Five steps to the perfect green smoothie
If there was one piece of advice I could give anyone who wants to inject some healthy into their day, it would be to consume a daily green smoothie. Making this one simple change is the fastest, easiest, and, yes, tastiest way to get fresh, living, detoxifying, cleansing greens into your system without having to sit down to a bowl of what some may call “rabbit food”.
New to the Green Smoothie Revolution? Don’t worry, I’ve got your back. Just follow these five steps and you will be well on your way to being a lean, clean green machine!
1. Choose your leaves
Kale and/or Silverbeet (or spinach or Swiss chard) and/or Cos lettuce (or Romain or watercress)
2. Choose your base
Purified water and/or Coconut water and/or Apple juice
3. Choose some fruit
Banana or Mango or Kiwi fruit or Pear
Tip: Try with frozen banana or mango.
4. Add some kick
Spirulina and/or Marine phytoplankton and/or Maca powder and/or Bee pollen
5. Blend away
Whiz together in your blender until smooth, and drink straight away.
The Wellness Warrior Smoothie
What you’ll need:
1 stalk kale
1 stalk silverbeet or Swiss chard
1 leaf Cos lettuce
1 frozen banana
Coconut water or purified water
1 tsp spirulina
What to do:
1. Add green leaves to the blender and cover with coconut water and/or water. Blend until smooth.
2. Add frozen banana and blend again.
3. Add spirulina and blend again.
4. Enjoy!
What’s in your favourite green smoothie recipe?
What’s better: Juicing or blending? Click here to find out.
Positive affirmation for the day: I release all limiting beliefs that are holding me back from my true potential.
What to stay healthy through the holidays without deprivation? Check out my recipe e-book – Healing Through The Holidays featuring 30 Gerson Therapy-approved recipes!
Have you bought your copy of The Wellness Warrior Live Well Starter Kit + 10-Day Cleanse? Click here to find out why it’s the best $12 you’ll ever spend.
Yip that pretty much my recipe except I will often use spinach from my garden and also blueberries and raw cacao power.
Recently I have been having a green smoothie with cucumber, celery, lettuce, avocado, blackberries (or other available berries), coconut oil, coconut water kefir, magnesium and stevia. Its yum
Awesome post Jess. Love me a green smoothie… makes me feel alive!
I add chia seeds, raw cacao power if I want it chocolatey, sometimes blueberries, coconut oil for extra energy, spirulina and acai if I want a anti-oxidant berry flavoured kick.
Yumm yumm!
X
I just love your blog ..this is really amazing and what I like to call short and sweet but chuck full of information !!! thank you for all of your blogs !!!
Love it! You are SPOT on!
Although I never, EVER make a green smoothie without a lemon… lovley and “zingy”!
This morning I had:
6-8 stems of Silverbeet
1 x Mango
1 x Lemon
2T Chia seeds
1T Coconut oil
1 cup water
Ice
It was the best EVER!
xLouise
Ooh good one!! Yes, I have to say lemon is important as well. Can’t believe I left it out of the line up! Thanks for sharing xx
Hi Jess,
I’m a HUGE fan of the Green Smoothie, my favorite mix is:
- Put banana in first, then baby spinach, a few pieces of apple, orange and kiwi fruit.
Then, juice lots of celery, a little orange and apple and add this juice into the blender.
I add 1tsp of spirulina, as well as squeeze a little lemon juice then I add about 8 x ice cubes to thicken it up and blend away.
I so LOVE green smoothies Gosh! when Spring and Summer hit ,I go GREEN mad! I have just started a high raw diet again and been updating my facebook page with all the gorgeous food , juices and smoothies, and driving my friends mad. I Just love it! I have a chia gel made up and kept in the fridge to go, add bee pollen, maca, sea minerals, kelp, and what ever I intuitively feel like. I hear bananas will go down to $2 or so a kilo come Christmas, so bulk buy and freezing is on the agenda, The kids love frozen banana as the base for most of the smoothies.
Thanks Jess totally tickled GREEN!
Hi Jess,
Question – I dont have a jucier…..
