I tell people all the time about Green Smoothies. As far as I'm concerned, its the BEST change I've made in our family diet. After I explain the "Why?" of the green smoothies a lot of people ask for my recipe... Not so simple. I don't really follow a recipe- I kinda just throw stuff in depending on what I've got. I do have a standard one I make and like the most, and all others are usually an adaptation of it. That "recipe" goes something like this:
4 cubes of ice
1 cup of water
1/2 cup of carrot juice
1/2 cup of Acai Juice (Costco just started carrying Sambazon Acai juice and I LOVE it, but I've also used more carrot, or the other Costco concentrated juices like their Mango or other ones)
lots of spinach
1-2 Kale or collard leaves
1 fresh banana
1/2-1 cup mixed frozen fruit or whatever fresh fruit I have on hand. I like the mixed tropical blend at Costco better than the berries, because the berries leave seeds. Mangos and pears are my favorite fresh fruits. If you add strawberries you can leave the green parts on.
The way to keep them affordable is to buy all this stuff at Costco- the only thing you have to get somewhere else is the Kale or collards or other greens. Here's a video of "how to make one:" http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/videos/videos-page-1/
So now for the WHY?
First things first:
How many of us can say we eat enough raw fruits an vegetables? Especially vegetables!? And if you are eating lots of vegetables they're usually baked, sauteed and steamed, or have come from a can or bottle, right? All those things take away from the powerful nutrition RAW fruits and veggies give us. I knew all this, but always thought I was just doing the best I could. I wasn't a salad hater- but getting my kids to eat them isn't easy. So when my neighbor told me they'd started drinking green smoothies I thought it sounded like a great idea. Then I mentioned it to my husband, who doesn't have much of an appetite in the mornings and he thought it was a great idea. He said smoothies was the one thing that sounded good in the mornings, but the ones he picked up at the local juice shops were always too sweet. And so we began experimenting. Jake and I would have one every morning, and the kids looked at us like we were crazy. That was the beginning.
And then:
We started to actually enjoy them. We never hated them- but they did taste "healthy" rather than yummy. But our bodies started really liking that powerful punch each morning. The kids started asking for a taste. When they stopped crinkling their noses and saying "gross" I would give them about a cup full too. If they drank it, great. If not- I didn't make a big deal about it. Jake and I immediately noticed we had more energy throughout the day. Not so much lag in the afternoon. We also found ourselves making better choices on the other stuff we ate. We didn't want to "ruin" our day by eating too much sugar or heavy foods after we'd started off on such a good foot.
Later I found about the green smoothie girl. I read her book. I couldn't switch to the RAW diet as she has, but I took bits and peices and couldn't argue with most of her points. Jake and I went on vacation. We didn't have green smoothies while we were gone. When we came back we were CRAVING them. Jake had gained 7-8 pounds, I'd gained about 5. We started doing smoothies for breakfast AND one with dinner- just to clean out our systems. And try to reach the quart a day that Robyn (the green smoothie girl) recommends. Within two weeks we'd both lost our vacation weight. Then we both lost about another 2 pounds. My four year old Dekker, who'd held out the most, would down them at dinner and ask for more.
Perhaps the most interesting thing to me, was the green smoothies made all other dietary changes easier. I really wanted to eat and be healthier. I made a concerted effort to cut out refined sugars for 4 days for myself. I started buying healthier snacks for my kids. My kids started asking for carrots, apples, pistachios and other such snacks instead of all the sugary stuff they used to eat. They even started eating more salads and vegetables at meals. Some of this I also attribute to the produce co-op Bountiful Baskets I'd been doing- which piled lots of fresh produce on my counter and in my fridge (post on this to come at another time) but I really noticed a general swing in EVERYONE's appetite from the not-so-healthy to the fresh yummy stuff.
If you search about the benefits of raw, organic produce you'll find lots and lots of benefits. For me, it was something that just made sense, wasn't too difficult to implement, and I found to have great value and impact for my family.
And no- I don't own an expensive Blend-tec or Vita-mix. I bought above average Kitchenaid- had to have the blade/bottom replaced once, and haven't had any issues since.
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