Vegan Juicing: Potassium-Rich Smoothie Recipe and How I Cheat to Add More Greens

5/22/2013

I've already talked a bit about why I'm always on the lookout for easy ways to increase my potassium intake and why most people probably need more potassium in their diets.
You can read about that (and get another potassium-rich smoothie recipe, a list of potassium-rich foods and some more info) here:

Vegan Juicing: Potassium Power Smoothie with Coconut Water

But don't go running off just yet, since I have a recipe for you here too! Plus, the other blog post doesn't tell you about how I cheat to get more nutrients from greens.

So let's get right down to it...

I'm not really one to measure as I'm adding ingredients to my blender, so these measurements are estimates, and you may want to add a little more or less of the frozen stuff to get your fave smoothie texture.

Here's what I am currently doing for my daily potassium-rich smoothie:

11 ounces of coconut water (I got these single-serving packs at the dollar store.)

1 banana

1/2 cup frozen strawberries (from the dollar store)

3/4 cup frozen pineapple chunks (from the dollar store)

2 teaspoons chia seeds (optional)

1 scoop of vegan greens powder (This is optional. I use Greens Today Vegan that I get cheap from Vitacost.)

The glass jar (liberated from a friend's recycling bin to store bulk goods) is filled with chia seeds.

Let me sneak in here with a quick tip: Your chia seeds need to soak and get all gooey before you blend them up in your smoothie. To have one less cup or bowl to wash, just put them in your blender with your coconut water about 10 minutes before you plan to whip up this delish drink.

Put the chia seeds in your blender with the coconut water to let them get all gooey before you make your smoothie.

Of course, this vegan smoothie offers much more than just potassium and is packed with other vitamins and minerals. This is particularly true is you opt for adding a scoop of something like Greens Today to seriously up the nutritional value.

As I'm sure you have guessed by now, that is how I'm sneaking more greens into my diet. I throw one scoop of vegan greens powder in the blender and instantly add 1500mg of organic spirulina, 1000mg broccoli powder, and a seriously respectable amount of iron, vitamin E, B1, B6, B12, calcium, vitamin C, vitamin D2 and much more.

What happened was...I was looking for cheap maca root and some kind of probiotic to add to the supplements I take each day. While I was searching on my favorite site for discount health foods and supplements I came across Greens Today, which has both a probiotic blend and maca root, as well as a ton of other good-for-you stuff.

Do I feel like I'm cheating when I use a powder instead of fresh greens?

Yes.

Am I going to keep right on doing it?

Yes.

Here's the deal: I am both busy and cheap. While I recognize that fresh, whole foods are the way to go whenever possible, there are lots of days when I will miss out on green goodness simply because I don't have time to sit there and wash and prepare a bunch of fresh produce when I'm working against tight deadlines. I do, however, have time to toss some frozen fruit and a scoop of greens powder in a blender.

I know that most of you are super busy too, and I think relying on this sort of backup is definitely better than just going without greens completely when we don't have a lot of time to dedicate to healthy eating.

Folks (like me) who can't always afford to purchase all of the organic produce their heart desires can also use this as an affordable way to keep working towards good health, even when you don't have fresh greens in the house.

There are several such products available, but Greens Today was significantly cheaper and looked just as good when I compared the lists of ingredients and supplement facts. I have been using it for about two weeks now, and I love it. I will get around to putting up a full review with more information, but I at least wanted to mention it now, since it is helping me easily increase my nutrient intake.

This is what the package looks like:

You may be able to find this locally. If not, you can definitely get it online. I buy mine from Vitacost, which is an awesome website where you can find all sorts of vegan supplements, hair and beauty products, organic and gluten-free foods, spices and more. You do have to sign up for a free membership, but that only takes a minute and is SO worth it.

Now, if you want, you can go right over to www.vitacost.com and sign up, but you can get a $10.00 credit to use on your first order if you sign up via an invitation link from a current member.

So, because I love y'all (and because you and I both get a $10.00 credit if you do it this way), here is an invitation link for Vitacost.