Will a blender create the same goodness – I realise there will be loads of pulp !
Has anyone tried making greem smoothies in a blender ?
Thanks for any advise
Hi Caroline, yes for smoothies you need to use a blender. Juicers are for juicing. What you need for the above recipes is a BLENDER, so you are all good to go!!
Ahh YAY ! sorry for the silly question !
**Have a beautiful Tuesday**
Jess I am always confused as to what a blender is and what a juicer is ? I have a high speed spin one that you drop the pieces of veg. etc down the shute and it seperates the pulp. also a multi speed one that has 2 cutting blades like a propeller– pulp stays in the mix ? / and a majic bullet which is very hi speed and blends in seconds !pulp stays in the mix.
which do I use for juice and which do i use for smoothies?
Hi Bernard, a juicer will remove all of the pulp and give you nothing but juice. A blender blends the ingredients, but does not separate the juice and pulp. From what you have described, I would say the magic bullet is for smoothies and the machine that you have that separates the pulp would be for juicing.
Great post, thanks Jess! I have been making the green juice and smoothie from the Wellness Warrior starter kit and really enjoying them; wish I had started this healthy habit years ago as they are so easy and delicious!. Also loving today’s positive affirmation xx
Great info as always Jess, thank you! Green smoothies are readily becoming a morning staple in my household.
Hey Jess!
Love this post! Reminds me to start making my morning green smoothie again… been a bit lazy these last couple of months!
I have a couple of blog requests for you if possible…
Would love to read a post about vaccinations, trying to research as much as possible before my baby is born and I have to make the decision, so I’d love to hear what you think.
Also would love to read a post about protein shakes! My fiancé is constantly buying huge buckets of protein and Im always saying how bad it is, but I have nothing to back it up with, just my gut feeling that its not good!
=)
Liz I did the vaccination research 18 months ago when my daughter was born. I can recommend you google for stuff written by Dr Isaac Golden (a Homeopath who has done interesting vaccination research in Australia), Dr Wakefield (the UK Doctor who was de-registered but still believed by many) and Dr Antony Underwood (a Sydney Pediatrician who specialises in Autism). You’ll find so much information once you start searching. You may also like to investigate ‘homeoprophylaxis’ which is the homeopathic form of immunisation – it’s what I chose for my daughter so that she is immunised but not vaccinated. The main reason I chose this is because homeprophylaxis works with the body’s natural immune response and doesn’t shock the immune system the way vaccines can, potentially causing a range of autoimmune problems. Good luck making your decision!
Also I think Jess wrote something about protein shakes recently so maybe try a search if her blogs?
Thanks Debbie! I only just noticed this reply now.
I’ve been doing lots of research lately and have come across a couple of the doctors you recommended and also found Stephanie Messenger has some great info and advice too.
I’ve definitely decided against vaccination for my baby but I hadn’t heard of any homeopathic alternatives so I will most definitely be having a look into that!
Thanks so much for your reply and help
Wow, I can’t wait to try some of these! Question: 1, will a food processor work as well? I used to mk my smoothies with coconut Keifer and always used a F Processor. 2) Is coconut keifer allowed on Gerson? I am on a modified Gerson but still haven’t used any since beginning. Thanks Jess and you rock!
Hey there, yes I think a food processor would do a similar job. Nope, no coconut is allowed on Gerson at all. Not even coconut water – the above coconut water mentions are for my non-Gerson friends only unfortunately. This is the one I struggle with most as I LOVE everything to do with the coconut. x
I love green smoothies. My recipe is:
1 large handful spinach
1 c. almond, hemp or rice milk
1/2 c. frozen blueberries
1/2 c. frozen raspberries
1 banana
2 T. hemp seeds
2 T. chia seeds
2 T. flax seeds (ground)
1 T. spirulina
2 T. Sun Warrier Chocolate rice protein powder
add water to thin out to drinkable consistency
Yum!
