Hello fellow rawkin’ green smoothie drinkers and those curious enough to find this blog! I’m Bea from Raw for Change, here to share my green smoothie relationship with my you. Sad to say, I’m not sure where I first learned of green smoothies, and boy do I wish I could because I owe so much to this person!
I started my raw journey a year and half ago, and it has been transformational to say the least. But, there was quite a pivotal point where following the lifestyle was no longer an active duty, but a natural state of being. I believe I owe that to the introduction of green smoothies to my daily diet. I had experienced the weight-loss, euphoria, and other typical benefits of a living foods diet, but green smoothies took it up a notch to further improving my skin, hair, nails, digestion, and energy levels.
It also made preparing lunch for work much faster, so I am more inclined to do some morning yoga instead of chopping veggies for a salad (that’s for dinner time). I love taking my “green sludge” as some people have called it, to work and getting asked “what the heck is that?!” Most people are in shock of what I think tastes good, or find it very interesting and ask more. That’s when I get to shine and tell them how much of a lean, green, smoothie making machine I am! These types of encounters, as well as the compliments I get on my transformation, keep me motivated and on track with my lifestyle choices. I even got my husband on the band wagon, drinking green smoothies every day with me.
I’ve always been one to experiment with foods, so it was easy for me to try this new phenomenon out. I’m not sure why it deters so many though. It’s great to see the initial look on someone’s face when they find out what you’re drinking and watch it change when they get a taste of the yummy flavor. They are completely shocked. Now, there are times I may not let them try-not all of my creations would make it in a recipe book. I’ve got a few staples I rotate, but I like to try new combos with fruits I don’t typically buy or mix in some new ingredients to see what I get. Here a few of my favorites:
* kale, banana-blueberry
* spinach, avocado, banana-cacao
* spring mix, mango-berry
* rainbow swiss chard, banana-mango
* arugula, pineapple-coconut
Depending on what I had for breakfast, I also like to add in a few of these if they weren’t included in another meal (mainly superfoods):
* ground flaxseed
* hemp powder
* maca powder
* goji berries
* bee pollen
* honey
* coconut water
* spirulina
Some things to experiment with:
* citrus fruit
* kiwis
* apples
* herbs
One necessity for those dedicated to making green smoothies on a regular basis is a good blender. I couldn’t afford the popular Vitamix or Blendtec, so I found a comparable blender I absolutely love, my Breville BBL600XL Ikon 750-Watt 51-Ounce Blender. It’s about half the cost of the others, but more powerful and longer-lasting than the typical blender you see at a SAD food follower’s home that barely gets use. As with anything, a preparation technique takes practice and you will get to know what works best with your blender and the ingredients you typically use with time so be patient. For me, I tend to fill it up with greens, add water, blend, fill with greens, blend again, add fruit and extras, and blend again. 15 minutes max, including set-up and cleanup. I found a pair of great thermos containers with lids and straws for storing our smoothies until lunch time and since the straw caps have long been lost, I replaced the them with pen caps to keep them as fresh as possible.
So there you have it, a super-easy and mega-nutritious on-the-go meal that has changed my life. I don’t think I’ll ever stop drinking green smoothies. Next adventures will include blended salads, and making more raw soups. Please contact me with any questions. I’m very passionate about this lifestyle and want to help others reach this state of bliss I am in. Now go make friends with your blender and start playing with your greens and fruits!
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P.S. from Tami:
Thank you so much to Bea for sharing her journey with us here! I hope she’ll check back to update us along the way — I’m especially interested in what she does with blended salads and soups! I adore Bea’s down-to-earth simple approach to health and raw foods! I hope you enjoy her blog as much as I do! You can also check out Bea on Twitter: http://twitter.com/RawforChange/
What about you? Where are you on your journey? Do you have a story to share? We would love to share it with others! Or, are you inspired by someone? If so, let us know so we can help spread the word!
