Tuesday 24 February 2009

Green Smoothie Fail

I've been meaning to try a green smoothie for well over a year now; I don't know why I never got around to it - I guess a natural aversion to the concept of smoothies; I really don't like the idea of drinking something so... viscous. If that's the word. I even went as far as buying a smoothie maker last year, but after the first dramatic attempt to get it going resulted in nothing but a horrible smell of burning and some defiantly solid blueberries, I just gave up and the thing gathered dust and irritated me by taking up counter space before I sent the thing off to a charity shop, hoping it was my incompetence that produced the burning and not a faulty machine...

But inspired once more by Matt's postings to the CR lists and on his own blog, I decided to take the plunge yesterday.I used my food processer which seems to be fairly powerful rather than investing in a blender this time (live and learn). In went half a pack of young spinach leaves, and a cup of tap water. Blend blend blend... Then a banana, in pieces, and a handful of blueberries, and another cup of water. Blend blend blendalotandthensomemore.

And I had a jugful of green gloop that looked just like all the other jugs of green gloop that one can find courtesy of google. I had a cautious taste. It was okay. Tasted a bit more bananary than I'd like, but... well, packed full of green goodness as it was, who could complain about that. In fact it was pretty good.

So I poured it out and sat and drank it. Fairly slowly. I didn't just chug it down.

I'd like to say that afterwards, I was buzzing with energy and vitality; I'd like to say that it had the same miraculous effect on my feeling being completely totally knackered all the time and infused me with new life and enthusiasm. I'd like to say I am a complete convert and nothing will ever touch my lips but green smoothies twice a day and I will be forever RAW and GREEN.

But no. I had the worst attack of indigestion I have EVER had an hour afterwards, which sent me curled up back to bed shuddering in agony for most of the day. GRUMP.

It's bizarre. I'd say that 90% of my diet is green and 75% raw anyway. I love green veggies. I love fruit. But clearly green and fruit together do not do it for me. At least not in that combination.

I can't say I'm tempted to repeat the experiment.

Green smoothie Fail. :-(

8 comments:

Ali said...

At least you tried! I remember an awful experiment with a juicer involving everything from spinach to celery to garlic. Ewwww! Thinking about the taste of that concoction still makes me cringe a little. I never really thought about blending spinach into a smoothie. I might give it a try just to see how I fare.

Amy said...

This post was cracking me up! I once bought a smoothie-like "green drink" at the health food store, and while it had a really decent taste, I just had problems getting over the color (army-green). I just never found myself reaching for it - I had to treat it like medicine, and it was ridiculously expensive, so I never went down that road again.

Matthew said...

Thats kinda odd, especially considering the few ingredients you used. Maybe the ratio of greens and fruits wasn't right. Give it one more go sometime with 2 Bananas, red apple, 100g spinach, Pineapple100g and 200-250ml water. You should give that a try and i'd be surprised if it didn't tate right. It should be incredibly smooth not clumpy or anything, it should taste like a tropical drink and not anything like spinach or leaves.

Your not the odd one out, there are hundreds of forum pages with disasters like you said. Just a good blender, the right amount of greens and veggies and then it can taste amazing. People who go onto experiment more usually find them amazing once they get it right.

I haven't found one person that dislikes them who Ive got to try yet. Even people at work tried it and love them. All my family and my close friends like them too. Even my nephew and niece who are under 10 years of age always have one each on a saturday morning. It just consists of Pineapple, Mango, Bananas, Spinach, Apple. Kale is a bit too much for them but you can move onto that after spinach.

Honestly, since starting these digestion has never been better.

I wouldn't recommend juicing though. Just a good blender will do.

Matthew said...

Amy, they heat the green smoothies drink before selling it, and therefor the enzymes in it are destroyed. Plus the ones in shops are horrible compared to good home made smoothies.

I'll share some good videos a little later when i can get the links.

Sara said...

Matt, it wasn't that I actively disliked it, it was that it disliked me! P has a smoothie maker at his place, so I will give it another try one of these days when I have all the right ingredients in the right place at the right time (incredibly difficult in P's house). I don't want to be missing out on something so good here! :-)

Mizpah Matus said...

Hi Sara. I am blogging again and doing it raw now!

I would say don't give up too soon as well. If you can get mangoes they make the best green smoothies. Mango, banana and spinach is delicious.

Did you have it on an empty stomach? I find that I can have problems digesting green smoothies when the last meal is not completely digested.

I have a green smoothie for breakfast almost every morning and for me it is the perfect way to start the day.

Matthew said...

You still alive then ? :p

On CR?

Sara said...

Alive, yes.
CR - probably. ON... errm! :-)
I will post again one of these days. Happy Easter Matt.