Feeding your skin with Smoothies!!!!
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free skin care · Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:49 am

Zoftig wrote:

Milbader

My DH can't believe I'm taking all this trouble to have my smoothies but I know the blending divas will understand. Smile

I bought my Blentec while visiting my son in Florida and it was interesting how I stuffed it in my suit case on the return flight. My suitcase did get searched by the way!!!!Maybe someone wanted a quick smoothie Laughing

free skin care · Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:40 am

It just occurred to me where I remember seeing someone drink a green drink. It was Rene Russo in The Thomas Crown Affair. When asked was it was she said "don't ask"

free skin care · Mon Aug 17, 2009 6:42 pm

So ... I got my L'Equip 228 about a week ago but it's taken me this long to make my first green smoothie - I'm drinking it as I type!

I'm the kind of person who just throws in everything but the kitchen sink that sounds healthy and doesn't worry too much about the taste. Here's what went into this one:

Kitchen Sink Green Smoothie

1 big handful mixed red greens & baby spinach
1 big handful mixed spring greens & baby spinach (I had two different prepackaged salad mixes)
1 stalk celery, cut up
1/2 inch ginger, peeled
Leaves from several sprigs of fresh mint
1 Roma tomato
1/2 lemon, peeled & de-seeded
1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1 TB. ground flaxseed
1 TB. MCT oil
1 TB. hemp oil

It's not bad at all. I can taste the lemon, celery and mint, but can't detect the blueberry (oh and it's a quite vile taupe shade and a rather "chewy" texture) - anyway it tastes very refreshing and really like more of a gazpacho - I'm thinking a dollop of hot pepper sauce is the one thing missing to make it perfect (for my palate at least).

I must say this first attempt is much, much tastier than it looks! Laughing

In the future I want to add protein powder & make the smoothie more of a meal unto itself, but the only powders I have on hand currently are chocolate or vanilla flavored and I was a bit worried about ending up with a weird sweetish flavor to my veggies.

I'm going to weigh in on the possibility of using a regular blender. I'm dubious about this unless you have something high quality and powerful. The L'Equip is excellent and about 3 times cheaper than the VitaMix or Blendtec, etc. But previously we had an ordinary, inexpensive Osterizer and it absolutely could not have handled this type of job, even with everything cut up and added slowly. YMMV.

Anyway, Toby has my undying gratitude for recommending the L'Equip! Very Happy

Toby wrote:

Metaphora,
You sound exactly like me....You will love the L equip it is extremely powerful and you will not be disappointed. If I hadn't already promised to sell mine to a friend I would have kept mine...it actually keeps the ice more slushy better than the BIG DOGS!!!

free skin care · Mon Aug 17, 2009 7:04 pm

I tried the Naked super food green drink and it wasn't bad at all. Not what I expected! The taste was pineapple and banana.

free skin care · Mon Aug 17, 2009 8:03 pm

milbader wrote:

This is foreign territory for me so a slow start is probably best.

For people who are really new to green smoothies, I recommend they start with something like:

* 1 bag of frozen strawberries or raspberries or mango (no sugar added)

* a couple oranges (juiced; adds sweetness to offset mild tartness of berries) and/or bananas (adds sweetness plus banana flavor)

* a handful (or two, if you're more ambitious) of young, tender, pleasant-tasting greens, such as romaine, spinach, or spring greens

Something like this is a very easy way to ease into green smoothies, especially if the green scares you Smile

Plus, any blender should be able to blend it up with no problem.

HTH Smile

free skin care · Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:03 pm

Thank you for the smoothie ideas but I am very fussy when it comes to fruit. I don't eat any berries, mango, papaya, peaches, or any stone fruit, oranges (juice is OK), cannot have grapefruit because of medications.....

What I do eat are: bananas, seedless grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, apples (if in pie), pineapple and that is about it.

Veggies I mostly like including avocado.

