The Great Green Smoothie Awards

If I told you how many hours I have spent reading, responding to and just soaking up all the messages from our Green Smoothie Challenge this past weekend, then you probably wouldn’t believe me.

First of all, it didn’t help that my flight out of Newfoundland was delayed and we had to spend the night in Halifax. But in spite of the travel complications and delays, the sheer number of hours and the care and attention that have gone into making this Green Smoothie Challenge a success are hard to imagine. At the end of the day, all I can say is what a privilege and honor it is to have touched and been touched by the lives of so many remarkable people.

What follows is a collection of some of the testimonials, stories and feedback that came in to us. We share them with you in the hopes that they will inspire you to take up the Green Smoothie Challenge yourself. We actually did receive one email from a woman who admitted at the end of the program, that she just hadn’t mustered up the courage to try it.

If that’s you, too, then pull out the spinach, Baby, and jam it into that Osterizer to make some magic happen. May the stories below inspire and motivate you to take the next step forward in your own health adventure.

I’ve taken the time to respond, congratulate and announce certain winners. PLEASE, if you feel you’ve been forgotten, it is not my intention, it’s just the sheer number of emails have been difficult to manage!

We do have a prize for all those who participated and contributed in a significant way, so don’t be shy. Drop us a line by replying to any of your Green Smoothie Queen emails and we will get your prizes out to you. If you’ve been awarded a prize that requires shipping, please state what it is and include your address, as it will help us manage the hundreds of emails that have been coming in.

All the sweetest swiss chard kisses in the world to you all! Raise your Green Smoothie Jugs in honor of all those who have the courage to persist in the name of better health, joyful living and appreciation of life at its finest.

I’m loving the Green Smoothie challenge! I’ve been very intrigued by the raw foods movement…but haven’t ever committed to go fully raw. But this green smoothie challenge was the perfect little introduction to how yummy and nutritious raw foods can be!

I’ve actually blogged a little about my green smoothie challenge if you want to check it out here!

My kids (Chloe – age 5 & Corban – age 2) are even jumping on the green smoothie band-wagon! Every morning we whip up a smoothie and they get to pick all the fruit they want to include. Mostly it ends up being cucumber (my choice), strawberries, peaches, pineapple, grapes etc.! And then we whip it smooth and add in lots of ice and a big handful of fresh spinach leaves and blend it again. It gets nice and green! They just love working in the kitchen and making all that noise with the blender each morning! I usually put their smoothies in the reusable “kid cups” you get from restaurants so they can have a lid and a straw in the car. (It also serves to distract them from seeing such a green color! The smoothies taste fruity…but look a little too much like a veggie for my normally picky eaters!) But they slurp it up and usually ask for more!

I just can’t tell you how thankful I am to you for empowering me to give my kids such nutritious greens each and every day without the stress of trying to convince them that it’s good for them!

Thanks again,
Kareah Wakeland

Yeah! Kareah, thanks so much for sharing your good news with us! We’re thrilled that this was a positive experience for you and your family! We’d love to award you with a series of inspirational teleseminars that we did about Raw Moms in Cooked Food families and we hope it helps inspire you to come up with some creative experiments for the kids and your whole family!

This 3-day Green Smoothie Challenge was just what I needed to lead into this summer’s Body Enlightenment System. Green smoothies do an amazing job at keeping the cravings away, so this challenge was particularly important, as it kept me from splurging on unhealthy treats as a last hurrah before the BES. I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I *planned* to have a bit of a last hurrah the last couple of days before the BES began, but once I started drinking those green smoothies, I lost all desire for my hurrah. I wasn’t even tempted! As a bonus, during the 3-days of the challenge, my breastmilk production was increased (very important to me as a breastfeeding mom!), my fibromyalgia pain has lessened a bit, and I’ve released 6 pounds back into the wild. I’m feeling great and ready for the BES!

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RECIPES
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“How to Stay Cool Under the Collar(d) in 3 Easy Ingredients”

Collard Greens, enough to fill your blender halfway, tightly packed
Frozen Raspberries, 1.5 cups
Frozen (or fresh) Bananas, 3-4

Add enough water for easy blending, I like enough water to cover my collard greens.

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The “For So Many Greens, it’s Not Very Green” Smoothie

Spinach, 1 handful
Parsley, 1 handful
Collard Greens, after the other greens, enough to fill the blender halfway, tightly packed
Mango, 1 whole
Frozen Strawberries, 2 cups
Bananas, 3 fresh

Shayla Roberts

In the Mood for a Margarita Smoothie

1/2 cup water
1 large stalk celery
2-3 sprigs parsley
1 white peach
1 banana
1 cup ice
juice of 2 small or 1 large lime

Blend all together until smooth, and enjoy for a light and refreshing drink! If you prefer, you can omit all or most of the ice and instead freeze the fruit ahead of time. I like it with the ice for a light flavor that satisfies any of my Margarita cravings.

