How to pick a GREAT greens powder! Here is a brief summary of what to look for.

How to pick a GREAT greens powder! Here is a brief summary of what to look for. 

Everyone knows eating vegetables is good, but how many do regularly?

If you do, that’s great, but you can STILL benefit, and here’s why. 
Most veggies these days weren't picked seasonally fresh, are not organic, and while frozen veggies are great, many nutrients are lost in the process. 

But the health benefits of even basic daily vegetables is undeniable, so why not capitalise when its SO SIMPLE and can even be DELICIOUS simply adding some greens to water, or a green smothie, or even a protein shake?
Doing so can help not only help with detoxification, increased energy, weight loss, and reducing inflammation, but also help with faster exercise recovery and improved mental and physical performane IF you chose one that is high quality and suits your individual needs. 
BUT HOW DO YOU PICK ONE THATS GOOD?

Here are a few things I look out for when selecting greens powder:

1. First of all, no fillers!
The main ingredients should be greens like Spirulina, chlorella, barley and wheat grasses, or veggies like beetroot, broccoli, kale, spinach etc. You don’t want to pay extra for psyllium husks, oat bran, flax seed etc UNLESS you want a fibre supplement as well, but then the price should be less as these ingredients are cheaper. I also don’t like things like flax seed, sunflower seed or other high fat ingredients as these oxidise rapidly, thus loosing their health qualities. Its better to buy those separately as chia seed,or a high quality LSA for exapmple, or simply grind some whole flax seed each week for maximum health benefit, an then add these to my greens smoothie seperately, as many greens are not in airtight dark containers which keep air and light out, nor are they stored in the fridge to keep the sensitive omega 3 fats fresh.

2. Which ingredients are best?
As mentioned, you want a variety of different greens and green extracts, preferably dried at low temperatures, and grown organically which these days most are. USDA organic is my LEAST favourite organic certifier, while the European ones like ECOCERT & BIO are the best in my opinion. I like a few super foods and berries added too like acai, maca, AFA, alfalfa, beetroot etc for additional nutrition and antioxidants. Look for extracts and freeze-dried ingredients whever possible.

3. Should I get one with herbal extracts?
This depends on what you want from your greens. Do you just want nutrition, or do you want some tonic, adaptogenic or other herbs as well? Herbal ingredients and actions is too vast a subject for this short article, but if you do opt for some make sure they are herbal extracts with standardised constituents (i.e. Silybum marianun or Milk Thistle should contain a minimum amount of silymarin PER DOSE, with the better quality products containing more. Products containing hydro-ethanolic extracts are the best as these contain the water and alcohol soluble fractions of the herb. Do not pay good money for herbs in dried or powdered form unless it’s for a specific purpose such as psyllium or marshmallow for gut health, or brahmi and gotu cola for the nervous system. Personally while I do like a few extracts like withania, gotu cola, ginkgo, milk thistle, brahmi etc, I generally take what I actually need daily in a high-potency tablet such as for stress support of liver/digestive health, as these are going to have much more of the specific ingredients for each purpose instead of a random selection for "everyone". 

4. What about vitamins, minerals and enzymes.
Again it depend on your needs, but most of the products I see that claim to have “everything you need” in one product fail for a number of reasons. Most use poor quality forms of most nutrients that are not well absorbed,such as calcium carbonate, iron oxide or magnesium oxide.  So even if you take the recommended dose (usually 10+ grams) you don’t often get the RDI of most nutrients. Again, I prefer to take a high quality multivitamin and mineral separately personally as then I can ensure it’s a good quality and take it when I need it. Enzymes such as protease, lipase and amylase can be useful to support detoxification and reduce gut inflammation if in a substantial enough dose. Look for the pineapple enzyme bromelain in particular as this has many benifits..

5. What about protein content?
Many greens such as Spirulina have a moderate protein content on their own and this is good as all protein supports detoxification and repair. Buying one that contains additional protein is an option, and if you do I suggest avoiding soy isolate, and going for either whey isolate, or a combo of pea, rice and hemp or others to ensure a more balanced and complete essential amino acid profile is present. Again, I prefer to purchase a high quality product seperately and take it when I want to, butif you're daily protein needs aren't that high then thats not necessary. As always organic is preferable.

6. Sweeteners and flavours.
Some products are flavoured and sweetened which I prefer these days, but obviously avoid artificial ones, and instead go for stevia, xylitol, coconut palm sugar, fruit extracts, or any of the many natural low calorie options available these days. Many natural flavourings are available also, but if you prefer an unflavoured one its easy to ad raw cacao, vanilla extract or any number of freeze dried fruit extracts, or just fresh berries if in season! 

Try a few samples and see which you like. Either way there's so many benefits to a good greens product you’d be crazy not to try some. Typically I have a shake in the mornging and after workouts and these may include whey protein isolate, greens, chia seeds or flax meal, freshly pressed flax oil or unflavoured fish oil (if its chocolate and with some nuts only!), MCT or coconut oil, and sometimes a little seasonal fruit.

Feel free to post questions or comments below. 

Enjoy, Chris @ Injury Nutrition