Green Smoothies

If you are not consuming green smoothies, you might want to start. Victoria Boutenko author of Green For Life discovered that after being raw for several years her family’s health was deteriorating and she could not figure out why. After doing some research she realized that her family’s diet did not include enough greens.

Green smoothies are full of nutrients.

Kale has about 3 calories a serving (1 cup). Kale provides vitamins including A, C, K, thiamin, and folate, and minerals like calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. As you can see, some greens contain a wide array of nutrients. Surprisingly, kale also contains protein and omega-6 fatty acids. You can find out more about the nutritional content of kale at Nutrition Data.

Benefits of drinking a green smoothie:

Cleanses the colon Helps with weight loss Alkalizes the body Helps to reduce cravings and more…

Why drink a green smoothie?

Victoria suggests that we drink 1 to 2 quarts of green smoothie a day; that would be 32–64 ounces of green smoothie. A great way to get your green smoothie in is to drink it for breakfast; this way you know you have taken care of your nutritional needs for the day.

As shown above greens have a wide array of nutrients. By incorporating one green smoothie a day you are getting in valuable nutrients. I highly suggest that you use organic greens from your local farmers market if possible.

When I first started eating raw I used to make green smoothies, but I would use too much fruit and no water—it was a disaster. But I didn’t give up. Here is a yummy green smoothie recipe for you to start with.

My Favorite Green Smoothie:

2 apple (Gala or Fuji) 1 Med Lemon (peeled and seeds removed) Spinach (one to two handfuls) 2 cups Water Add Honey or Agave to taste 2 Strawberries (Optional)

Blend all ingredients in blender. You can add add ice or serve room temperature.  That’s it!

Be sure to get yourself a copy of Green For Life, by Victoria Boutenko; it contains great information on why green smoothies are important to your health.

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This interview is an excerpt from Kevin Gianni’s Renegade Roundtable, which can be found at http://www.RenegadeRoundtable.com. In this excerpt, Phillip McClusky shares on starting a raw food diet.

Renegade Water Secrets with Phillip McClusky, who lost 200 lbs. and found health and happiness in a raw food lifestyle. He is the host of www.lovingraw.com.

Kevin: So you’re reading “Raw Family” you’re sitting on the couch and you decide to go raw, what were the first three days like, the first week? How did that all pan out for you?

Phillip: Well I had tried so many things before in the past and what had happened was some of them were so confusing. Some of them were you had to buy this plan and you had to buy this package in the store and you had to write down how many calories and you had to move cards from slot to slot and all these different little colors and programs and all these different things that all these diets came across. So I knew that none of those were successful and basically they were confusing and not something that I want to do every day. I didn’t really want to look at every single calorie or every single box I picked up. So when I switched to this raw lifestyle what I had decided was the only way that I was going to be consistent and be able to do this was if I kept it simple and I stayed on a very easy program.

So in the very beginning I didn’t even concentrate on exercise. And it’s not that I recommend that but for me that’s what worked. I knew that I had to get the food right. I had literally devoured raw food books. I was reading a book a day and was really excited about everything. But I noticed that every body had a different opinion on raw foods. So somebody would say, “You have to juice so much.” The next person would say, “Juicing’s no good you have to do smoothies.” The next person would say, “You have to have 50 percent of your diet superfood.” And then the next person would say, “You have to mono-meal or do natural hygiene.” I read all that and what I decided to do was take all the information in and then do what felt right for me.

So the first three days for me were quite simple. I had been used to eating large meals so I figured, “I’m going to continue to eat large meals and I’m just going to switch them to salads.” So in the morning I had fruit and for lunch and dinner I had giant salads. I always think of it like this, when you go to maybe an Italian restaurant or a family-style restaurant and you have six or eight people around the table and they bring out a big bowl of salad that’s for everybody at the table, that’s pretty much what I made for my lunch and for my dinner. I didn’t worry about quantity. Some people would say, “You can’t have more than three avocados a week.” Well I was having three avocados a day, or four avocados a day. Some people would say, “It’s a good idea not to have more than a handful of nuts a day.” Well I was having like ten handfuls of nuts a day. I was making these giant salads that were really fulfilling and kept me pretty much at the same par as far as quantity wise, the food that I was eating. I pretty much stuck with that the next three days. Little did I know that my body would intuitively make changes and that would decrease over time.

