I woke up on Friday morning and decided that I was finally ready to try a green smoothie. Y'all, this is completely not my thing. I do not like yoga or poetry. Rarely if ever do I feel a connection with all living things. I'm annoyed by soothing voices and up until two weeks ago, I routinely ate half a pizza in an evening. Drinking a green smoothie was not on my to-do list. However, I've decided to quit sugar. That's just one step away from making my own granola and hand-feeding deer. It's safe to assume I'm going to be eating a lot of things I never thought I would.
First, what the hell is a green smoothie? It was kind of difficult to find an actual definition. Those I did find ranged from including things like dandelion leaves and other things I have literally never heard of to a fruit smoothie with some lettuce thrown in. The best definition and how-to video I found is from my friend Sara's blog (yoga goddess and all-around bad ass and yet still grounded when it comes to this type of thing). I've been struggling to find something to eat for breakfast that gets me full, doesn't have sugar, and takes a little less time than sitting down to eggs and bacon.
I looked for recipes for green smoothies for a long time, but couldn't seem to find any that didn't include fruit. As previously discussed, the sugar in fruit is still sugar. It's the same sugar you find in honey, agave, raw sugar, and Coke. After becoming frustrated with the lack of sugar free recipes, I decided that I had green things in my refrigerator and if I threw them in a blender, the result would be a green smoothie, whether it was the "right" recipe or not. To those of you who may consider doing this (Why? Just, why? Come on, guys! Isn't this blog enough warning??) I don't recommend it. If I could go back, I would begin my green smoothie adventure on week one and gradually wean myself off the fruit. Oh well. C'est la vie.
My first green smoothie included broccoli, kale, walnuts, and unsweetened coconut milk. I've also become a little obsessed with yogurt since reading about all the lovely health benefits, so I threw some of that in too (yeah, don't do that).
The result? Um...yeah, not so much. Honestly, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't good. It was definitely a new taste, but I didn't dislike it. Next time I will not be adding yogurt, as it kind of gives the whole thing a tangy taste, of which I was not so fond. Overall though, I had not felt as healthy eating food as I had in a LONG time. It was just so freaking fresh! And a really pretty green! I kind of feel like I have a new found food mission to conquer green smoothies. I just think there's got to be a way to make them more edible without adding sugar. And damnit, I'll find that way.
As usual, I roped roommate into jumping in with me. She was less than enthused.
The thing about drinking the smoothie was that I immediately felt full and I felt full for about three hours at which point I went from full to STARVING without any feeling in between. I compared notes with the roommate later that evening and she said she had the same experience. A little weird, but I'm willing to research to figure that out.
Overall, not the most unpleasant experience I've had and definitely much faster than my other breakfast ideas. I think this may be the beginning of something wonderful...or the beginning of my descent into yogic, karmic, earth-loving, personality change, but let's hope not.
2 comments:
Depending on what kinds of sugars you're cutting, avocado, ground flax seed, whole milk (and whole milk yogurt), will all help ease the instantaneous hunger later on. I've also added a bit of cooked oatmeal to my smoothies. Definitely changes the consistency, and might not be as tolerable without something sweet, but not nearly as bad as it sounds.
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