Green Smoothies FAQ: Frequently asked questions & answers

Leafy greens describe the green ingredients in green smoothies - these include:

1. Lettuces (e. G. endive, lettuce, lamb's lettuce, postelein)
2. Leaves/Greens of root vegetables (e. G. carrots, kohlrabi, beetroot, radish)
3. Garden herbs (e. G. dill, mint, parsley, thyme, cress)
4. Leafy vegetables (e. G. kale, black cabbage, spinach, chard, pak choi)
5. Wild herbs (e. G. chickweed, groundsel, dead nettle, stinging nettle, dandelion)
6. Young leaves of (fruit) trees and shrubs (e. G. blackberry, raspberry, currant, blueberry, birch, linden, cherry, apple, pear)

There are no limits - whatever tastes good to you can go into your smoothie. This includes seasonal and local fruits like apples or pears, exotic fruits like pineapple, mango and passion fruit, or hearty vegetables like avocados, tomatoes and cucumbers. The most important criterion for fruits: they must be ripe. If your green smoothie is not sweet enough, the fruits used were probably not ripe enough - the riper the fruit, the sweeter and more digestible it is.

Here is a selection of suitable fruits:

1. Local fruits: apples, pears, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, gooseberries, grapes
2. Exotic fruits: pineapple, banana, dates, figs, mangoes, passion fruit, physalis, peaches, star fruit
3. Citrus fruits: clementines, limes, tangerines, grapefruit, oranges, lemons, pomelos
4. Vegetable fruits: avocados, cucumbers, pumpkins, melons, peppers, tomatoes

To ensure that your Green Smoothie remains an alkaline and easily digestible meal, we do not recommend the following ingredients:

1. Unripe fruits - not only are these not good for the body, but they can really ruin the smoothie flavor. Think of an unripe pear or banana.
2. Added sugars or sugar substitutes - in any form: honey, thick juices, maple syrup. If your green smoothie isn't sweet enough, use really ripe fruits, like brown bananas or sweet mangoes.
3. Dairy products - such as yogurt, cottage cheese or milk. These interfere with the alkaline effect of the smoothie and take away its easy digestion. The same applies for juices and plant milks.
4. Juices - Commercial fruit juices and vegetable juices are highly heated for a longer shelf life. E. G. apple juice, tomato juice, orange juice, vegetable juice, grape juice, pineapple juice, currant juice, grapefruit juice, cherry juice, multivitamin juice, raspberry juice, banana juice, strawberry juice, pear juice, mango juice, peach juice, fruit juice.
5. Plant milk or vegan milk - such as rice milk, soy milk, oat milk, coconut milk, spelt milk, millet milk, almond milk, hazelnut milk, macadamia milk, pecan milk, Brazil nut milk, peanut milk, tiger nut milk, cashew milk, hemp milk, quino milk or walnut milk, etc.
6. Oils, nuts or seeds - may affect the easy digestibility of the smoothie and its alkanizing effect. There is an exception to this rule: when we want some variety in our smoothies, we like to eat them from a bowl - topped off with chopped fruits and superfoods like chia or hemp seeds à la Green Super Bowl.

Absolutely. We have compiled the most important tips in a short video. You can find more tips for beginners in the paragraph below:

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1. It is best to have your green smoothie in the morning, an empty stomach is best for its digestion
2. We advise to start with a smaller portion (e. G. one glass), this way your stomach and intestines are not overload with a high amount of fiber at the beginning. If you can tolerate the amount, you can increase the amount at your own pace up to the portion you want and tolerate.
3. It is best to enjoy the smoothie in small sips or spoon it like a soup. It is key to ensure that it is well salivated. This is the only way for the body to release enzymes that ensure good digestion and optimal utilization of the food.
4. If possible, prepare the green smoothie fresh. This way your body can get the most nutrients out of the smoothie .
5. Start with an ingredient ratio of 60 % fruit and 40 % leafy greens (measured by volume, not weight). This will allow you to get used to the somewhat bitter flavors of leafy greens. You can then gradually increase the ratio in favor of the leafy greens.
6. Do not use too many ingredients. 1 or 2 types of fruit and one type of green can be enough to create a delicious green smoothie.
7. Change the ingredients often - it's best to use different fruits and especially different leafy greens every 2 to 3 days.
8. The most important rule: Green smoothies should taste good! It is not a bitter medicine, unless you like it that way, but a very tasty and healthy meal.