Kevin: What would decrease?

Phillip: The size, the amount of food that I was actually eating.

Kevin: Got you. Why don’t you talk a little bit about…there’s a bunch of things I want to speak about but since we’re on what you started off eating, let’s talk a little bit about how that transition over the last two years, maybe give us a snapshot of every six months up until now. So six months from there, then six months-

Phillip: Sure. Great question. So here I am making these big, giant meals and just enjoying it and loving it. The weight is literally just flying off of me. Even without exercise at the time the weight was just flying off of me, just from changing the way I was eating. And I was shocked. I mean, I remember the first time I stepped on the scale and I realized that I had lost like 45 or 50 pounds or something like that, I just couldn’t believe it. It was a great feeling.

Then over the course of maybe the next three or four months I had noticed something that I had never noticed before, I was eating this giant, massive salad and I noticed that about 25 percent of the salad was left over. And I thought to myself, “Well that’s strange. I’ve never not finished a meal before.” So what I had to do was reevaluate. And I said, “Well, I guess I’m getting fuller quicker.” So I would make my salad a little bit smaller. Then over the next couple of months again the same thing happened, I had a little bit of the salad left over, about 25 percent. So I was making it smaller and smaller until I finally started to notice that it was kind of shrinking down to a normal size. It was quite an interesting experience because I wasn’t needing as much mass, this large amount of food that I had been used to eating.

So then I wondered how I could change other things. I was having fun and I was experimenting and there was times that I did make some of the gourmet raw foods. I went out and got a Cuisinart food processor and dehydrator and blender and stuff like that. I would have fun making some of the raw dishes and the pizzas and stuff like that sometimes, but it wasn’t my normal fare. My normal fare was usually just fruit in the morning and this salad for lunch and dinner.

So after a while I started really getting into making green smoothies or green shakes and literally just putting in an entire head of maybe spinach or lettuce or whatever green, I would rotate my greens, in with a little bit of fruit and water. And I would make this giant half-gallon smoothie. I started drinking that in the morning instead of just eating the fruit. It was a good way for me to get in my greens and fiber and a large amount of water, being a half-gallon container. I noticed that would take me until about 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Then I might eat a little bit and then I would have dinner later on.

Then I started to notice that would take me until 3 o’clock. I just wasn’t hungry until that point. Then 4 o’clock, and then 5 o’clock. Then one day I was just sitting down and I realized that I hadn’t been eating lunch anymore and that I was totally fine. My body felt energized and excited and I was losing weight and I was feeling great. Literally this half-gallon smoothie, which is a lot of liquid, that I was making in the morning was taking me right to dinner. So I had switched from a three-meal way of eating to this two-meal essentially within probably eight months to a year, maybe around the year mark. Then I would just have a very moderate salad for dinner.

I was really thinking about the dynamics of how everything had worked and how things had transpired and what had felt so good was I didn’t necessarily have to listen to anybody’s rules per say, I took in what everybody was talking about and if one day I felt like just juicing, I would juice. If the next day I felt like having smoothies, I would do that. If I was eating oranges and just felt like having citrus, I would do a mono-meal of oranges. So I kind of incorporated a little bit of what everybody was talking about. But more than anything I really began to start, for the first time in my life, intuitive eating and just eating what felt right for me. There might be a day when I had mangoes and they tasted fantastic and I’d have maybe four in a row because there was something inside there that my body was really desiring, but then a couple of weeks later I would go to eat the same mango and it might not be that tasty for me. So I just figured to myself that maybe my body already got out of it what it had needed. So intuitive eating became a really big part of the way I started to live. Some days I’d feel a little bit weighed down and I might just do juice that day. I was totally fine with it. And vice versa, some other days I might just feel like I want to be a little bit more grounded so I might do a little bit more as far as avocado and nuts and such.

But this process was a fairly gradual process until I got to the point that I am at today. Really just intuitive eating and just really listening to your body and breathing throughout the process and just kind of being present to what I was putting in my mouth was probably the greatest source of change for me and felt the best for my body.

