We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming for an update on the results of our International Green Smoothie Day Challenge Contest Winners.
If you weren’t around on International Green Smoothie Day (August 15), we put together a fantastic list of Sponsors!
We had quite a few people from around the world joining us for that adventure, and in the spirit of Green Smoothie Community, we gave away great prizes to contest winners.
Ripple Maker Award
wins a Blendtec Blender!
Andy Reed, L. Ac., Dipl. Ac. NCCAOM
Living Foods and Ancient Folk Healing
Wind-River Acupuncture
windriveracupuncture@gmail.com
www.centerforwholism.com
Green Moustache Award
Excalibur Dehydrator
Winner: Jennifer Strilchuk
mymindfulreflections.blogspot.com
Our whole family has had a blast on this green smoothie challenge. The green goodness has us all feeling so full of LIFE! My girls had so much fun giggling goofy giggles about their green smoothie mustaches. I just had to share!
Best Green Smoothie Recipes
Win a signed copy of : Green Smoothie Revolution
from The Raw Family
Blueberry Bliss: Christine Hansen
Mid-Summer’s Eve Cosmopolitan: Tamara Premer
Strawberry Fields by the Sea Melissa Hurt
Passionately Deluxurious Smoothie: Nathalie Blechner
Purple Velvet Smoothie: Juliette King
Top Testimonial Prize:
12 month subscription to Living Raw Magazine
The one year subscription includes 6 issues and postage anywhere in the world, valued at approx $50 USD.
Winner: Jet
I started as a vegetarian when I was 14, but gave up when as a married woman I tried to start a family and had a miscarriage. I was frightened (unnecessarily) about my diet having a bearing on my ability to conceive and started to incorporate fish and some meats back into my diet. Two children later, I found it difficult to get back to being vegetarian when the rest of the family were eating flesh foods so it wasn’t until my eldest turned 10 and was continually asking to become vegetarian that we made a pact, that we’d both go veggie as long as she would eat what I say she needs to eat for her health. She’s now almost 17 and I am happy to say we are both very healthy!
My husband and son are another matter. My husband is overweight despite cycling everywhere in his job, he suffers from Ulcerative Colitis for which I have had him on organic Molasses since April and currently he has no symptoms. At the start of the year we had a very stressful time as we both thought he had Colon Cancer, all the symptoms seemed to fit but two colonoscopys later we discovered he had UC running the entire length of his Colon and ten biopsies confirmed it was consistent with UC. The hospital have had him waiting 5 months until he sees the Consultant, this appointment is in two weeks from today and meanwhile he has been cured by my Molasses experiment, or so it seems! Would you believe they actually never prescribed him any medication, even though he was passing a LOT of blood every day? I think they will be very surprised at his turn-around in health due to the Molasses. Because of his experiences with his Colon health my husband is quite sceptical about eating a lot of greens and fruits, but he has been gradually coming around to the idea and in fact yesterday he tried my smoothie when I got a takeaway from a Juice Bar. He didn’t like it, due to the seeds haha! But I am going to continue to push the idea for him.
My 13yo son and I are both asthmatic, although I’m very well these days. Both my son and my husband eat a largely vegetarian diet for ease of cooking on my part, however they both supplement their diets with meat wherever they get the chance (lunches, eating out, and the occasional home cooked meaty meal). He has been suffering during the school holidays with wheeziness which has just about gone since he has been sampling my smoothies this past few days! He has noticed the benefits and we have been discussing the potential for his health if he starts having a green smoothie each day. I always hold out hope that he will become vegetarian full time, since he can see how easy it is for me and not to mention cheaper! I believe I have brought my children up to understand the basis of good nutritive foods and this coupled with knowledge of raw foods will give them a great start in their young adult lives when they become more independent.