1. Green smoothies are rich in vital substances and nutrients

Leafy greens have a very high concentration of vitamins and minerals, in addition, they are incredibly rich in protein. They also contain chlorophyll and countless other secondary plant compounds. All together create a synergistic cocktail of vital substances which supplies the body with all vital substances in a natural and easily usable form.

2. Green smoothies are alkaline

Green smoothies balance the acid-base ratio. The organism of many people is over-acidified due to the consumption of coffee, sugar and too much animal protein. This over-acidification is decisively and successfully counteracted by the strongly alkalizing Green Smoothies. Find out more about alkaline nutrition here.

3. Green smoothies are a super healthy meal

This wonderful drink has it all: unlike juice - all the fiber and - unlike the pure fruit smoothie - all the richness of plant greens. This makes the green smoothie a wholesome raw food meal.

4. Green smoothies are made quickly and easily

Simply chop the fruits and put them in your blender together with the leafy greens. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare a full meal.

5. Green smoothies - ideal on the go

Green smoothies are a great to-go meals, as they can be quickly prepared and conveniently taken anywhere in a bottle.

6. Green smoothies are very digestible

When prepared in a high-speed blender, Green Smoothies are easily digestible treats - the blender does the work of breaking down the cellulose. Normally this is done by the human digestive system, that sometimes struggles with the chewy cellulose. You could say: the high-performance blender pre-digests. This makes the green smoothie easily digestible.

7. Green smoothies - no tiredness after eating

The proverbial "food narcosis" does not exist after a smoothie meal: the body, as already indicated in point 6, only has to use a minimum of energy to absorb and finish digesting the unheated and purely vegetable vital substances.

8. Green smoothies can help you lose weight

Dietary changes are often difficult. Green smoothies make it easier. The green smoothie is a high-fiber meal that saturates for a long time. Due to the many vitamins, minerals, trace elements and secondary plant substances, the body automatically craves more and more healthy foods after a short time. The craving for sweets and junk food decreases noticeably and one or the other kilo may disappear.

9. Green smoothies - flavorful variety

Whether exotic, wild or puristic with only three ingredients - Green smoothies open up a world full of flavors to creatively explore.

10. Green smoothies give energy

Green smoothies bring lightness, freshness, vitality and well-being. Pure energy.

Green smoothies are blended to a creamy fine consistency. There are a few things you need to pay attention to, depending on what kind of blender you have. After all, the best way to fill a blender depends on the ingredients as well as the container shape and the blades. The following procedures have worked well for us:

1. Wash ingredients, peel if necessary, and chop.
2. First add the soft ingredients such as banana, avocado or mango to the blender container. Then add the remaining ingredients.
3. Fill with water and then blend for about 1 minute using a high-speed blender. Start with low speed and then slowly increase the speed until you reach the maximum speed. Your smoothie should have a creamy fine consistency now.

The creamier a green smoothie is, the better it tastes. This is even more evident when using very fibrous leafy greens, such as parsley, wild herbs, or some cabbage varieties, such as kale or black cabbage. We generally recommend preparing green smoothies with fibrous leafy greens in a high-speed blender.

In addition to creaminess, the fragmentation of the leafy greens also plays an important role. Only when preparing green smoothies in a high-speed blender, the cell structure of the leafy greens is broken down in such a way that certain nutrients, such as chlorophyll, are available to us.

Watch this viedo for more information on why we recommend a high-speed blender for green smoothie preparation:

Most people probably started with a standard stand mixer or blender (including us). You should avoid "hard" leafy greens, like kale, and go for tender leafy greens, like spinach, postelein, lamb's lettuce, etc.

Preparation without high-speed blender:

1. Wash ingredients, peel if necessary, and chop.
2. First add the leafy greens and liquid to the blender jar and blend for about 30 seconds. If there are oranges, grapes or cucumbers in the recipe, you can also puree them in the 1st blending run.
3. In the second blending run, add the remaining ingredients and blend until the smoothie is as uniform and creamy as possible. Done!

Tip: If you have to blend for more than 90 seconds, add ice cubes or use ice-cold water, this way your smoothie doesn't heat up too much.

Check out our favorite recipe for beginners: the "green classic" with: apple, orange, avocado, ginger, lemon and spinach.

