To Kale or Not to Kale

To Kale or Not to Kale

Ok, ok, I’ll stop it with the kale puns. To be fair, I don’t have that much to work with besides kale or berries.

So many people, namely my taste-testers who take one look at my greenish pink sludge of a drink and cringe, are a bit wary of adding vegetables to smoothies. In addition, a reader commented, “ I like the idea of a green smoothie; however, I am still curious as to the difference between this smoothie and one using all fruits and natural fruit juice? What does the spinach or other greens add to the smoothie that normal fruits do not have?” Aside from the motherlode of the nutrients it provides, adding vegetables such as spinach pretty much adds no taste whatsoever. Regardless, I decided to attempt a vegetableless version of one of my previous smoothies.

The perfect opportunity to try this came when the spinach I was planning on finishing expired.  I really wanted to make smoothies for the week because I had no time to make or get breakfast. I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to try it without vegetables to see if there was a taste difference or a difference on how it made me feel.

I chose to recreate my last smoothie so I could have a control group. The original recipe consisted of berries, kale, honey, flaxseed, and kefir yogurt. I made the same smoothie without the kale. There was definitely more room in the blender, so I just doubled everything up to make up the same quantity as I would have had with the kale. The smoothie quickly turned into a vibrant purple color rather than the pale pink it usually looked like. It definitely seemed a lot more appetizing. However, it was a lot harder to blend for some reason. Without the kale, the berries just clumped together in the yogurt and refused to separate. There were also small air bubbles in the smoothie that prevented the berries from blending together so I had to poke around with a fork to try to separate the berries and get rid of the air bubble. After a very messy 10 minutes, I finally got it  to a somewhat smooth consistency, save for a giant strawberry that stubbornly stayed in form. I guess the consistency of the kale helped to prevent the yogurt, honey, and berries from turning into a messy gluey consistency.  

When I finally got around to tasting it, I tasted absolutely no difference. To my chagrin, it tasted exactly the same, if not worse than the vegetable smoothie. Maybe it was because I was so used to the taste of a kale smoothie. In terms of the effect it had on me, the vegetable smoothie definitely had me feeling full longer.  I had to drink twice the amount I normally would have to feel full, and I was hungry an hour later. However, drinking so much made me feel sluggish and sleepy. Even though I did get a small burst of energy, the vegetable smoothie definitely gave me more energy.

In terms of nutrients, I definitely missed out on a powerhouse of nutrients. Here’s a quick list on what I missed out on in terms of spinach.

20% of  the RDA of dietary fiber: aids in digestion, maintains low blood sugar

Flavonoids: slows down stomach and skin cancer cells, prevents prostate cancer

Antioxidants: prevents osteoporosis, atherosclerosis and high blood pressure

Peptides: lowers blood pressure

337% of Vitamin A: provides immunity

Over 1000% of Vitamin K:  keeps bones from breaking down

These, and so much more, is lost without adding spinach. (“11 Benefits of Spinach”). Kale is high in iron, vitamin K, calcium, and Vitamin A.  I would definitely stick to my vegetable smoothies. Not only do the kale/spinach have a ton of cancer stopping super nutrients, it tastes better (atleast to me), gave me more energy, and are generally more filling. I definitely recommend keeping the vegetables in.
            So, that’s a wrap folks. Although this blog is coming to an end, rest be assured that I will continuously be making these smoothies for breakfast. By making one simple switch in my diet, I am more focused in school, feeling more full, intaking a ton of nutrients, and overall feeling a lot better without the usual weighed down feeling I got when I started my day with a waffle. The smoothie project has been a solution to all my problems; it is a fast, healthy breakfast I can grab to go and feel great about.

Work Cited

"11 Health Benefits of Spinach." Health Diaries, 28 Feb. 2011. Web. 15 Mar. 2013.

            <http://www.healthdiaries.com/eatthis/11-health-benefits-of-spinach.html>.