The Scoop on Veggie Powders
Is drinking greens healthier than eating them?
Dark green vegetables are often considered to be the cream of the health-food crop because they’re particularly rich in essential minerals such as iron, magnesium and calcium, plus vitamins C, K and a bunch of the Bs. New green powders promise all that nutritional goodness in one convenient scoop—just stir into a glass of water. These products, from Athletic Greens, Garden of Life, Vital Proteins and others, are made of dehydrated veggies such as spinach, beetroot and broccoli, plus spirulina, a type of algae full of nutrients.
But is drinking your greens as healthy as eating them? The short answer is no because they’re missing one crucial element: fibre. Fibre is good for your gut, helping to keep food moving through the digestive system. Still, getting your daily servings of whole vegetables isn’t always convenient.
“I consider powdered greens to be a nutritional supplement,” says Maya Feller, a New York–based registered dietitian and author of Eating from Our Roots: 80+ Healthy Home-Cooked Favorites from Cultures Around the World. “Many formulations have added vitamins and minerals or other nutrients that don’t naturally occur in green vegetables, so they’re similar to a multivitamin.”
So keep eating those healthy veggies, and reach for the powders when you need a nutritional boost.
...Dark green vegetables are often considered to be the cream of the health-food crop because they’re particularly rich in essential minerals such as iron, magnesium and calcium, plus vitamins C, K and a bunch of the Bs. New green powders promise all that nutritional goodness in one convenient scoop—just stir into a glass of water. These products, from Athletic Greens, Garden of Life, Vital Proteins and others, are made of dehydrated veggies such as spinach, beetroot and broccoli, plus spirulina, a type of algae full of nutrients.
But is drinking your greens as healthy as eating them? The short answer is no because they’re missing one crucial element: fibre. Fibre is good for your gut, helping to keep food moving through the digestive system. Still, getting your daily servings of whole vegetables isn’t always convenient.
“I consider powdered greens to be a nutritional supplement,” says Maya Feller, a New York–based registered dietitian and author of Eating from Our Roots: 80+ Healthy Home-Cooked Favorites from Cultures Around the World. “Many formulations have added vitamins and minerals or other nutrients that don’t naturally occur in green vegetables, so they’re similar to a multivitamin.”
So keep eating those healthy veggies, and reach for the powders when you need a nutritional boost.