If you’re like me you may be surrounded by people  used to eating a diet with A LOT of animal products–meat and dairy. So it is always exciting to meet a few Green Smoothie pioneers out there. People inspired to improve their health and for them, it starts with Green Smoothies.

Those who dare to experiment, admittedly make a few nasty concoctions before they figure things out. And so in the name of sparing a few grimaced expressions in the world, I offer you these 3 Important Tips for getting started on Green Smoothies:

1. Keep it Simple. Very Simple.

Even in perfuming you learn, one drop at a time. Test your fragrance. Avoid dumping a mass of ingredients into your blender and hoping you get lucky. I strongly recommend starting with something very simple and easy. The classic banana and spinach.

2. Start With a Small Amount of Greens and Upgrade

Don’t gross yourself out on the first try. Just throw in a few green leaves of spinach, or a bit of collards, chard or romaine, and then blend it up. It’s okay if it’s not bright green the first time. Just allow yourself to adjust. Some greens are better than no greens, that much we know for sure.

3. If It Tastes Like Your Lawnmower, Try Again

Some greens have a much stronger taste than others. Collards and spinach can seem to have a more neutral taste than something like kale. Just experiment and see how it goes. Celery is great, too, and not too strong a taste when it’s fresh and crisp.

Be willing to experiment, but don’t let one failed Green Smoothie experiment get you down. There’s so, so, so much to be gained by incorporating more Green Smoothies into your diet.

And while it’s not a tip, I also suggest you have fun with it. Pull out the fancy goblets and add a sprig of mint or a slice of orange to your glass — presentation can be everything! Get the kids involved by letting them pour and dump ingredients in the blender, and then pass out brightly colored straws!

And finally allow yourself to find your own Green Smoothie rhythm! You may find you like to blend your greens first and then add fruit, or you may find you like to create the blended fruit base and then add the greens and blend some more. You may like elaborate recipes like we often share here or you may prefer one fruit and one green. It’s Okay — do green smoothies any way that works for you!

Drink, share, enjoy … and then tell us about it!

~Tami (with inspiration from Tera)

P.S. Have you seen that Tera is back?!?

Oh, and that cow up there — he LOVES his greens — where do you think he gets his calcium and protein from? Read about greens as one of nature’s perfect food here!

Tags: green smoothie tips, Green Smoothies, Tami Groth

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 12th, 2009 at 7:19 pm by tera and is filed under Green Smoothies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.