See the complete smoothie in my video tribute that I blogged here:

and HERE.

Thank you for all of your inspiration –
Tami

Tami, thank you! Thank you! Thank you for this exciting and empowering message! We totally celebrate your success and thank you for sharing your story and juicy recipes with us. We’d like to award you with the set of books from Angela Stokes of RawReform.com, with the hope that these will inspire and excite you on your continued journey to better health and wellness!!
Raw Divas,

Well I have really incorporated green smoothies into my daily food intake “regiment”. 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 queues 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 Enlightment 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 powderroom as much as I wish, but I have jumped in a few times.

I do have to tell you that I supercharge my smoothies with In-Liven and Berry Radical. Both are certified organic products. I have samples of the Berry Radical Antioxidant and I would be happy to send you ladies some to try out.

Here is a short presentation on the Berry Radical www.mooreganics.berryradical.com
The In-Liven doesn’t have a sample size, so I attached the brochure for you to read at your leisure.

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

Hi, Laura! Thanks so much for your feedback and contributions to our Green Smoothie Challenge. Since you’re pretty new to this adventure, we thought we’d make you one of our 5 lucky winners of the Larabar gifts! So, if you send us your shipping address, we’ll send you a case of Larabars for you, your hubby and the little muffins to enjoy!! Thanks again and good luck with your continued success!!

So I do really love the green smoothies and sometimes I can’t type as fast as I am thinking. This started out great till yesterday TOM came along and put a damper on things. All is good though I do have some energy I would probably have tons more but I always am down for the count at this time especially the 1st day is really bad. The good news is I have been 100% raw for 44 days now and feeling the best I have ever felt.

When I told the girls on my dd soccer team we would be starting conditioning on m & w practice is still on f, I really didn’t think about TOM getting in the way but I still managed to do the conditioning class then I went and did my boxing class for over 1 hour. I was quite exhaused after but I did w/o allot. I had fun at the end of the practice we did a game and I was running around like a kid me and dh sorta were running circles around the kids (13 yo). It was a lot of fun.

It was so cool seeing us running and full of energy.
…The one thing I have noticed I am not cramping and the headache that keeps me in bed for a whole day I don’t get that so I had no idea what was coming on the next day. I would be out for a day my head would pound when I move and I would take quite a few motrin or excedrine just to feel ok. I am so glad I didn’t get that headache. I am a bit sore today from the workouts but I will take it. At least I know the soreness is from something good for you. I might make some choc frosting that has avacado in it for dinner sorta like a snack dessert it was just like pudding. Well I hope you had a grawt green day.

Roxanne H.

Thank YOU Roxanne! We loved your feedback and I’m happy to know that you’re noticing some improvements! Love the fact that you and your hubby were running circles around the kids. I really notice a big difference in my children’s behaviour and energy when they eat poorly. Teaching them to observe the consequences of their choices is one of the ways that you can help them be self-determined about their food, rather than impose choices upon them. We’d love to send you and your family a case of Larabars to celebrate your wins and enjoy some yummy treats with the muffins!

This Green Smoothie Challenge was exactly what we needed.

My husband loves greens and will eat whatever green smoothie I make and come up with suggestions. However, I was struggling to get in enough greens, without getting too much fat and salt. I like a salad, but with olives, avocado, grounded sesame, or whatever. Green smoothies solve that problem as they don’t need fat or salt, just fruit. Great!!

The nicest change is our youngest son. He‘s 17 year old, a great kid. He says: “I’m not raw. I just eat what I like.” Luckily he loves fruit, but he avoids greens like the plague. : (

His main food is fruit and legumes and he drinks about 2 quarts of water a day. His normal breakfast is 16 oz fresh OJ, when he comes home he gets a huge bowl of fruit. For dinner he has legumes, sometimes with some tuna, and in the evening whatever fruit he can find. Sometimes he gets out of line, but he’ll notice that immediately in his skin. In that case he’ll increase the amount of water and stick to fruit. This time (hey, it’s vacation, right) it didn’t work, so I suggested green smoothies. And you know what? He likes them and the acne quieted down immediately. From now on he’s hooked on green smoothies. He wants a one for breakfast and one in the evening. : D

Thanks Green Smoothie Queen!