That is why I was surprised the Naked green super food drink tasted OK to me.

free skin care · Mon Aug 17, 2009 9:47 pm

Hi Milbader! Smile

Ohhh...Pineapple, banana, and apple are great smoothie bases, too! Smile

You know, whatever you like and enjoy, go for it! Do you like coconut? Maybe a virgin pina colada with pineapple, some fresh Thai young coconut (the white coconuts, not the brown ones; or substitute some canned coconut milk for the time being), plus ice cubes and some romaine (a watery, slightly salty green) would be nice...?? Do you like pears? I love just plain pears (when they are soft and very ripe) plus spring greens in a smoothie. A plain old bananas plus greens or watermelon plus spring greens smoothie are both good in my opinion. (though not everyone is a fan). Grapes, I am not so good with, but I've heard that grapes + celery is nice. Here are some fruit smoothie recipes with those fruits, and you can just add greens as you like:

* Apple Shake (apple, orange, banana; add greens): http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/appleshake.html
* Grape Celery Cooler (grapes, celery): http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/cooler.html
* Healing Smoothie (cantaloupe, banana, kiwi; add greens): http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/healingsmoothie.html
* Monkey Shake (papaya, banana, orange; add greens): http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/monkeyshake.html
* Gingalope (cantaloupe, ginger; try adding romaine): http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/gingalope.html
* Minty Fresh Smoothie (bananas, cucumber, basil, mint, apple): http://www.living-foods.com/recipes/mintsmoothie.html

Hopefully, others will chime in with other suggestions. That's great that you like the Naked juice! Smile

HTH

free skin care · Mon Aug 17, 2009 10:46 pm

Anyone have any skin and/or weight improvementsto report on with the smoothies? I'm only a week or so into this so I'm still fresh at it but give me another 10 days or so and hoping I'll have something to say!

free skin care · Mon Aug 17, 2009 11:27 pm

Thanks you all for the helpful suggestions!!

free skin care · Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:49 am

sister sweets wrote:

Anyone have any skin and/or weight improvementsto report on with the smoothies? I'm only a week or so into this so I'm still fresh at it but give me another 10 days or so and hoping I'll have something to say!

No weight or skin changes for me drinking green smoothies daily, and I have been drinking them for a few months now.

free skin care · Tue Aug 18, 2009 12:58 am

Metaphora wrote:

I'm going to weigh in on the possibility of using a regular blender. I'm dubious about this unless you have something high quality and powerful. But previously we had an ordinary, inexpensive Osterizer and it absolutely could not have handled this type of job, even with everything cut up and added slowly. YMMV.

I highly doubt my Proctor Silex is what you would call a high quality blender ( Laughing

) and I have no problems at all.

Did you try your inexpensive Osterizer, or are you just assuming it could not have done it?

I do chop up some of the veggies like celery (the "harder" type), but I throw the spinach leaves right in, chop the fruit (unless it is one of the berry variety, then they go in whole), add a sliced avocado and/or banana and water and my little cheapie makes a great green smoothie. I guess it is as you say, YMMV.

free skin care · Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:25 am

I have been having some leg cramps at night, so this got me thinking about all the foods that are thrown into these green smoothies. I wanted to mention that anyone on an Ace inhibitor be careful of too high potassium intake. I use an avocado, banana, and spinach usually in my green smoothies, which are all high potassium foods and I take an Ace inhibitor, and am thinking this may be causing my leg cramps. Just thought I would throw it out there that anyone taking medication check into anything they should be avoiding (or adding) into their diet.

Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:35 am

Okay. I've converted. I'm one week into my green smoothie regime, although it's probably best described as Green-Smoothie Lite. Although I need to start varying my greens, my smoothies so far have been variations of two oranges, one banana, 6 or so large cos lettuce leaves, half an avocado and one stick of celery, one cup of water... give or take some baby spinach. This makes about 900 mls of not exactly delicious, but nice-ish green magma of the luminous variety.

