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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!
I have a couple of questions about kale – do you usually just use one type of kale – I like the dinosaur/tuscan/lacinato since there seems to be more leafy part per stem. Or do the different varieties have different nutrition? Do you remove the stem from the kale? does it make it taste more bitter? I have been using liquid stevia drops to sweeten it a bit. Thanks for the tip about blending the greens and liquid before adding fruits. thanks!
Hey Mark.
Thanks for the comments/questions. 🙂 You can use any type of kale that you enjoy! 🙂 We love dinosaur kale too. 🙂 You can removed any stems that are too thick to blend.
Here is a link to the nutritional information we currently have on fruit, veggies and leafy greens. 🙂 https://simplegreensmoothies.com/
We usually don’t add extra sweeteners to our green smoothies— fruit is all we use! If you still need a little extra something to enjoy your green smoothie, then try adding just a little real maple syrup or raw honey until you adjust to the green smoothie lifestyle. Please, please, please stay away from zero-calorie or artificial sweeteners—they act like toxins in your body.https://simplegreensmoothies.com/tips/sweeten
Cheers + Happy Blendin’!
I have been drinking green smoothies for over a year and now discovering it may cause oxalyate crystals to form in our body. What do you know about that? Should we back off the greens to prevent the build up of this acid?
Hey Kathy.
Thanks for reaching out. Are you rotating your greens? We suggest every time you go to the store, by a different family of leafy greens. Since we are not doctors or nutritionists, we suggest that any member of community with health concerns to speak to their healthcare provider to confirm that green smoothies would be beneficial for their body.
Must the greens in the smoothie be made of leaves? Or can it also be other frozen vegetables like carrots, peas, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower etc? Thanks!
Hey Jessica, great question. We love veggies too! We love leafy green and veggies. 🙂 Have you seen this recipe?
2 cups cabbage
5 frozen figs
1 banana
2 cups water
Going back to Jessica’s question:
Are frozen vegetables as good as the the fresh ones? Other words, can I use frozen vegetables as an alternative?
Hey Miriam.
Yes, you can use frozen. Fresh is best, but frozen is a close second. 🙂
Thanks so much for this brilliant article! Sending on the link to all my friends! Spreading the words of green smoothies! Quick question are you suggesting that I should rotate my intake of greens by taking a different family every week for example CRUCIFERS one week and the second week APIACEAE or should I eat CRUCIFERS and APIACEA every week but just rotate the greens from each family i select for example cabbage week 1 is replaced with bok choy week 2. Final question
any recommendations regarding fruit rotations to blend with greens?Ps sorry about the long question!
Good morning Mike.
Correct. Each time you go to the store, buy a different family of leafy greens. 🙂 At this time we do not have a list for fruit rotations, like we do leafy greens. Feel free to mix and match. 🙂
I wanted to thank you for the free download of the green smoothie crash course. I have posted about you and the crash course on my blogging site as I blog about getting healthier and fitter. I have been doing the green smoothies now for 4 days and I can tell a world of difference. My main goal at this point is to get off the sugars that are refined. This is helping tremendously. I have dropped over 3 lbs since I have started and feel great. In fact, My daughter has been sick for 2.5 days now and being that she is 3 she is in my face a lot and you would think I would be showing signs of being sick myself. I am glad to say I am not, however, my husband is. (He isn’t so sure about the green smoothies yet). I am hooked. Thanks so much for what you do.
Hey Morgan!
Thanks so much for the comment and spreading the green smoothie love! We are cheering you on!! 🙂 Keep up posted on your journey! 🙂
What a wealth of health knowledge! I’m so excited about my green smoothies…had my first one for lunch yesterday and another last night and this morning. I’m in love!
Thank you for what you do
Cheers to your first green smoothie! 🙂 Happy blending, Verjuana!
I love this site. Thank you so much!
We’re glad to have you in our community, James! 🙂
Love this site thank you so much for your hard work!
🙂
maybe you know why I’m feeling super dehydrated?? Thanks
Hi Lucy.
Make sure you drink lots of water to help flush everything out as well. Sometimes when you make sudden changes in your regular diet, or you add more fiber into your diet, your body needs to adjust. Every body reacts to food differently. If you feel bloated, you may have some personal allergies to certain fruit combinations, that is something you would have to consult with a health care provider about. Also, make sure you don’t eat any other foods 30-60 minutes before after you drink your green smoothies to give your body time to digest the fruits.
Hi ck
Thanks for sharing…just love your blog:-)
Also I’m doing almost every day a green juice since a week and feels my body is super dehydrated???
The juice is spinach/cucumber/celeriac in an apple & beet juice..delicious tough!
Xx
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂 Which recipe will you try next?
I lightly steam my kale and spinach, then spread them on a cookie sheet and freeze. Once their frozen I transfer them to a ziplock container. Freezing them on the cookie sheet first, makes them much easier to break into serving size chunks and the slight cooking actions helps break down the toxins.
Great idea!
Since I was in mexico I love making a green smoothie using Nopales (cactus leaves) is this a ok substitute for spinach and kale? I am rotating these greens. Thanks
Hey Adam.
We have not tried using cactus leaves, but if that is something you already enjoying eating, then go for it! 🙂 We love all sorts of leafy greens! 🙂
I am new on smoothies and need help too make the best smoothie too fight against cancer.
Anyone who can help me??
Hey May.
Thanks for the question. Since we are not doctors or nutritionist we can’t medically suggest a green smoothie that is good for fight against cancer. My suggestion would be to ask your healthcare provider to point you in the right direction of which fruit and veggies have been studied to help fight cancer. Once you have those answers, just us know and we can find a green smoothie that is great for you and delicious. 🙂
Is it OK to use frozen spinach? Fresh spinach is sometimes hard to find in the local grocery and I’m not familiar with other available greens.
Hey Mary.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, you are more that welcome to use frozen spinach if it is easier to find at the local grocery stores. 🙂
Hello everyone! I made smoothies for a week and a half using kale, collard greens and two kiwi. The problem is I also take plavix. About 5 days later I have seen big bruises on my arms. I think I’m consuming too much kale. What are your thoughts.
Hey Max.
Since we are not doctors or nutritionist the best advice we have is to consult your healthcare provider. 🙂 They will know you best and help you best understand why you are seeing bruises.
Is there a difference when using baby varieties of veggies? Baby spinach, kale, etc?
Hey Aisha.
We have found that baby spinach and baby kale is more mild in taste. Great for beginner green smoothie drinkers. 🙂