Posts Tagged ‘kids’

More Happy Green Smoothie Slurpers!

Monday, February 22nd, 2010 by stacey

- by Stacey Terry

Greetings to all sunshine slurpers!  Today we’re into Day 1 of the LIVE 3-Day Green Smoothie Mini-Course!  People are definitely excited about what to get, what to expect, and they’re already diving into the Emerald Lounge and posting photos and comments.  We’re especially excited to see all the NEW people who have never heard of green smoothies!

I can speak from personal experience that the more I post little comments about the green smoothies I drink on Facebook and drink them in front of other people, the more people I know become curious and even try them for themselves.  I feel thrilled each time that happens; green smoothies have made such a difference to my mood and energy that I just want everyone to grab a glass and try that first sip.  And I marvel that something as simple as putting stuff in my blender can affect the people and the world around me.

And we do love hearing from you, so to start off the day, here’s a letter The Green Smoothie Queen recently received from one of our program participants.  We’ll be looking forward to receiving letters from our 3-Day course goers soon!

See you in the Emerald Lounge!

Dear Green Smoothie Queen:

Hello!!!

Let me take a few minutes here to introduce myself!

My name is Marie-Claude, I’m a mother, a clothes creator and a painter. I live in Montreal with my spouse and 3 kids! We have a 7 year-old daughter, a 5 year-old son and a 1 month and half newborn! What a good way to start the new year!!! We gave birth at home in water and with the presence of our kids…incredible moments to remember…

It was not so long after giving birth that I got this clear call for live foods… I dug out 2 books I bought long ago of the Boutenko family and started to read them. Everything felt so right! Talking about it around me got me to The Raw Divas web site and everything around it.  I totally fell in love with the approach, the support, the stories, but most importantly, the heart behind it!

Like millions of people I tend to overeat and eat according to my emotions… I was tired of feeling that addiction to food where everything turned around the next meal!!! I saw myself being happy waking up in the morning just thinking of my coming breakfast, same thing for the lunch and dinner and making stories in my head to convince myself I deserved that snack in the afternoon or at night when I wasn’t even hungry! And I also felt I wasn’t enjoying my favorite cooked meals anymore!

So here I am reading all I can about raw food while breastfeeding my newborn!

I’ve already started to experiment with smoothies with the kids! I hope that they will follow me easily into a more live food diet… My spouse is a little scared about me being so passionate about this new interest! Maybe scared of feeling forced to change, scared to lose his favorite cooked food and that it would be too complicated at dinner time with 2 meals to do! Day by day - we’ll see I gess…

Thanks to all the women who were/are there to create this community!

Marie-Claude

(who’s getting really good writing with 1 hand!!!)

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Posted in Green Smoothies for Kids | 1 Comment »

Can you help name THIS green?

Monday, December 14th, 2009 by stacey

Good day lifestyle enthusiasts!  One of the best features of the Green Smoothie Blender Bender programs is that they are sooo interactive.  The programs provide you with information, solutions, inspiration, and opportunities to connect, and you provide us and your fellow participants with experiences, feedback, questions, and stories.  It’s win-win!  And it’s especially fun when you participate in a live program.  In case you haven’t signed up yet, the green smoothie Countdown to Christmas is festively flying along!  A few days ago, the Green Smoothie Queen received this e-mail from one of the countdown participants:

Kerry's children sharing a smoothie

Kerry's children sharing a smoothie

Hi there.  I am one of the countdown greenies who has not yet checked in with a note.  I have grown attached to my green smoothies, which I try to make twice a day now.  I almost have to if I want to drink more than a cup at a time.  I am a mother of four, and that blender full of smoothie does not go far with three lusty guzzlers who often beg for more.  If my husband is around, I usually have to keep adding ingredients.  He loves them!  Only my eldest will not drink them (8 years), and he is my best salad eater.  I thought that odd.  Anyway, my biggest challenge is paying for all of that organic frozen fruit here in Texas during the winter!  I suppose that it would all even out if I could finally kick my sugar addiction.  High quality chocolate and other sweets sure do cost me a lot, both monetary and health wise no doubt.  I was told that consuming more greens would reduce cravings, but so far that is not the case.  This has been a real disappointment.  I really do not know how people do it.  This is seemingly insurmountable for me.  At least I am blessed with a fairly good metabolism so far.  Sigh.