For the blender aficionados, mine is an El Wimpy. If it goes the distance, noone will be more surprised than me. However, it's had no trouble 'smooth-erising', and has been a good sport, which is more than I can say for my bugle-butt. (More merriment for DH and why I'm sticking to salad stuff rather than raw veg.)

As for my skin, I await glowiness and compliments Wink

and to quote my 4 year old: Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

free skin care · Tue Aug 18, 2009 8:29 am

rileygirl wrote:

I highly doubt my Proctor Silex is what you would call a high quality blender ( Laughing

) and I have no problems at all.

Did you try your inexpensive Osterizer, or are you just assuming it could not have done it?

I do chop up some of the veggies like celery (the "harder" type), but I throw the spinach leaves right in, chop the fruit (unless it is one of the berry variety, then they go in whole), add a sliced avocado and/or banana and water and my little cheapie makes a great green smoothie. I guess it is as you say, YMMV.

Hi Rileygirl. Well, I used to have a VitaMix years ago, and I loved making veggie soups in it. So one of my issues probably is that, for green smoothies, I require my blender to be able to "smootherize" hard veggies - like carrots - and no, my cheap blender could not do that; in fact, it had a hard time with even frozen banana chunks. It would generally just make the chunks smaller but never smooth them entirely, and it couldn't handle ice cubes. It was also very loud, and when run long enough to blend protein powder & fruit smoothies it would start to smell like burnt rubber.

Maybe my blender was just too old and worn out and that's the real issue, not its being "cheap"!

free skin care · Tue Aug 18, 2009 1:41 pm

Well, since my last post several days ago I've had more smoothies down the drain than down the hatch.. Rolling Eyes

I've decided I can't drink the raw veggies in a form so thick, they'd be better eaten with a spoon. I can't get by the gross out factor just yet. For me, hot veggie soup works best and I'm loving it that way.. (The blendtec makes it warm/hot and I like scalding, so a minute more in the mic and it's perfect.)

I just made a thickish juice, that I'm getting down surprisingly easy..

- handful of spinach
- 1/2 of a cucumber
- 1 banana
- 1/2 peach
- 1 packet of Splenda
- 8oz water
- 1 cup ice

It was surprisingly refreshing, yet as green as Paddy's Pig.. Laughing

It will be baby steps for me.. Wink

free skin care · Tue Aug 18, 2009 3:35 pm

I am with you Kassy....baby steps all the way. Even though it is not a perfect smoothie the Naked green super food drink is very drinkable. Looks like....you know what....but tastes good. I use lots of ice and put it into one of those plastic cups from Subway so I don't have to look at it....

free skin care · Tue Aug 18, 2009 4:01 pm

milbader wrote:

I am with you Kassy....baby steps all the way. Even though it is not a perfect smoothie the Naked green super food drink is very drinkable. Looks like....you know what....but tastes good. I use lots of ice and put it into one of those plastic cups from Subway so I don't have to look at it....

I find the Naked green drink tastes best when it is chugged down, rather than drinking it slowly or sipping it as one does with other drinks. For me, it works best getting it all down at once.

free skin care · Tue Aug 18, 2009 5:31 pm

just my luck my family chanced upon a bountiful peach tree at an abandoned house. the branches had broken in places where the peaches were just to heavy. it was crazy! I felt like James and the Giant Peach I was in Peach heaven. Delicious white flesh peaches sooo juicy! I blanched and froze them and I'm going to use them for smoothies in the winter. My friend has a ton of green veg in her backyard maybe we could get together and have smoothies this weekend! Fun!
I love this thread. Thank you guys so much for the inspiration.

free skin care · Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:51 pm

Kassy_A wrote:

Well, since my last post several days ago I've had more smoothies down the drain than down the hatch.. Rolling Eyes

- handful of spinach
- 1/2 of a cucumber
- 1 banana
- 1/2 peach
- 1 packet of Splenda
- 8oz water
- 1 cup ice

It was surprisingly refreshing, yet as green as Paddy's Pig.. Laughing

It will be baby steps for me.. Wink

Kassy - what can I say? Laugh of the day. Thanks GF!

free skin care · Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:55 pm

Hi all...

