Green Smoothies

Collards, kale, and mustard -- their intense pigment signals they're nutritious and full of antioxidants. While I love my dark leafy greens, they take forever to cook. If I don't plan ahead, they'll end up going bad in the refrigerator before I can get to them. Smoothies solve this problem. Everyday I pull a leaf or two and add them to the mix.

If you want to pack in even more nutrition into a smoothie, add supplements. Swallowing pills makes me gag, so I buy most of my supplements in liquid or powder form. I can mix them into recipes and not even taste them.

Almost every statistic points at many children living shorter, unhealthier lives than their parents. Juvenile diabetes, obesity, and hypertension are all on the rise and the primary cause is diet.

Green smoothies are a great way to pump nutrition into your kids while satisfying their craving for something that tastes good.

Do your kids like chocolate milk? If so, they'll love green smoothies. If you want to integrate raw food into your family's diet, smoothies are a great way to do it since a green smoothie is basically liquified raw vegetables.

If you're worried about how your children will react to the taste of liquified collard greens -- don't. A few bits of fruit or a little agave nectar and no one will ever suspect veggies are even in the recipe.

With green smoothies, you can personalize them for your health needs. For instance, heart disease runs in my family, so instead of water I use Hawthorne tea as my base.

Here's a few other ideas for smoothie additives--

• Problems with anemia? Add some liquid iron.


• Sore muscles? Add some liquid magnesium which is a natural muscle relaxant.


• Arthritis sufferers can benefit by adding glucosamine chondroitin.


• Concerned with aging? Add some Acai which is full of antioxidants.


• Constipated? Metamucil will get things moving.

You get the idea. Personalize your smoothie for your particular health needs.