Green smoothie ideas

Green smoothies can give anyone a vitamin boost. They appeal to people who want to lose weight, pregnant women, or anyone who needs a quick flood of goodness. The interest in juicing may have gone up again since Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead came out, but smoothies offer fibers as well as juice. It is still hard to come up with green smoothie ideas that actually taste good, so we're here to help.

1. Blueberry, avocado, and cucumber smoothie

Place a cup of frozen blueberries into your blender with half an avocado, two cucumbers (peeled, of course), and a cup of yogurt. You'll get plenty of anti-oxidants, and a smoothie that is filling enough to have for breakfast. Mind you, most will like to add some honey or another sweetener.

2. Dare Devil

For those who are feeling courageous, a beet, a small onion, and a cup of yogurt make a potent mix. Add some parsley for extra taste. You'll have to cook your beet and slice it before adding it to your blender, otherwise your blender will break. Beets have lots of folate, the natural version of folic acid, so this smoothie is great for women who are trying to get pregnant.

3. Apple/spinach cocktail

Everyone knows that spinach is full of iron and calcium as well as different vitamins. It makes an excellent ingredient for a smoothie, because it's much healthier when it's raw than when it's cooked. Take two cups of spinach and three apples, and blend them (or juice them, of you don't want the fiber). Add in a few carrots if you like, and you've got a fresh tasting and extremely potent cocktail.

4. Nettles!

Stinging nettles have so many vitamins and minerals it's almost hard to believe. Nettle leaf tea is a popular pregnancy tonic, but nettles can be added to a smoothie as well. Iron, calcium, potassium, sulphur, vitamins A, C, E and K, are all found in this plant, which won't sting if you stick it in a juicer. You can add nettle juice to any smoothie, but it combined well with apples and mint.