Well... I've been off to my 20 year reunion. That was fun. I'm recovering now... Lots of ideas here. AWESOME!!!

Kassy, definitely water down your smoothies... I allow the sweeter ones to be thicker (due to frozen fruit) for a "ice cream" or pudding like texture... but only if that matches the taste of the smoothie.

Well... regarding weight loss. My really nice scale had bit the dust not to long ago. So, I bought a cheapy... which is exactly what I got, as it quit working after a week (I think it had some wonder twin power tweaking, however) And so I just hadn't bothered buying a new scale. Stayed with my mom over the weekend, and HOLY COW, I've lost 7 more lbs than I realized. Clothes were looser, but I hadn't realized there was poundage to go with that. My workouts were sparse to say the least. (always some sort of interruption in my life.)

Now that I'm finally sleeping, I DEMAND that the weight comes off with my efforts... (does that work? I'll let you know...)

Anyhow... glad to see that everyone is doing well here.. take care!

free skin care · Wed Aug 19, 2009 1:35 am

Rileygirl - leg cramps or eye twitches etc are usually a sign of magnesium deficiency. might not be in your case, but it is really common to not have quite enough.

free skin care · Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:31 am

neondaze wrote:

Rileygirl - leg cramps or eye twitches etc are usually a sign of magnesium deficiency. might not be in your case, but it is really common to not have quite enough.

Thank you, neondaze. I did read that when I started searching around. I really just wanted to mention this as there are others on medications and they may not be aware of what they need to avoid (in excess or altogether) with their medications when they are making their smoothies. Very Happy

free skin care · Wed Aug 19, 2009 5:32 am

neondaze wrote:

Rileygirl - leg cramps or eye twitches etc are usually a sign of magnesium deficiency. might not be in your case, but it is really common to not have quite enough.

I've always heard it's an iron deficiency that causes leg cramps at night.. That's another reason why I love to eat lots and lots of red meat! Laughing

Claudia- 7 lbs is GREAT NEWS!!! I'm so jealous!

free skin care · Wed Aug 19, 2009 8:00 am

The truth is that you can get leg cramps from several types of mineral deficiencies, including calcium, magnesium, iron, etc., or even other reasons (e.g., B vitamins; vitamin D deficiency will usually results in several minerals being deficient), so the reason for cramps can be hard to diagnose without a blood test.

You can also get them from an excess of potassium relative to sodium as the body strongly prefers them in a particular ratio (of course, most people have an excess of sodium relative to potassium, but you don't get any cramps from that). I have run into this problem in the past when detoxing old medications from my body because when you are detoxing a lot and then repairing your body, the body needs a lot more minerals than normal, including sodium. When I was only moderately detoxing or eating enough greens relative to fruit (and I eat insane amounts of fruit), it wasn't an issue.

If you are eating green smoothies with lots of greens, you are most likely increasing your calcium, magnesium, and iron intake (as long as you aren't displacing other mineral-rich foods from your diet) and hence you are most likely getting too much potassium relative to sodium. So you can either:

* Eat even more greens (high in good, natural sodium)
* Eat more salt (sea salt is best)
* Eat less potassium rich foods (e.g., cut down on avocadoes, bananas, melons, and the fruits that are highest in potassium)

Another sign of too much potassium relative to sodium is having to pee a lot or having water retention issues of some sort.

HTH Smile

free skin care · Wed Aug 19, 2009 9:42 am

ok - i bought spinich on Wed of last week - and i put it in the veggie drawer and forgot about it. I was going to put some in a salad last night but when i pulled it out it was all mushy. I was very disappointed. I wish I had made salads all week, I dont htink it would have spoiled so fast then. I dont know why it did that. so into the trash it went. I HATE throwing out food!
So... back to the store I go today. I already have red delicious apples, strawberries, oranges, seedless green grapes celery and lettuce.
Does anyone ever add lettuce to theirs?

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