Hi Green Smoothie Queen,
I am starting out slowly. I only ran across the green smoothie challenge the 14th, so today (Monday, I seem to start everything on a Monday) I started my day with a beautiful green smoothie consisting only of crab apples off of the tree in my yard and lettuce from my garden. It was very tart but delicious and definalely a sipper. I loved it. I shared a little with my granddaughter, she loved it also. We have done green smoothies before. I don't know why we quit.
Thank you for getting me started again.
Linda
I had a great time. My new favorite smoothie is 3 peaches a huge bunch of spinach, agave nectar, udos oil, 2cups water and a splash of coconut milk. Super yummy! Thanks for everything. I will write when I can. I am super busy as a mom and full time worker. Loving green smoothies for life! Thanks for all the smoothie recommendations. I have tried a few.
Peace and blessings
Wendy
Well I have really incorporated green smoothies into my daily food intake "regimen". I started them before the official start :) and haven’t stopped. Most of all I feel great about giving them to my two toddlers daily too. I am finding myself craving smoothies over regular cooked food and will follow my body's cues as I believe if I am craving things that are not bad for me then I need to listen to my body;). What a concept huh?!?!
I find it amazing that at the beginning I needed more fruit in my smoothies but now they are becoming greener and greener. I do tell my friends often about my new found breakfast (lunch and maybe dinner) of choice. In fact we are already planning on taking our blender with us on vacation in October. I can't imagine going two weeks without my green stuff in a cup! I have read (although quickly) your info regarding the Body Enlightenment System...so perhaps that will be my next step. As I mentioned above I have two toddlers so I get side-tracked a lot:). I would love to see more information from stay-at-home mom's trying to get a better system of eating and doing all the mommy stuff at the same time. I think the green smoothie concept has been "easier" for me to grasp because it is so simple to throw a bunch of goodness in a blender and go....because I am always on the go. I haven’t been able to use the powder room as much as I wish, but I have jumped in a few times. Thank you so much for the support and venue for me to incorporate more greens than I ever imagined our family eating. I know our bodies are getting great nutrients and the Moore family thanks you very much!
Blessings,
Laura
What a wonderful green journey it has been!:) It so nice to know while you're making your smoothie every morning you know hundreds of others are on the same band wagon and as serious about getting healthy too!
I've been a green juicer for a few years now and a green smoothie drinker on and off.
But trying all these new and different recipes these past few days has brought life back into my kinda boring routine drinks.
My youngest daughter, who is 8 had a blast helping me shop for the ingredients each day and watching them all blend into something GREAT tasting! She also gets out of bed every Sat. morning at 5am to venture down to the downtown farmers market to help me set up and serve green lemonades and our famous....
Robin
By the way, this is my first time EVER tasting/making/enjoying a green smoothie. I have to admit I was very afraid of what I was getting into, but I plan on having one for breakfast for the next week...well, probably longer. I love them. Had one for breakfast and lunch yesterday. I'm slowly cranking my efforts up...make sure my body is on the same page. I have to say, I'm in love. I feel better, I'm more confident, and I've even shed a couple of pounds already! So much fun, I can't believe how excited I am about all of it. Really. Every time I drink a smoothie, I imagine healthy green stuff coursing through my veins. So much fun:)
Also, I'm planning on going home for a week in Texas, and I'm going to try and get my sister and mom hooked! Wish me luck, as they both have high cholesterol, are over-weight, and need this more than me...well, maybe not more, but just the same.
Karen
Wow! What an awesome few days. Right from making smoothies through reading about everyone's adventures. Great recipes were shared by many. Sometimes I think mine would be boring since I do pretty much the same thing each time. I do them the same because I really like them. Spinach, banana, celery and one other fruit! Always good. Even enjoying my smoothie in the pool was great fun!
I think it was a great idea to have so many focused at the same time with the International Event. Perhaps not the Olympics in scope but certainly loads of fun.
When I'm enjoying so many fresh fruits and greens I feel energized and in tune with my body. I'll come back to the smoothies time and again for refreshing my system.
