Healthy Green Drinks: Heavy Green

For today, I chose to make a green juice called, the Heavy Green from the book, The Healthy Green Drink Diet by Jason Manheim. So recently, I got hit hard with the flu and I am not enjoying it as I am typing this out surrounded by a bunch of nasty tissues. So this morning I decided to make the Heavy Green specifically because it is filled with many greens that should help me feel better.

                       Ingredients:

                       1 cup broccoli

                       2 leaves collard greens

                       1 cup spinach

                       ½ green apple

                       ½ cucumber

                       ½ avocado

                       1 lime (juiced)

For this drink, I first took one cup of broccoli and washed it all down. Then, I chopped it up into smaller pieces so it would be easier to blend, and put it into the blender. Then I took the collard greens and the spinach and washed them and put them into the blender. After that, I took a half of a green apples and cut it up into smaller pieces and put that into the blender. I also took the cucumber and avocado and did the same. The last ingredient was lime, so I juiced out one whole lime and put it into the blender. Lastly, I put in some water and turned on the blender.

Moving onto the ingredients for this drink, the first ingredient is broccoli. A lot of people are not very big fans of broccoli because of the taste, though it is very beneficial to your health. It is loaded with “vitamins C, K, and A, folate, and fiber” (Manheim 14). Broccoli is great for your body because the fiber helps with digestion so that your body is able to absorb vital nutrients from foods. The next ingredient in this drink is collard greens. Collards are known to be one of the best cholesterol-lowering foods ever and according to Jason Manheim, they are also overflowing with many vitamins such as A, C, and K, manganese, folate, calcium, and dietary fiber. This is very beneficial to people who struggle with their cholesterol or for people who have cancer because collards help fight it. The next green in this drink is cucumber. I absolutely love cucumbers. They are very refreshing and help with digestion and also help contain beneficial nutrients that promote health and maintenance for the cells in your body. The last major green for this juice is spinach, one of the healthiest vegetables in the world which says a lot. I talked about Spinach in my last post so if you want to know more about it, make sure to look back at that. Moving onto the superfoods the major superfood in this green drink is an avocado. Avocados are also sometimes called the food of the gods. “It is one of the healthiest sources of monounsaturated fats you can eat” (Manheim 32). This means that your are getting good fats. Some people do not know what avocados are made out of and will say that avocados are filled with fat and are bad for you. But in reality, if you eat the right amount, avocados are actually filled with fats that are very good for your body. When avocados are added into green drinks, they can increase the absorption of carotenoid antioxidants lycopene and beta-carotene. They are also known for their anti-inflammatory properties. Moving on, the next ingredient is green apples. All apples have great health benefits, but the green ones in particular have a lot of protein, minerals, vitamins and fiber, so you already know they are great. The last ingredient in this drink is lime. Lime are different from lemons and are very beneficial as they help with skin care, digestion, constipation, eye care, peptic ulcers, respiratory disorders and much more.

I would not recommend this drink for the people who are new to green drinks. This is definitely for the more hard-core green juice drinkers. It was pretty bitter for me but some of that bitterness could have been because I am sick and cannot taste too well. If you want to try this out but are not a big fan of green drinks, try adding in some fruits. 

So, what are your favorite major greens or superfoods? 

Manheim, Jason. The Healthy Green Drink Diet. New York, Skyhorse, 2012.