The 8 Essential Greens
Kale
Barley Grass
Spirulina
Wheatgrass
Spinach
Blue Green Algae
Aloe
Chlorella
8 Greens
by Amely Greeven
Many of the things I do on my path to wellness are simple, but they’re not especially easy. Thanks largely to the determination of my homesteader husband, who probably should have been born in the 1800s, we ferment sourdough bread and bottle endless jars of long-simmered bone broth. So we know there’s no shortcut to good health. Or is there?
I recently stumbled on 8 Greens, a tablet that contains the ingredients found in green drinks. You just drop it in water, let it fizz and enjoy. It was a revelation, like the universe saying, “I’ll give you one free pass, buddy.” 8 Greens’ creator, Dawn Russell, spent four years developing a product that everyone said couldn’t exist: an almost-zero-sugar, 10-calorie, refreshingly tasty green-drink tablet made with ingredients including blue-green algae from Oregon’s pristine Lake Klamath. “My obsession was, how can I help busy people build basic health in a way that’s, ‘Take it, go, get on with your day,’” she explains.
I tell her it’s like a gateway drug for greens: Almost everyone, including my 3-year-old, likes the taste of this bubbly kale- and wheatgrass-infused concoction. I’m convinced it gives me a little lift each time I drink it. Available at White’s Apothecary in Southampton and East Hampton, and at 8greens.com.
Purist’s wellness editor Amely Greeven is the co-author of the book Clean with Dr Alejandro Junger, and co-author of The First Forty Days: The Essential Art of Nourishing the New Mother.