• 1/2 avocado
• 1 large sweet apple
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/8 unpeeled lemon
• 1 piece of ginger
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 300 - 400 ml spring water

If you don't like or can't tolerate an ingredient, you should of course omit it or replace it with another ingredient. In general, any substitution will change the taste of the recipe, but it can also create a completely new delicious taste.

1. Leafy greens: Many leafy greens are interchangeable - e. G. if you don't like spinach, you can add postelein, lamb's lettuce, romaine lettuce, as well as radish leaves and other mild lettuce varieties to your smoothie instead.
2. Banana: creates a creamy and sweet smoothie flavor. Alternatively, you can use avocado or mango as creamers, or (mountain) peaches if necessary.
3. Apples and pears: other aromatic and sweet fruits are suitable here, e. G. red or green grapes, different berry varieties (e. G. blueberries), different melon varieties such as honey melon, cantaloupe melon, passion fruit, pineapple, mango, dates, bananas.
4. Pineapple: can be substituted for kiwi (and vice versa).
5. Goutweed: parsley tastes similar.

The fat-soluble vitamins include vitamins A, D, E and K. The B vitamins and vitamin C are water-soluble.

In our opinion, even small amounts of fat in food (not necessarily in a particular meal) are sufficient for the body to absorb the fat-soluble vitamins. Fruit and leafy greens also contain small amounts of fat, such as avocado or the seeds of grapes and apples, which is why we like to include them in our smoothies. In our opinion, this is quite sufficient for the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins. Especially if a piece of avocado wanders into the green smoothie. BUT: If it's still important to you to add some oil to your smoothie, feel free to do so. Svenja likes to say: "There is no smoothie police."

Whether and how much weight is lost with green smoothies cannot be answered in a general way, since your lifestyle and diet also play an important role. If you have been eating a hearty breakfast of rolls, sausage and cheese and replace it with a Green Smoothie every day, it is quite likely that you will lose a few pounds in the long run. For many people, Green Smoothies help to reach and maintain their desired weight - without dieting.

If you want to lose weight with Green Smoothies, we recommend using fructose-rich fruits such as grapes, banana, mango or dried fruits sparingly. Instead, you can rely on real "slimmers" like strawberries or vegetable fruits like cucumber, tomato or bell pepper.

We prefer to buy our smoothie ingredients at farmers markets, this is where you will find reginoal fresh products. Alternatively, we do our shopping at organic food stores and markets. If you are not sure where the nearest organic store is, you should be able to find out here: naturkost.de. There may also be farms in your area that sell in their own little "farm store". You may find what you are looking for here: https://www.hofladen-bauernladen.info/adressen/index.php

In the meantime, there are also the so-called Marktschwärmereien, which bring together producers of high-quality food and buyers: https://marktschwaermer.de/de

Sure.

1. The fresher your ingredients, the more nutrients they contain. This is especially true for green ingredients.
2. We recommend using organic ingredients.
3. Ask for greens from radishes, carrots or kohlrabi at the organic/farm store, they are usually offered for free.
4. There are several options on the internet for subscribing to an organic box.

Here are a few general tips:

1. participate in a guided wild herb tour.An expert will teach you about the basic 3-7 edible wild herbs and where to gather them.
2. Avoid meadows and fields that are located along roads with heavy traffic, as the wild herbs here are polluted with car exhaust fumes.
3. Avoid pesticides from conventional agriculture - meadows and fields that are directly adjacent to conventionally farmed land.

We get asked about the fox tapeworm from time to time. How exactly the eggs of the fox tapeworm are transmitted to humans, however, has not been clarified. It is suspected that humans are infected through soil, pets, or plants that have been contaminated with the feces of infected foxes. The risk of infection is not limited to gathering herbs. Cultivated vegetables are equally likely to be infected, although the general risk of infection is comparatively small. As a precautionary measure, washing the leaves, whether purchased or collected, is recommended. Washing the ingredients removes or at least reduces bacteria, pesticides, sand and soil.

Find out more about the fox tapeworm on the website of the wild herb expert Leonie Gabriele Bräutigam.

If you are allergic to certain ingredients, you should adapt the recipes to your tolerances. The best way is to simply replace the ingredients that you can not eat and create a green smoothie that is suitable for your organism.

Here you will find some alternatives for ingredients.

This can definitely happen in the beginning if the body was hardly used to raw food before. The high fiber content in green smoothies usually stimulates digestive activity.