Gals! You are the best!!!
Hugs! Doll
Well Divas,
I never knew I could love kale so much :D Just the smell of kale excites my tongue and enlivens my spirit. I loved kale with blueberries. kale with melons. kale with kiwi and grapes and fresh squeezed orange juice. (I rotated between kale and spinach cuz I love them both so much) but I also had kale with melon, pineapple, grapes, peaches, strawberries, blackberries, blueberries and raspberries :D Divine! And my children were begging me for more every day :D Even my husband liked it!
My teeth are whiter, my skin is clearer and my eyes & spirits are brighter...amazing! Thank you so much for expanding the awareness of green smoothies to the world, Divas! You rock!!!
I also lost a little bit of excess chub.
Yea me!
Love, Light, and adoring Hugs,
Theresa
Hello,
I just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed the green smoothie challenge. Today's breakfast was from your book: it was 1/2 pineapple, 2 oranges, and a handful of parsley. (I have included a picture of that refreshing drink) It almost had a lime tartness to it and was really clean tasting.
I have started on a path to better health through your challenge, and will be looking forward to your 7 day challenge as well as your on line community.
Thanks for all of your great recipes and advice!
Meredith Fire-Hess
I've had a great time with the 3 day challenge. I started on the 15th and felt blessed when I found out it was starting the following day. I feel refreshed and energized. I've tried new vegetables and found how much flavor celery and parsley can add to a smoothie. I've truly learned a new way of life and plan to continue to start each day with a green smoothie instead of oatmeal. I also learned a little about sending messages and pictures, that's a real stretch for me. I enjoyed everyone's messages and all the support. You are all really great. And since you ask, of course I would love to win the blender to replace my little kitchen blender that is already slowing down.
Thanks for all the support and the fun.
Kaydee
I started transitioning into raw foods last September. Right now, I eat mostly raw foods. It has been something of an adventure learning what foods work for my body to be at its very best. I was open to going the Green Smoothie Challenge to see how I would feel. I am still experimenting with finding the right amount of fat for my body--because I do feel better with some fat in my diet. It insulates the nervous system and helps me to not feel so dry and dehydrated and emotionally I don't feel quite so frazzled on a challenging day.
I can honestly say that greens work best for me! I have more energy and my skin looks better...not only that, I have been consistently in a good mood. :) Yay, green smoothies!
More importantly, this adventure in raw food has helped me to honor my body, to connect more fully with what it takes for me to feel good--physically, mentally and emotionally. (Imagine my surprise when I started to realize how depressed I felt after eating cooked foods!) This Green Smoothie Challenge has just given me one more piece of my puzzle to feeling and looking my best.
Thank you so much for all you do and the support you offer. My very best wishes for the success of all your endeavors!
Sincerely,
Marnie McNulty
I was going to write - Ode to the Green Smoothie and be all funny and creative but ultimately I decided to share a little honest story about what Green Smoothies mean to me:
Aaahhhemmmm (clearing throat noise)
Green smoothies have saved my sanity. Now, I know that sounds a little hard to believe but it's true. I've spent my whole life battling with food addictions, out of control cravings, and a general love/hate relationship - or more accurately, obsession with food. I used to cry that I'd be happy/sane/maybe even tolerable to others if I only could figure out what to eat. Nearly every time I ate, it led to spaciness in my head and I'd be hungry within minutes - not hours but minutes. It was like eating actually made me worse. I don't know what odd twist of insulin weirdness caused it but it drove me absolutely crazy. I tried every possible food, combination of foods, and supplement I could think of. I had absolutely no idea what it felt like to be full and to top it off, I feared fruit and sugars, thinking they were causing the problem.
Enter green living attempt #1. I tried raw foods after hearing an offhanded comment from a doctor about raw foods helping with weight loss. I bought every gourmet recipe book at my local health food store and after one week, I had gained 3 lbs and didn't feel much better than before. My husband said that if I concocted another nut based piece of mush and dehydrated it, he'd divorce me. Ok - not that extreme but he wasn't enthused. I threw a temper tantrum I'm sure and chalked it up to another diet failure.
