There’s a lot to like about the idea behind green powders. They let you get the benefits of a green drink, but one you can store for your leisure. But how do green powders measure up head-to-head against fresh green drinks? Can a green powder supplement stand up in a juice detox diet? Let’s see how they compare when it comes to boosting your digestive system, improving energy levels, and promoting weight loss.
What are green powders?
Green powders are a form of dietary supplement that comes in the form of, well, a green powder. Green powders often feature highly nutritious leafy greens, such as spinach and spirulina, hence the color.
The idea behind green powder is that the goodness of those same leafy greens can be stored for later, letting you get some essential fruits and vegetables regardless of your eating habits. It’s important to note that green powders can have a wide range of different ingredients. These ingredients are ground, pulped, or pressed, then dried out at low temperatures to retain their nutritional value. Afterward, binding and processing agents are added to ensure the product keeps its “powder” form.
Once you get the green powder at home, it’s up to you how you enjoy it. You can sprinkle it into drinks or on top of yogurt. You can even mix it directly into water to make an impromptu vegetable juice, though you may want to add some lemon or other flavor. Plenty of green powders don’t have the greatest taste when taken in a pure form. Ideally, green powders are a way to add some extra vitamins and minerals to your diet.
Green powders versus green drink
Let’s start off by saying there are certainly many benefits to greens powder. Getting more fruits and vegetables into your diet, no matter the form will always be a good thing in the long-term. The leafy greens often found in green powders are great for many health concerns, from lowering blood pressure to boosting the immune system. Another point in favor of green powders is that they tend to be extremely low in calories, even more than most juices.
But once we put green powder supplements right in the ring against green drinks, we start to notice some issues with performance. Obviously, how seriously these issues matter will depend on the specific green powder, and how much it contains things like processed foods and added sugars.
Actually, let’s stop there and talk about adding sugar. It’s an unfortunate fact, but a lot of green powders don’t taste that great. When it comes to green cocktails, fresh is best. This means a lot of consumers end up adding sweeteners back into the product to make it palatable. Sort of ruins the whole point, doesn’t it?
And that’s not all when it comes to additives. We touched on this before, but a lot of green powders aren’t as organic as they might appear to be at first glance. Plenty of green powder supplements are filled with gums or other additives to get the best consistency. Some of these additives could have unknown health consequences or even be allergenic. Allergens to watch out for when fasting with green powder include lecithin, pectin, and/or flax.
The balance of vitamins and minerals in green powder supplements can also often be tricky to get right. Even necessary vitamins can have nasty side effects if you cram too much of them into your diet. On the flip side, the process by which green powder supplements are made often involves losing out on a lot of things as well. For example, many green powder supplements tend not to have all the great fiber of their original vegetables, losing it during processing.
Meet your weight-loss goals with Chef V
With Chef V’s green drink, you can be confident knowing you’re getting every last drop of goodness out of the fruits and vegetables going into your juice detox diet. Our green drink comes packed with the nutrients and minerals you need (including fiber!) to boost your every day routine, or help you through our famous juice detox diets. Just check out our success stories!