Since I’ve started growing a small produce section in my backyard, I’ve been making a lot of green smoothies. And since you asked, here’s what I’ve got sprouting:

broccoli

cauliflower

salad greens

kale

beets

Swiss chard

carrots

radishes (yuck; but they’re easy to grow)

and spinach

Fresh green smoothie from my garden

My salad greens and kale were the first to be big enough to clip for green smoothies, and I’m loving a combo of about 2 cups of greens, one clementine, half a banana, about 2 teaspoons of ginger root and a carrot tastes. And while that’s all really good stuff–packed with vitamins and fiber–but all those good carbs will give you an energy boost, and the water and ice you add will fill up your tummy, but if you think about it, that’s quite a bit of sugar and not a lot of calories. So as a result, your green smoothie is all burned off and you’re starving.

As a “paleo person” I realize that every meal I consume needs to have some protein and/or fat to satiate my appetite. So now I make my green smoothies with a scoop of egg white protein powder (or try chia or flax seeds too) with some uncured bacon and eggs. A meal like that will give you energy for hours and hours and you won’t be starving 45 minutes after you’ve drunk your veggies.

If you’re not making your own green smoothies and purchasing them from a chain, be sure to look at the ingredients, and ask them if they are mixing in the whole fruit or just the fruit juice concentrate. Also ask them if they are adding white sugar, both of which are bad because it defeats the purpose of a healthy smoothie. There’s nothing healthy about a smoothie loaded with 1,000 grams of sugar, which will spike your blood sugar and encourage your body to store all that overloaded sugar as fat.