It's true what they say about vegetables

I have resolved to eat more vegetables, particularly the raw kind. I had a really spectacular kale salad at a raw restaurant a few weeks back, and my iterative attempts to recreate it started this trend. I noticed that I felt more sanguine with a good measure of raw green things in my diet, so now have started mixing up a green smoothie every morning. Interestingly, within a week of instituting this daily habit, I noticed a pretty dramatic improvement in my skin's texture. The coarse, grainy texture my skin gets under stress vanished completely, and my cheeks are now smooth again. This can only be the result of the increased fresh fruit and vegetable consumption, as I've changed nothing else in my life.

The recipe goes like this: tear up a couple of dark green leaves (eg, kale, spinach, romaine), and pack into the blender with a bit of water. You have to puree the greens before adding anything else, or they won't get ground up to a drinkable consistency. Then add banana, apple, etc. I like the sharpness of the greens, so keep the ratio of green to fruit at about 50/50. Sometimes I add some ginger paste, and/or mint. Once I accidentally bought mustard greens instead of kale, which resulted in an undrinkable neon green mess.

Comments

[amy]

very true! i have to start drinking those again.

[lauraw]

I read this yesterday and knew I just had to try it.

Just finished drinking two glasses (I used a pile of frozen kale, two small apples, and a bunch of water and 1/2 tray of ice cubes).

Very refreshing on a hot morning, thanks for the tip!

[MJ]

I think I got my ratio wrong last night. I love greens and weird juices too, but must have packed in too much kale - I had to hold my nose and gag it down, but the kale/banana/TJ's frozen wild blueberry drink did make me feel terrific afterwards. Very clean and sprightly (though I really don't love gagging things down - husband walked into kitchen and asked why I was drinking greeny-purple smoothie with my nose pinched and eyes watering).

Back to drawing board....

[Hillary Johnson]

Haha, MJ, I wonder if you made the same mistake I did, and bought mustard greens instead of kale? They were right next to each other on the shelf, and the only visible difference is that the kale is a darker green and thicker-leaved. I pinch off a leaf and taste now if I'm not sure. Today I'm doing spinach, just for a change of pace...