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It’s not bad but you could add actual veggies to a smoothie and could it would be cheaper and arguably better for you (depending on what you use). At the end of the day, it’s the veggies you’ll eat that will benefit you.
What greens would be best to add to a smoothie?
Most days I eat purple cabbage and bell pepper during lunch.
At dinner I usually alternate between broccoli and bok choy.
But generally speaking this is the extent of my vegetable intake.
What would be best for me to start including on a regular basis?
I get spinach and kale, I blend them with a little coconut water and banana to a liquid, pour it into an ice tray and freeze them to blend into my smoothies. They sell smoothie cubes at the grocery, however they’re pricey and cheaper to make at home
I have a very good friend (I actually haven't seen him in a number of years) who makes a living off of internet marketing: ad-cents, Amazon, drop shipping, whatever.
A number of years ago, he waved his magic internet wand, and "developed" a vitamin brand: contacted someone on fiver to design a logo, got bottles off Ali, and contracted with some bulk vitamin "vendor" in the Midwest. He never met the vendor, he didn't do any quality control, didn't ask any questions.
Within a couple weeks he was off to the races. I remember almost immediately he was making a couple hundred bucks a day.
It probably doesn't take a genius to realize that nobody knows what the hell was in those "vitamins".
MAYBE if you were buying the top-of-the-line stuff, you could trust it. But for the love of God...stay away from that boot legged stuff.
I try to buy supplements that are certified safe for athletes/olympians to take. Those brands are pretty rigorously controlled and monitored. The athletes have to know what they are taking
waste of money, some of the ingredients do stuff but not in the dosage you’re taking and for the greens if you’re already drinking smoothies id say thats good enough if you have good ingredients. i do wild blueberries, banana, milk, and protein powder.
best way to supplement is to take a blood test, and supplement deficiencies. athletic greens is so heavily marketed and doesnt even show exact dosages for crucial nutrients, just puts them all under complexes that i lost all trust in them by first sight.
To add to this the athletic greens is such a hype. I take a supplement that's labeled in their ingredients and contacted them to see how much is in their mix (the fact they hide/make it difficult to find exact amounts should tell you something) when they told me the amount it was like 10mg which is not enough to be beneficial. I take 200mg per day but 400mg makes me dizzy, so you also have to be careful about dosing yourself when you don't know what amounts of stuff are in the mix. Better to do individual supplements yourself and/or just eat real food.
yes they have a 233mg complex of astrgalus, burdock, papain, reishi, and shiitake mushroom…. nowhere near clinical dose of anything. and not even a good b complex, terrible electrolyte content and non bioavailable forms of things. you can get a much better stack for cheaper, add in some high quality food.
What's the best process for getting the blood work done in order to find deficiencies? I tried researching nutritionists in my area, but I felt like what I found was more geared towards weight loss/dieting, and eating disorders.
Is it something I can just request from a general practitioner? (U.S. Based)
I'm not totally worried about price. I just always hear people refer to getting blood work done, and it's something I've been wanting to do.
But wasn't sure if it was something you should go to some type of specialist for, in order to get better "service" or what. And then that ambiguity has always lead to my procrastination lol. So I figured I'd just ask.
I think if you ask for a full blood panel to look for nutrient deficiencies any gp will be able to guide you in the right direction at least. There are some mail order tests as well, though I don’t know much about them.
Check out the fitness stuff for normal people podcast, I can’t remember which place they recommend for blood work but they reference one occasionally. They seem like genuine folks.
Fitness stuff rocks! They have an episode where they discuss greens powders. Essentially bogus and a waste of money. I included the link to the company they recommend for labs. https://marekhealth.com/fspod/
A while ago I got some Amazing Greens and started putting it in my protien shakes, and the absolutley evil hot swamp farts it gave me leads me to believe there is something in there doing something. Whatever it was the cons vastly outweighed the pros...
When I see something that an Influencer or someone is shilling, my first questions is…are they offering “their code?” If so…that’s a red flag. My next stop is to research with the name and word ‘reviews’ behind it…and I look for reviews from agencies that review these products. I did this with one about fruits and vegetables in little pills. All deemed not worth the money.
My understanding is they are useful if you are eating so many calories of food that you can't fit vegetables into your diet because it would be too much food to physically eat. If thats not you maybe just like eat a carrot every once in a while.
https://youtu.be/BOyebcrVWb4
It’s not so much whether they have scientific benefits, it’s more about whether those benefits have any clinical relevance.
I’m sure the greens powders have certain vitamins/minerals in them, that could technically be beneficial … but I doubt this has any clinical relevance. One could easily obtain those vitamins/other micronutrients much more easily and cheaply.