Love the green smoothies! I’ve really started to attempt to drink 3-4 quarts a daily, since I don’t juice. Recently some of my faves have been: Baby kale/banana/peach/cherries/bee pollen and then there is Mixed Greens/acai berry/banana/strawberry or my favorite lately Silk has Pumpkin Spice for their holiday drinks. I used that as a based, frozen wheatgrass/banana/pineapple. Holy crap it was delicious! I am going to try it with the SoDelicous Coconut Nog as well. It’s important just to have fun with it. Cacao/mint/banana is another favorite, and sometimes I add a little cinnamon.
Hi Jess,
Another silly question (must be the Melbourne heat) – what is purified water? Is it natural water from a spring that ha not been modified in any way or it is filtered or boiled tap water? Thanks
Hi Maree, Purified water can mean all of the above but to me it just means that it is water without nasties like fluoride and chlorine. We have a purifying system on our house (Grander) but you can also buy purified water or natural spring water that is of similar quality. x
Hi Jess,
I’ve been reading so many different people saying that distilled water is actually bad for you. I certainly can’t imagine that is possible, but what are your thoughts? Rain water is essentially distilled water. And I understand water will “pick up” some minerals as it runs down a mountain, but it just doesn’t sound right to me. At the very least I would think distilled water is way healthier than the fluoride and chlorine laced tap water. The Gerson protocol calls for distilled water right? I’d dismiss all the distilled water dangers as reports spread by Weston Price type organizations. But it seems many holistic and alternative medicine people are warning of the DANGERS of distilled water. Again, to me it sounds very silly to think that pure water can be dangerous. I’ve never heard of anyone or a study anywhere that linked illness with distilled water. I’m very curious to know what you think. Happy (late) Thanksgiving! (I don’t know if you celebrate that in Australia at all)
John
Hi John!
I’m not actually sure if distilled water is necessarily bad for you, but I do know that it is “dead” water – it’s been stripped of ALL minerals. However, it seems to be one of the only systems that removed fluoride, which is why Gerson recommends it.
Happy late Thanksgiving to you too!
I have a reverse osmosis system on my sink. I use it for my dog and for washing veggies. I did this for decades. But then I surprisingly learned via Gerson that RO doesn’t get out all the fluoride — and I am personally scared to death of fluoride. I checked the specs on my RO and it said it gets out 98% of fluoride — better than most RO units that only get out 90%. But given my extreme knowledge and fear of fluoride I wanted to be exposed to NONE. Therefore I bought a $500 distiller (pure water inc) and put the RO water in it. This way I have no stuff left over in the tank to dissolve out with chemicals. The other thing I worry about in water are DRUGS! Yes, DRUGS! Our water system does not have the ability to removed pee’d out pharmaceutical drugs. These are just too small of molecules. Again, a RO filter will catch many of them but it is estimated that at least 40% of big pharma drugs are fluoride based and wouldn’t even work if the fluoride was removed! People don’t realize that rx like prilosec and prosac and cipro and so many others are loaded with fluoride — so even if you live in a town that doesn’t fluoridate, you still have people in your town who pee and take Rx! Fluoride not only removes iodine from the body (like bromine and chlorine cuz they are all halogens) but it is a potent poison. I don’t agree with all the dangers people say about distilled and that we need spring water for minerals. Geez. First of all, spring water minerals are not bound to carbon as how we get out minerals from plants — they are not part of a molecule but free floating ions instead. And I would bet 100% that Max Gerson would roll in his grave if he knew someone on the Gerson program was using spring water! The Gerson protocol is a very delicate balance of electrostatic charges coming via the minerals taken/avoided and mainly from the avoidance of sodium and lots of potassium. To add spring water with all the extra minerals would really upset that delicate mineral/electrostatic balance that Gerson Therapy is trying to achieve. I’d go so far to say I’d bet the Gerson Therapy wouldn’t even work if someone used spring water — the electrostatic charges of the minerals in the spring water would really screw things up in my mind. And don’t even get me started about these alkaline water machines that sell for $3000. Geezzz. I did an experiment where I took one gallon of alkaline water and distilled it. Boy was the non-distilled residue gross. Not as yellow as the experiment with city water but very colored and of course, with lots of ‘mineral sediment’ after I let it sit in a clear glass for a day. The sediment at the bottom was all the minerals (aka: dissolved rock) added to it. As for the color, only God knows what drugs and other chemicals made it through the non-RO filter inside the alkaline machine — and these chemicals stayed suspended in the water even after sitting over night so we can’t say it was alkaline minerals — it WAS chemicals. No thank you!
