Greens Powders Won’t Fix Your Gut
I often get asked ‘what do you think of greens powders?’ And honestly, I think they’re overrated - for the most part.
I’ll explain more in this post of the ‘when and when not’ to buy greens powders, but for now let's start with the basics.
What are greens powders made from?
Typically greens get their name because they are made from powdered green vegetables, herbs or algae like spirulina, chlorella, kale, spinach or even broccoli.
So it doesn’t taste like grass they’ll add sweeteners, flavours and colours - either natural or artificial.
Some add some other powdered fruits or vegetables, vitamins, minerals, herbs and probiotics to add additional benefits to the powder.
This sounds alright, what’s wrong with that?
Greens can be very expensive nutrition
A great quality greens powder made from all organic ingredients is just extra nutrition in powdered form.
If your goal is to increase the amount of nutrients you eat, and you have the money to spend on a great greens powder, this could be a nice way to add some extra vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients (the stuff in plants that feed your gut bugs).
Here’s the caveat - if this is your goal, I always recommend increasing your nutrition through the whole foods you eat daily. By eating more fruit, veggies, nuts, seeds and whole proteins you get more than just nutrients you get energy and fibre, too.
So yes to greens powders if you want extra nutrition on top of your diet. But honestly, getting through real food is far superior!
Your gut is not ‘greens powder’ deficient
When it comes to gut symptoms, I know so many hope a greens powder is exactly what they need to fix their symptoms.
If you have ongoing symptoms that impact the way you eat, and how you think about your gut every second of the day - a greens powder is just not going to cut it.
Your gut is made up of physical structures (stomach & intestines) and microbes.
Most gut symptoms and conditions I see in the clinic are related to a dysfunction in these two areas.
This could be due to things like Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), hypochlorhydria (low stomach acid), lower oesophageal sphincter dysfunction, food intolerances or infection in the gut - plus a million other things!
Fixing or improving these things usually requires testing and a targeted treatment plan based on clinical evidence.
Treatment usually involves therapeutic doses of specific herbs or nutrients along with very targeted probiotic strains.
So you can see how in many cases, a greens powder usually won’t cut it. This is why I think they’re overrated.
Are you falling for great marketing?
The marketing budget of some of these greens powders is huge and so many influencers are ‘obsessed’.
This of course doesn’t mean it’s a bad product, but I ask if you think about why you want to purchase it so you can make sure you get your money’s worth.
And if it’s because your gut symptoms just won’t go away, these things are best looked at by a health professional!
Save the money, buy the good food at the shops and book an appointment instead.
Which ones do you recommend?
When it comes to buying a great greens powder I am more about ‘reds’ powders because that colour in plants, known as polyphenols, is fabulous at feeding your bifidobacterium (good gut bacteria).
Regardless, if you want a great greens powder, look for organic ingredients, natural sweeteners (monk fruit) or no sweeteners at all, and a product that you can read all the ingredients and understand.
You also want to look for ones with limited added vitamins. This is a little too deep to get into here, but there are high-quality and low-quality vitamins and many companies will add cheap, synthetic vitamins that our bodies struggle to utilise as a way to cut costs.
Stick to greens powders mostly made from real food - these will have real nutrients.
I hope that answers the question!