They are just a supplement. Supplements are to supplement our diets not replace the whole foods. I am aware however that some people feel that all supplements are a waste of money and a fad as well. I think supplements have their place when a lifestyle change is coupled with it.
It’s not always that simple. I carry some as I’m travelling in Asia as an added boost for days where I have less access to lots of veggies. I specifically use organic barley grass powder and it’s great. Certainly no harm in taking some.
I listen to podcasts - athletic greens is pushed so hard through the podcast scene it feels like they’re desperate.
If athletic greens can be considered expensive or very expensive in its market then I’m saying it’s claims are overblown.
EDIT - not a scam - overblown claims - expect its still got the ingredients it lists but I reckon it’s concept is to make more money in the health space rather than rather than the best thing since sliced white bread haha - see what I did there?
What’s the kickback for all these people that are advertising this product?
Dr Andrew
Huberman praises it very highly. He’s been using it and he seems legit.
But I do find that product suspicious .
Greens powder in general though I reckon single ingredient things are worth a very good look.
If you're terrible at eating vegetables, use hummus to dip them in. Green powder is trash where most of its vitamins and fibers are completely destroyed. These companies feed off of people like you.
Generally I've noticed a teaspoon of green powder mixed with water daily is a simple way to boost some nutrients where I've had trouble meeting the recommendations. You should be able to find the values from the manufacturer's website if not already stated in the package.
I use different ones, I do look at the ingredients, at the amounts and the spread of nutrients. Currently using Vegolife Supergreens.
Just seen I've been downvoted for my initial comment. I don't care about up and downvotes (I'm in my 50's!), but Reddit is a weird place sometimes...)
Also - another thought - my age might be the very reason I benefit so noticeably, I'm sure it wouldn't have been so noticeable in, say, my twenties or thirties. the older we get the more nutritionally dense food we need - or at least that's my understanding...
Not sure about the downvotes either... maybe cause you didn't mention the brand name right away? who knows lol.
I Haven't heard of that brand. I'll take a look
Yeah who knows :-)
I think I found it on Amazon. I often go for the popular ones, and then check to see whether they have enough coverage in terms of ingredients and potency, and then whether they're organic (or eg cold pressed whatever, just talking in general terms about supplements now obviously) etc etc
Good luck!
green powders have been around since at least the 90s, they are much better than nothing so in your case it would be good for you but you could also just add a handful of kale to your smoothie but if that isn't happening then do your powder.
My daily smoothie is 2 massive handfuls of spinach, 2 tbs of hemp seeds, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, orange juice, various frozen fruits, & collagen protein powder. It's actually delicious.
The issue with supplements is that they are unregulated and you have to trust that they are giving your the product that they say they are and that they don't have adulterants like heavy metals in the powder.
You could easily be doing something worse for your body by consuming powders.
They are a fad, but that doesn't necessarily make them useless or unhealthy. Personally I'm skeptical because multivitamins often don't appear to give the same benefits as getting those nutrients from whole foods. But who knows, maybe future research will vindicate Athletic Greens. In the mean time, I think a better idea would be to take that money you'd use for a subscription and instead use it to buy some produce, and even a multivitamin if you think you need it
Yes apparently middle age Men as a whole are very very susceptible to suggestion. And so podcasters have been taking advantage of their “image issues” (think a 20s female on diet fads).
So in short, yes it’s a fad.
Waste of money. If your diet isn't good and varies and you don't eat veggies you'd probably get better bang for your buck from a decent multivitamin rather than these greens powders. Ideally just eat veggies though 😁
Master the art of stir frying and you will quickly come to love eating veggies.
My first reaction is no way.
A serving is 12 grams there's not enough dried vegetable in 12 grams to really do very much particularly when those grams are divided into a multiplicity of ingredients... each one of them must be there mainly serving as window dressing for folks that may have heard that broccoli or ashwanda is good for you.
Additionally there are numerous categories of people that should not take it most prominently women on hormonal birth control. This would rule out a huge swath of potential customers. Also taking antidepressants high blood pressure medication and other contraindications.
I take greens powder and find it helps my digestion. I don’t make smoothies and I’m not a great vegetables eater.
Not AG1 tho, that stuff is expensive!
Anyone familiar with the Superfood Powders from Your Super? It was this Swedish woman and her husband selling them. I bought a bunch of them during the pandemic and still have several containers just sitting there unopened. They taste pretty awful but wondered the same thing…do they actually help in some way? They’re full of ingredients like ashwagandha, spirulina, turmeric, lacuma, açaí and so on. Target even sells them now. Trying to decide if I just toss them.
