Green Smoothies-What the?

Recently, an acquaintance of mine, told me she had decided to eat only raw foods and as part of that diet, she said she had got a hold of some 'green smoothie' recipes. She told me what was in them. I said 'yuk, that sounds horrible'. She assured me they tasted just like fruit. Last week, I felt sick and I thought to myself 'I reckon I need to dose up on green vegies to help me get a health boost'. What I usually do is eat baby spinach in a huge salad for lunch but as I was unwell, I really couldn't be bothered to get up off the couch and do that, so I was trying to think of easy ways to consume lots of baby spinach.
Then I remembered the conversation I had had with my friend and contacted her to get the 'recipe'. I began straight away on the Wednesday (day two of feeling unwell). I had two green smoothies that day (quick to make-about 5 mins total I would say) and the next day when I woke up, I cancelled all my appointments for the day, made myself a huge green smoothie and hit the couch. Slept most of the day, mind you! In between sips of green smoothie of course. And what do you know. I woke up Friday, with only a hint of what I had had. I was feeling so much better in fact, that I was able to get up and about and do the chores etc that I had had to reschedule from the previous day plus what I had on the agenda for Friday. Mind you, I was driven by the fact that I have a scrapbooking retreat coming up and plenty to do in preparation for that and need to be as healthy as ever.
This morning I was woken up by my son sneezing at 5 am with all the symptoms, and as I had to be gone by 7.30, I got up and made him and myself a green smoothie. My friend had promised me that her children really enjoyed the green smoothies so I put it in a cup (with a lid because it looks horrible) and asked him just to sip it. Three sips were enough for him. He had had enough. He didn't like it all. I guess you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him enjoy it!
So what is a green smoothie? Well basically, it's roughly 2 cups of fruit (any fruit really or any combination) with all the yucky bits removed (core, tips, stalks, seeds, whatever), in a blender with a large handful of greens (I only used baby spinach as it is what I had in the fridge and I believe it is the green with the most nutrients). Wizz it in a food processor or blender until it all sticks to the sides then gradually add 2 cups of water (or enough at least to make the mix resemble a smoothie consistency). I put mine into a 'Thermos' cup (with the lid on as I mentioned before because it doesn't look that appetising-it's green for goodness sake) and then I sip it. I have been having them for breakfast and am back to feeling great. I might even continue having them to keep up my 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of vegies per day. As it's blended and not juiced, you also get all the fibre as well.
These are the fruit mixes: I have had green apple, strawberry & banana, berries(that was a bit bitter), also recommended are pear & parsley, apples & lemon juice, peaches, mangoes, grapes & mango, orange & mango, mango & pineapple. I was thinking you could do watermelon as well with summer coming up(or is it already here? It feels like it today).
So you see, as far as fruit goes you can use whatever is in the fridge. Well, if you are feeling a little under the weather anytime soon, get the blender/food processor out and grab some baby spinach and some fruit and wizz to your heart's content. A quick easy nutritious meal when you are feeling poorly, if nothing else!
You can check out more here: www.GreenSmoothieRevolution.com/blog