Also, distilled water is called ‘hungry water’ because it quickly absorbs whatever it touches. So for example, distilled water stored in plastic is going to be loaded with plastic. I can’t even drink distilled water coming out of a plastic store jug — I can now taste the plastic! But again, as I said in my last post, because the Gerson Program hinges on electrostatic balance I can see why Gerson wants distilled water with zero/nada/no minerals. Gerson played with many minerals, such as adding calcium, and found that they caused the cancer to grow. Without a doubt in my mind spring water would totally screw up that electro balance.
Hi Jess,
What kind of blender to you need for the green smoothies? Will an ordinary breville do or is it meant for the vitamix types of blenders?
Amy
Hi Aimee, any blender should do the trick!
hi jess,
Just wondering do you drink the green smoothies as a meal replacement or just as an addition to your meals?
This is completely up to you. Some people have them for breakfast, some have them between meals. They are pretty filling, but it depends on how you feel.
great post! makes me think about the concept of green smoothies instead of exact recipes. Need to add these to my morning asap
Thanks for the great ideas on green smoothies. I need a lot of protein in my diet and have stopped drinking any milk. Can I successfully add protein powder to the green smoothies and have them be palatable? Do you have any suggestions as to what kind of protein powder and how much per smoothie?
Hi Jess…
Where it says ADD SOME KICK….. I was going to put some Inca Inchi protein powder into it…do I need one of your ingredients suggested in the add some kick section as well as the Inca Inchi?
Thank you
Kind Regards
Teigh
Hi Jess! I just had my first ever green smoothie… thanks for the recipe! Who’d've thought it’d taste so good? I’ve had a busy week and tonight with hubby out and my daughter in bed I couldn’t be bothered with dinner, so I whipped up a green smoothie. Will certainly have more of these. Love your blog, thanks for de-mystifying some of the complicated stuff. Deb.
Hi Jess,
When is the best time to have the green smoothie? As a ‘kick-starter’ as soon as you wake up? Would it be a good idea to have it as a kick-starter, do some exercise (i do yoga and Pilates daily) and then something like oats for breakfast? Have just discovered your fabulous blog after signing up for the 21 Day Vegan Challenge – can’t wait! Thankyou, Hayley
Hayley » Hi Hayley! Welcome to my blog
I would say the best time to have the smoothie is first thing in the morning. It’s always good to have it on an empty stomach so that all of the nutrients can be quickly absorbed without having to wait in the digestion line. Smoothie – exercise – oats is a great order to do it! That’s what I would do too. Good luck with the 21 Days of Vegan fun xx
Hi Jess! I am a recent follow of your blog and I love it! I have recently got rid of all highly processed food out of our house. We no longer have regular sugar in the house and only sweeten things with honey or 100% pure maple syrup. I am making everything myself. I actually made my own whole wheat tortillas and salsa verde sauce last night and it was great! Love making things myself! I am going to be making green smoothies for my husband and I everyday and wondered if using other frozen organic fruit like strawberries would be good? I wasn’t sure if certain fruit shouldn’t be blended with the greens. I actually think I will be having two green smoothies a day if I really like it. A great way to get my veggies.
Barbara » Hi Barbara, that’s is awesome!! Yep, you can definitely add other frozen fruit. Frozen berries are yummy in the green smoothie. They aren’t too high in sugar either which makes them a good choice. x
Great ideas from everyone .
My favorite green smoothie is
Nashi pear, banana, big handful of parsley and some water blend and enjoy.
I love your formula – makes it easy to whip up your own customized smoothie. I am teaching a class in May called The Smoothie Revolution and will definitely be directing people to this page (and your site). Thank you!