"I WISH I could like the green smoothies but I just don't! Maybe I need to add more fruit to give it a sweeter taste." You could add more fresh fruit and/or dried fruit. An alternative is to give your tastebuds more time to acclimate to the "green" taste. When I first started making smoothies, they had quite a lot of sweeter fruits in them, and a lot of carrot juice. These days, I've not only increased the proportion of vegetables substantially while decreasing the proportion of fruits and sugary vegetables, but I've also switched to lower-sugar fruits, like berries, including unsweetened cranberries. What's interesting is that now, I don't like sweeter smoothies as much. For example, I made one a few days ago with unsweetened pomegranate juice, and it seemed like a dessert to me. golddust, you said this: "I can't believe the difference in my skin. It feels softer and less puffy." The same here. But there's more. How many of you have face creams, eye creams, special creams for nighttime, body creams and lotions? Special ones for feet, for cuticles. For every single body part or so it seems? I realized the other day that I'm no longer using anything. After showering, I always needed the whole gamut of creams and lotions; the same after washing my face, which always felt unpleasantly tight. These days, my skin always feels soft, and no creams or lotions are needed. Of course, I can't scientifically ascribe the change to green smoothies, nor would I. I also can't say it's because of what I now eat, or because of what I no longer eat. It's probably due to a combo of all those factors. (It might well be due to something else entirely, of course.) But whatever, I don't want to estimate the cost of all those partially jars and bottles! Because I doubt I'll ever finish up any of them.

I agree with homechef59's recommendation of getting the basic "C" model Vitamix. In other words, I would save myself $100 and buy the Vitamix 5300 model which is in regular stock at at the Costco stores. (It was about $350 at Costco when I was there yesterday.) BTW: The current 5300 models at Costco now have the shorter container that fits on kitchen counters underneath the upper cabinets. IIRC, the main differences between the 5300 and 6500 are: (a) slightly different control interface with the 6500 having an additional dial with three quick presets; and (b) the 6500 package comes with some accessories. I do not care about presets but you might like/need/want them. (IIRC, the presets were "soup," "smoothies" and "fozen desserts." Also, IIRC, the manual speeds markings on on the 6500 will give slightly different motor speeds than the ones on the 5300. ( My memory is that the 6500's dial adjuster goes all the way to maximum high where the 5300 has a separate toggle for switch for max high.) For the accessories, take a hard look at them and consider whether you would actually use them. You always can get the ones you want later if you develop a need for them. FWIW, I bought my my 5200 from Costco 4 years and and have been pleased. Far and away the best blender I've owned. (The tall cannister/blending jar is not a problem in my kichen --- the current 5300 model is essentially the same product with a shorter cannister/blending jar). The thing is strong enough to mix concrete. Tried a Blendtec (Costco roadshow) and thought it equally capable, but the roadshow Blendtec unit was more expensive than the VM5200 on the shelves at Costco at that time. I do not care about smoothies but, as ifoco mentioned above, the VM lets you puree soups without needing to strain them. Basically the same idea as smoothies except for being hot. My biggest tests for making soups I do not have to strain: (a) ginger carrot soup (also use VM to make carrot juice for this recipe in addition to getting a creamy soup when everything is cooked together) and (b) creamed pea and spinach soup. All my previous blenders required straining from the blender to get these soups creamy smooth. The pea soup has a lot of fiber in it: petit pois (from Costco) with lightly cooked fresh spinach (bags from Costco with the stems), sweated onions, cooked rice (cream substitute for my aging lactose intolerant friends), chicken stock and secret herbs and spices. (Okay the herbs and spices are curry powder, white pepper & lemon zest). For checking out earlier reviews, the current 5300 is a slightly newer version of the 5200 and the 6500 is a slightly revised version of the 6300. For further reviews from users, search the "cookware" forum at chowhound and the "kitchen consumer" forum at eGullet.

Lavenderlace: I tested the below research: https://stumptuous.com/fat-sugar-metabolic-derangement "High-fat (HF) and high-fat/high-sugar (HFHS) diets both raised blood lipids. However: only rats on HFHS (fat plus sugar) diet developed hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, glucose intolerance and a diminished insulin response to a glucose load. " When I'm busy, I gulped one glass of juice for energy (100% juice with natural sugar) .. that kept my blood-sugar stabilized to finish a task for 1 hour longer. And a glass of soy milk (7 g. protein) & brewer's yeast & honey lasts me 4 hours without eating. Recently I did something different: finish the last bar of Klondite ice-cream (230 calories, 14 g of fat, 20 g white sugar) & sweet & greasy. Right after that, my blood sugar crashed, I was unbearably hungry and had to eat a meal immediately. I checked the ingredients: it has sugar & corn syrup (high fructose corn syrup). A little of fat plus protein is useful to keep one full. But fat plus sugar induce more hunger. I tested blueberry-smoothie made with 0% fat Greek yogurt versus 2% fat yogurt, and the 2% fat yogurt is more filling & last longer. CONCLUSION: Fat & protein & veggies is a good combo. Fat is needed to absorb the nutrients in veggies better. We have a friend who's a vegetarian and he ALWAYS USE full-fat salad-dressing, plus full-fat cheese on his salads, and he's just as skinny as husband in their late 50's. I used coconut oil to make banana muffin, and olive oil in my cooking. Here's what the Dean of Nutrition, Harvard Medical School said about coconut oil: http://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/coconut-oil "Coconut oil is about 90% saturated fat, which is a higher percentage than butter (about 64% saturated fat), beef fat (40%), or even lard (also 40%). Too much saturated fat in the diet is unhealthy because it raises "bad" LDL cholesterol levels, which increases the risk of heart disease. So it would seem that coconut oil would be bad news for our hearts. But what's interesting about coconut oil is that it also gives "good" HDL cholesterol a boost. But, for now, I'd use coconut oil sparingly. Most of the research so far has consisted of short-term studies to examine its effect on cholesterol levels. We don't really know how coconut oil affects heart disease. And I don't think coconut oil is as healthful as vegetable oils like olive oil and soybean oil, which are mainly unsaturated fat and therefore both lower LDL and increase HDL. Coconut oil's special HDL-boosting effect may make it "less bad" than the high saturated fat content would indicate, but it's still probably not the best choice among the many available oils to reduce the risk of heart disease. — Walter C. Willett, M.D. Harvard School of Public Health Department of Nutrition Harvard Health Letter Editorial Board" *** From Straw: Just tested Solgar Brewer's yeast (made from beets). It's less tasty than NOW brand (sold out at local health food store). Solgar BY has a "plastic" & artificial taste to it, and less acidic than NOW. So I'll use Solgar BY for my roses, and still need to buy NOW brewer's yeast when they stock up.

Seems to have been around long enough so that if others had found it to be a dud it would have shown up on Don Rawson's list of Difficult To Grow Hostas, and it hasn't...so, if yours is stuck in neutral I'd look at environmental factors. For instance could there be root competition? Pieter