Does this sound like you?
You’re rushing around getting ready for your next show, when you realize you’ve only got minutes to eat. All day you’ve been getting by on whatever fast-food items are at your fingertips and you know you need to do something good for your bod if you don’t want it to rebel.
That’s when you reach for your trusty green powder, the one that says it has every veggie in the world in it. You throw that scoop of weird dusty granules into your blender bottle shake it up, down it and feel content that you’re “eating” healthy.
And you do this every day, because it’s easy, and consuming enough veggies is not.
Even as grown-ups we’re always trying to find ways to get around eating our daily allowance of greens. So much so that the CDC reported that only 1 in 10 adults get the recommended amount of fruit OR vegetables – so we’re lacking in both. But for busy people, like us, it’s difficult to keep it up. Which is why green drinks are so popular – they’re easy.
But, truthfully how beneficial are they?
The answer is somewhere in the middle.
According to WebMD powdered drinks can be a great supplement to an already healthy diet filled with greens, but they are not a replacement.
Because the powder is made from dried fruits and vegetables, you’re missing out on the fiber and other “nutritional benefits you get from whole foods.” In addition, you have to be careful about which product you choose. Many of them contain fillers and some are even harmful as talked about by registered dietician Frances Largeman-Roth, RDN in this article printed in Today. Further, you do get what you pay for – if your greens are cheap, chances are the brand is skimping on the veggies and adding a bunch of other stuff you don’t want, or they’ve got a meager number of supplements. This is a nice article which tries to take some of the guess work out of which ones you should pony up the cash for.
So, where does this leave us?
Everyday Health recommends that if you can’t get your greens in, powdered ones are a good option, but ideally you should try as hard as you can to implement whole vegetables and fruits in your diet.
So yes, reach for that container of powdered greens when you’re short on time or haven’t been able to get in any or enough veggies for the day, but remember that tomorrow you need to get back on the wagon and eat the real thing.
Main Photo credit: iStock.com/baibaz
Second photo credit: iStock.com/Norrabhudit
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Alyssa Collins hails from Minnesota, where snowy days were the perfect excuse to stay warm inside and write. Over the years, she turned that joy into a career and has authored numerous articles for various publications (under pen names). Email Alyssa via alyssa@ynot.com.