Kerry's son and a smoothie

Kerry's son and a smoothie

Thank you for the reminders to stay on track and to try something new.  Speaking of trying something new, I was at the store last night and decided to purchase two new greens.  Strangely, neither was labeled.  I was there so late in the evening that I was unable to locate a produce clerk.  Since I made a really tasty smoothie with one of them this morning, I want to be able to write down the name.  Perhaps you can “name that green” this time.  I will send photos of the two mystery greens along with a few of my littlest ones with mild green faces.  My one year old loves to sip down a smoothie with a straw.  She is serious about it!  The photo shows her with my 7-year old who had already finished hers.  My 3-year old is still in his pajamas.  He was playing knight when he came down to drink his smoothie.

Kerry

I’m sure many of you can relate to Kerry’s words.  Are your family members joining you in guzzling the fun as you strive to make improvements to your lifestyle?  Are you running into snags or unexpected surprises?  Each of us has such a unique physiology; it makes sense that our successes and frustrations will be similarly distinct.  Perhaps it may take Kerry a little longer for the greens to reduce her cravings, especially when sweets are still in the diet.  And at this time of year when sweets are all around, maybe the success is just in recognizing that the greens are still coming in and giving her and her family nutrition!  What would YOU tell Kerry? Share your thoughts and make a comment!  We have to work together to overcome that “seemingly insurmountable” wall we all hit from time to time.  What gives you hope and keeps you on track?

But to end this Monday on a fun note, I’m extending Kerry’s mystery green question on to you!  Give me your green guesses and have a splendid week!!

Can you identify the purple mystyery green?

Can you identify the purple mystyery green?

How about mystery green #2?

How about mystery green #2?

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Posted in 24 day Countdown to Christmas!, Getting Started with Green Smoothies, Green Smoothie Challenge, Green Smoothie Testimonials, Green Smoothies for Kids, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

International Green Smoothie Day Awards!

Monday, October 19th, 2009 by admin

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!

vid00172

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!

jennifer-strilchuk-daughters

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

familymorningsmoothie

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

Leslee Feiwus Jewelry

Winner:  Anna Jonsson


Raw Breakthrough/Elements for Life

2 Coaching sessions (a $200 value).

Winner:  Jane McDermott

3 raw cookbooks..”DINNER TONIGHT

Margaret Bauer
Isobel Phillips
Darya Slyusaryeva<

Paul Nisson
Raw Life

3 books of raw knowledge

Winners: Annabella Cruz
Karla Morelli
Jane McDermott

Raw Fun Family

Wild Edible Book - Starter Guide

Winner: Jane McDermott

Serenity Spaces

1 Book Celebrating Our Raw Nature

Winner :  Karla Morelli

Parallel Perception

‘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

Jaydee Sperry
Infinite Birthing

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

Eat Sprouts

Plans to build Automatic Sprouter which I sell for $9.95 at eatsprouts.com.

Winner :  Angela Randels

Radiant On Raw

15-page report called “Five Steps to Raw Success That Will Make Your Raw Journey a Breeze”

Kathy Burkholder

Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils

A package.  (A t-shirt or tank top and a product + literature and stickers)

Winner: Kari Powell

Ely Organics

Bottle of Tropicana Body Milk
Value: $28:95 USD

Winner:  Rhonda Hovden

Kristens Raw

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

Raw Radiant Health

Ebook titled:  ‘Raw Radiant Health’s Favorite Summer Recipes’

Winner:  Erika Scheidegger

Movement As A Way In

Jenn Givler
Fitness  EBook

Winner:   Alexandra Paine

Elixir Craft Mastery

Free digital copy of ElixirCraft Mastery

Marie-Lies Van Asten

Two $25 gift certificates from Affordable Mineral Makeup

http://www.affordablemineralmakeup.com/

Winner: Darya Slyusaryeva

Free “10 emails Holistic Stress Management coaching services” ($100 value)

http://holisticstressmanagement.com/

Winner:  Alexandra Paine

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Posted in Blenders, Cleanse and Detox, Getting Started with Green Smoothies, Green Smoothie Challenge, Green Smoothie Contest, Green Smoothie Day, Green Smoothie Imagination, Green Smoothie Recipes, Green Smoothie Testimonials, Natural Health, Organic, Savory Green Smoothies, all about different greens | 2 Comments »

Meet our Green Smoothie Day Sponsors!

Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 by admin

We couldn’t have celebrated International Green Smoothie Day without our sponsors. Here’s a BIG thank you to our sponsors and an overview of what they’ve contributed to help make this the greatest green guzzling event EVER!

Check out the treats and remember to send us in your photos and recipes so that YOU can be entered to win our prizes.

**Important**

You have until August 23rd to submit your entries to win, then on August 24th, we’ll be announcing our winners!

All contest entries MUST be submitted in The Powder Room!

See you there and thanks for playing along!

**The Grand Prizes**

Blendtec Blender

blendtec

Excalibur Dehydrator 9 Tray 26 hour Timer

excalibur

**Our Sensational Sponsors**

Larabar

Larabar

“LÄRABAR is a delicious blend of unsweetened fruits, nuts, and spices. Made from 100% whole food, each flavour contains no more than 2-8 ingredients. Pure and simple, just as nature intended.”

5 Variety packs of Larabar

*****

Victoria Boutenko

The Raw Family

10 signed copies of Green Smoothie Revolution

*****

LivingRawLogo1

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.

www.livingraw.com.au

*****

certifiedorganicwoman

A free webinar on August 18th at 7 p.m.

Certified Organic Woman

*****

Ultimate Wellness

Steve Prussack

FREE e-book transcript
of an interview with Viktoras Kulvinskas

*****

RawReform - The Natural Way to Weight Loss

Angela Stokes and Matt Monarch donate a set of their 8 e-books

*****

Raw Foods Witch

rawfoodswitch-logo

One highly effective 1-on-1 Magick Power Session with Nathalie Lussier

*****

Raw Vegan Network

rvgThe Raw Vegan Network Member’s Recipe e-Book
A Collection of Our Favorite Raw Vegan Recipes from Around the World

*****

Leslee Feiwus Jewelry

LesleeFeiwus

One pair of handmade earrings that I made from my jewelry company

*****

rawbreakthrough

Raw Breakthrough/Elements for Life

2 Coaching sessions  (a $200 value).

*****

athomewithmom

3 raw cookbooks..”DINNER TONIGHT

*****

Paul Nisson

Raw Life

3 books of raw knowledge

*****

NudeFood

A bag of Fiesta Mole — a superfood seasoning mix that can be added into a smoothie with any type of vegetables to create an instant SAVORY smoothie!

http://NudeFood.com

*****

rawfunfamily6

Raw Fun Family

Wild Edible Book - Starter Guide

*****

SerenityFoodsLogo2009

Serenity Spaces

1 Book Celebrating Our Raw Nature

*****

Wind-River-Acupuncture

Center For Wholism

Hourly phone diagnostic consultations to assist people to understand their personal constitutional needs re nutrition and living foods.  $150 value

*****

iloverawlogo26

I love Raw

I Love Raw fridge magnets

*****

Parallel Perception

‘The Art of Stalking Parallel Perception’  the eBook version of the book It is in the genre of self-improvement and new age

*****

Jaydee Sperry

Infinite Birthing

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’.

*****

Val

Eat Sprouts

Plans to build Automatic Sprouter which I sell for $9.95 at eatsprouts.com.