So maybe after a year I started figuring out what would be the next option for me and things just kind of got lighter and lighter until maybe about a year and a half or a year and six, seven months. I decided to do a juice fast. Basically what that was was drinking just juice for 92 days. It was something totally new for me, I hadn’t done any kind of long-term fast for anytime that long. And I just felt that it was right, it was my time and I just jumped right in to it. I ended up extending it and I did it for 100 days. For 100 days I just had fruit and vegetable juice. So that had switched my diet drastically. But it was a new experience and I wanted to really experience what the human potential was and what my body could really do and how much resolve and determination I had to really stick with this thing. So I did it and just experienced such amazing changes in my life, which I’m sure we’ll talk about later. I experienced such amazing changes.

Then after the juice feast period I’m slowly transitioning, that ended maybe about three or four months ago, and I’m just slowly transitioning back into my old way of eating, having smoothies in the morning, having salads. I do a lot of high water content fruits and vegetables – cucumbers and celery and tomato and things like that. Lately I’ve moved away from the nuts so much and just kind of keep to some simple seeds, like chia or flax or sunflower seeds and some things like that. But I tend to do a lot of high water content. I usually have at least a head of some sort of green – lettuce, bok choy, swiss chard- per day. And I keep it simple. People ask me if I get bored and I’m just like, “Fresh fruits and vegetables is what my body craves.”

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One the most important indicators of the state of health of Americans today may be the ever increasing rate of overweight and obese children. The Institute of Medicine has found that one-third of American children are either obese or at risk for obesity. The Center of Disease Control has found that, since 1980, the proportion of overweight children ages 6-11 has doubled and the number of overweight adolescents has tripled.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, the increase in childhood obesity represents and unprecedented burden on children’s health. “If we don’t deal with children, this could be the first generation that will live sicker and die younger than its parents,” states Dr. James S. Marks, senior vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which recently announced an unprecedented effort to reverse childhood obesity epidemic by 2015.

Obesity or being overweight is not only harmful to the self-esteem and mental health of youngsters in a society that places such high value on thinness, but there are serious physical health concerns as well. According to Dr. Melissa A. Kalt, Clinical Professor of Internal Medicine/Pediatrics, overweight kids are set up for premature health risks such as Type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and even poor behavior in school like inattentiveness, disruptiveness, truancy, and low grade scores.

Some of the environmental factors that are thought to contribute to obesity are: over consumption of fast food, simple carbohydrates, soda, or other high calorie, high fat foods; larger and larger portion sizes; lack of exercise and/or more sedentary lifestyles; under consumption of whole foods, fruits and vegetables. However, what may be underlying all of these factors or at the very least exacerbating the issue is children and media.

Facts:

According to the Task Force on Media and Childhood Obesity of the Federal Communications Commission, children today spend many hours each day watching television and are influenced by the programming and advertising they see.

The Kaiser Family Foundation states that young children cannot distinguish between programming content and advertising.

The U.S. Congress, Children’s Television Act of 1990 reports, by the time the average child is 18 years hold, he or she has spent between 10,000 and 15,000 hours watching television and has been exposed to more than 200,000 commercials.

Once research study documents that obesity in children increases the more hours they watch television. (Crespo, 2001)

Another research study shows that children who watch more than three ours of television a day are 50 percent more likely to be obese than kids who watch fewer than two hours. (Tremblay, 2003)

Another researcher reports that children who use a lot of media have a lower activity level which is linked to a higher rate of obesity (Vandewater, 2004)

According to the 2004 report “The Role of Media in Childhood Obesity” by the Kaiser Family Foundation, “during the same period in which childhood obesity has increased so dramatically, there has also been an explosion in media targeted to children: TV shows and videos, specialized cable networks, video games, computer activities and Internet Web sites.” And “much of the media targeted to children is laden with elaborate advertising campaigns, many of which promote foods such as candy, soda, and snacks.”

The Advertising Coalition reports that $10-$15 billion is spent annually on kids’ food advertising.

One study documented approximately 11 food commercials per hour during children’s Saturday morning television programming, estimating that the average child viewer may be exposed to one food commercial every 5 minutes (Kotz, 1994)

Another study found that children’s food choices were significantly impacted by which ads they saw, i.e. either an ad for fruit or an ad for candy (Gorn, 1982)

Other researchers found that for each additional hour of television viewed per day, daily servings of fruits and vegetables decreased among adolescents possibly due to television advertising (Boynton-Jarret, R, 2003)

…

While many researchers and studies are still establishing the role of media in child obesity and overweight issues, (the direct link between advertising and obesity has not been officially established), the advertisers certainly know that TV ads can influence children’s and family consumer choices. For example, fast food outlets alone spend $3 billion in television ads targeted to children. And according to “Advertising, Marketing and the Media: Improving Messages from the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, food and beverage advertisers collectively spend $10 billion to $12 billion a year to reach children and youth.