My husband and I did a month of raw eating back in 2007 but we both found it very difficult. I seemed to be constantly trying to think of things we could eat and chopping ingredients. It largely consisted of raw patés and salads, and lunchtimes we were generally just eating a plate of greens with nuts and things. It became very boring and a real chore to chomp through. One thing I have learned from International Green Smoothie Day is that a glass or two of highly nutritious drink can contain all I need, including the fiber often lost through juicing, with no reason to feel I am missing out on the digestive process begun in the mouth by chewing one’s food. I think a lot of people just gulp down juices in the name of health, lacking in fiber and not bothering to chew, partly because they taste ‘like medicine’ because they haven’t got enough sweet fruits or water and because they don’t feel the need to chew - no skin or bits of pips or seeds. Of course, juices have their place in our diets, but the fiber lost along with some of the vitamins, minerals, fats, amino acids and other properties is a real waste unless the pulp is used to make raw crackers etc.
Anyway I am rambling LOL.
I didn’t hold an ‘event’ unless you count the event itself of taking more green smoothies in, realising several things including those described above, and also the fact that I can ‘get by’ with just my little stick blender! It suits my tastes fine but I’m not so sure I’ve converted hubby just yet as it’s not quite ’smooth enough’ for him. I’ve educated and spread the word at my local juice bar, who are considering adding greens to their menu of available fruit and veggies, and I have gotten my parents interested in eating more things raw including Beets!
I’ve also realised I don’t ‘need’ to buy lots of raw superfoods like Maca, Mesquite, Lucuma, Blue Green Algae, et al to have a healthy balanced raw lifestyle and I am looking forward to setting out to be High Raw once again, with no guilt trips when I feel I want something cooked.
I feel I am off on my path once again; I just took a diversion is all! Thank you so much everyone for this opportunity to take part, learn more, feel more and share more!
Most Elegant Green Smoothie Presentation Award
Angela Stokes and Matt Monarch donate a set of their 8 e-books
Winner:Family Morning Smoothie
by Julia Mauch
We have two boys, 13 and 17! They fight over the fullest glass, even if it’s just by a smidgen! And our granddaughters love to drink this from their “sippie” cups. Minus the nuts and flaked coconut, of course!
Approx. 2 cups of different greens (see below)
2 cups restructured alkaline water
Pulse blend until liquefied
2 T. of flaxseed oil
1/4 cup of fresh coconut water from a baby Thai coconut
1 cup almond milk (optional) made from raw almonds is extra wonderful!
1/2 avocado (optional)
4 frozen strawberries (may use any other berry such as blueberries, raspberries, or all together)
2 frozen bananas
Fresh or flaked unsweetened coconut (optional)
5 pecans or almonds (optional)
Raw agave nectar to sweeten
Pulse blend until smooth. Blend for approx. 10 seconds, and then turn on high for another 20 seconds.
Mild tasting Greens I’ve had success with:
Beet Greens
Chard
Baby Spinach
Dandelion greens
These greens are GOOD, especially kale, but I use sparingly for my boys because they don’t like a strong ‘green- tasting’ smoothie:
Kale
Collard
Top Powder Room Posters (2 Winners)
The Raw Vegan Network Member’s Recipe e-Book A Collection of Our Favorite Raw Vegan Recipes from Around the World
Winner: Jennifer Strilchuk
One highly effective 1-on-1 Magick Power Session with Nathalie Lussier
Winner : Juliette King
We had so many Generous and Fantastc Sponsors that we had Prizes Galore and we ran out of categories… *giggles*
So here’s the list of ALL the prizewinners!
One pair of handmade earrings from
Winner: Anna Jonsson
2 Coaching sessions (a $200 value).
Winner: Jane McDermott
Margaret Bauer
Isobel Phillips
Darya Slyusaryeva<
3 books of raw knowledge
Winners: Annabella Cruz
Karla Morelli
Jane McDermott
Wild Edible Book - Starter Guide
Winner: Jane McDermott
1 Book Celebrating Our Raw Nature
Winner : Karla Morelli
‘The Art of Stalking Parallel Perception’ the eBook version of the book It is in the genre of self-improvement and new age
Winner: Beth Grant
A raw, vegan pregnancy related consultation. This would be valid for pre-conception, pre-natal or post-partum and infant care/feeding. This service provides a comprehensive evaluation, with a one-hour long phone conversation and ’plan of action’.