Tomorrow I’ll go back to the 7 day Detox program, and after that to the BES program.
Hi…..we are all having a fun time with the Green Smoothie Challenge. I say we….because my husband and I gathered about 20 people together and we are all doing the Challenge at different levels for 2 weeks. We have people from 16 years of age to 89 years of age giving it a go. It will be fun when we all finish our 2 week mark to hear all their results. Thanks for the inspirationMy husband has become our “Smoothie-Meister” and comes up with some delightful concoctions. My favorite is: 1 Banana, 1 Orange, 1 Nectarine, 1 Tbsp. Hemp Seed, 1 Cup water blended together with 4 cups Kale. Sometimes he sneaks a Tablespoon of Agave nectar in there….but it is delicious with or without it.
Keep the inspiration coming….

Jan

Hello Ladies!
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

RAWphoriaLIVE’s Rawkini Bikini Smoothie
water from 1 young coconut
meat from 1 young cocount (chopped)
3 organic bananas (peeled and chopped)
1 cup of your favorite organic berries, (fresh or frozen)
4 – 6 handfuls of organic spinach (washed)
2 TBSP maca
ICE

Crack open your young coconut and pour the water from it into
your blender. add all the chopped items and berries and blend until smooth.
Add 4 handfuls of spinach to the blender mixture, (more or less, if you please)
and blend. Now add the Maca and ice (to your desires of frostiness) And Enjoy!!!

Lexi, my 8yr old has enjoyed these past few days so much she has asked to
have a “Green” Lemonde Stand this coming weekend!
So what else could I say but YES!!! You go my little Smoothie Princess!
She’s spreading the word to every child on her school bus to stop by this Sat.
and try something new, something cool, something delicious, Lexi’s Green Lemonade!
How cool is that! We’ll be sure to send you an update and pics!
Blessings,

Robin Moyer
www.RAWphoriaLIVE.com
Natural Food to Nourish Every Body

You’re practically a pro, so I don’t know what we could possibly send you that you wouldn’t already know yourself, Robin, so we’ve decided to pass along to you a copy of the Philosophers Notes! We love what you’re doing and totally support your adventures and what you’re offering to your family and the WORLD! Thank you so much for being a big part of this with us and sharing your success! It’s an honor to have you as part of this with us.

Hi Ladies!

I have been drinking Green Smoothies for about 7 months now. I usually go 100% raw for 3 weeks at a time then drop back to about 75% until I start to notice those cravings getting to much to handle… and back up to 100% for another 3 week blast of nature’s goodness! In a perfect world I’d be 100% all of the time… but… well….my world’s not quite perfect!

Anyway- I LOOOOVVVVE Green smoothies. Unfortunately I don’t have the super awesome blender you gals are promoting… so I LOVINGLY call my green creations, my “Sludgies!” When they aren’t being referred to as Sludge, my children call them “Grasshopper Guts!” Sounds tasty, huh!?! The first time I made a green drink, I wanted my 3 kids (ages 2,5,6) to try it, so giving it a silly name seemed like the thing to do! It worked! Now they all talk about “mommy’s grasshopper guts!”

As I said, I am still trying to find a happy balance in the Raw/Cooked world and your web site as well as your 3 day/7 day challenges make my journey so much more fun! Any time I feel like I need a little EXTRA boost… or some support I just jump online and see what you guys are up too. And I swear, the last time I was getting ready to click on you link in my “favorites” list… was the day I had been invited to a challenge! There you were ready to throw me a line! perfect! After a few days of Grasshopper Guts um I mean Smoothies… I feel all the fog drift out of my brain! Love it!

So anyway, I just wanted to say, “Thanks!” Keep up the good work! The light hearted tone of your site! and the challenges!
Amy Christofano
Amy, thank you for this super fun email! It’s great to see that the kids are enjoying the recipes and it makes me happy to know that we weren’t too far off with our collection of gross and disgusting green recipes for kids in our new ebook! We’d like to award you with a case of Larabars, because your kids are going to love them! And also a copy of our series of Raw Mom, Cooked Dad telseminars to inspire you with your family even more. Thanks again and please keep us posted and consider sharing your story with us on the Raw Mom site. I’m sure other women would be totally inspired by your stories and experiences.

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 Stegall

Karen, thank you sooo much for your cheerful message and contributions to this challenge! We’re totally excited that you’re getting other people on the Green Smoothie wagon and totally celebrate your enthusiasm. We’d like to have shipped to your house a scrumptious case of Larabars– just because it’s fun to win something and Larabars are SUCH a treat to anyone new to raw foods. We hope you’ll continue with your Green Smoothie Adventures and thank you so much for being a part of what we do! keep us posted!!

