After making a ‘batch’ of green smoothies, what is generally considered an appropriate serving size?

Thanks for the question, Gary!  I don’t think I can give an across-the-board answer to fit everyone, since we’re all so wonderfully different. The answer would have to take into consideration various factors, such as:

• the caloric requirements of the smoothie drinker (which itself is a function of how active that person is, how much that person weighs, that person’s health goals, etc.);
• the size of the person’s stomach;
• the specific smoothie recipe we’re talking about;
• what else that person is consuming in a given day, and how those other calories dovetail with the smoothie.

Smoothies (green ones, or even just fruit ones) can range wildly in caloric content, depending on the ingredients used. For example, let’s take a look at my own dinner from last night. I happen to have had a super-tasty green smoothie, heavy on the fruit, which is actually a favorite meal for me!  Here’s what it contained:

Two oranges (122 calories)
Kale, 2 cups, chopped (67 calories)
Strawberries, 1.5 cups, frozen (125 calories)
Medjool dates, 3, pitted (200 calories)
Grapes, 1/2 cup (55 calories)
Cacao nibs, 1/2 ounce, raw (65 calories)
Lemon wedge (2 calories)
Banana (half), (50 calories)
Vitamineral Green powder (45 calories)
Spirulina, 1/2 tablespoon (10 calories)
Ginger root, < 1 in. slice (2 calories)
One vanilla bean (not sure on the calories)
About 1 tsp. Vitamin C powder (not sure on the calories)
Gogi berries, 1 Tbsp. (22 calories)
Water, about 1/2 cup (0 calories)
Total calories: ~ 765+!

Wow, I didn’t realize that smoothie was approaching the 1,000 calorie barrier. No wonder it fills me up so much!  As you can see, those Medjool dates really ramp up the calories quickly. If I took them out and replaced them with another lower-calorie fruit or something, I could substantially reduce the caloric content of this smoothie!

Plus, there are certainly people who perfer a “greener” (less fruity) green smoothie. So, you might try incorporating some cucumber (which would probably mean taking out some things like the dates and the cacao, which I can’t see going well with cuke).

And, by the way, let me also take this opportunity to say that the recipe above really IS a super-tasty smoothie. I’ve been working on it for some time now (months), very patiently — tweaking little things here and there in true mad-scientist fashion. The beauty, as Frank Lloyd Wright said, is in the details (all of which I have not divulged, such as my preference for running the cacao nibs in a coffee grinder first — before ever pouring them into the Vitamix container! — and maybe a few secrets I’m not yet ready to air here yet!).

But, let me at least let you know that the combination of that ginger square and the vanilla bean is nothing short of divine. There’s a playful interaction created there by those two particulars that’s too wonderful to keep to myself. That’s why I will eventually call this the “Samadhi Smoothie,” as it calls to mind:

a non-dualistic state of consciousness in which the consciousness of the experiencing subject becomes one with the experienced object (see here).

I’m really getting personal here, I realize. But, I do get that excited about this smoothie! (I’m a little fanatical sometimes…) I imagine within a year or two, I’ll have it perfected. (Stop by sometime… I’ll make us one to share!)

Anyway, a smoothie like that usually produces about 28-30 ounces. I know this because I have yet another kind of weird smoothie quirk that I’ll divulge here (hinted at in the graphic atop this piece):  I always love to drink my smoothie from an old Bubbies Sauerkraut jar. I have no idea why, really… I guess the jar just makes a fun glass for me. It’s just the perfect size, you know?!

That jar is 25 ounces, and there’s usually a good 3-4 more ounces in the Vitamix. For ME, that portion is a really nice meal. I’m usually good to go, and totally energized, after drinking one. So, that’s kind of a long-winded, very subjective answer. But, for a guy like me, a 25+ ounce smoothie is a good single-serving portion.

Please Post on Facebook!	Please Tweet This on Twitter!
Visit:	Add comments