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Step aside salad. You’re no longer the only way to get dark leafy greens into my diet. I’m sharing a leafy green list of greatness with you as well as how to use greens in a smoothie like the best green smoothie (or salad or soup or anything) as well as why it’s good to rotate your greens and try something like a kale banana smoothie every so often. Ready, set, go green!
Table of Contents
What are Leafy Greens?
Leafy greens are super important for a healthy diet. They’re nutrient-dense, green veggies that provide tons of vitamins and minerals. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, a daily serving of leafy greens can lead to slower age-related cognitive decline.
Greens can be found as the tops of other plants (here’s looking at you, carrot tops and beet greens), or as plants in their own right. They come in all shapes, sizes, textures, shades and seasons. They aren’t even all in the same plant family.
If your taste buds have ever balked at something dark green and leafy, never fear! I’ve got some great new options for you to blend.
The Ultimate Dark Leafy Greens List
I often talk about rotating your greens. This is because greens come from all different plant families, each offering different health benefits. Yet if spinach is your jam, no worries! Your body will tell you when it’s time for a leafy green change-up. Read on to learn about some different types of greens, as well as my favorite options in each family.
Crucifers
Kale
Having a health issue? Kale can help with that. Seriously, kale is at the top of the superfood chain. With 684% of the recommended daily value of vitamin K, 206% of the RDV of vitamin A and 134% of the RDV of vitamin C, this dark leafy green packs a health punch. Kale has the highest level of antioxidants when consumed raw, yet does retain some health benefits when cooked. Try kale in this simple kale smoothie.
Collard
Like their other cruciferous family members, collard greens are great cancer fighters. They are also pretty good at helping your body digest foods properly with all the fiber inside. They are most popular steamed, but adding them raw to your smoothies will provide greater health benefits. Try some alkaline recipes to experiment with collards.
Cabbage
Cabbage is yet another example of a cruciferous cancer-fighting leafy green. This veggie can actually be purple, red, white or green, but is definitely still considered a leafy green. I love using cabbage as a plant-based taco shell, blended in a cabbage smoothie or roasted cabbage with light seasoning. Loaded with fiber, folate, vitamin B6 and antioxidants which help fight inflammation.
Bok Choy
This unique green vegetable is typically grown and harvested in China. Full of vitamins A and C, bok choy ranks high for nutrient density as well. All parts of the plant can be used: shredded in a salad, my vegetarian ramen, cooked in soup or blended in a smoothie.
Arugula
More than just a garnish, this leafy green has a peppery taste and a full nutrient profile. One cup contains 27.7% of the RDV of vitamin K. It has a stronger flavor than other cruciferous greens on my list, yet is fun in lemon arugula salad or strawberry arugula salad, homemade arugula pesto, or as a pizza topping on my incredibly delicious plant-based pizza recipe.
Amaranth
Spinach
It’s hard to beat spinach when talking about nutrient-packed greens. Just one leaf contains a sampling of more than 20 different nutrients. The list of benefits is nearly as long as the number of nutrients:
- cancer-fighting
- blood pressure lowering
- bone strengthening
- cardiovascular helping
- brain boosting
- skin smoothing
- vision improving
- inflammation reducing
- energy increasing
Beet Greens
I recommend branching out and trying beet greens for your next smoothie! They include a wide variety of nutrients, and can easily be substituted in any recipe with spinach, kale or chard. Our friends at Epicurious will kick-start your love for dark leafy beet greens with some of their favorite recipes.
Chard
Looking to put a pep in your leafy green step? Chard is a colorful, dark leaf known for its ability to regulate the body’s blood sugar. Translation? If diabetes or maintaining blood sugar levels is a concern, add this veggie to your regular rotation. Perfect for the afternoon smoothie pick-me-up!
Asteraceae
Romaine Lettuce
Romaine lettuce is good for the heart and low in calories. The vitamin C and beta-carotene content help to lower cholesterol and prevent build-up on artery walls, which reduces the risk of a heart attack.
Not a fan of lettuce salads? Then use romaine as a food wrap like I do in these Thai lettuce wraps or blend it into this gazpacho soup recipe.
Apiaceae
Carrot Tops
Who knew those frilly greens on the tops of carrots could come in handy? #NoFoodWaste. Filled with chlorophyll, which can fight against tumor growth and acts as a cleansing agent, carrot tops are the perfect addition to smoothies like this carrot top smoothie.
If you really want to boost your next smoothie, toss in the carrot and its top.
How Often Should You Rotate Greens?
