of sugar, but when you add too many fruits, you can increase the content of fructose. This enzyme causes glycation, which is the altering of the collagen in your skin.

Since fructose molecules circulate to different parts of your body through blood, they can rapidly break down into sugars and tamper with the skin's structural proteins. So, be mindful of the greens to fruits ratio while making your glowing skin smoothies.

Here are some powerful combos for green smoothies to keep your skin radiant and healthy:

Smoothie Box Glowing Green Smoothie

Make our tried and tested recipe with our Green Super Smoothie pouch as the base for a delicious glowing green smoothie.

Ingredients

• 1 Green Super Smoothie pouch
• 1 collagen packet (optional)
• 1 cup plain coconut water
• 1 banana
• 1 cup mango
• 1 cup pineapple
• 1 cup spinach or kale
• 1 tablespoon flax seed

Clear skin green smoothie

Get clear skin and stronger hair with this smoothie as it gets absorbed by your body quickly. Use this to flush out the toxins and clear your skin pores.

Ingredients

• 1 cup spinach or kale (per your taste)
• 2 kiwi fruits, halved and scooped out
• 1 lime, peeled, with pith intact
• Coconut water to help blend well

Pulse blend these ingredients and consume fresh.

Hollywood glowing green smoothie

Green smoothies are some of the secret weapons that celebrities everywhere have stuck to for over a decade. You can get the same benefits with this recipe.

Ingredients

• 2 cups romaine lettuce
• 1 cup spinach
• ½ cup celery
• ¼ cup cilantro
• ¼ cup parsley
• 1 apple
• 1 pear
• 1 banana
• ½ lemon, freshly juiced

Try to use all organic ingredients for the most effective results. Puree romaine lettuce first, and then add all the other greens. Finally, add the fruits, blend and serve.

In addition to consuming scrumptious green smoothies, follow some tips to maintain clear, glowing skin, such as:

Get adequate sleep

It is not for nothing that there is a term called "beauty sleep." When you don't get enough Z's, that shows on your face.

Avoid processed foods

Dehydration can happen when you eat deep-fried, oily and processed foods. The skin may lose its elasticity and start to break out. Drink lots of water to stay hydrated and prevent acne.

Reduce stress and anxiety

Your skin shows the first signs of stress - whether it is work-related, emotional or physical exertion. Try meditation or mindfulness practice to eliminate all the negative thoughts and remain peaceful.

 

 

 

Green smoothies near me

If you search 'green smoothies near me' you'll likely find there are a number of fast-food companies and convenience stores that offer green smoothies.

These smoothies might be a great way to get a quick fix but they can also be filled with sugar and preservatives that don't benefit your health and well-being in the long term.

SmoothieBox delivers super healthy and delicious smoothies made with only the freshest organic ingredients right to your front door.

Get started with green smoothies

If you're ready to introduce nutritious green smoothies made with the freshest ingredients into your routine, download our free e-book “10 day Green Smoothie Cleanse” for the ultimate feel-good start to your green smoothie journey with SmoothieBox.