Enjoy a Green Drink Every Day

Green drinks great for boosting energy

Recently, in his studio with Mehmet Oz, M.D., who hosts an Oprah and Friends radio show on XM satellite radio. I sat in his studio during the interview, I couldn’t help but notice that he was sipping from a large container holding a liquid that looked suspiciously like the “green drink” I drink at the start of every single day.

That’s because it was. Oz, along with many other high-energy health-minded people I know, is a big fan of green drinks.

So what are these things, anyway? No one knows how they got to be so big in the health food world, but I suspect their popularity came about when folks started noticing how great they’d feel after having a shot of wheatgrass juice, which is made from little plants that look like grass that you can find next to the big industrial-strength juicer at nearly any health food juice bar. Talk about energy!

PACKING A NUTRITIONAL WALLOP
Wheatgrass “shots” have been a staple of the high-energy health food crowd for decades, even before health food stores morphed into natural supermarkets and multiplied to the point where they can be found in every big city and mall in the United States. They’ve been a staple of that crowd for good reason. Wheatgrass is loaded with chlorophyll, a natural blood purifier and detoxifier that can contribute to a feeling of well-being and energy. It is bitter tasting and expensive, but thousands of people swear by it.

So now, thanks to high-tech manufacturing processes, you don’t have to drink pure wheatgrass to benefit from the energy-enhancing effects of grasses. There have been an explosion of drinks and powered drink mixes in the marketplace to fill the needs of consumers thirsty (forgive the pun) for the energizing, alkalizing, detoxifying, and immune-enhancing effects of wheatgrass and its relatives in the grass family.

I’m using the term green drinks to refer to the entire category of juices from barely, wheatgrass, magma, or any combination of whole green foods, including spinach, broccoli, parsley, and virtually any other healthy green thing that grows. Green drinks pack an incredible nutritional wallop and usually have amazing phytonutrients*.

*A general name for the thousands of chemical compounds and nutrients (besides vitamins and minerals) that are found in plants, the majority of which have health benefits.

Green drinks are very alkalizing. You may recall from high school chemicals (or from gardening!) that many organic compounds have a pH value that can range from an extremely acid 1 (battery acid) to an extremely alkaline 14 (lye). The pH balance is very important for living things, and body fluids such as blood and saliva all have a very narrow range that is ideal for human health. However, a diet very high in meat and grains (and absent tons of vegetables) is likely to tip the balance more in the direction of acid, which is not a great thing for either energy or general health. Alkalizing green drinks help correct the balance and are a terrific counterpart to a higher meat diet.

On top of that, green drinks are usually made from organics sources, they’re low in calories, and most have no more than 3 or 4 grams of (low-glycemic) carbohydrates. You can find them in most health food and whole food supermarkets, and you should definitely consider making them part of your energy-boosting program.

The best green drinks include all kinds of extracts form vegetables such as spinach and can be mixed with water for a low-calorie, low-glycemic, high-vitamin and – mineral snack, pick-me-up, or breakfast juice. I sometimes add in a couple of ounces of one of the newer, exotic “designer” juices, such as – my favorite – noni juice. Because they’re so low in sugar, they don’t give you the “spike and drop” in energy that commercial fruit juice would give you, so you get a nice sustained buzz, not to mention the gratification that comes from knowing you’re doing something so good for yourself. They also do a nice job of taking the edge off your appetite, leaving you just “lean and hungry” enough to take on the world yet not so hungry that you can’t concentrate on anything.

Use green drinks as a stand-alone energy boost, or in combination with solid foods. A green drink together with a high-protein snack such as tuna will keep you going for hours. My personal favorite is Barlean’s Greens. For something so down-right healthy, It tastes surprisingly good!

Because green drinks are so low in sugar, they don’t give you the “spike and drop” in energy that commercial fruit juice would give you, so you get a nice sustained buzz.