So, what’s a parent to do to counteract unhealthy advertisements and the big dollars behind them? Here a few pointers on helping children be more healthy and fit:

First, educate them on the factors contributing to being overweight or obese:

1. Too much “fat foods” (fast foods, simple carbs, soda, energy drinks, cereal etc.)

2. Larger than life portion sizes

3. Not enough movement or exercise

4. Not enough whole foods (fruits, vegetables, whole wheat bread, whole grains etc.)

Second, reduce poor food choices in the home. Refuse to buy the sodas and sugar cereals or insist that these only be indulged in after a healthy meal.

Third, make whole food choices easy for them to prepare (i.e. pre washed, cut up fruits and veggies; oatmeal; smoothies; whole wheat bread; pre-cooked healthy snacks/meals like cubed chicken breast, string cheese, hard-boiled eggs, in single serving size containers. Make it tasty and easy (see green smoothie recipe below).

Fourth, encourage them to exercise (i.e. refuse to drive them to school; sign them up for sports; play with them outdoors; get a dog and go for daily walks). Make it fun.

Fifth, limit television hours per day. And teach them how they can mute the commercials or “tevo” the show and fast forward through the commercials.

And finally, teach them that being fit and healthy means eating healthy foods and exercising, in direct contrast to how television shows and advertisements portray super skinny people eating chips and drinking soda, it’s just not true. And educate them on the fact that advertisers make their money by portraying beautiful people eating junk food.

5. Smoothie will be purple and yummy and you’d never know there were healthy greens hiding in the mix, ENJOY!

(Go for a green smoothie over a soda! Children who drink just one soft drink a day are 60 percent more likely to become obese, according to a 2001 study by Harvard University and Boston Children’s Hospital.)

…

Sources:

Boynton-Jarret, R, et al, (2003) Impact of Television Viewing Patterna on Fruit and Vegetable Consumption among Adolescents, Pediatrics 112(2003)6:1321-1326

Crespo, Carlos J. et al, (2001), Television Watching, Energy Intake, and Obesity in U.S. Children, Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, 155, 360-365

Eating Habits of Infants and Children Affect Health and Performance. HealthLink Medical College of Wisconsin. http://www.healthlink.mcw.edu/article/1031002925.html

Federal Communications Commission: Task Force on Media and Childhood Obesity. http://www.fcc.gov/obesity/

Gorn, G, et al, Behavioral Evidence of the Effects of televised Food Messages on Children, Journal of Consumer Research 9 (1982): 200-205

Kotz, K. et al, (1994), Food Advertisements during Children’s Saturday Morning Television Programming: Are They Consistent with Dietary Recommendations?” Journal of the American Dietic Association 94(1994)11:1296-1300

National Institute on Media and the Family: Media Use And Obesity Among Children. http://www.mediafamily.org/facts/facts_tvandobchild.shtml

Tremblay, M.S. et al, (2003), Is the Canadian child obesity epidemic related to physical inactivity? International Journal of Obesity, 27, 1100-1105

The Role of Media in Childhood Obesity: This Kaiser Family Foundation issue brief that reviews more than 40 studies on the role of media in the nation’s dramatically increasing rates of childhood obesity explores what researchers do and do not know about the role media plays in childhood obesity. It also outlines media-related policy options that have been proposed to help address childhood

U.S.News article “Childhood Obesity Epidemic a Long-Term Challenge” http://health.usnews.com/usnews/health/healthday/070920/childhood-obesity-epidemic-a-long-term-challenge.htm

green smoothies

My eldest daughter is afraid to see anything that’s raw and green. Smoothie drinks are the only way I could get her to try vegetables (and even that word is taboo in her vocabulary). Even so, I never tell her that there are greens in what she’s drinking, so she learns about my “deception” only after she’s done with it. If she enjoyed it, then I tell her what’s in it. So far, she’s always enjoyed the smoothies I make, so I’m always confident that she gets the nutrition she needs.

