I have a confession to make.  I’ve been cheating. On green juice.  Green juice and I have had a steady relationship now for over three years.  When I first started dabbling in  raw foods, I firmly established myself in the “green juice” camp.  I learned to start every day with a huge glass of fresh green vegetable juice, and very few days passed without me consuming anywhere between 16 and 32 ounces of the stuff.  I love it.  I think it’s delicious and it gives me way more energy than a cup of coffee.  When I drink it, I’m completely satisfied for a couple of hours.  It’s pretty amazing stuff.  Nutritionally, green juice is a powerhouse.  Since you’re separating the juice from the fiber, you’re able to consume a considerably larger amount of vegetables and therefore nutrients.  Also, green juice is incredibly alkalizing, and for those of you out there who are health dorks, you know that we want to keep our body in an alkaline state as much as possible to promote healing and detoxification.  

Now that you know why I’m green juice’s number one fan, you’re probably wondering why I’m cheating.  The answer is, I’ve been busy.  Really busy.  Juicing takes time. I was never able to make my green juice and clean the juicer in less than twenty minutes.  When you’re leaving the house by 7:30 in the morning, the extra twenty minutes makes a difference.  Unfortunately, my local health food store doesn’t open until well after I’m gone, so there has been no green juice in my life on days when I’m putting in the long hours.  

So what’s a girl to do?  Lately, I’ve defected to the green smoothie camp.  I’ll be honest. I’ve never been the biggest fan of green smoothies, but I’ve found a way to make them tolerable lately.  I decided to try out some really high quality vegan protein powder.  I’m not a vegan anymore, but I really have something against whey protein, and I’m not down with soy protein powder so I purchased some Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer and some Warrior Blend from Sun Warrior.

Both powders are all natural and as unrefined as can be, which makes me feel way better about consuming them. Best of all, they’re both sweetened with stevia which means no sugar, which I’ve been super aware of lately (I’ve even been restricting my fruit intake). 

On the days that I’m busiest and know I won’t have time to juice or purchase a juice, I’ve been blending up a protein powder and greens smoothie and it’s been keeping me satisfied all morning and giving me a nutrient blast.  Best of all, it takes less than five minutes (and that includes blender cleaning time)! In the spirit of sharing I’ve included one of the possible variations below with others to follow soon!

Light Green Protein Blast Smoothie

Ingredients:

16 oz. Water*

1 Scoop** Vega Vanilla Chai Whole Food Health Optimizer

1 Head Romaine Lettuce

Handful Frozen Berries (Optional)

Method:

Place all ingredients in your blender (high speed will give you the best results with the lettuce) and blend until smooth and delicious! 

* I like a big amout of a relatively thin smoothie - 16 ounces of water will yield about 24 ounces of a liquidy smoothie.  If you like less of a thicker smoothie, simply use less water. 

** A full serving of Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer is 2 scoops, but I find that one is just perfect for me.  If you tend to be a hungry person in the morning, try 2!