Most of the smoothie and meal recipes I create use kale or spinach. That’s because these are the most easily found and affordable leafy greens available at the grocery store. Plus, they are in different leafy green families, so it makes rotating my greens easy-peasy.
Alkaloid Build Up
Why is it important to rotate through this leafy green list? All greens have small amounts of toxins. If you only consume greens from one family, your body may start to experience alkaloid build up. This is very rare and easy to avoid. Just try a different leafy green every once in a while.
I recommend rotating your greens once a week. This way, your body doesn’t get too much of a good thing in one leafy green family, and you get the chance to reward your body with new nutrients from a different green family.
Basically, by rotating greens on a regular basis, you avoid building up the toxins from one green. And, this gives you a reason to try that new fun green you’re always eyeing at the farmer’s market.
While our green smoothies are super easy to swap out one green for another, I’ve also got a meal planner full of plant-based recipes. Rawk the Year makes finding new recipes a breeze, and helps you incorporate the whole rainbow into your week. This meal planner also equips you with the kitchen skills to change up your veggies with ease!
Freezing Your Leafy Greens
Ever wonder how to use up all that beautiful produce you just bought, before it starts to wilt? Even though I make green smoothies daily, I still find that my greens never stay fresh as long as I need.
To lengthen the shelf life of those leafy greens and make rotating your greens as easy as opening your freezer, I came up with a way to freeze your greens. This way, you can have your greens and eat them too! Since I typically buy spinach and kale at Costco, I found that freezing them in ice cube trays and then storing them in freezer containers is the perfect solution to maximizing the freshness.
Bonus: Frozen greens can help keep that smoothie cool.
Leafy Greens FAQs
You’ve probably heard of spinach, kale and lettuce, but leafy greens also include carrot tops, beet greens, swiss chard, arugula and more! They can grow all on their own, or be found on the tops of other plants (like broccoli, beets and carrots).
All leafy greens are incredibly nutritious and great to mix into your diet. Kale and spinach are probably the most nutrient-dense, yet you need a variety of greens (and other fruits and vegetables) for the best health. Don’t be afraid to give a new one a try next time you’re at the store. You might be surprised by mustard greens, bok choy and more!
Greens don’t just take place in salads or garnishes for burgers. You can use them in green smoothies, all kinds of pesto, filling for stuffed mushrooms or potatoes. Pretty much anything you want! Next time you are grocery shopping, grab a new-to-you leafy green and get adventurous with how you prepare it.
The Ultimate Green Smoothie App
Our amazing app, Daily Blends Smoothie app., has hundreds of recipes ready for you to work your way through the leafy greens list! You can sort by the ingredients you have on hand or the type of smoothie you want to try. It’s a great app to try a new recipe and catalog your favorites.
What are your favorite leafy greens? Drop a comment below and let me know if this list has inspired you to try a new ingredient, or if you’ve got a new green for me to try!
Watercress is in the Brassicaceae family (along with radish and mustard greens). You can totally add it to your smoothies, just know it will be a bit peppery (like arugula) and some people have a strong aversion to it. You could do 1 cup watercress and 1 cup spinach to help balance it out.
Is silverbeet and baby spinach leaves ok? Can’t always get spinach, but can get kale ok. What’s the best combo to achieve clear skin?
Hey Christine— I use baby spinach and silver beet (chard) a lot around my house (we bought from a local farmer and froze tons of it). These are all great leafy greens to help boost your nutritional intake and reap the benefits of phytonutrients, chlorophyll and fiber. Elimination is key to healthy clear skin— so make sure you are eating foods that are easy to digest and getting plenty of fresh fruits and veggies.
Hey ladies,
Hope this is not a silly question: but parsely is considered a “green”, right?!?! I love parsely in my smoothies and I know yall said this list wasnt exhaustive! But it would be nice to see what family it falls in (I’m sure I could always google it too, lol!).
Thanks in advance!
Hi Callie— great question! It’s actually in the APIACEAE family (with its buddy cilantro). Please share one of your fav parsley smoothies— we are always looking for inspiration!
Jen, Are mustard greens or turnip greens used in smoothies? I’ve never cooked with either & have only eaten turnip greens at Cracker Barrel.
You can use these greens in smoothies, they just have a more bitter taste.
This was a very helpful guide, btw. Thank you. 🙂
I’m curious to know why parsley wasn’t included in the list?
I wanted to know the same thing as well. What about organic lettuces? I know that most don’t include a lot of good stuff, but I like to buy those big plastic cartons of the herb salads. I love those and kale, spinach etc. I have tingling in my hands but I was also diagnosed with carpal tunnel from doing doggie and cat dentals for 25 yrs.,.