Even if you would very much like for your child to eat vegetables “naturally” (read: via your cooking), if your child is like mine, then that would be a feat that’s really impossible to do. Fortunately, with help from some recipes, ingredients such as fruits to sweeten it all up, and a blender or food processor, you can still stuff your kid with all the essential nutrients to get him through a tough and active day at school – and that’s sometimes without him knowing what kind of smoothie he had for breakfast or snack time.

Here are some of the tried-and-tested smoothie mixes that even kids would love:

-          Pour three-fourths cup of carrot juice and three-fourths cup of orange juice in a blender and mix gently. Add three-fourths cup of vanilla ice cream (or plain yoghurt) and mix. Gradually add about 6 ice cubes and blend until smooth. Serve immediately, as it is best enjoyed while it is still cold.

-          Blend 15 oz. of chilled pumpkin, 12 oz. of evaporated milk, a cup (or 8 oz.) of vanilla (or plain) yoghurt, one-fourths cup of sugar (the less of this, the better), and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Mix well. Top with some whipped cream and sprinkle with some cinnamon.

-          Blend and puree 1 cup of plain yoghurt, 6 ice cubes, 1 small peeled cucumber (chopped), 1 small tomato, 1 celery stalk (chopped), 3 spinach leaves, and some salt and pepper to taste.

-          Chop one-half of a cucumber and put in a blender. Add a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, a half-cup of tomato juice, about 6 ice cubes and 2 drops of Tabasco sauce (for that added kick). Blend well until the ice is crushed. (Believe it or not, this is one of my daughter’s favorite smoothies. She just loves spicy foods, so a spicy smoothie is no exception.)

-          Sometimes, I make a variation of the above recipe by adding about 4 florets of cauliflower or broccoli. My daughter never knows the difference unless I tell her about it.

-          Pour a cup of apple juice in a blender, then add 2 cups of chopped spinach and blend. Add a cup of chopped carrots, and 1 banana. Blend it again, and process. Add 4 ice cubes and a little more of the apple juice. Blend until smooth.

Making smoothies is fun, but the thrill of making something really healthy for your child is much more fulfilling. Add to that the challenge of making something healthy that’s made of veggies that your child would willingly drink – well, that’s enough to make me sleep like a baby at night, knowing that my child gets the nutrition she needs.

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When purchasing any weight loss product, it is important to do your research. Many people are exchanging their opinions about RightSize Smoothies on DietBlogTalk.com

For an additional source, check out RightSize Smoothies on the very popular Sensational.com

Overview

Meal replacing is a common weight loss methodology. Dieters are directed to substitute one to two meals per day with a nutritious shake that will help them keep their caloric intake down.

RightSize® Smoothies offer one such meal replacing alternative. But RightSize® claims that their smoothies go beyond the normal meal replacement shake. These smoothies are also said to promote fat and calorie-burning while suppressing the appetite. And what’s more, the nutritional content of the smoothies is supposed to aid in the metabolism of carbs.

Ingredients at a Glance

The active ingredients in RightSize® Smoothies are contained in Appemine®, an “all natural thermogenic appetite manager.”

Ingredients in Focus

Appemine® is a biogenic amine derived from Green Tea, Cinnamon Twig, and Galangal. The blend is said to affect the hunger adrenal receptors in the body. By singling out the hunger receptors, other receptors are left alone, eliminating the chance for the jitters we usually think of when we think of stimulating diet pills. Beyond Appemine®, the smoothies contain vitamins and minerals in a quantity rivaling a multivitamin. These include Vitamin B6, which is a water-soluble vitamin that acts as a coenzyme to many other enzymes in the body involved in metabolism. Specifically, it contributes to the metabolism of amino acids, glucose, and lipids.

The smoothies are available in four flavors: Lean Cocoa Bean, Skinni Vanilli, Slend-A-Berry, and Leano Cappuccino.

Interested consumers are directed to undertake a 6-week plan involving the replacement of one to two meals per day, a RightSize® Multivitamin (also containing Appemine®), another metabolism enhancing supplement, and balanced meals.

Positives

•    Contains no stimulants.

•    Four flavors.