*****

radiantonraw

Radiant On Raw

15-page report called “Five Steps to Raw Success That Will Make Your Raw Journey a Breeze”

*****

manitobaHarvest

Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils

A package.  (A t-shirt or tank top and a product + literature and stickers)

*****

ely logo with brown31

Ely Organics

Bottle of Tropicana Body Milk

Value: $28:95 USD

*****

Kristens Raw

3 books (print) for people in continental U.S. And 3 Ebooks for others outside continental U.S

*****

Frederick Patenaude

Uncooking DVD’s

fredericpatenaude@me.com

*****

rawradianthealth

Raw Radiant Health

Ebook titled:  ‘Raw Radiant Health’s Favorite Summer Recipes’

*****

Elixir Craft Mastery

Free digital copy of ElixirCraft Mastery

*****

Movement As A Way In

Fitness  EBook

*****

Cathybreshears

Cathie Breshears

4 One hour PC sessions valued at $295 or one one-hour session for $90.

*****

125Mineral Makeup

Two $25 gift certificates from Affordable Mineral Makeup
http://www.affordablemineralmakeup.com/

holisticstressmanagement

Free “10 emails Holistic Stress Management coaching services” ($100 value)
http://holisticstressmanagement.com/

Thank you to everyone for joining in the International green Smoothie Day!

Lambsquarter lovin’

The Green Smoothie Queen

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Posted in Blended Soups, Blenders, Cleanse and Detox, Getting Started with Green Smoothies, Green Juice, Green Smoothie Challenge, Green Smoothie Contest, Green Smoothie Day, Green Smoothie Imagination, Green Smoothie Jugs, Green Smoothie Recipes, Natural Health, Savory Green Smoothies, Smoothies for Kids!, all about different greens, blender, wild greens | 2 Comments »

Mom, What Kind of Greens Should I Add to the Smoothie? (Chard, Banana, and Cherry Smoothie)

Thursday, December 4th, 2008 by tera

What did I just hear? Did my daughter just ask me about putting greens in her smoothie? Ahh, music to my ears as they say!

When I first started making green smoothies earlier this year my daughters (3 and 11) thought it was great, and drank them regularly and happily. Then the novelty wore off, and they started wondering if we had to put greens in every smoothie. I very relunctantly let them choose for themselves while I continued to make green smoothies for myself. Sometimes one or both of the girls would request some of my smoothie after I had already made it, and I was happy to share, but in general they preferred their “fruit only” smoothies.

Occasionally I would hear an exclamation of disbelief such as, “This has greens in it?” I paid attention to those comments, and found it often happened with stronger fruit flavors such as the cherries that are currently popular in our home.

One day after school my daughter Megan decided to make her own smoothie. (She was happy to take pictures after she finished her creation.) I was in the other room working when I did indeed hear her ask what greens she should put in her smoothie. After I recovered from such a shock, I recommended the wodnerful fresh Rainbow Chard we had at the time. Spinach would have also been a great choice.

Megan made her green smoothie and then she enjoyed eating it while I enjoyed the fact that it was her choice to make nutrition as important as taste. And then we had fun with photos! :-)
You may notice that this smoothie doesn’t exactly look green?

I do not know if it is a coincidence that the girls prefer smoothies that are as much red (or blue) as they are green. It’s the juicy berries or cherries that will take the color more red, or in the case of blueberries, blue. It stills depends on the amount and variety of greens used, but if enough very red juicy berries or cherries are used, the color will not be bright green. Our favorite recipe lately uses some regional frozen pie cherries.

Kid-Friendly and Not Too-Green Green Smoothie:

  • One very ripe banana
  • 2 large rainbow chard leaves
  • 1 heaping cup frozen cherries*
  • enough water to blend

Blend and enjoy! Giggles add to the fun.

*If you do not have a high-powered blender you may want to let any frozen fruit thaw for awhile before blending. I highly recommend never using all frozen fruit without a high powered blender. However, you can simply take the fruit from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before in order to be ready to quickly make your morning smoothie.


Due to parental fairness rules in our home I also need to share with you that Nessa (3) also enjoys an occasional green smoothie. And due to my own full-disclosure policy, I need to tell you that she doesn’t realize this particular smoothie has greens in it. She used to love intentionally turning any smoothie green with LOTS of leafy greens, but while green is still her favorite color she soon realized that mom loved it when she drank green smoothies, and promptly decided she no longer likes them. (Please tell me that I am not the only one with a child like this)

I decided to partake in the long-standing traditon of mothers everywhere by “hiding veggies.” I simply threw a few greens in the blender when she wasn’t looking. If you have been wanting to try green smoothies, but haven’t been able to bring yourself to put leafy greens in your blender, maybe you could ask someone to play the mother role and sneak it in your next fruity smoothie!

