If you are a vegetarian or totally into healthy eating you may have heard of drinking a green smoothie. To someone (like me) who is not a vegetarian and does not eat particularly healthy; this may be a totally new concept.

Last week, I decided that I was going to start eating a healthy diet. Not because I need to loose weight but because I want to be a good example for my girls. I pulled out my old “boot camp” (an intensive 12 week exercise & nutrition program)* diet from 2 1/2 years ago and started buying things that were on the list. I had forgotten how expensive it is to buy healthy food! Anyway, I did not follow the diet exactly but was using it as a guideline for portions and daily intake of certain foods. Since I don’t eat six meals a day (as the boot camp diet plan suggests); I made smoothies to help get my fruit and vegetables down in a shorter amount of time.

Later in the week, a friend was drinking a tall glass of bright green juice when I arrived at her house for a play-date. A few of us moms were curious as to what exactly she was drinking 🙂 To our surprise she said that she had put fresh spinach in her smoothie! In my mind, that was going too far to achieve making a healthy smoothie. My friend insisted that you can’t taste the spinach if you also put a banana in it. I was still not convinced but when I walked through the grocery store today I decided to pick up a bag of spinach.

Gather your ingredients!

There are many recipes on the internet for smoothies using greens. Based on what I had available in my kitchen; I used the following:

1 Cup Fruit Juice, 1/4 Cup Plain Yogurt, 1 Cup Fresh Strawberries, 1 Banana, Approximately 2 Cups Fresh Spinach, & 5 Ice Cubes.

Generally, I keep some or all of my fruit frozen so that I don’t have to use ice cubes. Since this was a spur of the moment experiment; I did not have time to freeze the fruit this time.

Put ingredients in blender!

I put all ingredients, except for the ice cubes, in the blender and blended until smooth. Then, I added, crushed, and blended the ice cubes to get the cold smoothie effect.

Pour in a glass and enjoy!

My verdict?

I love it!

I really could not taste the spinach. In fact; I think it is one of my better smoothie concoctions. Although my 3 year old daughter would not taste it; my 1 year old daughter liked it enough to have a cup of her own. I had my husband close his eyes (before seeing the color) and taste it. He said that he liked it but then looked shocked after I showed him the color and told him there was spinach in it.

I plan to continue being more conscious of what I eat. I don’t think I can stick to a strict diet with nothing bad in it because I love food too much. I am watching my portions though. I think the key is moderation of the not so good stuff and an increase of the healthy stuff. Ask me in a few weeks or months if I’m sticking with it. I hope I am!

*****

*[In case anyone was wondering; I did the 12 week-daily boot camp program several months after having my first daughter. I reached my goal of getting back to my pre-pregnancy weight. Except for the occasional walk; I have not exercised since (even since having my second daughter). I think the boot camp scared me for life. I hate exercising!]