A Salad Bar in Every Packet – Really?
My husband always laughs at the number of friends I have. And not just new friends, but friends I’ve had for a life time. My friend Darcy and I have known each other since we were three-years-old. Seriously. But today’s blog isn’t about Darcy, it’s about my friend Tina. She’s one of my grade school friends. Together, we survived Catholic school – and eight years of plaid uniform skirts. Tina was the classy one. She lived in the house with the big white pillars, had the mom who was always impeccably dressed and even then had a sense of style.
When my blog launched earlier this week, Tina sent me a question via email. Here’s her question:
Have you heard of Greens to Go? It is a dietary supplement powder of organic vegetables and fruits that you add to plain water. I think it has 7 daily servings of vegetables. Looks gross (green), but tastes like green apple. I just started using it (so I drink my salad!). Just wondering from a nutrition standpoint if it will be any benefit - as usually I don’t get enough veggies and fruits. Maybe you can blog about it??
Per Tina’s request, I am blogging about it as I imagine it’s a topic that many of you wonder about. Supplements such as this are advertised all the time, and you have to wonder if it is really possible to get seven servings of fruits and vegetables all in one shot. Sounds like a great, simple solution, right?
In thinking this through, I encourage you to go to your kitchen and line up seven fruits and vegetables. Any seven will do – an apple, a banana, a zucchini, carrots, raspberries, green beans, a red pepper. Just look up and down the line at them – their shapes, their colors, their textures, the options of what you could do with them.
Is it really possible that a powered mix could be equivalent to this line-up?
It’s true that a powder can give you straight up nutrients like antioxidants and vitamin C, and even some fiber. But what you’d miss are all the nutrients that exist in fruits and vegetables that haven’t yet been defined or that can’t be whittled down to a powder. Also, what about the possibility that the combination of nutrients in fruits and vegetables is important? Finally, and perhaps the biggest question yet, if these seven fruits and vegetables don’t show up in your eating habits, what replaces them? Fruits and vegetables tend to provide a lot of nutrients for their calories, and tend to fill you up – all good things in overall eating habits, and traits that can’t be replaced with a powder.
But Tina raises a good point. What if you’re a person who just doesn’t get all the fruits and vegetables you need? Are supplements the answer? The right answer is to figure out a way to get more fruits and vegetables in each day. But for many of us, this isn’t all that simple. So what’s the answer for real people living real lives?
Like every good sitcom does during ratings sweeps, I’m going to end here with a “to be continued. . . “
To consider the wide variety of fruits and vegetables that score a perfect 100, visit www.nuval.com.