Green Super Foods, Drink to Your Health
August 14th, 2007
If you’ve read a few of the posts in this blog, you’ll see that I’m a fan of certain super foods and health formulas. There are certain health supplements (or non-supplement enhancement products) that I think benefit just about anyone who might adopt them. One of these is a good green superfood drink. A good green drink is made from freeze-dried plants and vegetables (and often fruit or fruit juices) and is actually a food product — not a supplement, like a vitamin or mineral supplement. Green drinks are basically food in concentrated, powdered form. The best ones use organic ingredients and combine a variety of food sources, which may include the following super ingredients:
- Spirulina
- Chlorella
- Spinach, kale or other green leafy vegetables
- Maca Root
- Nettles & Milk Thistle
- Gooseberry
- Green tea or extract
- Bee pollen
- Olive leaf
- Wheatgrass, barleygrass or other grasses
- Alfalfa
This is not a complete list, but is a good list of some of the best ingredients to look for in a good green drink. Many green drinks also include probiotic ingredients that help to balance your intestinal flora, reduce yeast infection, and help with digestion and elimination. These are excellent to add to your diet and getting some extra culture can never hurt. If you don’t take a probiotic supplement or eat plenty of live cultures, then getting this in your green drink is a good strategy.
Many of these drinks must be refrigerated for the live cultures to remain live. However, some plant-based cultures can be stored outside of the refrigerator without a problem (although the best require refrigeration and come from animal sources, such as yogurt).
Depending on the green drink you choose, you may be adding more than just vitamins and minerals to your diet. Many green drinks have blood cleansing, blood pressure balancing, diuretic and energy enhancing properties. Here’s the key: By taking a green drink every day, you’ll be giving your body more nutrition and, therefore, you will require less food to nourish your body. Most likely, you will lose weight as a result because you will eat less. Many people report that certain cravings go away when they take green superfoods regularly.
Find a drink that works for you. Experiment with different brands and read the labels to compare ingredients. Some drinks have fillers. Some have more variety of ingredients. Others have organic ingredients. Most have certain key ingredients that come first on the list — and each of these offers something different. Experiment with recipes and methods of taking the powder. Most people combine these with juice and drink in the morning. I find that being able to “shake” the mixture is important, as it really mixes the powder with the juice and eliminates that lumpy texture.
Next article, I’ll compare some of the popular brands and make some recommendations. Stay tuned…
Related Articles:
Comparing Green Superfood Products
My Favorite Power Foods & Super Foods
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Read More On: immune system, more energy, spirulina, superfoods, supplements
9 Comments Add your own
1. kim | August 30th, 2007 at 5:40 am
Please can you give me a list of green drink products.
thanks
2. vanburen3 | September 15th, 2007 at 12:42 am
Thanks for the comment. Please check out my most recent article, which offers a comparison of some of the best products I’ve found. I hope it helps.
3. Judy Kaskel | November 3rd, 2007 at 6:56 am
I am looking to make my own vegetable green drink…I’d like some receipes……THANKS
4. vanburen3 | November 9th, 2007 at 4:49 am
I don’t know of any recipes for creating your own green drink powder if that’s what you mean. But I’m sure you could experiment with the different key ingredients until you find something you like. You will have to find a very well stocked natural foods distributor with all of the raw ingredients you are looking for. Some may be difficult to find, such as some of the vegetable powders. Most of the ingredients in commercial green drink products are purchased from suppliers or importers of the raw materials (or their distributors or formulation partners) and are only available in huge quantities or to authorized resellers. At this moment, I don’t know of any retail outlet for bulk, dried vegetable and fruit powders of the same quality as those offered to the product manufacturers. Hmmm, maybe I should get into the business!
5. Julie | December 5th, 2007 at 9:37 pm
Hi,
I am wondering if you have found any studies, research or proof of these green drink mixes and how much you actually have to drink in order to get any measurable benefits?? I have used http://www.ph-ion.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWCATS&Category=210 in the past but thought I’d do some looking and see if I could find some unbiased proof of these products. If they work – then great – they are worth the money but I’d hate to be throwing money out the window! If you have any input or recommended places to look, I’d love to hear it! THANKS SO MUCH!
Julie
juliet272@gmail.com
6. vanburen3 | December 7th, 2007 at 2:46 am
The products you mention in your comment are mostly made from grasses and spirulina, which are ok, but I prefer the BROAD SPECTRUM SUPERFOOD products that have multiple ingredients, including grasses, vegetable powders, fruit powders, omega-3 sources and other ingredients. Besides, the grasses with spirulina are among the worst tasting (even the ones with stevia or other sweeteners).
As for quantity, you need to find your own best amounts. But for a general idea, most people take at least one heaping tablespoon per day — and many people take two per day (one at night and one in the morning). I would consider 4-5 heaping tablespoons per day to rank in the “mega dose” category, which is what many athletes take. If you take one or two tablespoons per day and don’t really notice much, increase your dosage. If you’re up to 4 or 5 and don’t notice anything…change brands!
Check out my chart and comparison article (click on the home page and scroll down to find the articles) for more details on how these products stand up to each other. And thanks for the comment.
7. Darren Craddock | December 18th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
I love Super Green food
For me I use one heaping tablespoon each day in juice. My favorite brand is Enerfood Super green Energy Drink.
It has a very mild taste and I always feel a natural buzz.
All the pill super greens leave me blah. I never feel anything. the same was tru for the garden of life and
I have tried almost all of the other supergreen foods and even made my own with spirulina, chorella, nutritional yeast and kelp, but honestly it wasn’t very tasty (and still pretty expensive.) That is why I went back to the enerfood. My favorite is to combine it with the Coconut milk powder.
You might want to check out the Enerfood at http://www.enerhealthbotanicals.com/Enerfood-Super-Green-Energy-Drink-p/ef.htm
I also think that one or two tablespoons a day should be enough, unless one is fasting or in a survival situation.
PS I keep Enerfood in my basement and in my emergency kit for distaster /emergency rediness. Lets face it – After a tornado I don’t want to try to live off canned beans :)
8. vanburen3 | December 21st, 2007 at 2:22 am
Darren,
Thanks for your comments. I looked over the Enerfood product and it’s not a bad formulation. Maybe it deserves to be in my chart. When I create an updated version, I’ll consider adding it.
Some specific comments: It look to be quite heavy in spirulina, but many of the drinks are. Spirulina is a very nutrient-rich plant that does not cost a lot. So are Dulse and Kelp. The grasses, however, do not really pack much nutritional punch in comparison to some other things. It’s good to have them represented, but not dominating the mix.
I would not have added the yeast as a source of vitamin B, however, because not everyone can take it. For many people, it can cause digestive difficulties. The rest of the ingredients are pretty good ones.
Thanks again for your comments.
9. Bob Walton | March 28th, 2008 at 1:55 am
Greens have made a huge positive impact on my health and life. Your post was a great reminder not to slack off on taking that nutrient. Happy sales to you.
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