Try the following tips:

1. Reduce the green smoothie to 250 - 300 ml and then slowly increase the amount depending on your tolerance.
2. Remember that the Green Smoothie is NOT a thirst quencher, but a meal that should be drunk slowly sip by sip. Digestion begins in the mouth.
3. There should be at least 3 hours between your smoothie and your last meal - you should also give your body 1 hour to digest the smoothie before you eat a meal. Therefore, if you can, it is best to have it as a breakfast substitute so that it does not clash with other meals.
4. Only use ripe fruits. They not only provide a nice flavor, but are also easier to digest.
5. Keep it simple! Only use a few ingredients, 1-2 types of fruit and one type of green can also be enough. You can rotate these daily, which may be the quickest way to discover incompatibilities.
6. If you have stored the smoothie in the refrigerator, it may cause your stomach to become hypothermic and react ungraciously. Add a sip of warm water before drinking it - this will make the smoothie more stomach-friendly.
7. Sometimes digestive spices like cinnamon, chili and ginger can also help - add them to your smoothie according to your taste.

Since the green smoothie consists exclusively of healthy, natural ingredients, one could actually think this question is superfluous. Nevertheless, you should not ignore the question, because there are always reservations against green smoothies.

The three most common green smoothies criticism points:

1. Green smoothies cause indigestion, bloating or flatulence.

Generally, these are temporary sensitivities that indicate that the green smoothies are doing their job, initiating detoxification and getting the intestines, which may have been a little lazy up to that point, going with their high fiber content.

These inconveniences can be avoided by the following measures:

• Reduce your green smoothie to 250 - 300 ml in the beginning and then slowly increase the portion depending on your tolerance.
• Remember that a Green Smoothie is NOT a drink, but a meal - so it must be well salivated. This is done by moving each sip of smoothie through your mouth, "chewing" it in a sense. Spooning the Green Smoothie is also allowed and helps to salivated it.
• Drink the Green Smoothie no earlier than 3 hours after another meal and at least half an hour before. Therefore, it is best to drink the Green Smoothie as first meal of the day, breakfast. This prevents the Green Smoothie from mixing with undigested food residue and starting to ferment in the digestive tract.
• Ripe fruit not only give your green smoothie a wonderful fruity taste and a creamy consistency, but also increases digestibility.

2. Green smoothies are calorie bombs

Of course, green smoothies also contain calories. Especially if the fruit content is higher than 50 % and avocado or bananas are used. Calories are everywhere, especially in hearty breakfast sandwiches with cheese and sausage. However, these don't provide nearly as many vital nutrients and fiber as green smoothies do. In addition - this is our experience - green smoothies provide a long-lasting feeling of satiety and can reduce cravings for sweets and fatty foods. So, all in all, you can definitely reduce your calorie intake with green smoothies.

3. Green smoothies contain toxic substances

"The dose makes the poison." - and with that, Paracelsus described it perfectly. Many plants contain alkaloids, nitrogenous organic compounds that plants use to protect themselves from predators. In small quantities, these alkaloids are completely harmless - who wants to drink a green smoothie with 3 handfuls of wild herbs? After the first sip, each of us would immediately put the glass down - high concentrations of alkaloids taste extremely bitter. A green smoothie with a handful of wild herbs, is not only completely harmless, but provides important vitamins and nutrients.

Oxalic acid: Debates on this topic have and will always exist. Often it is the uncertainty that remains. The one question remains: who of us eats a kilo of spinach a day? You should avoid having oxalic acid-containing leafy vegetables on several days in a row. For example, spinach can be replaced with lamb's lettuce or radish leaves. The nitrate content in leafy green vegetables is generally considered to be of little concern. You can find more about this here.

Herbicides and pesticides, can be avoided by buying the ingredients for your green smoothie in organic quality or by gathering them in your own garden. Conventionally ingredients are very likely always affected.

Bottom line: variety is the magic word. Trust your instincts - If you find that an ingredient does not satisfy your taste, simply leave that ingredient out.

Our detox cure is NOT a diet, but encourages you to have one meal per day (preferably breakfast) made off healthy, natural foods (fruits, leafy greens, good water). Our green smoothies follow the general recommendation of recognized nutrition experts and the German Nutrition Society.

People with pre-existing conditions should nevertheless consult a doctor before starting the cleanse, as in some diseases, especially those affecting the digestive system, the body can be overburdened by too much fiber or too much raw food.

Allergy sufferers naturally omit the ingredients to which you are allergic to. One possibility is to replace these with tolerated ingredients.