~Tami

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Posted in Green Smoothies for Kids, Smoothies for Kids! | No Comments »

Ms. Gill's Green Smoothie Elementary Class

Saturday, November 29th, 2008 by admin

A while ago, Melissa Gill won a Home Study program through the Chidiet website and Jim Carey’s promotions. We asked her to provide some updates on her experiences and learning. Here’s the first update we’ve had from the trenches! Sounds like she’s had her nose in books!

Here’s the feedback on a fantastic experience she had with her elementary school class and green smoothies. We’ll be posting this on the Green Smoothie Blog as well, where you can check out a lot more recipes and inspiration about Green Smoothies!

Hello Ladies!

So here goes the first installment of my CHIdiet experience.

After having a couple of months to begin to digest the information I’ve studied so far in this course, I know that I have only scratched the surface of all it entails. The information is very detailed and wide in scope. It begins with talk on enzymes, chlorophyll, and the life of Ann Wigmore. It goes on to talk about how to set up your raw food kitchen, benefits of this lifestyle, as well as how to transition to a living foods diet. Eating simply and sleeping well, drinking pure water and the power of thought are all touched upon…and this is just the beginning.

Being a teacher by trade, my thoughts kept turning back to how I could introduce this lifestyle to my students without turning them off the idea of eating healthier. They are a group that lives on sugar, processed foods, and the traditional SAD diet. I have a new class this year and they were not fully aware of how I eat, or why. I am very open about what I eat and they see me in class, eating my raw, fresh, ripe, organic fruit and salads. They also see me with various concoctions - warming chia pudding, and the like. Something they haven’t seen me eat is my green smoothie. I began bringing my green smoothie jar to the school instead of drinking it at home in the mornings…I wanted to pique their interest, and pique it did! They’ve always been curious about how I eat and I always tell them, if they ask.

The green smoothies were really the turning point! Every day they’d ask what I put into it and wanted to smell it and were so extremely curious about the whole idea of eating a drink that was so green. In fact one student asked if I had my “Shrek” drink, when it was missing from the desktop that day. We’d been enjoying “Fruitful Fridays” each week, where I bring in a different fruit for the students to try. They students bring in fruit to include in our Friendship Fruit Salad and we all have our class meeting while learning about a new fruit each Friday as well as enjoying a great fruit salad that we all made together. The first week we did that, the students made me swear not to tell their parents that they “enjoyed eating healthy” or else they’d be made to do so by force instead of choice…a valid point! However if you make this type of food available and tasty, they are bound to make a good choice!

Because of their interest in the green smoothie, I decided last Friday morning to bring my Vitamix to class and have a demo on how to make a green smoothie. The students were aware that I was going to do this and were full of anticipation when I opened the classroom door that day. First, they could not believe how huge the blender was, then their eyes became as big as moons when they saw how much kale I had ready to put into the drink! It was amazing how interested they all were! They are so impressionable at this age and this seed of an idea that was planted that day will reap rewards in the months and years to come.

I told them about the benefits of each food that I put into the blender. We made a very simple smoothie. Here’s the recipe I made which fed the class a small dixie cup each:

2 cups blueberries
2 bananas
2 apples
1 stick celery
4 huge leaves of kale
3 cups of water (or more to assist in blending)

The blueberries made the smoothie more blue than green, however the colour helped a lot of them around the idea that there was so much green in there in the first place. We talked about the blender as well, and how it breaks up the cell walls and does the “chewing” for us so that the nutrients are more bioavailable.

Then it was the moment of truth: The Taste Test!!!

I began pouring the drinks, not really knowing what to expect but figured the great taste of the smoothie would encourage even the most finicky in the class. Some comments made include:

“I can’t believe there’s like a whole salad in here, you’d never know it!”
“It doesn’t taste bad at all!”
“If I didn’t see you put those greens in there, I’d never know they were there, it tastes so good.”
“I have to get the recipe!”