Winner: Virginia Morrison
Plans to build Automatic Sprouter which I sell for $9.95 at eatsprouts.com.
Winner : Angela Randels
15-page report called “Five Steps to Raw Success That Will Make Your Raw Journey a Breeze”
Kathy Burkholder
A package. (A t-shirt or tank top and a product + literature and stickers)
Winner: Kari Powell
Bottle of Tropicana Body Milk
Value: $28:95 USD
Winner: Rhonda Hovden
3 books (print) for people in continental U.S. And 3 Ebooks for others outside continental U.S
Winners: Paul Rauh – South Korea
Tandi Hartle – US
Avril El-Amin - US
Linda Germany – US
Tahnee Benson- Australia
Frederick Patenaude
Uncooking DVD’s
Winners: Melissa Scavetta
DebK
Ebook titled: ‘Raw Radiant Health’s Favorite Summer Recipes’
Winner: Erika Scheidegger
Jenn Givler
Fitness EBook
Winner: Alexandra Paine
Free digital copy of ElixirCraft Mastery
Marie-Lies Van Asten
Two $25 gift certificates from Affordable Mineral Makeup
Winner: Darya Slyusaryeva
Free “10 emails Holistic Stress Management coaching services” ($100 value)
http://holisticstressmanagement.com/
Winner: Alexandra Paine
I gotta tell ya, I’m pretty excited. January has been such a blast so far. My Green Team has been helping me around the site, behind the scenes, and working to put together some delicious improvements for all of you who benefit from the information we share.
A Thank You From Mrs. Claus 
Thankfully my parents now stock up more on the things they’ve seen me use in smoothies (though… I have yet to see her come home with seaweed of any kind). Still, I do tend to have less variety when I travel. My smoothies are often bananas and spinach or bananas and mixed greens. Yes, variety is better, but if finding kale is difficult or if my mother, in her sincere efforts to be helpful, is going to stress out about “having something already” for me and looking in the store for persimm-a-somethings, then I will choose to be simple for a few days. The “it’s still better than a cheeseburger” mantra gets me through any worries.
Chances are, if you keep your smoothies simple, your non-green friends and family may actually be willing to give one of your smoothies a taste test. Once they see for themselves how yummy they are, you may have opened the door a crack for them to make their own health improvements.
OPTION 1 - Call ahead to your destination and ask if your family or friends wouldn’t mind bringing an old blender up from the basement or making sure they can find the lid (I’ve learned the hard way that a blender lid can be the start of a great day or the initiative you needed to wash your kitchen cupboards, walls, canisters, light fixtures - you get the idea). If they don’t have one, then pack yours into the car.
There’s no doubt about it, figuring out the blender situation is the “ay, there’s the rub” when it comes to being on the road. But people do make this work. In fact, I know there are even “tailgater” blenders out there that plug into your car’s cigarette lighter socket. But uh, it probably goes without saying, please blend and drive responsibly.
A few years ago, I tried to go on a week’s vacation with the intention that I would stick to the diet I was on at the time. We travelled by car to a hotel, and I took two coolers with me of salads (I remember the big honkin’ bag of veggie coleslaw in particular), fruits, and healthy snacks. I knew the hotel we’d be staying at didn’t have any fridges in the rooms, so my plan was to keep buying ice and use my coolers as mini-fridges. I was all gung-ho to be committed and completely avoid eating out! Well… that lasted until the first large social opportunity came along and everyone wanted to go out for supper. I didn’t want to miss out, but I found that good intentions were not enough to keep me from digging into the deep-fried junk along with everyone else at the table. Afterwards, I felt *darned* guilty that I hadn’t stuck to my plan. Worse, I felt so bad that I kinda (as in totally) gave up. By the time we were ready to head back home, my room had the rather enchanting aroma of rotten uneaten cabbage. So… that didn’t work.
And sometimes that satisfaction actually sprouts into pride, and then I find I’m reaching for the fruit bowl more often than the shortbread tin.
The Raw Vegan Network Member’s Recipe e-Book