Negatives

•    Meal replacing can become unappetizing and unsustainable.

•    6-week plan involves lots of RightSize® products: expensive!

•    No mention of exercise.

Final Thoughts

RightSize® might be onto something with its smoothies. As meal replacements go, RightSize® presents an interesting and potentially beneficial option. But as long as dieters do not learn how to control their appetites for themselves, they will find weight loss to be a difficult, if not impossible task. In other words, RightSize® should only be used in conjunction with healthy practices that encourage sustainable weight loss and health. RightSize® may work this way, but it will be up to the individual consumer to make sure of it.

Remember too, that there are weight loss supplements that can also be of service. Look for a product which includes ingredients for fat-burning and appetite suppression. Combined with diet and exercise – and perhaps a meal replacement shake, they can be a great assistance to the dieter.

Kansieo.com

You know you should eat more raw food, but when you think of it you see a bunch of lettuce and maybe a carrot stick. Not very appetizing, to say the least.

In reality, most raw foods pack a lot flavor and nutrients. And incorporating them into your eating routine is not only simple, but will help reduce your risk of developing various disease. Here are seven ways to get more raw food into your diet.

1. Eat a large, colorful salad at least once a day. Make it with at least two cups of lettuce, some chopped red or yellow bell pepper, and other raw veggies that you enjoy. Top it with your favorite healthy salad dressing.

2. Serve sauerkraut with meat. I don’t mean the conventional kind of sauerkraut that consists of cooked cabbage soaked in vinegar. I mean sauerkraut made of raw cabbage that was fermented at room temperature using salt and/or whey. If you have time, you can make your own. Otherwise, health food stores (and some conventional grocery stores in the health food refrigerated section) carry lacto-fermented sauerkraut in the refrigerated section, near the dairy products. The only ingredients on the label should be cabbage and salt, and perhaps whey.

3. Eat raw fruit for dessert. If you’re used to dessert, try some grapes, berries, or dates instead of the usual processed sweets. You could even get real adventurous and try some papaya, which will aid in the digestion process.

4. Drink a green smoothie for breakfast. A green smoothie consists of fresh and/or frozen fruit blended with a handful of raw greens. Start by trying spinach or leaf lettuce, as they are the more mild-tasting greens (spinach will actually make your smoothie sweeter).

5. Snack on celery sticks or cucumber slices with raw nut butter. The vegetables take little time to wash and cut up. You can make your own raw nut butter by whirling raw nuts in a food processor, or buy raw nut butter online or at your local health food store.

6. Top your vegetables with sprouts. Growing your own sprouts in a jar is easy and takes little time. Seeds from alfalfa, clover, and broccoli are ready to be eaten in six or seven days, and add nutrition as well as enzymes to a meal. Put a handful on your steamed vegetables or a salad, add some dressing, and dig in!

7. Replace cheese made from pasteurized milk with cheese made from raw milk. The raw milk cheese is healthier and can be found at any grocery store. Similarly, you may consider replacing one cooked meat meal a week with sushi.

Adding more raw foods to your diet is easy, healthy, and delicious. Use these ideas, or come up with your own, and watch your health start to improve.

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Green smoothies are simply a fruit smoothie with fresh or powdered greens added. I love green smoothies and they are huge part of what I eat every day.  On a typical day, I might make 1- 2 quarts of green smoothie in the morning and drink most of it for breakfast. Friends often drink 4 quarts a day.  If I don’t finish it or make extra, it provides a great mid-afternoon energy boost.

Green Smoothies are easy to make, very nutrient-dense and one of the best ways to increase your greens intake significantly. They also crowd out the desire to eat less nutritious foods. You can make them very sweet, with the right mix of fruit and greens, so they satisfy sweet cravings and provide the real nutrition that your body is craving.

The only thing you need to make great green smoothies is a blender and access to fresh fruits and green vegetables (green powders can be a substitute when traveling or when fresh greens are unavailable).  You can use a typical low cost blender that you already own or purchase at any store.  However, if you develop the healthy habit of making your green smoothies daily, you will eventually burn out the blender. I learned the hard way and burned up three blenders over two years’ time before finally buying a commercial grade Vita-Mix blender.

But don’t let the lack of a great blender stop you from starting – simply use what you have, borrow one, buy a used one, or the best quality one that you can afford. Just use it!