And I LOVE my Nutribullet!! Most affordable alternative to a Vitamix, which I still want someday…
J
Alkaloid build-up is very mild. You may have symptoms for a day or two and then it’ll go away. Nothing to freak about. 🙂
Parsley is great too– especially for bad breath. It just didn’t make our list of favorites to use in green smoothies. 🙂
Parlsey is a superfood too! Full of vitamins and chlorophyll! It isn’t just for bad breath. It has a lot of vitamin A in it as well as the same vitamins that kale has in it.
Poor Parsley wasn’t a favorite. I LOVE the taste of it raw. I eat it off of everyone’s plates at restaurants. Not the whole place, mind, you, just those at my table… ahem….
I’m joining a local farm for local produce and one of the items listed is pac choy. What is this and can it be used for smoothies?
Sounds like a typo— it should be bok choy. It’s a sweet tasting leafy green— and we talk about it above. 🙂 And yes— add it to smoothies. We actually have a recipe that includes it this week in Challenge #1.
pak choy is very similar to bok choy, only 1 has green stem the other has white. nutritionally i would think they would be very similar & you could use it in any way that you use bok choy 🙂
The liver detoxifies blood all the time. I don’t believe this should be a reason to rotate. Does that mean you should avoid a CSA? You will get bags of the same things as long as it is in season. Breakfast is a lot faster if you make a pitcher of smoothie the night before. In fact it is a time saver to make a couple of day worth.
Thanks for the helpful information. ‘m also curious to know how often we should rotate our greens – daily? weekly?
How would we know if we have Alkaloid Buildup, what are the symptoms and can it be treated easily?
You can start to feel nauseous after drinking a smoothie once you have alkaloid buildup. I personally rotate a few leafy greens throughout the week: usually between spinach, kale and collard greens. Spinach is definitely my staple, but I take breaks form it just to give my body a break. I have never experienced alkaloid buildup yet— hope that helps!
Same question here. I juice kale,spinach,celery,beets , carrots ,cucumber together everyday. Should I be rotating days?
You could do kale for 2 days, spinach for 2 days and then celery greens for two days, etc.
I have been doing green smoothies for a month and use parsley, cucumber, celery, spinach and kale altogether. Any problems there?
You’re doing fine. Always consume what you enjoy and listen to your body.
This is great information. I’ve been using Kale & spinach, but I noticed in Whole Foods that they have some combined Kale, collard and chard. So I will be purchasing them as well.
My question is how would you know if you have alkaloid buildup? Are there any symptoms?
Okay, well I’m waiting for April 1st for my challenge.
Thanks again for the very informative information, you’re the best!!
The pre-mixed greens are always helpful. As far as alkaloid buildup, we say in the article that some symptoms are: naseau, tingling in finger tips and fatigue. It’s very mild and if you feel these symptoms, take a break and reintroduce green smoothies. Sometimes your body just needs a break or is looking for a change.
I am starting the 30 Day Challenge for the first time but I have already started making my own green smoothies prior to knowledge of the challenge – I would also like to know the answers to Kimberly & Nisha’s question since I have been using guesstimated handfuls of spinach … Is it important to measures out the ingredients if you aren’t using the recipes you’ve supplied?
Feel free to use as many leafy greens as you like. We provide measurements to make our recipes super beginner-friendly. You can rotate your leafy greens weekly, or even throughout the week. But if you read my story above, I made the exact same smoothie with spinach in it almost everyday for months before changing it up and I’m fine.
Woooah Ive been on a Spinach only kick as well… same question as Kimberly… Is this a daily or weekly rotation and how do you know if you have buildup already?
Hey Nisha and Kimberly— you would feel nauseous, not have much energy and could even have tingling fingers if you had alkaloid buildup. You should rotate your greens throughout the week— so do spinach for a day or two, kale for a day or two, etc. The point is to give your body a break and allow it to absorb something different. Hope that helps!
Yes and makes perfect sense, thanks so much!!
Thank you! this is very informative because I have only been using spinach. The time I used kale it made my smoothie taste horrible! But I shall try it again not that I know I need to rotate.
Shantoya, feel free to try out other leafy greens if kale is not your friend. Or next time try 1 cup spinach and 1 cup kale along with a banana to sweeten it up. 🙂
How often should greens be rotated, in order to prevent alkaloid buildup? What if you already suffer with alkaloid buildup?
It’s very rare for someone to be affected by alkaloid build-up. Just listen to your body. If your body usually loves green smoothies, and then all of a sudden, you don’t want them, it’s time to change it up. Add some cilantro to refresh your taste buds and you’ll be fine.