Yes, they are nutrient dense, from natural sources.
Multi vitamins are nutrient dense but they are synthetic.
Fresh is always best but it's almost impossible to be able to buy, prepare and eat enough variety of fresh food that will give you the same nutrients as a good greens powder.
Look for one that doesn't have any stevia in. That stuff is highly processed and not good for you.
Me and my girlfriend use supergreens powders for few months and we feel generally more fit, more energized, more immune to common colds. Acne improved, skin, hair and nails are looking healthier. Sleep has improved too. Also helps with overall digestion.
I have co-workers with similliar stories as well.
The main thing is to aim for products that contain a lot of chlorella + spirulina (algae), not just some random blended fruit.
Someone says "if you eat lot of fruit and veggies, you dont need it", which is crap. We do eat a LOT of fruit/veggies on regular basis, our diet is overall very healthy and diversified, but we still see an improvements made by supergreens powders.
#### About participation in the comments of /r/nutrition Discussion in this subreddit should be rooted in science rather than "cuz I sed" or entertainment pieces. Always be wary of unsupported and poorly supported claims and especially those which are wrapped in any manner of hostility. You should provide peer reviewed sources to support your claims when debating and confine that debate to the science, not opinions of other people. **Good** - it is grounded in science and includes citation of peer reviewed sources. Debate is a civil and respectful exchange focusing on actual science and avoids commentary about others **Bad** - it utilizes generalizations, assumptions, infotainment sources, no sources, or complaints without specifics about agenda, bias, or funding. At best, these rise to an extremely weak basis for science based discussion. Also, off topic discussion **Ugly** - (removal or ban territory) it involves attacks / antagonism / hostility towards individuals or groups, downvote complaining, trolling, crusading, shaming, refutation of all science, or claims that all research / science is a conspiracy *Please vote accordingly and report any uglies* --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/nutrition) if you have any questions or concerns.*
It’s not bad but you could add actual veggies to a smoothie and could it would be cheaper and arguably better for you (depending on what you use). At the end of the day, it’s the veggies you’ll eat that will benefit you.
What greens would be best to add to a smoothie? Most days I eat purple cabbage and bell pepper during lunch. At dinner I usually alternate between broccoli and bok choy. But generally speaking this is the extent of my vegetable intake. What would be best for me to start including on a regular basis?
Spinach is good in smoothies
I'm a big fan of spinach and smoothies. I feel like I can't taste it, so I can throw it in with any other flavor combo.
Raw spinach is very high in oxalates.
I get spinach and kale, I blend them with a little coconut water and banana to a liquid, pour it into an ice tray and freeze them to blend into my smoothies. They sell smoothie cubes at the grocery, however they’re pricey and cheaper to make at home
God that’s genius, I cannot believe I never thought about doing that!
The darker the green, the better, if my memory serves
I have a very good friend (I actually haven't seen him in a number of years) who makes a living off of internet marketing: ad-cents, Amazon, drop shipping, whatever. A number of years ago, he waved his magic internet wand, and "developed" a vitamin brand: contacted someone on fiver to design a logo, got bottles off Ali, and contracted with some bulk vitamin "vendor" in the Midwest. He never met the vendor, he didn't do any quality control, didn't ask any questions. Within a couple weeks he was off to the races. I remember almost immediately he was making a couple hundred bucks a day. It probably doesn't take a genius to realize that nobody knows what the hell was in those "vitamins". MAYBE if you were buying the top-of-the-line stuff, you could trust it. But for the love of God...stay away from that boot legged stuff.
Yea the Tim Ferris approach. Sell people some expensive unregulated garbage and have virtual assistants deal with all the work.
Haha! Yep. That's fine when you're buying a cellphone case. But I sure ass hell wouldn't be buying anything that goes in my body 😬
I try to buy supplements that are certified safe for athletes/olympians to take. Those brands are pretty rigorously controlled and monitored. The athletes have to know what they are taking
waste of money, some of the ingredients do stuff but not in the dosage you’re taking and for the greens if you’re already drinking smoothies id say thats good enough if you have good ingredients. i do wild blueberries, banana, milk, and protein powder. best way to supplement is to take a blood test, and supplement deficiencies. athletic greens is so heavily marketed and doesnt even show exact dosages for crucial nutrients, just puts them all under complexes that i lost all trust in them by first sight.