Enter cancer. A month later, I went in for a surgery for a benign tumor in my neck and came out without a thyroid. They called it cancer. I freaked. My mom fainted and my brother gave me a copy of the China Study. In that very vulnerable two days between knowing it was bad but waiting on the lab report to find out just how bad, I read the entire book. The doctor called and said it was tiny, well differentiated and required no follow up whatsoever. That last part was the scariest. What, no one to check and poke and prod me and ensure me that diet can't have anything to do with it (like most good doctors do)? In order to sleep at all at night, I knew I had to become a vegan and take matters of my health into my own hands (novel idea, I know). I was a junk food vegan in college and didn't feel a bit good on soy, bread, and maybe a little lettuce and mustard for good measure. What to do I wondered?????? My brilliant husband stacked the entire pile of raw gourmet recipe books up in front of me and we vowed to give it another shot.
The dehydrator disappears. Another week into raw foods and my husband declared that I could eat whatever I wanted but he was only eating smoothies, juices, and salads. Most of you are thinking this is a dream man but keep in mind that I AM A FOODIE. I love food, texture, taste, smell - everything. I threw another temper tantrum I'm sure, then I agreed to give it a try but I was sure I wouldn't feel a bit good on that regimen. A week into our new smoothie life and I felt better than I ever had. I still blow it occasionally and I wake up the next day and make my favorite (peach, spinach, mint) smoothie and I know I'm going to be alright. My co-workers call it pond scum. I call it nectar of life:). I now consider myself, not only a raw foodie, but a raw GREEN foodie and although I still collect shiny recipe books, I only pull them out for special occasions and for convincing my friends I haven't completely gone off the deep end! Smoothies balance and rejuvenate me completely. I never feel spacey and I'm not afraid of a twinge of hunger like I used to be. I even attended Victoria's first Joy For Life Retreat and I can honestly say that I've never felt better in my whole life than that week on green smoothies.
Thanks for asking and for spreading the word on the benefits of Raw Green foods!
Michelle Rankin
You divas really rock.
You kept such excitement and energy through the last 3 days. You were so supportive. I have to tell you. The last thing
I never thought was that you would respond to my emails. You were just too busy. How do you do it?
I have been working on raw for the last month and then I bumped into your web site just as you were getting this Green Smoothie thing going. I have been doing pretty well with figuring out the raw thing but really needed to find something with some walls around it that I could hang on to. This 3 day thing was it. And now on to the 7 day detox. I would have liked to do better but was in a little confusion about what I had done what with signing up for the 3 day Smoothie deal and also the 7 day detox and I signed up as a sista in membership all in one day. Took me a bit to sort out what was going on and try to catch up but I did just fine for the whirl wind journey I set my course on. Just experiencing your excitement and support really strengthened me and today I did some journaling about whether I really wanted to do the 7 day and decided yes, I am going to do it. I don't think I would have made that decision if I hadn't done the 3 day green smoothie celebration and experienced your support. So thanks. I am really looking forward to the 7 day. I have some hesitations as I have little faith in myself sometimes. I hate hunger and well just don't trust myself. But I will do what I did with the 3 day. I will just do the best I can do, write, journal, exercise, go to the forum and maybe even offer something. You just never know. Life is like a box of chocolates... and we all know the end to that story.Take care and again.... THANKS
Gwynne
Hi!
I loved the green smoothie challenge. I had a very basic smoothie (lots of fresh green crinky spinach leaves, banana, and apples, with a pineapple occasionally) daily, a quart at a time, and it was soooooo great! The first smoothie cleared up some congestion in my sinuses, which I found exciting. I craved smoothie time each day. I am transitioning back into 100% raw and this was a wonderful kick-start.
Thanks for being there right when I needed a boost!
Keep up the wonderful work.