Basic green smoothie recipe:

2 cups filtered water

2 bananas

2 oranges

1 apple

1 lemon (optional)

1/2 inch chunk fresh ginger (optional)

½ – 1 head of romaine, spinach, chard, beet greens, or kale

Add the water. Then fill your blender half way with fruit and the rest of the way with greens. Depending on the power of your blender, you may need to add slowly while blending. Blend for 1-2 minutes, or until very smooth.

Filtered water and organic fruit and greens are best – but again, do the best you can with what you have. Apples and berries are more important to select organic than are peeled citrus and bananas. Chop the fruit and ginger – a stronger blender can take larger chunks.  The orange and lemon can be juiced or just peeled with seeds removed. Apples and ginger can be left unpeeled for extra nutrients.

This basic recipe can be made into endless variations based on your own taste and the availability of ingredients.

You can use any fresh or frozen (unsweetened) fruits and any greens. Nutrient-packed herbs like parsley and cilantro are also great additions in your green smoothies. Spinach and romaine are the best greens to try first as they are more mild than kale or beet greens. Carrot tops and dandelion greens are very nutritious and deeply cleansing greens. Fruit juices are another option in your green smoothies if you cannot access enough fresh fruit or want to add some variety.  Use only 100% juice without added sweeteners and organic when possible.  Bottled juices are pasteurized (heated) so their fruit sugar is more concentrated and they do not maintain the same amount of nutrients as fresh or frozen fruit. Try adding avocado, celery, tomatoes, carrots or beets. Add spirulina, hemp powder, ground flax, bee pollen, maca, or other superfoods to boost the protein and the nourishing/cleansing effect of your green smoothies.

When you first make your smoothies, you’ll probably need a higher ratio of fruit to greens.  Make it sweet enough that you will enjoy drinking it, but as “green” as you can handle.  Over time you will be able to lessen the amount of fruit and increase the amount and variety of greens.  

Visit our site for more great Green Smoothie Recipes and tips on how to best digest them.

green smoothies

Studies at the Smell n Taste Treatment Research Foundation in Chicago reveal that inhaling sweet scents like the arome of prickly Pear activates the brain’s satiety center, reducing caloric intake enough to lose 5 pounds monthly.

One more reason: Savoring the refreshing flavor of prickly Pear is a delicious way to put a smile on your face. Researchers at the University of Vienna Austria discovered that the Pectin in this plant slows carbohydrate absorption so glucose enters the bloodstream more slowly. The result: Blood sugar levels remain steady, preventing the mood swings that come with spikes n dips. – First Magazine

Here are 2 great Pear Smoothies:

PEAR AVOCADO SMOOTHIE

1 large pear, chopped

1/2 cups green grapes

1/4 avocado

2 teaspoons honey

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Blend and top with chopped pecans

PEAR RASPBERRY SMOOTHIE

2/3 cups soy milk

1/4 cups dole country raspberry concentrate

3 ripe pears, cored

12 ice cubes

Place soy milk (or your choice of any other milk or non-dairy substitute) and all remaining ingredients in blender in order given.

Blend until smooth and creamy.

You can throw just about anything in a fruit smoothie to enhance its flavor such as honey, tofu, jams, any combination of fruits, peanut butter, juices, etc., but keep in mind it will effect the nutritional values.

For over 130 plus Free Healthy Fruit Smoothies: visit http://fruitsmoothierecipe.bravehost.com/pear_rasp.html

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We’ve all been through the tortures of cravings. Just thinking about that “forbidden” food can send a wave of urgency pulsing through us that can seem stronger than ourselves. If you’ve ever heard the expression:

“What you resist persists”

…then you know that resistance is futile, and the more you try to avoid what you’re craving, the more it impinges itself upon you.

For anyone trying to implement new lifestyle choices, handling cravings can feel like it requires either superhero strength or some kind of magic. Here are a few solutions that just might do the trick when cravings strike.

Before we even begin to address solutions for stubborn cravings, let’s start by addressing the fact that some foods are ADDICTIVE — just flat out physiologically addictive. When you’re trying to remove these foods from your diet, it may require a bit more gusto to get through the process.

