Extra Added Attractions to your Green Smoothie Experience

By now many of you will have experienced your first Green Smoothie.  We’ve been having a nice conversation on the Facebook Fan Page, with participants posting their recipes, questions, feedback and concerns.  I am more than willing to respond to all queries and to guide your journey so feel free to check in there.

In the years that I have been teaching raw foods, raw fusion, green smoothie prep and coaching people in their quest for better health and lifestyle choices, a trend I often see is the “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to making a Green Smoothie.  While I love experimentation, I feel that sometimes “Less is More” when it comes to these wonderfully nutritious-packed drinks.

The “mistake” I see most often is adding ingredients that don’t need to be there, specifically protein powders, nut milks, tree nuts and yogurt.  The beauty of the Green Smoothie is that it is an infusion of pure whole foods, blended to make them easily accessible to your bloodstream and cells.  The more concentrated foods you add to the mix (essentially anything that is NOT a leafy green, vegetable or a fruit is a concentrated food) the harder it is for your body to process.  You may be defeating the purpose by adding those ingredients, but ultimately the choice is always yours!

If you are concerned about getting enough protein — you needn’t be as leafy greens are EXCELLENT sources of easily digestible protein.  Most fruits and vegetables have SOME protein and you’d be surprised to know that your regular diet might include more protein than you need.

Avoiding Boredom

If you are limiting your food intake for the week to green smoothies and want to “spice them up” there are ingredients that you can safely add to your green smoothies, although my personal recommendation is to make the first one of the day as pristine as possible — simply leafy greens, veggies and/or fruits, water and ice.

As you go through the day — and if you are fasting/feasting on Green Smoothies, here is a list of items that you may add to make them more interesting.  You don’t NEED  these items to make them any more nutritious, but they will add some texture and flavor variety:

Extras, Extras:

Coconut oil, ground flaxseed, chia seeds or chia gel, hempseeds, nutritional yeast, braggs liquid aminos, horseradish, almond butter, cacao or cocoa powder, olive or grapeseed oil, natural flavorings, apple cider vinegar, umebyoshi vinegar,  fresh chopped herbs, Superfoods powders like maca, mesquite, lucuma, spirulina or other algae, seaweeds like dulse, wakame or hijiki, carob powder, unsweetened shredded coconut, coconut water, splash of coconut or almond milk, vegan worcestshire sauce, hot sauce, bee pollen

For Sweeteners:  Stevia, xylitol (birch-derived), honey, coconut nectar, maple syrup (organic), dates, palm sugar

Sometimes when you are fasting, what you long for is a bit of texture – you can either blend less to have more crunch, or chop up some of the following fruits and vegetables and add after blending:  frozen seedless grapes, cucumber, baby carrots, red pepper, jicama,  jalapeno, organic corn kernels (but just a few as this is very starchy and changes the dynamic)

Play around with them, experiment and if you find something wonderful that works, please share it with us on Facebook.  

A couple of new recipes I created yesterday:

Savory Salad Smoothie:

Ingredients:
Handful of spinach
3 Kale leaves (ribs removed)
Handful of grape tomatoes
2 carrots
1 stalk celery
1 radish
1 bell pepper
1/2 cucumber
1 chunk of a Vidalia onion
1 clove garlic
3 sprigs of dill
1 TB. extra virgin olive oil

Option:  this might taste better with a little sea salt.  You can replace the olive oil with one half ripe avocado

Blend with ice and water and leave slightly chunky.  Heavenly!

Dessert Smoothie

Ingredients:
2-3 cups chopped watermelon
1 bunch of fresh mint
splash of orange juice (I actually put in a splash of Trilogy flavored Kombucha)

Blend well and enjoy!

 Fabulous Formulas and Tricks of the Trade

Green Smoothie Experience beginning Thursday, May 10th

Greetings!  We are just two days away now from our Green Smoothie Experience.  Have you set your intentions for this week?  Whatever your goal may be — fasting, detox, nurturing your body, learning a new healthy habit, enhancing your lifestyle  or just experimenting – WELCOME and we look forward to sharing this experience with you.

In this blog we’ll focus on the basic Green Smoothie recipe with lots of trips and tricks to find the fabulous formulas that are sure to make you a Green Smoothie junkie for life!

