Getting Started with Raw Food: The Perfect Green Smoothie
When I first started to eat raw foods, I found it helped to focus on what I was adding to my diet rather than thinking about what I was trying not to eat. Early on I noticed that when I began my day with a freshly made vegetable juice, I had more energy, felt better and consequently ate better. One of the major reasons we gain weight is because of malnutrition. We are not getting the life building nutrients we need from a side of fries so our body tells us to keep eating them in the hope that those nutrients might be in the next bite. When you eat lots of fresh uncooked fruits and vegetables, fresh juices and smoothies, your body is getting much of the nutrients it needs and is less likely to encourage you to eat unnecessary foods.
Find Yourself A Good Juicer
A good juicer can be expensive, however, around $300. I use a Breville Juice Fountain Elite which is very easy to clean, an important quality in a juicer. Less expensive juicers often waste food by not extracting enough juice. You can always by a fresh carrot juice from a juice bar, however, for cheaper than a pint of beer.
What To Do If You Don’t Have A Juicer
An inexpensive alternative to juicing at home is making green smoothies, a blend of greens and fruit in a blender. While a deluxe blender like Vitamix or Blendtech is wonderful to have, any blender will work fine. I started making green smoothies with the Magic Bullet and now I use a $30 blender from Home Depot.
One of the most influential pioneers of the modern raw food movement is Victoria Boutenko. After immigrating from Russia, her family became seriously ill on the American diet and in desperation, she switched herself, husband and two children to raw foods overnight, eventually eliminating asthma, juvenile diabetes, obesity, and heart problems from their lives. She is a staunch advocate of the green smoothie and has written an informative book on the subject — Green for Life.
How to Make a Green Smoothie
For people who like a hearty breakfast, a blender full of green smoothie in the morning is an ideal way to begin adding more fresh fruits and vegetables in your life. It’s very simple to make with whatever fresh fruits and vegetables you have on hand.
Fill a blender with greens such as baby spinach, add some water or fresh squeezed orange juice and blend until liquefied. Then add fruit such as two bananas and a mango and blend again. If you like your drinks cold, add ice and blend. The color of a spinach based drink is dark green, and with kale it’s a pale green. Although the color is unusual for a drink, the taste is sweet, fruity and delicious.
Start with forty percent greens to sixty percent fruit and then gradually add more greens as your body starts to crave them. An added benefit to drinking a green smoothie is how easily its nutrients are digested by the body. Blended greens are absorbed by the body even more easily than a salad, for instance, that we blend with our teeth. My brother, a former meat and potatoes high school football coach, now has a green smoothie every day for breakfast and since beginning his raw food journey on January 1 has lost 15 pounds.
While I love green smoothies, I prefer to start my day with a fresh vegetable juice such as carrots, celery, ginger and parsley. I find the lighter I eat in the morning the more energy I have for the rest of the day. We all have different nutritional needs however, and they’re constantly changing. Experimenting with what food make you feel your best is part of the process.
You can watch the rawfood coach Karen Knowler demonstrate how to make a Green Smoothie HERE.
[Photo by ||!prliignore7||]
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January 30th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I also love this trusty Green Smoothie Recipe (http://www.internationalorange.com/blog/start-f...) that helps to internally clean our system – allowing for a more efficient digestive system and clear skin!
The International Orange blog is a wellspring for wonderful wellness, beauty and lifestyle tips!
http://www.internationalorange.com/blog
THE RECIPE:
Ingredients
3-4 Celery stalks, cleaned very well
1 Lemon, remove skin but leave the white pith (if in a hurry, juice it instead)
1 handful of Parsley, washed and stalks removed
1 Granny Smith green Apple, cored
Directions
Coarsely chop all the ingredients. Place ingredients in a blender and add water to about an inch above the contents. Blend until smooth. Serves one or two people.
Enjoy!
January 30th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
My personal favorite green juice drink is:
1/2 head romaine lettuce
1 bunch spinach or kale
1 bunch parsley
1/2 lemon
dilute with filtered water to taste
My favorite sweet juice is one green apple, 5 carrots and a thumb of ginger also diluted with filtered water.
I tend to drink juices in the evening because I eat a very light supper or I feel too full to exercise or, for that matter, go to sleep.
I bought a Power Juicer on sale with a coupon for around $60.
January 30th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Thanks for sharing these recipes everyone! Veggie shakes can be delicious in limitless combinations.
Unfortunately my first experience with them was from my dad, who was far more interested in health than in taste. He added raw garlic cloves to the drink and told me to gulp it down. Shudder. I can feel the urge to yak just thinking about it!
January 30th, 2009 at 6:20 pm
I've been reading about and dabbling with going raw for years, but this is the first time I've committed to challenge myself. This month, I'm doing a 30-day raw food program. Even though I'm not 100% raw, the first thing I noticed was that I had more energy.
February 5th, 2009 at 11:10 am
I agree with this article, it definitely is better to focus on what you are adding to your life rather than taking away from your diet when starting out on Raw foods. I've found that there are a lot of fun recipes to try, such as alternatives to pancakes that you can enjoy on RawPeople. This site has a lot of information for beginners, as well as support. I'm glad I found them when I first started! http://www.rawpeople.com/?utm_source=A&utm_medi...
February 8th, 2009 at 3:42 pm
I think the green smoothie is an excellent addition to anyone wanting to get into raw foods. I love Victoria Boutenko's book as well! I have written a couple of posts on our site about the fab green smoothie too. There are so many ways to make one and it's an easy way to 'get those greens'! Congrats on your journey and the influence you are having on your family. It is what we all dream of.
May 13th, 2009 at 8:10 am
I am a big fan of green smoothies and juicing and believe many health problems can be solved by having a big greem smoothie every morning. Besides a ton of nutrients you also get a good amount of fiber in your system.
I personally consider myself the king of smoothies and have really perfected them over the years. My vitamix was probably the best purchase, for my health at least, that I have ever made.
July 8th, 2009 at 7:12 am
Very tasty recipes & it is healthy also. Raw food diet surely reduces extra weight. I have tried this.
March 17th, 2010 at 9:59 am
this is a free! 3 day course on how to go green and make green smoothies. LOts of tips and good advice on getting started on the road to becoming a green queen:)