The science behind what to put in your Green Smoothie!

Standing tall!

I've been juicing almost every day and sometimes twice or even three times a day since early April. When I began I used the family food processor and things didn't come out as nice as expected but I new and understood the health ramifications so I drank chunky green gunk all for the cause.

Most days I have the juice for breakfast or shortly after breakfast, which is usually a bowl of porridge. 

After about 2 weeks of this tremendous commitment to swallow a concoction of whatever greens were laying around the kitchen I decided to buy a proper piece of kit. I went with the CookWorks which retailed at £24.99 from Argos UK. 

So the questions remains, was that money well spent? 

I'd say in the grand scheme of things that was the most important purchase I have ever made in my life. "Now that's a fairly grand statement to through out there." Let me explain!

The health benefits of eating raw fruit and vegetables are countless, the studies that suggest this to be true are also countless and the feeling you get from having a green juice every day, well lets just say MasterCard would be hard pressed to beat it.
It has been shown on numerous occasions that raw foods containing many antioxidants are the key to good health, longevity. Raw foods also go a long way in preventing injuries by keeping the body in a more alkaline state and counteracting the oxidation process that occurs during exercise.

So what do I put in my juice or smoothie?

Most days it varies but these are the usual suspects

100mls water

100ml apple juice

One chopped apple* or pear

1.5 inches of cucumber

1.5 inches of courgette 

A handful of frozen mixed/blue berries*

2 large handfuls of spinach*/kale

1 tea spoon of spirulina

A small chunk of ginger*/garlic

A half of a lime*/lemon squeezed
A tea spoon of Chia seeds and a tea spoon of flax seed

* denotes preferred item!

I drink lots of water and I love apple juice. I eat lots of apples but I don't really like cucumber. I had never eaten raw courgette and I seldom buy berries. I'd never usually eat kale and although I love spinach I'd never have 2 large handfuls at one sitting. I had never heard of spirulina before I started juicing and I had never eaten raw ginger or limes. So all these foods with their multitude of antioxidants and life force goodness have made their way into my cells and I feel better for it. I've ran every single day since the 21st of May and I haven't even had a slight niggle. Most people think running that often and covering that distance could only lead to injury. But remember injuries come from one of 3 primary reasons, either

You are not getting the right nutrition

You are training too hard 

Or you are not getting enough rest and recovery.

Here is a video outlying the benefits that some of those foods bring
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/a-better-breakfast/

If that doesn't convince you, nothing will!

Neil
@RunSensible