Green drinks are made by mixing a non-carbonated beverage (usually water) with a powder supplement produced from green superfoods.
The best green drinks are rich in antioxidants and essential nutrients and have anti-inflammatory abilities as well.
The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capabilities of green drinks produce a variety of health benefits both obvious and subtle that our experts will examine in the list below.
18 Benefits Of Green Drinks
Green drinks are more than this year’s trendy diet item. They provide a wealth of benefits that can help virtually anyone enjoy more robust health. Let’s look at those benefits now.
1: Green drinks improve digestion.
Many green drinks provide beneficial prebiotics and probiotics that create a healthy gut microbiome (1). A healthy, well-balanced gut environment is one where nutrient absorption increases, digestive issues like bloating and gas are reduced, and less food goes to waste. This more efficient and effective gut microbiome then produces a cascade of positive effects from head to toe.
2: Green drinks reduce oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress (2) is the result of imbalanced atoms coursing through your system, stealing electrons from healthy atoms, and causing cell death. To an extent, it’s a natural process. But in some people, it gets out of hand. The result is saggy skin, lack of energy, and disease. Green drinks are rich in antioxidants (3). They work tirelessly to neutralize oxidative stress so you can live a longer, healthier life.
3: Green drinks support a healthy immune system.
It was only recently that scientists discovered that the interaction between ingested nutrients and the immune system actually starts right at the intestinal wall (4). Therefore, promoting a healthy gut microbiome by ingesting green drinks not only improves digestion but bolsters the effectiveness of the immune system.
4: Green drinks can help you manage your weight.
Green drinks are low in calories and help you get more from the food you eat, as we discussed above. This more efficient digestive tract is crucial for people intent on losing weight without resorting to some fad diet or another. The more efficient digestive tract means you can eat less and still obtain the nutrients you need to sustain robust health.
5: Green drinks have anti-inflammatory properties.
Inflammation is the body’s response to injury. It helps secure the injured area and set the stage for tissue healing to commence. But inflammation has a nasty habit of getting out of hand. When it does, chronic diseases like arthritis, IBS (5), and cancer are often the result (6). Green drinks have potent anti-inflammatory properties that can help prevent inflammation from taking over your body.
6: Green drinks are rich in antioxidants.
And antioxidants are a vital component of a healthy immune system (7). They fight the damaging effects of oxidative stress, and they even strengthen tumor immunity in the elderly. Your heart, mind, gut, skin, and other parts of your body all benefit directly from the activity of antioxidants.
7: Green drinks can boost your energy levels.
When your digestive system is working at peak efficiency, you have more vital nutrients at your beck and call, ready to be metabolized into energy. You will have more energy available after eating, and you should also experience an uptick in stamina that will benefit every aspect of your daily life. That includes adding a new dimension to your workouts.
8: Green drinks help you achieve systemic balance.
The body strives at all times to maintain acidic balance. Too much acidity and the body seeks out alkaline minerals in the bones to neutralize the acid. But taking alkaline minerals from the bones can lead to osteoporosis (8). Green drinks are alkaline-forming. That is, they promote the production of alkaline minerals, which, in turn, restore and maintain systemic balance with regards to acidity.
9: Green drinks are a convenient way to get the nutrients you need.
You can eat entire plates full of greens, take dozens of capsules, or simply consume one or two green drinks per day to enjoy the multitude of benefits greens have to offer. It only takes a minute or two to prepare your green drink, and it doesn’t require you to whip out the blender.
10: Green drink powders can be used in a variety of ways.
Most people mix green superfood powder with water. But while that is an effective delivery method, it is not the only one. Green drink powders can be blended with smoothies, or added to your protein shake to ensure you get the absolute maximum from your workouts. Green superfood powders are also easy to cook and bake with. Try adding some to muffin batter or even stirring some into hummus.
11: Green drinks can help fend off chronic diseases.
For centuries, the origins of most chronic diseases remained a mystery. Today, we know that most chronic diseases are the result of oxidative stress (9). Not only that, but oxidative stress is also responsible for the premature aging of vital organs, including the skin. Green drinks with their robust antioxidant component may help fend off the development of chronic disease.
12: Green drinks may help you lose weight.
Fat cells serve multiple purposes. One of those purposes is to store excess acid. By doing so, fat cells provide a measure of protection against the potentially damaging effects of excess acid on normal cell activity. Green drinks are alkaline-forming food. The alkaline they produce neutralizes the acid held by those fat cells and allows your body to discard them (the fat cells).
13: Green drinks are rich in antioxidants.
Antioxidants are a subject that comes up a lot when talking about green drinks. And for a very good reason. Green drinks are an outstanding source of antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. In many ways, they are a human’s best friend (10), because they counteract the effects of free radicals (11). Free radicals are unbalanced atoms that cause cells to die and promote disease and dysfunction.
14: Green drinks pack quite a punch.
To obtain the same benefits from fresh greens as you do from the average high-quality green drink, you would need to eat more than a pound of fresh greens. As greens tend to be pretty light, a pound is quite a substantial pile of greens. “But what about green supplements?” you say. It turns out you would need to consume something like 40 green capsules to enjoy the same benefits that you get from one green drink.
15: Green drinks are good for your skin.
The skin is the largest organ in the body. It’s your first line of defense against environmental threats. It plays a central role in temperature regulation. And it acts as one of the body’s primary storehouses of fat, water, and hormones (12). The antioxidants in green drinks bolster the health of your skin by neutralizing free radicals and the damage they cause.
16: Green drinks can be gussied up.
And let’s face it, many of them could use some help in the flavor department. The good news is that you don’t have to spend your life holding your nose while you consume your green drink. You can fancy it up by adding pineapple or another sweet fruit and mixing it in the blender. Or you can sprinkle your green powder on curry dishes or others that are flavorful enough to stand up to it.
17: Green drinks can help reduce the pain and stiffness of arthritis.
Arthritis is the ultimate inflammatory condition affecting tens of millions of people in the US alone (13). Because green drinks possess potent anti-inflammatory properties, a green shake or two every day may help reduce the pain and stiffness associated with arthritic inflammation.
18: Green drinks are an investment in your health.
While green drinks are likely to pay a number of short term benefits, their real value is in ensuring long term health. They do that by bolstering the immune system and battling oxidative stress. If you stop taking them, however, any benefit will dissipate. So keep taking them and consider it a worthwhile investment in your overall health that will pay robust dividends down the line.
Conclusion
Green drinks provide a variety of potential benefits that the health conscious person will want to take advantage of. From improved digestion to a more robust immune system, higher energy levels, better skin, arthritis pain relief and much more green drinks are an idea whose time has come.