Carbs in Dr. Oz's green drink?

[KEVIN88GT]

My wife found this on Oprah.

Dr. Oz says he makes a breakfast drink for himself many mornings that he calls his green drink. (supposedly high in antioxidands and very healthy)

What's in Dr. Oz's green drink?

* 2 cups spinach
* 2 cups cucumber
* 1 head of celery
* 1/2 inch or teaspoon ginger root
* 1 bunch parsley
* 2 apples
* Juice of 1 lime
* Juice of 1/2 lemon

anyone want to guess how many carbs are in this concoction? I want to buy the ingridients on monday and throw it in the juicer...and then cringe at how bad it might taste while making me feel extremely healthy....just dont know how many carbs I should bolus for....

[tanyatype1]

Hi Kevin! Sounds totally gross ~ I'd like to try it! We could work out the carbs if you were worried about being exact, but I'd just figure on the carbs for the two apples, and just a bit extra for the rest. Once you've had the drink a couple of times, (and tested frequently) you'll know how much insulin to take for it. Let us know how it tastes. Good luck!

[shockme]

:puke: EWWWWWWWW! trish

[notme]

I actually think it sounds pretty good. I heard the apples are the main flavor with the ginger. I would also count the two apples in the carbs and forget the rest. The apples will be a pretty hefty carb count. I would guess about 18 carbs depending on the size.

Let us know how it tastes. I may try it too. I am not a ginger fan, so I may forgo that ingredient or cut it way back.

[deansreef]

who cares how it tastes- let consider the postives it provides.

Dean

[slipperyelm]

I think that could taste pretty good if you use mild baby spinach leaves. If you use the more mature leaves it might become yucky bitter.

I already make a cucumber slush in the summer time as I generally have many cukes from the garden. I put them in the blender with ice, lemon, and Splenda. Delicious and refreshing. One can also mix alcohol in it for a sort of cucumber Daiquiri. Heck, you could freeze the ingredients in Dr Oz's recipe, whiz them through the blender, add alcohol and have a nutritious evening drink. Why not?

That looks like a large volume Dr, Oz is mixing up, though. The cucumbers alone are 2 cups? And also 2 cups of loose leaf fresh spinach? and a "head" of celery? Does he mean a bunch, a stalk? We don't normally refer to celery as heads. Could he mean a head of lettuce? Plus 2 apples? What is this--breakfast for his entire family?! Just looks like one might cut the recipe in half and still get quite full.

In general, though, I think Americans really need to up their intake of food that grows on plants and is not a heavy carb food. I usually eat vegetables with every meal including breakfast, but I am not a nutrition saint by any means. I still have mustard greens growing in my garden in late November. This is their most delicious season. In my freezer I have put away lamb's quarters (more leafy greens) harvested in summer. This morning I asked myself, do I want to go out and pick greens, have some from the freezer, or have some blueberries from the grocery? I chose the blueberries, but later I'll go outside and harvest a panful of mustard greens.

It's like your parents always told you: Eat your vegetables! Dr. Oz wants you to do the same.

[notme]

who cares how it tastes- let consider the postives it provides.

Dean

I think taste does matter. If it isn't paletable then people will find an alternative for breakfast. From what I understand, it is pretty good. I can do pretty good. The "positives" are a plus.

[KEVIN88GT]

i'll let you guys know

[mark-TN]

There may end up being a lot more carbs in it than you think. The main ingredient in many vegetables (especially fibrous ones) is cellulose. Cellulose has virtually zero effect on blood glucose levels because the human digestion has no way of breaking cellulose apart into its individual molecules. Cellulose is a complex carbohydrate composed of long, unbranched chains of beta-glucose molecules. Now when you slice up vegetables with a knife you may free a few glucose molecules if the knife cleaves the cellulose at the right point. This is absolutely no big deal as a few molecules of glucose will have absolutely no effect what so ever on blood sugar levels. Now when you run that same vegetable through a juicer it is going to be whacked by the cutting blades millions of times over and this will free up millions and millions of glucose molecules that will have an effect on blood glucose levels.

Mark

[notme]

Ok this is going to be a really dumb questions. But wouldn't chewing have the same effect Mark?

[mark-TN]

You may free up a few glucose molecules when you chew, but just like slicing them up with a knife you will not free up enough to make a difference. A juicer is much different. The chances of freeing up glucose is infinitely greater with a mechanical device that is slicing at 1000’s or RPM. You can do an experiment. Eat a whole fibrous vegetable and compare its effect on blood sugar with the juice of an identical vegetable run through a juicer.

Mark

[notme]

Interesting....... You learn something new every day. :idea:

[slipperyelm]

I agree with Mark about more glucose becoming available when you juice the vegs. More of everything in the vegs becomes available when juiced. But if you just "blender" them, it would be slightly less. A blender breaks up the vegs less than a juicer, but more than chewing.

I assume Dr Oz uses a juicer that returns the cellulose, not one of those which sieves it out, right?

You could also skip the lemon and lime and just add a sprinkle of citric acid (from the canning, jelly making, preserving section of the grocery store) for that tartness and Vitamin C.

oops: I'm forgetting that citric acid from the grocery usually is carried in a little sugar, so you might not want to use that.

[volleyball]

Mark is right on, I've mentioned in many posts that juicers are not diabetic friendly. We have an issue with glycemic loads and juicers take out that healthy fiber. and who want to drink over a quart of liquid for breakfast?

[KEVIN88GT]

Ok I have made the green drink 3 times now... I have modified the ingridients and the ammount due to the fact that my blender (Magic Bullet) can only accomodate a small portion...which is basically one large drink

my version of the green drink

* 1 handful of baby spinach
* 1 medium cucumber
* 1 celery stick
* tiny and i mean TINY tip of ginger root(maybe 1gram?)
* 1 handful of parsley(dice it up with a knife so it doesnt tangle in the blender blades)
* 1 green apple
* 3-4 cubes of ice

I bolused for like 13-15 grams of carbs and it tastes good while being GOOD FOR YOU. Give it a try guys... I'll post a picture of it (when i get home)... took it with my camera phone

[Alice]

Are you guys cutting the celery up into tiny bits before putting into blender? I would think celery would get caught in blender.

I'm home today catching up on forums...sorry I missed this earlier.

bleh, I hate these drinks...but I may try this one...I have a few lbs to lose after Xms.

[KEVIN88GT]

just cut the celery into a few piece so that it fits in the blender... I have the "Magic Bullet" and it's small so I take one stick and cut it into about 3 pieces and it fits... doesnt get stuck...

It's the PARSLELY you need to watch out for.. that can get stuck in the blade... so I chop it before I throw it in the blender..

[Alice]

Thanks...I don't play with my blender very often. I did make a "smoothy" for lunch today...it was healthy...but I think I could have eaten a box of Girl Scout cookies for all the carbs I put in there! LOL! (Banana, plain Fage yogurt, blue berries, blackberries, strawberries...a dash of honey that came with the Fage yogurt), splash of milk...it came out a gorgeous purple color...

(a few units of Humalog...no problems with the carbs...)

I'm anxious to try the more "veggie" version that Dr. Oz. touted.