A bit of my background:  I’ve been teaching classes nationwide on raw foods, raw fusion living, healthy food preparation and green smoothies for the past 3 1/2 years after having rebounded from a series of debilitating and chronic health challenges.  Green Smoothies have played a huge role in my recovery and the truly achievable phenomenon of “youthing” (as opposed to “ageing : -)  My family members have all become fans of the Green Goodness.  When prepared correctly, a Green Smoothie is like a transfusion!  They are  true nutraceutials , free of drugs, preservatives, stimulants and additives.

Ultimately, you are the chef when it comes to blending your own Green Goodness, but below is a formula for the original, unadulterated Green Smoothie per the woman who invented them, Victoria Boutenko (Green for Life).  I was honored to have Victoria write the Foreword to my book series Raw Fusion: Better Living Through Living Foods (Quantum Mind Press 2010).

Here’s the perfect formula for a green smoothie:

40% Leafy Greens (see list below) placed in the blender first, closest to the blades +

60% fruit and or vegetables of your choice or combination of them  (of course you can always have one ALL green) +

about 2 inches of filtered water +

Ice – they always taste better and go down more smoothly when nice and cold.

TRICK:  You can blend the greens first with a little filtered or coconut water to break them down first.   This works well with the Ninja system.

DR. LJ’S PHILOSOPY:  If you review the Fans’ smoothie postings on our Facebook Page you will find a lot that list ingredients like yogurt, protein powder, nut milk, nut butters, soaked nuts, dried fruits. I  feel pretty strongly that we need to flood our body with the incredible  micronutrients and phytochemicals found in pure fruit, veggies and leafy greens. From my research I feel that adding concentrated foods (nuts, nut butters) and protein (dairy, nut milk, protein powders) interfere with this. At the very least your first smoothie of the day should be simply leafy greens plus veggies and/or fruits plus water and ice (coconut water can be subbed).  We will discuss acceptable EXCEPTIONS on the Facebook page and future blogs.

TIP:  If you are new to Green Smoothies adding 1/2 to 1 banana or some mint leaves does wonders for camoflauging the “green” taste.  If you need to sweeten it up a bit, some stevia, xylitol (birch-derived is best), honey, agave, coconut nectar maple syrup or even a few dates.

LIST OF GREENS:
Beginner: Baby Spinach, Green Chard, Beet Greens, Spring Mix, Mint leaves (these are the least “green” tasting)
Intermediate: Kale, Cilantro, Parsley, Bokchoy,  Swiss chard, Romaine, Cabbage, Tatsoi, sprouts
Advanced: Collard Greens, Watercress, Dandelion Leaves, Arugula (you may find them bitter at first)

TIP:  Try at least 3 of them throughout the week for micronutrient diversity.  

THIS IS GREEN CHARD:  

Feast or Fast – It’s Your Choice

My intention is to have only smoothies – about 4 or 5 a day– for the full week.  I may add some herb tea at night.  Some people are planning on doing that kind of fast for a day or two or three.  some people will drink smoothies throughout the day and have a light dinner.  Others will be trying a green smoothie every morning.  Participate at what ever level you are comfortable with — and remember, just take it one day at a time!

If you’ve missed the last two blogs – Part I is here.

Part 2 is here.

Here is a page of mouth-watering Green Smoothie Recipes.

Feel free to leave questions or comments here or “Like” our Fan Pageto get continuous updates.

NOTE:  Our Hypnovation for Health program will take you into an entirely new frame of mind and lifestyle.  The price is going up to $399.00 on Friday!

 Prepping for the Green Smoothie Experience – Starting Thursday, May 10th

We’ve been getting a great response to our upcoming Green Smoothie fast.  This is just an OPT-IN – you can join us for a day, or two or 7; You can drink a green smoothie every morning, or just try one sometime during the week.  No pressure, no judgment, no “Green Smoothie Police” looking over your shoulder — but lots of unconditional support, information and inspiration.

I set up a public Events page on Facebook, so feel free to invite friends and family.  Throughout the week (5-10 through 5-16) you are welcome and encouraged to post questions, recipes, feedback or insights either here on the blog or you might find it easier to follow along on our dedicated Facebook Fan page where we can easily have continuous postings and follow threads of conversations.

There have been a lot of questions about equipment and supplies so I will address these in this blog and on Tuesday will have a blog with the full Green Smoothie lowdown — formula, recipes, tips how to “survive” the fast, etc. so you may want to bookmark this page or subscribe.  Naturally, each time a new blog on the subject is published we’ll update you on the Facebook pages.  If you want more info on the benefits of the Green Smoothie Experience, make sure to read Part I here.  