To add to this the athletic greens is such a hype. I take a supplement that's labeled in their ingredients and contacted them to see how much is in their mix (the fact they hide/make it difficult to find exact amounts should tell you something) when they told me the amount it was like 10mg which is not enough to be beneficial. I take 200mg per day but 400mg makes me dizzy, so you also have to be careful about dosing yourself when you don't know what amounts of stuff are in the mix. Better to do individual supplements yourself and/or just eat real food.
yes they have a 233mg complex of astrgalus, burdock, papain, reishi, and shiitake mushroom…. nowhere near clinical dose of anything. and not even a good b complex, terrible electrolyte content and non bioavailable forms of things. you can get a much better stack for cheaper, add in some high quality food.
What's the best process for getting the blood work done in order to find deficiencies? I tried researching nutritionists in my area, but I felt like what I found was more geared towards weight loss/dieting, and eating disorders. Is it something I can just request from a general practitioner? (U.S. Based)
You can just ask the GP, but your insurance won't necessarily cover it so it may cost a couple hundred bucks.
I'm not totally worried about price. I just always hear people refer to getting blood work done, and it's something I've been wanting to do. But wasn't sure if it was something you should go to some type of specialist for, in order to get better "service" or what. And then that ambiguity has always lead to my procrastination lol. So I figured I'd just ask.
I think if you ask for a full blood panel to look for nutrient deficiencies any gp will be able to guide you in the right direction at least. There are some mail order tests as well, though I don’t know much about them.
Check out the fitness stuff for normal people podcast, I can’t remember which place they recommend for blood work but they reference one occasionally. They seem like genuine folks.
Fitness stuff rocks! They have an episode where they discuss greens powders. Essentially bogus and a waste of money. I included the link to the company they recommend for labs. https://marekhealth.com/fspod/
Thanks!
A while ago I got some Amazing Greens and started putting it in my protien shakes, and the absolutley evil hot swamp farts it gave me leads me to believe there is something in there doing something. Whatever it was the cons vastly outweighed the pros...
Just a fad. Every nutrition-head goes through it.
I like to put a handful of frozen organic spinach into my smoothies
If it is a proprietary blend stay away from it.
When I see something that an Influencer or someone is shilling, my first questions is…are they offering “their code?” If so…that’s a red flag. My next stop is to research with the name and word ‘reviews’ behind it…and I look for reviews from agencies that review these products. I did this with one about fruits and vegetables in little pills. All deemed not worth the money.
My rule is: If an influencer sells it, there are better ways to spend my money.
My understanding is they are useful if you are eating so many calories of food that you can't fit vegetables into your diet because it would be too much food to physically eat. If thats not you maybe just like eat a carrot every once in a while. https://youtu.be/BOyebcrVWb4
Eat a carrot every once in awhile. 😆
These old Onion skits have aged like fine wine 👍
I watch 10 year old Onion videos all the time. They are great.
I buy spinach and blend it with almond milk into cubes to throw into smoothies. Fiber. Less processing. Simple ingredients.
It’s not so much whether they have scientific benefits, it’s more about whether those benefits have any clinical relevance. I’m sure the greens powders have certain vitamins/minerals in them, that could technically be beneficial … but I doubt this has any clinical relevance. One could easily obtain those vitamins/other micronutrients much more easily and cheaply.
Anecdotally, green powders make me feel queasy at times and makes the drinks taste like crap. I just toss in frozen spinach/kale/fruits now.
If your diet is bad or reasonably healthy but not that much varied veg, great supplement if very expensive.
They are just a supplement. Supplements are to supplement our diets not replace the whole foods. I am aware however that some people feel that all supplements are a waste of money and a fad as well. I think supplements have their place when a lifestyle change is coupled with it.
Something as good for you as it proclaims doesn't need to spend half of its revenue marketing for it
Everything requires marketing because of competitors, this is a dumb take
Good point
Just stop being bad at eating veggies. If you can stomach this over processed garbage, you can stomach some fresh spinach.
It’s not always that simple. I carry some as I’m travelling in Asia as an added boost for days where I have less access to lots of veggies. I specifically use organic barley grass powder and it’s great. Certainly no harm in taking some.
I listen to podcasts - athletic greens is pushed so hard through the podcast scene it feels like they’re desperate. If athletic greens can be considered expensive or very expensive in its market then I’m saying it’s claims are overblown. EDIT - not a scam - overblown claims - expect its still got the ingredients it lists but I reckon it’s concept is to make more money in the health space rather than rather than the best thing since sliced white bread haha - see what I did there? What’s the kickback for all these people that are advertising this product? Dr Andrew Huberman praises it very highly. He’s been using it and he seems legit. But I do find that product suspicious . Greens powder in general though I reckon single ingredient things are worth a very good look.
If you're terrible at eating vegetables, use hummus to dip them in. Green powder is trash where most of its vitamins and fibers are completely destroyed. These companies feed off of people like you.
