The 10 Best Leafy Greens for Green Smoothies

Kale

Best Blended With

To offset the bitterness of kale, it is best blended with sweet fruits, like mangoes and bananas.

Swiss Chard

Best Blended With

Since swiss chard has delicate leaves, it can be seamlessly blended into any smoothie. Swiss chard can be deliciously paired with flavorful fruits like banana, pineapple, and citrus.

Spinach

Best Blended With

Once again, the soft leaves of spinach make this superfood prime for blending. Our favorite fruits to blend with smoothies are strawberries, blueberries, apples and pears. Since these fruits are low in sugar, the spinach acts as a nice neutral green.

Beet Greens

Best Blended With

The mild and dainty leaves of beets can be blended smoothly into almost any smoothie. The flavor of the greens will not overpower the flavor of your fruit of choice. Be adventurous. Try beet greens with grapes, peaches, apples, even figs!

Romaine

Best Blended With

Honestly, the light and mellow flavor of romaine makes it ideal for any smoothie. You won’t be able to taste all the nutrients your giving your body with every sip.

Arugula

Best Blended With

The strong flavor of arugula goes well with other strong tasting smoothie ingredients. We love being innovative with this powerful green by adding it to beets, and citrus. Using dried fruit, such as cherries, raisins, or dates also compliments the bitterness in the best possible way!

Carrot Tops

Best Bleneded With

Since carrot tops are bitter, they blend well with sweet fruit. We think ginger compliments the flavor of carrot tops perfectly! 

Bok Choy

Best Blended With

In green smoothies, the bitterness and earthiness of bok choy is easily masked by just about any fruit. We love it with papaya, pears, strawberries, and citrus. Here’s a winning combo if you’re feeling thirsty.

Collard Greens

Best Blended With

To offset any bitterness collard greens may add to your smoothie, we recommend blending them with flavorful fruits such as mango, pineapple, peaches, banana, or cherries. Collard on your mind? Here’s a recipe we love.

Dandelion Greens

Best Blended With

The bitter nature of dandelion greens make them ideal additions to smoothies containing very sweet and flavorful fruit. Try adding this nutritional punch to your kiwi, citrus, strawberry, or banana smoothies! Coconut water is also a great way to add some natural sweetness to more astringent greens, we know from experience.

Things You Didn’t Know About Watermelon

It has more lycopene than raw tomatoes

In just one cup, watermelon has 1.5 times the stuff than a large fresh tomato, 6 milligrams compared to 4 milligrams, according to the USDA. That matters because lycopene is thought to act as a super antioxidant, stopping free radicals from damaging your cells and messing with your immune system. Some research even suggests that lycopene, typically found in red fruits and vegetables, may help fight heart disease and several types of cancer.

The juice may relieve muscle soreness

A Spanish study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that drinking watermelon juice can actually be quite soothing after a grueling workout. Athletes who consumed a little more than 16 ounces an hour before exercise had less muscle soreness and a lower heart rate within a day. That may be because watermelon contains a natural substance called citrulline that’s been tied to improved artery function and lower blood pressure. In fact, its ability to relax the blood vessels led Texas A&M University researchers to say watermelon has Viagra-like effects. But you’ll need to look beyond the pink flesh if you really want to load up on citrulline—it’s concentrated most in the rind. If that’s not your thing, you can always save it for pickling or preserving later, Sass says.

It’s a fruit AND a vegetable

Talk about an overachiever. Like most fruits, watermelon is the product of a seed-producing plant and has a signature sweet taste. But it can be traced back to the squash, pumpkin, and cucumber family known as Cucurbitaceae. Remember how you can eat the rind? The dual nature of watermelon makes it all edible, so there’s no excuse to leave any part behind.

It’s packed with, well, water

Now this is a food with some serious hydration power. Watermelon is 91.5% water, according to the USDA. That’s a big deal seeing as how being dehydrated is bad for your health. A study published in The Journal of Nutrition found that women with even mild dehydration experienced headaches, poor concentration, fatigue, and worse moods. More reason to whip up some watermelon recipes, stat.

There’s a yellow variety

It’s hard to believe there’s a watermelon that’s NOT pink on the inside, but there’s another variety, known as Yellow Crimson, has a sunny interior and the flesh has a sweeter, honey-like taste. Thing is, the two are nearly identical on the outside, so unless you’re reading the signs at your grocery store or farmers’ market, it can be hard to tell which is which. If you want the regular pink watermelon, ask for a Crimson Sweet.

Add this healthy, delicious fruit to you water and enjoy a Fruit Infused Water in your Infuser Water Bottle ! 

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HEALTH BENEFITS OF DRINKING COLD WATER

Water is the Best Drink for Health

Doctors have always stressed on the fact to keep hydrated water is the best option for your health. When you traditionally follow the eight to ten glass water rule, it’s best to consume water every hour of the day.  Cold water becomes a good option to not only quench your thirst, but to also cool you down, especially if you reside in hot places or just generally perspire a lot. When you feel all heated up and dehydrated after a heavy workout or an intense cardio session, it’s best to drink some cold water. It helps bring down your body temperature immediately.  Drinking water plenty of water ensures low levels of constipation.

Health Benefits of Drinking Cold Water

So what are the health benefits of drinking cold water?  While most of us already know the health benefits of drinking water what few realize is there are health benefits to drinking cold water.  One health benefit of cold water is its ability to help you lose weight and burn calories.  It has been medically proven that your body tends to burn more energy, when cold water is being consumed.  Calories are burned when your body has to heat up the water to normal body temperature.  By drinking cold water your metabolism is increased.  The amount of calories your body burns to heat up one glass of ice cold water is minimal.  However, this can add up if you drink multiple glasses of ice-cold water throughout the day.

Health Benefits of Cold Water Therapy

Outside of just drinking cold water studies have shown that there are health benefits from taking a cold water shower.  Cold water therapy has been embraced around the world and been practiced by many Indians all over.  The health benefit that comes from cold water therapy is that your body gains resilience through managed stress.  Simply put, by exposing your body to managed routine stress like cold water, intermittent fasting, or intense exercise increases your bodies overall health.  Cold water therapy has been around in India for a long time.  The ancient Indian term for very cold showers is ishnan.  It is said, that this cold water therapy helps keep your body young and healthy. 

Great Foods: Leafy Greens.

Leafy Greens

Not only are leafy greens a great way to add volume to your meals without the calories, but they are chock full of nutrients, they have vitamins A, C, K, folate, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, and fiber, and are also easy to incorporate into your day.

Some of the Leafy Greens are:

• Kale
• Collards
• Turnip Greens
• Swiss Chard
• Spinach
• Mustard Greens
• Broccoli
• Red and Green Leaf and Romaine Lettuce
• Cabbage
• Iceberg Lettuce

Leafy vegetables are ideal for weight management as they are typically low in calories. They are useful in reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease since they are low in fat, high in dietary fiber, and rich in folic acid, vitamin C, potassium and magnesium, as well as containing a host of phytochemicals, such as lutein, beta-cryptoxanthin, zeaxanthin, and beta-carotene.

A great thing is that you can intake them in juices, lunch, dinner and even to add them to your Infuser Water Bottle and enjoy a great healthy taste.

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