Green Smoothies^{4}

Seems I’ve been on a bit of a health kick lately. Specifically I’ve been writing a lot about food, and this is another in that vein. As I’ve mentioned previously, I’m a vegetarian, or more accurately – I don’t eat meat. That includes fish and fowl. It can be a little challenging in the Philippines, as meat is a major part of most meals. This is true in a lot of places, of course, not just the Philippines.

Thankfully there is an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables in the Philippines, and that fits in perfectly with my new favorite food, Green Smoothies. I’ve not been much of a fresh fruit eater in the past, partially due of laziness and partially because of habits I’d gotten into.

I started craving more refreshment after all the sweating I’d been doing with my yoga classes. I can lose between 3 and 6 pounds each class and I’ve been going 3 times a week. Early on I got a fresh smoothie at the local health food store, and that really made a difference. After that I began to look into ways to get them a little cheaper and with the ingredients that I wanted. The logical conclusion was to make them myself.

I’ve tried a number of different concoctions and expect I will continue to do so. Some of that is just wanting to vary the nutrients and the taste, but I also have to take what I can get in terms of fresh fruit and vegetables. I know I’ll need to alter this quite a bit when I make this in the Philippines, as not all the current fruits I use would be available there. That’s OK because I’ll also be getting fresher and cheaper product.

My latest recipe is:

One young Coconut – water and meat
One whole Mango – peeled
One whole Orange – peeled
One whole Apple – with peel
One whole Banana – peeled
One half Lemon – peeled
One large handful Kale or Spinach
One scoop Raw Protein powder – vegan, no soy
One small piece Ginger
One stem Mint

This makes about 60 ounces, depending upon the size of each fruit. That’s quite a bit of smoothie, but it only has about 500 – 600 calories, as near as I can figure.

The coconut, mango, banana are all readily available in the Philippines. I suspect that ginger, mint and some sort of Kale/Spinach will also be easy to find. I don’t think the oranges and apples are going to be as easy, and if so not so cheap. That’s OK because I have an number of other options that are just as good or better. In particular I want to use Durian and possibly Mangosteen. Both of those are excellent sources of a number of good nutrients.

I’m still experimenting with the greens that I’m adding. Spinach works real well for me, but I understand that it’s good to rotate them. There are probably a lot of local greens in the Philippines to try. I’m not familiar with them, but I’ve got plenty of time to learn.

By Randy Countryman Category: Food, Health Tags: Coconut, Green smoothies, greens, Mango, Protein, raw food, Smoothies, vegetarian