Red Smoothies vs Green Smoothies : Benefits & Differences

 Ahhh! Smoothies! Easy to make, easy to consume, delicious, refreshing, enticing, full of health advantages.

 They come in a variety of colors too – red smoothies, green smoothies, yellow, orange, purple, bright-red, dark-red, dark-green, you name it!

 No wonder they have become such a sensation.

 And there is an endless combination of healthy and savory ingredients that you can add together to create a marvelous smoothie, so that you can be endlessly creative with them.

 In other words, you are at no risk of growing bored drinking the same smoothie over and over again. Finding new ingredients to add to the mix and creating new variations of your smoothie, or new combinations altogether, is only limited by your imagination.

 That’s how smoothies get their color too.

 Let’s focus on two of the most common smoothie categories in particular, red smoothies and green smoothies.

 Depending on the ingredients you add to a smoothie it will get its reddish or greenish color – and according to the ingredients come the different benefits that you can get from drinking it.

 Green smoothies are the ones that are more well-known, more common, and better established in our consciences – but red smoothies have their advantages.

 Before we proceed to examine the differences between red and green smoothies and how they compare to each other, let’s consider, for a while, what are the benefits of smoothies, and are they really as healthy and beneficial as we generally regard them to be?

       Benefits of Smoothies

 Most experts agree that smoothies are beneficial.

 Drinking smoothies, after all, is an easy way to add fruit and vegetables to your diet that you otherwise might not have consumed.

 They warn, though, against drinking all fruit smoothies, all the time. An occasional all fruit smoothie should be ok.

 The reason is that calories and sugar from fruit can add up quickly and this can lead to an over-consumption of both calories and sugar with many unhealthy effects. Take into account that the blender blades destroy the fruit’s naturally occurring insoluble fiber, which helps control the absorption of sugar in our bodies, and the danger from excess sugar in a fruit smoothie is exacerbated.

 That is why it is recommended to add protein and veggies in your smoothies. You could also try to pick fruit with a low glycemic index, like apples and pears. A good ratio to follow for your average smoothie seems to be about 70% veggie and 30% fruit.

 Paying some attention to the ingredients of your smoothie will guarantee that your smoothies are a nutrient powerhouse full of minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants. They can improve your heart and brain health, can boost your energy, aid your digestion, even improve your muscle recovery after workouts. They are also a great way to stay hydrated.

 Some ingredients to add for an extra healthy outcome are kale, beets and beet leaves, spinach, celery, parsley, carrots, pomegranate, strawberries, grapes, coconut oil, apples, kiwis. If you are going to add some protein powder, it may be better to add it in a slow steady stream rather than all at one time to prevent causing clumping and an uneven texture. Greek yogurt is a great alternative to protein powders because it is in a wet or hydrated form.

 Also try using fresh, organic vegetables and fruit. And try to consume fruit and vegetables that are in season since this will guarantee that they will be delicious and affordable while, at the same time, you will naturally achieve getting a variety of them which is something you should aim for in order to have a balanced intake of a variety of nutrients.

 Eating fruit and vegetables of various colors will also help you in receiving a variety of nutrients from your smoothie.

 Despite the value in combining and consuming a variety of different fruit and vegetables try not to overdo the ingredient list for any single smoothie. The flavor tends to be more enjoyable when fewer plant foods are combined.

         Red vs Green

 What you will get out of any smoothie is, of course, directly related to the ingredients that you will mix together to create it.

 Hence we have the differences between red and green smoothies – different ingredients, different outcome.

 The first difference is, obviously, their color. Even though green can be refreshing and soothing, red is far more interesting and enticing. Adding a little red color to our smoothie can make it more appealing, thus more exciting to consume even if the taste might not really be all that great.

 It’s not just the color though, red smoothies truly tend to be more palatable. That’s because they are inclined to be more fruity and sweeter. Green vegetables, while they are very healthy, tend to have a dull taste. On the contrary there aren’t many ingredients you can put in a smoothie to give it a red color that won’t be fruit (beet maybe being the one notable exception), and won’t have a sweet, pleasing taste. Just compare a kale to a strawberry.

 The extra sugar that usually comes with a red smoothie, though, is a reason to be a little extra cautious about them, especially if you are consuming them or plan to consume them on a regular basis. As mentioned above, a fruit smoothie can add a lot more sugar in our diet than we would like, and, along with the destruction of the fruit fiber in the making of the smoothie, this can be a real health concern. Don’t get wary of red smoothies though – my recommendation is to simply remember to stick to the 70-30 rule (70% vegetables, 30% fruit) and you will be fine. Actually, with all the benefits you will be getting out of your gorgeous red and green smoothies you will be more than fine. An occasional all fruit red smoothie is ok as long as you generally follow this rule.

 While green smoothies are nutrient powerhouses that come without the sugar content concern of a red smoothie, if you are only drinking green smoothies you are definitely missing out. It’s not just that red smoothies are delicious, some of the “red” ingredients you can add to the mix simply are dietary “treasures”. You are missing on things like beets, strawberries and pomegranates, among others, which are, all of them, renowned for the health benefits they can bestow.

         Epilogue

 Smoothies, red or green, are beneficial and healthy adding valuable, nutritious vegetables and fruit in our diets in an easy to consume and pleasurable fashion. By simply paying a little attention in the type and amount of each ingredient that we add to them, taking into account our personal specific circumstances regarding taste and health, we can ensure that only good things will come out of our perfectly tasty, fine, healthy, wonderful smoothies.

 Drink a combination of red and green smoothies for a maximum and balanced benefit.

 Discover 4 “superfoods” you can add to your smoothies to boost the fat-burning capacity of your body in our article The 4 “Secret” Superfoods That Eliminate Fat Fast.

 If a revolutionary new life-transformation system for rapid weight loss, increased energy and incredible health via delicious, easy-to-make smoothies sounds interesting, you must check The Smoothie Diet.

 You can also check out the Red Smoothie Detox Factor, a step-by-step system to lose weight and be in shape drinking healthy and mouth-watering red smoothies.

 And if you want to get an eBook containing many fantastic green smoothie recipes categorized so that you can focus on the specific outcome you most want out of your smoothies (boost your energy, detoxify, lose weight, boost your immune system, get healthier hair and many more), available on Amazon Kindle, for FREE, along with many other benefits, then subscribe to the Newsflow, our free weekly newsletter with all things flow : dev&mark.