~Stephanie
The sun is shining here in Dublin in the heart of the Emerald Isle. The city is packed with tourists all enjoying the celebrations and I hope everyone out there doing the challenge is also getting ready to 'drown the Shamrock' with lovely smoothies.
I wanted to share a recipe that I created for a lovely girl friend of mine who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and is under going radical chemotherapy. She loved an old cocktail every now and again but has to stay off alcohol altogether now, so I made this for her with lots of green healing thrown in and just a hint of the old naughtiness!
GREENACOLADA
- 2 or 3 sticks of celery
- 1/2 of cucumber
- bunch of parsely
- large chunk of Pinapple - keep the core that's where the enzymes live
- dash of coconut milk to taste
Blend all the ingredients together and serve over crushed ice
(vary amounts to taste)
Decorate a cocktail glass with bits of fruit and a fancy parasol and drink listening to the Pinacolada song while dancing round the kitchen wearing bouncy shamrocks on your head on a sparkly green headband.Jayne in Dublin xxx
I am surprised to actually be liking my smoothies! I started this challenge as a way of trying add more vegetables into my diet. Sure I enjoy salads but they always are drenched in Ranch dressing for me to eat them. I have always been a "picky" eater and the list of vegetables that I eat consistently is pretty small. So this is a big step for me and I am just finding out what I do and don't like in my smoothies. Sorry Swiss chard you didn't make the cut (but I actually tried it for the first time and swallowed most of it down!) Also working with an acid stomach and I think I have figured out when and what to produce the least amount of pain after. Thanks for all the tips, I doubt I will ever be vegan, but if I keep it up I may find I don't need to "eat" but drink most of my meals!
Debbie
To the wonderful Green Smoothie Queen,
You are amazing and have brought such an experience into my life! I LOVE green smoothies! I haven't been perfect, but I have replaced at least 2 meals with a green smoothie every day of the challenge and eat a huge salad for the last meal (I feel the need to chew something solid). I am very pleased with myself, as I only just recently gave up meat and dairy. I've always eaten what I thought was healthy, but it's been such a journey to figure out what is actually good for my body.
About a month ago I decided to give up meat completely. I gave up dairy after I gave birth (my baby is 8 months and she is amazing!) because it was giving me digestive problems, and since going vegan I have not had any problems at all! I'm not completely raw, but I am vegan and after listening to Dr. Ritamarie I am cutting back on gluten. I'm trying to take things one step at a time, but I have felt such an improvement in how I feel. I have starting eating vegetables that I've never even tasted before!
I know that I will continue making green smoothies, and I am going to start making the soups and juices you sent out. I really want to thank you for all your support and your wealth of information. I am also looking forward to feeding my family a vegan (and mostly raw) diet. It is so worth the health benefits that we will all get.
And I am asking for a good food processor for my birthday (my blender leaves lots of chunks, oh well!).
Thank you, thank you, thank you,
Kate
I just want to be on the up and up. I had done BES and felt really great and then slowly slipped off the wagon due to traveling, extreme busyness and stress in my life. Gets just a little too easy to grab what is there. But, boy, it is so noticeable how inferior one feels eating that way. However, I am a vegetarian. But that does not stop me from grabbing chocolates and chips and coffee instead of real food so I actually did the green smoothie challenge to just get myself back to starting my day with a green smoothie--no matter what was hitting me for the day! So I am easing back into the lifestyle and have really been enjoying my smoothies! I even ran out the door to my Bible study with a huge cup of green smoothie. It was that or miss my smoothie! Everyone wanted to know what is that you are drinking?! I was a little shy about bringing it in since everyone usually has a coffee, but everyone was cool about it and no one made fun of it! My 7 year old son didn't even hesitate or utter one word of complaint when I started setting one in front of him in the morning. I think he knows as well that he feels better starting the day with a green smoothie! So that 's where I am. Next week I will also be going raw for lunch with either a salad or another green smoothie.