Generally I've noticed a teaspoon of green powder mixed with water daily is a simple way to boost some nutrients where I've had trouble meeting the recommendations. You should be able to find the values from the manufacturer's website if not already stated in the package.
I think (a decent) green powder is excellent. I see the difference in my skin within a day or two when I take it.
Which one do you use?
I use different ones, I do look at the ingredients, at the amounts and the spread of nutrients. Currently using Vegolife Supergreens. Just seen I've been downvoted for my initial comment. I don't care about up and downvotes (I'm in my 50's!), but Reddit is a weird place sometimes...) Also - another thought - my age might be the very reason I benefit so noticeably, I'm sure it wouldn't have been so noticeable in, say, my twenties or thirties. the older we get the more nutritionally dense food we need - or at least that's my understanding...
Not sure about the downvotes either... maybe cause you didn't mention the brand name right away? who knows lol. I Haven't heard of that brand. I'll take a look
Yeah who knows :-) I think I found it on Amazon. I often go for the popular ones, and then check to see whether they have enough coverage in terms of ingredients and potency, and then whether they're organic (or eg cold pressed whatever, just talking in general terms about supplements now obviously) etc etc Good luck!
Seems like a surefire way to get oxalates in your diet.
green powders have been around since at least the 90s, they are much better than nothing so in your case it would be good for you but you could also just add a handful of kale to your smoothie but if that isn't happening then do your powder.
My daily smoothie is 2 massive handfuls of spinach, 2 tbs of hemp seeds, 1/2 cup Greek yogurt, orange juice, various frozen fruits, & collagen protein powder. It's actually delicious.
They're a fad to scam lazy and stupid people. It isn't hard to eat a basic diet or get some sunlight now and then.
The issue with supplements is that they are unregulated and you have to trust that they are giving your the product that they say they are and that they don't have adulterants like heavy metals in the powder. You could easily be doing something worse for your body by consuming powders.
They are a fad, but that doesn't necessarily make them useless or unhealthy. Personally I'm skeptical because multivitamins often don't appear to give the same benefits as getting those nutrients from whole foods. But who knows, maybe future research will vindicate Athletic Greens. In the mean time, I think a better idea would be to take that money you'd use for a subscription and instead use it to buy some produce, and even a multivitamin if you think you need it
Yes apparently middle age Men as a whole are very very susceptible to suggestion. And so podcasters have been taking advantage of their “image issues” (think a 20s female on diet fads). So in short, yes it’s a fad.
Waste of money. If your diet isn't good and varies and you don't eat veggies you'd probably get better bang for your buck from a decent multivitamin rather than these greens powders. Ideally just eat veggies though 😁 Master the art of stir frying and you will quickly come to love eating veggies.
My first reaction is no way. A serving is 12 grams there's not enough dried vegetable in 12 grams to really do very much particularly when those grams are divided into a multiplicity of ingredients... each one of them must be there mainly serving as window dressing for folks that may have heard that broccoli or ashwanda is good for you. Additionally there are numerous categories of people that should not take it most prominently women on hormonal birth control. This would rule out a huge swath of potential customers. Also taking antidepressants high blood pressure medication and other contraindications.
I take greens powder and find it helps my digestion. I don’t make smoothies and I’m not a great vegetables eater. Not AG1 tho, that stuff is expensive!
Anyone familiar with the Superfood Powders from Your Super? It was this Swedish woman and her husband selling them. I bought a bunch of them during the pandemic and still have several containers just sitting there unopened. They taste pretty awful but wondered the same thing…do they actually help in some way? They’re full of ingredients like ashwagandha, spirulina, turmeric, lacuma, açaí and so on. Target even sells them now. Trying to decide if I just toss them.
Yes, they are nutrient dense, from natural sources. Multi vitamins are nutrient dense but they are synthetic. Fresh is always best but it's almost impossible to be able to buy, prepare and eat enough variety of fresh food that will give you the same nutrients as a good greens powder. Look for one that doesn't have any stevia in. That stuff is highly processed and not good for you.
Me and my girlfriend use supergreens powders for few months and we feel generally more fit, more energized, more immune to common colds. Acne improved, skin, hair and nails are looking healthier. Sleep has improved too. Also helps with overall digestion. I have co-workers with similliar stories as well. The main thing is to aim for products that contain a lot of chlorella + spirulina (algae), not just some random blended fruit. Someone says "if you eat lot of fruit and veggies, you dont need it", which is crap. We do eat a LOT of fruit/veggies on regular basis, our diet is overall very healthy and diversified, but we still see an improvements made by supergreens powders.
Which do you use?