Why Do Athletes Drink Green Smoothies?

Why do professional athletes and even non-pros all seem to have green smoothies as part of their diet? Is there some secret nutritional benefit to drinking green smoothies that the pro’s and semi-pros know? Let’ discuss.

Table of Contents

Juicing Before Smoothies?

In the early 80s and 90s, professional athletes in fields such as baseball, football, and basketball (to a lesser extant) juicing (and not that kind!) was all the rage.

Home run sluggers such as Mark McGwire and others who trained super heavy and used green juice such as a recovery agent.

There were even athletes who became the sponsored spokesperson for juicers. It became the norm to turn on the television and see some World Series winner pitching how great juicing greens was for their game.

But then a change came about. This happened sometime towards the end of the 90s. People started to get more into smoothies.

There were a few reasons for the move from green juices to green smoothies.

The Fiber Connection: Smoothies Take Center State

The first reason that people switched from drinking fresh juice to drinking fresh smoothies was the fiber.

Fiber has several benefits when it comes to athletics and performance.

Fiber slows down the speed at which sugars are digested.

This is the number one reason that people have taken such a liking to smoothies. Athletes in particular are known to make their own smoothies.

If you drink a green juice, even if it’s made with spinach and kale and other vegetables that appear to be low in sugar, you are getting a rush of liquid sugars. This can cause a spike in blood sugar and cause energy to spike and crash in some cases.

So, athletes switched from making celery juices and apple juices and moved onto making power smoothies.

There was even a time when big hitters in the Major Leagues like Mark McGwire were big advocates for juices.

Protein Shakes and Greens: The Ultimate Sports Smoothie

The switch came around when blenders started to become more popular due to the attention surrounding fiber and sugar.

Countless youtube videos have been made which detail the benefits of fiber in the diet. Added fiber has the following benefits.

Increased fiber has been shown to has a positive correlation to lowering blood pressure, and it also has a positive correlation to lipoprotein metabolism.

The other reason that smoothies took off and people, especially athletes took a liking to them is that protein is much easier to add to a smoothie than a juice.

(some athletes also add creatine to their smoothies).

So, for instance, consider the two different pre-workout combos:

A Green Drink – Kale and Spinach
A Green Smoothie- Kale, Blueberries, Protein Powder, Almond Milk

One of them will spike your insulin (the reason many pro athletes prefer to have fiber in their smoothies) and that one is the juice.

But when you make a green protein smoothie, you get long lasting energy.

Not Just Pro-Athletes Love Smoothies

It’s not just pro Athletes in the MLB and NFL and NBA who love to drink smoothies. Even in the world of Poker and Chess, people are fans of smoothies.

Poker players are in recent years big fans of smoothies. Jason Koon, for instance, has spoken about drinking smoothies. He even gave tips on how to best handle blending a kale smoothie by quickly blanching kale in order to remove some of the Oxalate acid.

The long hours at the poker table during a poker tournament, or the long hours sitting at a table during a chess match (think of the old Bobby Fischer matches) require stamina and endurance. So, instead of eating power bars or some other sort of fast food.

Professional poker players and the like find that green smoothies help them maintain not only physical health but mental health.

Why Green Smoothies in Particular?

So the final thing to discuss is why athletes like to drink green smoothies in particular. Why not frozen fruit smoothies?

First, green smoothies have less sugar, which is important when you are doing heavy exercise and and prolonged activity. You don’t want to have a crash.

Green smoothies, on the other hand, are perfect for endurance.

Fruit smoothies have their place, especially in recovery (cherries and berries are great at anti-inflammatory applications).

But for training and for performance, green smoothies mixed with protein powder is perfect.

The typical athlete would mix spinach, kale, almond milk , protein powder and maybe a small amount of blueberries or cherries.

But green smoothies in particular are super powerful for the average athlete. They provide antioxidants, energy, low calories, and low sugar.

2022 Update

More Powerful Than Ever: Smoothies for Athleates

I wanted to come back and revisit this aritlce about smoothies and how amazing they are for anyone who excercises. Obviously the athleates that I originally mentioned here are still an important point to be aware of.

However, I wanted to look back and revist some of the other info. Because it’s not just that smoothies are healthy and a good source of natural energy–as opposed to sports drinks which are known to be unhealthy.

Here’s a good video from Rhonda Patrick where she goes over the health benfits of her ultimate smoothie. And whille this video is extensive, you will get a good overview by skimming it if you don’t have the time. She outlines the numberous benefits.

As I’ve covered in recent articles, the health beneits of things like bananas in smoothies are immense. They are able to help with muscle soreness as well other benefits.

And unlike when you cook vegetables, leafy greens like spinach and other vegetables and fruits don’t lose nutritional value when you blend them.

There’s a real reason why people like Giannis Antetokounmpo love smoothies!