EQUIPMENT

Really all you need to take part in the Green Smoothie Experience is a blender.  It doesn’t have to be a “designer” blender with uber power, which can run close to $500.   A lot of you have asked me what’s the best blender to get and I really like the healthier living philosophy of the Ninja products, as they offer a good blend of economy and performance.

If you have a juicer, that’s also fine but we are going more for a blended drink here.  Many people find juice fasting a bit too stringent and find themselves getting too hungry or having to spend too much money on produce.  With Green Smoothies you have the following advantages:

• All inclusive – just blend it up and drink it!
• No waste as the pulp will be part of the drink.
• The fiber keeps the juices from quickly oxidizing.
• You can store a smoothie for up to 72 hours, covered in the fridge, which means you can make them ahead if you have to.
• The fiber fills you up for longer stretches of time.
• Children love them, too!  If you think they may reject the “green goop” look of them, just put them in a sippy cup.
• There are many tricks to making them not taste “green.”
• They are delicious and addictive in the best possible way!

TIP:  If you prefer something that is halfway in between a Green Smoothie and a Juice – you can do something we call Juice-Feasting.  Run you smoothie through a Nut Milk bag (we have these in stock), cheesecloth or a strainer and you will have LESS fiber/pulp.  I sometimes prefer mine that way.

SUPPLIES

On Tuesday (5/8) I’ll provide recipes, “tricks of the trade” and more information, but since this is the weekend and you may want to stock up, here are some supplies to have on hand.  Ideally you will pick up some fresh fruit and greens as you get closer from your supermarket or a local fruit/vegetable stand.

1.  SPRING WATER – have a few gallons on hand.  I really love the alkalized water (the brand I buy is called LeVai, from a local health food store)

2.  COCONUT WATER – This is strictly optional but it’s nice to have a few cartons on hand as a secondary base for the smoothies.  They are carrying coconut water now in regular supermarkets, but make sure to buy a brand that has no added sugar.  You can also find it in health food stores and Asian markets.

3.  BULK PRODUCE – You can get a large container of organic baby spinach greens at warehouse stores like Costco and Sam’s Club and also spring mix lettuces (mezclun).  I buy bags of green apples from my local health food store since I use an apple in pretty much every smoothie I make.

Since this is a weekend, check out any local Farmer’s Markets to see what they have available.  We have one nearby that grows many greens and vegetables without pesticides (although they have not sought out the very expensive organic labeling.)

A Note about Organic:  Something that I am often asked when giving classes, workshops or demos is about whether everything needs to be organic.  Personally I won’t eat apples, berries (strawberries, blueberries) s or spinach if not organic.  I prefer organic kale  and during the summer, when stone fruit is readily available (peaches, plums, apricots) my preference is for organic since those fruits are rather heavily pesticide-sprayed.  Below are a couple of really helpful graphics depicting which fruits and vegetables may be best if bought organic, but the choice is always up to you.

4.  FROZEN FRUIT - It’s perfectly fine to use a combination of fresh and frozen fruit in your Green Smoothies.  Frozen fruit does fit in with the “raw” classification; while there are some molecular changes in the cells due to the freezing process, most frozen fruits are not preserved or do not contain added sugar.  I always have bags of frozen berries, mangoes, peach slices and pineapples in the freezer so that I have a nice variety for my smoothies.

5.  BUNCH OF BANANAS  - Green smoothies are delightful with bananas added.  This will give them a few days to get ripe and you can peel them, break them in half and freeze them for easy storage and a great texture to the smoothie.

6.  GREEN POWDER - A classic Green Smoothie is a combination of fresh leafy greens (will go into more detail on this on Tuesday) with fresh and frozen fruit, water and ice.  When I travel or if I am working on a full day project away from home, I take a Blender bottle (the kind that have the little whisks inside — see below)  with some green powder and try to get the freshest juice I can (carrot, orange) and shake it up.  You can find these at health food stores ; Examples are Barley Grass, Wheatgrass, Chlorella, Spirulina or you can buy combinations like Field of Greens or Green Vibrance.  This way if you find it difficult to carry equipment to make your midday smoothie(s) you have an option.

THESE FRUITS/VEGGIES ARE CONSIDERED OKAY EVEN IF NOT ORGANIC:

THESE ARE CONSIDERED TO BE THE MOST PESTICIDE-LADEN:

Will be back on Tuesday (May 8th) with more info!  Have a great Sunday.