Color In Diet And A Smoothie: Best Green Smoothie

By Author: Steve Matin
Total Articles: 6
Comment this article

At least five servings of colorful fruits and vegetables each day provides you with nutrients that may help decrease your risk of several serious medical conditions. The importance of colors in our diet has been long established where the color green is associated with vitamins, minerals and antioxidant compounds like indoles and lutein. “Eat your greens” acquired a completely new meaning now. Green colored food also contains high levels of potassium and it has been proved that a diet high in potassium may help decrease risk of high blood pressure, kidney stones, osteoporosis and stroke.

Easiest way to include greens in your diet by converting your green food into smoothies. Green smoothies unlike juice contain the entire fruit thus, no wastage and a rich source of fiber and a large amount of nutrients in the peels are not run away. Best way to make a smoothie is to:

1. Wash the vegetables & fruits.
2. Precut the vegetables.
3. Put food with the highest water content (i.e. apples) first.
4. Make sure you add enough (purified) water for blending. This usually means that most food is covered ...
... with water. If you don't use enough water, the produce, nuts or seeds don't blend well.
5. Blend long enough so your foods will be really smooth, but not so long that they get warm. (Unless you'd like to make a warm soup of course).
6. You could warm up soups or drinks by blending for a few minutes.

A smoothie is a great mid afternoon or mid evening snack. And, for those on a diet a great meal option. It lets you feeling satisfied thus, does not encourage long term dieting and discourages binge eating.

Benefits of a smoothie:

•Better absorption: Raw, green leafy vegetables are hard to digest. A high speed blender breaks down the hard cellular structures of these vegetables making them easier to be absorbed. Lycopen of tomato and beta carotene of carrot is easily absorbed through this method.
•No wastage: A smoothie uses the whole food.
•Fiber is intact: Unlike juices, smoothie contains the entire fibers of the fruit.
•Great way to increase your intake of vegetables: Greens have great nutrients level but difficult to eat. Smoothies make them more palatable.
•Quick and Easy: Large amounts of raw food can be processed easily in virtually no preparation time.
•Easy recipes: Smoothie recipes are easy to follow and implement.