The most common addictive foods are:

Coffee

Cheese

Chocolate

Bread and Grain products (especially wheat)

Meat

If these are the foods you’re craving, understand that half the battle is going to be physiological. Take heart! The following suggestions and tips will help you to kick these habit forming foods, but it can be helpful to be aware of the extra challenge that may be involved in breaking free.

Let’s look at the most common cravings and some possible solutions for them!

1- “I’m craving SALT!”

There is nothing quite as irresistible as salt. Who came up with the idea? I’d like to know. It is beyond me that even though every sailor knows that if you drink sea water you’re as good as dead, we’ve decided somewhere along the way, that it would be a great idea to dehydrate sea water and sprinkle the end product all over our food.

I don’t believe salt has any place in a healthy diet, and for some of us, it’s down right addictive.

If you struggle with salt cravings, here are some recommendations:

Snack on celery sticks or succulent tomatoes, both of which are naturally very high in sodium. Try making yourself a satisfying delicious raw soup of blended tomatoes and celery.

Also, be sure that you’re getting enough minerals in your diet. Minerals are best provided in greens. Simply increasing the volume of greens in your diet may be enough to get rid of salty cravings. You can also easily and enjoyably increase your mineral intake by choosing to eat a broad selection of crunchy vegetables.

2 -”I’m craving SWEETS!”

If you’ve got a regular hankering for sugar, then chances are that you’re not getting enough calories in your daily diet. The best way to ensure you’re getting enough calories is to eat fruit. If you’re getting enough fresh fruit, there’s no reason you should be suffering from sugar cravings. Fresh fruits are the best way to meet your caloric needs.

Everyone is responsible for observing the reactions in their body, but as long as you’re getting sufficient greens, and avoiding an excess of fat in your diet, there is no reason to have any fear of fruit or fruit sugars. Nature wouldn’t have made them so gorgeous and tasty if they weren’t meant to be enjoyed.

3 – “I’m craving PROTEIN!”

If it’s protein you’re looking for then your best bet is definitely going to be found in crispy, fresh greens and sprouts. Since sprouts are up to 35% protein and greens like spinach are between 40 and 50% protein, increasing the quantity and quality of greens in your diet will more than adequately meet your ongoing protein needs.

Green smoothies are a recommended way of consuming sufficient greens. Just take your favorite fruit smoothie and add any of the following: kale, chard (take out the stalk part), spinach, lettuce, parsley, mint or celery.

Contrary to popular belief there is absolutely no problem mixing these leafy greens (or celery) with fruit.

4 – “I’m craving FAT!”

If you’re craving fat in the form of nuts, avocado, etc., then chances are that you’ve simply been eating too much of them.

One of the first things that happens to people who overeat fat is more cravings for fat. This can be true for anything to a certain degree, but holds especially true in the case of fats.

To help you kick the fat habit, be sure that you’re getting enough calories, and include more green smoothies in your diet.

Here are a few other reasons that you may be struggling with cravings and what to do about them:

Insufficient Calories and Under-eating

If you’ve been transitioning yourself to eat a more raw food diet, and find yourself running into regular cravings (every few days) then the culprit may simply be that you are not getting enough calories from your raw food diet.

If you have a tendency to under-eat on calories, then you do risk running into cravings for cooked foods simply because your body is looking to refuel from the most efficient source it can get. (Efficient in the sense of high concentration of calories per bite.)

To be sure you’re getting enough calories, try using a free online service such as www.fitday.com.

Are you thirsty?

While it’s true the raw food diet has a much higher quotient of water naturally occurring in its foods, when the cravings strike, grab a glass of water and you may be surprised to see you were actually just thirsty. This can be especially true in the early days of a new raw food regimen when the body is hard at work clearing out the remains of your previous eating habits.

Boredom Breeds Fridge Invasions

If you find yourself spending too much time staring into the fridge between meals, try getting more active and involved in something you love. Get out, get fit, and get productive. When you are actively engaged in life you will feel better and be less attracted to the foods that drain your energy or cause you to feel unwell!

Above all, remember that the spirit with which you enjoy your food affects EVERYTHING. If you do give in to cravings, well, do it with extreme gratitude and appreciation for every bite. Make it a celebration and leave guilt at the door. Making anything a “forbidden” food only increases our attraction to it. Continue to choose the foods that nourish you the most and you’ll be well on your way to greater health and energy.

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