Here's one that I crave--even when I was not eating well...I would crave this and your Mango Madness. I concocted it after drinking a similar pure juice at a health food restaurant:
Green Thai Smoothie (It has a sour kick that I love!)
- 12 oz water
- Some ice cubes
- Pineapple
- 1 green apple
- 1/2 lime
- Kale (as much as you can handle)
- Cilantro (big handful)
To me it is sunshine in a glass! If it is gloomy outside it makes my mouth feel sunny! Hope you and others might enjoy it as well!
Going green!
Lori Ann Wilkinson
To my darlin' divas,
I wanted to start off by telling you how I found out about raw foods. I was sitting on the couch one night de-stressing before bed, completely exhausted, depressed and full of anxiety about my life in general. While flipping through the channels, I came across a story on the food network channel about this woman who overcame her battle with diabetes by going raw. After seeing that show I was inspired. I thought if she can do it, why can't I. I don't have diabetes but I do have a list of medical problems such as: Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria (CIU) which is an autoimmune disorder — my body produces too many histamines and when they build up, my body becomes allergic to itself and I break out in hives. The last episode lasted for 12 days and 2 ER visits. I am overweight, I have sleep apnea, GERD, Epstein-Barr virus, rosacea / adult acne and allergies. And that is just to name a few. So the next day and for several days after that, I researched raw foodism. I had talked a lot about it with my husband and he thought that I should give it a try. Then, I found your website and the 7 day green smoothie challenge. I was so excited that I actually started a few days ahead because I could stand to wait. Let me tell you...this was the best thing that I could have ever done for myself. Because I am interested in going raw but confused about it all due to the overload of information available (dehydrators, blenders, superfoods, complicated recipes) I was beginning to get a bit discouraged. But not now. I am an official green smoothie LOVER ! I am so thankful to you for providing this type of encouragement and simple information to the public. I feel that by doing this challenge it will make my transition into the raw world much easier. I already feel great just after 10 days. My outlook on my weight has changed, I don't feel that I will be hopelessly fat for the rest of my life, my energy level has increased, I am actually sleeping better (thank goodness) my acne is starting to clear up and my hair is no longer falling out and is starting to look healthy again. I have regained my life and my self esteem and I feel that I owe it all to you and your challenge. This has been a true blessing to me and although I have no idea where to go from here, I will remain true to my green smoothies. I just pray that like the woman who is no longer on insulin, I too can be free on all of the bad things that are controlling my health.
Thank you, Thank you, Thank you,
Cathy Nickels
Dear GS QUEEN!
First off, THANK YOU!
Honestly was stunned by the support and enthusiasm and passion of your team, participants...they were living it big time and I wasn't...my first online event ever and it was overwhelming...shocked by the power, the love, the dynamics....couldn't keep up with all the posts...a learning curve to maneuver...will try and use the PR and see if I can navigate better now.
Did have a smoothie each day for a week...process was great - it was perfect in that it held up a shiny mirror for me to reflect and choose new patterns...
I found the whole experience very helpful...and it was more of an open the door & ck this out event for me.....
Now on my way to a more regular program...woke up dreaming of planning for late biz nites to just have a green smoothie instead of dinner...and to make in advance for work ...those 2 things will make a big difference...think I need to buy the green mugs so makes it easy to carry them with me...then just make up the nite before and I'm ready to launch at crack of dawn...new habits and ways of being
Today's a great time for changes with the new moon...
Thank YOU again for all you are sharing...you make a beautiful difference in my life..
.with love & gratitude,
Joan
Hi Tera,
I just completed the 7-day green smoothie challenge, and I loved it! My smoothies gave me so much energy, that I really looked forward to them each morning. I drank at least 4 cups of green smoothie every day, sometimes twice that amount (and I'm still going strong!) It was so much fun creating new recipes that my girls would try, or trying to incorporate new varieties of greens into super-healthy and tasty concoctions.
Thanks for running the challenge. The daily emails and powder room made it so much fun! I feel vibrant! (I posted a more detailed testimonial in the powder room.)
Sandy DeSmedt