The Wizard Of Oz
Years (!) ago, when I joined Precision Nutrition as a client, I first learned about greens supplements. What’s this? You can have vegetables pulverized into powder and add it to everything, instead of actually eating vegetables? Sign me up. I bought my first tub of the green stuff (Genuine Health, I believe), and practically ran up the stairs. This shit was going to make me invincible. Like Popeye.
Following instructions, I added a scoop to a shaker bottle.
Shake-shake-shake-sip-spit-out.
Re-read instructions. Nope, I did everything right. The result was mossy, grainy, gritty water that tasted about as good as that sounds.
I have followed the shake-shake-shake-sip-spit-out pattern with many greens supplements in the next few years. I was going to get one that I enjoyed, damn it.
Greens Freak in Sweet Apple
Greens+ by Genuine Health in Natural Cappuccino flavour (because everyone know that vegetables taste just like cappuccino)
Amazing Hay (or something like that)
Packing for my three week trip to Nicaragua in 2015, I carefully transferred the green contents of the container into a plastic bag, and tucked it into my backpack.
Hey, I was going to NOT have a kitchen for three weeks! What if I didn’t get the prescribed five servings of vegetables?! Every morning I dutifully mixed up a scoop of greens+ in my shaker bottle and gulped it down, all the while trying to think happy thoughts, and ignoring strange glances of locals.
The summer of 2015 brought the 100-mile diet, as I experimented with foods that were grown within a 100 mile radius of where I lived. I ate a lot of peaches and tomatoes. I had no idea where the sea weed in the greens+ powder came from, so the container started collecting dust in the back of my pantry.
Packing for my three week trip to Nicaragua in 2016, I left the greens supplement at home. Some days I got my veggies in. Some days I didn’t. The Earth did not stop.
I started learning about cooking, about ingredients. Watching documentaries and shows about chefs and cooking – everything from Michael Pollan’s “Cooked” to “Chef’s Table” – stories of men and women who dedicated their lives to teaching others what food is actually supposed to taste like.
And here I was, trying to find a DRIED AND POWDERED VEGETABLE that TASTED GOOD. Seriously?
There are plenty of vegetables that taste good. They just happen to NOT be dried and powdered.
Like, you know… tomatoes. Spinach. Cucumbers.
The fresher, the better.
After few years of looking for a Greens+ supplement that tasted good, I realized I was looking for the wrong thing.
Are you sensing a build up to a cliche?
I realized that the very thing I was looking for, I already had. I had it all along.
Cue references to Wizard of Oz.
So, I am sitting here, sipping on the last of my greens+ supplement, and planning dinner.
I’m thinking salad.
P.S. In case I need to spell it out… No, I don’t think Greens+ supplement is bad. In fact, it’s a great way to SUPPLEMENT your vegetable intake. However, I am a big proponent of pursuing taste and pleasure when it comes to food. And things ground up into powder (unless they are freshly ground spices) don’t really make that cut for me any more.
And, nope, I’m not looking for recommendation of YOUR favorite greens supplement. If you have one that you like, that’s awesome!
Hugs, SOLO