Kathleen Graham is a self-proclaimed green smoothie mama. Every morning she wakes up, makes a green smoothie, puts it in her clear travel mug and brings it with her to the gym.
“I’ve seen quite a few looks over the years,” Graham said. “People say, ‘What’s that green thing?’ ‘Are you drinking green sludge?’ It definitely draws attention.”
Graham, founder of SoulStylista and a vibrant health coach, uses green smoothie samples to attract new clients at the gym.
“When they try it, they can’t believe how good it tastes,” she said.
Green smoothies are a blended drink that combines leafy greens, fruit and liquid.
Each of Graham’s clients gets a green smoothie lesson and she will help them customize it for their needs, according to the health goals and body type. She adds ingredients like kale, parsley, avocados, flax oil, coconut water, berries, apples and more.
Why is this green drink the cornerstone of her practice?
“I like to power pack my morning,” Graham said. “The smoothie is a meal that offers sustainable energy for my day. I get all the minerals of the greens, healthy fat, fiber, hydration from the coconut water and the antioxidant power of the fruit and berries. My body can handle pretty much anything after that.”
A green smoothie is a great way to add more greens to your diet without having to cook them and, in some combinations, taste them. Women in particular who want to add more calcium to their diet can really get a boost.
“Most people do not eat enough green leafy vegetables,” wrote Monique Bastien in The Green Smoothie Queen’s Complete Guide to Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Green Smoothies. “Their nutritional value however, is immense. Greens provide the best source of the alkaline minerals: calcium, magnesium, and iron. These minerals provide the perfect environment for health cleansing your body of bad bacteria, parasites, yeast and more.”
Bastien writes about some of the benefits you can experience from including greens in your diet everyday. They include: a huge boost in thinking power, better mood, healthy body weight, reduced stress, healthy heart, boost in fertility, healthy skin, hair and nails and give your body an ally in the fight against cancer by releasing agents that can cause abnormal cells to shrink or disappear.
“Smoothies are a gateway to greens,” Graham said.
She offers many tips to help clients stay consistent with making the smoothies. One of her biggest recommendations is to pack the blender at night with all the dry ingredients and add the liquid in the morning.
As her clients start having smoothies in the morning, they start to have less coffee and pastries.
“My clients are amazed how old habits fall away naturally and they actually start to crave the smoothie,” she said.
Suzanne Boothby is a Brooklyn-based wellness writer, certified health coach and co-founder of New York Family Wellness. Visit www.suzanneboothby.com to learn more.
Edited by Alison Stanton