There were so many positive comments made that morning that I had each student write a testimonial on a cue card for me to reference. Here are some of what the cue cards said:

“I was not nervous to try (the smoothie) but it was better than I thought it would be.” - Rhylan, Grade 7

“When Ms. Gill was putting in the fruit, it looked pretty good. But when she blended it it looked bad. It smelled like bananas and when I took a sip it was very good.” - Kody, Grade 7

“Before I tasted the smoothie, I was concerned about what it would taste like. After I tasted it, it was delicious! It tasted like blueberries and bananas with a hint of a peppery taste. I would like the recipe” - Michael, Grade 7

“I would ike the recipe! Watching it blended, I almost didn’t try it, it looked slightly unappealing. And well, it kinda was. Drinking it tasted ok but there was a bit of an after taste. Overall, pretty good!” - Rozi, Grade 7

“When I saw my new teacher eating a raw green smoothie I thought ‘Wow, what is she eating?’ So we asked her and she said she was a raw foodist. Now if you told me I would be trying some, I wouldn’t have believed you. So I was pretty nervous when I got a cup full of “slush”. I took a sip…tasty, but yet kind of bitter. I love my smoothie. Yes I would like the recipe.” - Mitchell, Grade 7

“While I was watching Ms. Gill make it, it kind of looked like “unmentionable” and I also thought it would taste like that, but when I tasted it, it was “greenalicious”, yummy, yummy! Yes I would like to try it again!” - Simran, Grade 7

“I really liked this drink because it was really good and I would love to get my mom to buy the ingredients so I can have more.” - Matt, Grade 7

There were only two students out of 29 that said they really didn’t like the smoothie but would be open to trying different combinations if we ever did this again…which we are!

As you can see it was a very successful endeavor. Afterwards, the students asked if we could do a green smoothie every week. I said we could call it our “Smoothie Start to the Week”. The students will bring in 25¢ every Monday morning to help offset the cost of the ingredients and we’re going to have a green smoothie each Monday morning to get our week off to a good start. So in our class, we will begin the week with a green smoothie and we will end the week with a fruit salad. Baby steps, is all I keep thinking. As I absorb more information through the CHIdiet course, I will slowly incorporate this in my teaching in a fun and informative way.

The message to take away from this is that children are open to trying these things in the right circumstance, but the long term change has to include the the whole family. I especially liked the comment Matt made about getting his mom to buy the ingredients so that he can have more. It’s true, I can plant the seed, but kids need encouragement and help at home too. I can only hope that his mom WILL buy him the ingredients and that he will enjoy green smoothies for a lifetime!

This gave me another great idea! Get the parents involved! That leads leads me to my next adventure…the PAC (Parent Advisory Council) meeting. Stay tuned and we’ll hear how that one goes.

In simple green goodness,

Melinda

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If your children won’t eat their veggies, maybe they’ll drink them (pear, apple, banana and collards)……..

Tuesday, November 18th, 2008 by stacey

How many of us moms, have wanted to scream because our children didn’t want to touch anything on their plate that resembled the color green?  Well this issomething that I hear moms talk about in the mommy group that I’m involved with. I think as moms we have so many things we are dealing with, and as much as we try we have to remember that our children have a mind of their own, and jumping up and down screaming won’t get them to eat what we would like for them to eat.

Our son is a particular eater and I would drive myself and everyone around me nuts trying to get him to eat leafy green vegetables. Even though Connor is not yet two years old, he has such a strong will and does things in his own time. Thank goodness he really enjoys drinking green smoothies! What a relief, because there are days when he absolutely will not eat anything that resembles a vegetable and what gets me through those stressful times are all the yummy recipes I create in the blender. Besides making it with love, it helps to have ingredients that really pack a powerful punch and taste good.

This is my go to recipe when I want to get as many greens into Connor as possible, while at the same time, the sweetness of the pears completely masks the taste of the collards. We had some Bartlett pears and Red Delicious apples on hand and the sweet juiciness of them really complements the banana and collards.

While this recipe was created with my son in mind, I hope you enjoy sharing this smoothie recipe with your children.

Pear, Apple, Banana and Collard Green Smoothie

  • 2 bartlett pears (use whatever variety is available in your area)
  • One red delicious apple
  • One banana
  • One handful collards
  • One cup water (optional, Connor likes a thinner consistency)

Blend and enjoy!

 

 

 

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