Uh Oh! I don’t know if it’s because these messages come from “Adam”, but they make me swoon every time! Such flattery. Thank you, Adam. *The Green Queen Blushes A Bright Red*

Green Smoothie Queen of inspiration,

Thank you for your wonderful motivation and support and bubbly language. I am a sucker for bubbly language!

And I am a sucker for your flattery, I assure you!

Your contact for the 3-day challenge was coincidental with a visit to my Naturopath where she told me that I should try fruit in my smoothies again. You may remember from my previous email that the first time I took the 3-day challenge I suffered a candida outbreak.

This time ’round day one of the challenge saw me whack an apple in my smoothie – kale, apple and cacao to be exact. The sweetness was like an ‘earth-shattering KABOOM!’ on my rather subdued taste buds (to quote Marvin Martian). To a rather sombre disheartener to this cool, sweet-tasting vibe from the fruit galaxy, my stomach reacted AGAIN and bloating resulted – though slight. I also felt a very slight sense of cramping.

So day two was back to the hardcore greens. I took your top advice on rockin’ our with parsley and makin’ me a parsley pud. Parsley, spinach and kale. Lish. I also mixed the blender remnants with water and a dash of olive oil and guzzled that good gear. My body was tingling with vibes of “I want to hug Nature!”

Awwww….

Day three, today, just saw me finish my breakie and I am typing this before I start work. I had another pudding, but this time the thickening was soaked oat groats. Oats groats, kale, parsley, Popeye spinach and a few cacao beans. The Oats are for leaky gut and IBS. You see, I am a bit of a stress-bunny at work and super-busy outside of work teaching the Japanese Tea Ceremony, so my stomach gets neglected by way of no downtime. My Naturopath has recommended I get glutamine into me and fast. It seems t be working very well. Certainly the leaky gut has improved markedly.

Anyway, I couldn’t recommend the above smoothies to anyone not of the Raw Way before they started the challenge, but my dear mumsie says that the red grapes you suggest work miracles in her smoothies.

Talking about the the divine way of the Green Smoothie last night on the phone, Mum said that she experienced a runny nose for a week after starting on the green smoothies! I told her this was GREAT as it was her cells saying “Thank you, momma!” and releasing the mucus that had been clogging them from the cooked food and dairy for soooooooooo many uneducated years.

Mum has also been very impressed by the quality of your information and super-motivating emails as she has bought your e-book! Good on you guys for putting the fire in her belly! (Should we say “Green in her belly”!!??!?)

Finally, we both have a history of leg cramps at night. We have noticed that our cramps have become worse since starting on the green smoothies. Any explanation? Any other people report an increase in cramps when going raw or increasing their intake of greens?

Keep motivating the world, oh funky Green Momma. And keep a green dip in yo’ hip and smooth slide in yo’ glide.

Best wishes,

Adam W., Melbourne

Oh Adam, you really do a wonderful job of making this Green Queen feel like Royalty. Thank you. We’d love to award your Mumsie a copy of Victoria’s Green for Life book, which will hopefully inform and inspire her even further. And for you, kind sir, we thought we’d like to send you a series of teleseminars that may just inspire you regarding your candida and other conditions. Drop me a line, Tiger, and I’ll set you up with enough inspiration to keep you going for a while and get you taking your health to the next level.

I never knew I could love kale so much 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 Divine! And my children were begging me for more every day 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

YIpppeee! So glad to hear that this was a success for you! We’d like to award you with a series of teleseminars that we did which are just loaded with support for moms, children and families who are trying to implement more raw foods into their diet! We really hope to see you around the Raw Mom.com site and hope you’ll keep us posted on your adventures!! Thank you!

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

Thank you, Meredith! We want to thank you with a copy of Philospher’s Notes for free. We’ll get you all signed up and raring to go.

Here are the other winners of Philospher Notes. Thank you so much for your contributions to the Green Smoothie Challenge. We hope this inspires you to continue on your path to wisdom and self-development!!

Shayla Roberts, Wendy, Kaydee, Sara Zeldman, Doll, Stephani, Julie Bowman, Robin Lemon, Pamela

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 I’ve truely learned a new way of life and plan to continue to start each day can add to a smoothie. 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.

Thanks for all the support and the fun.

Kaydee, we are so grateful for the pictures and the positivity. We really appreciate your contributions to this adventure. I know you wanted to win the blender and since we weren’t able to get an unlimited supply, we had to give it to the person who did the most to share the message of Green Smoothies with their community. However, we would love to award you a copy of Victoria’s Green for Life book. If you already have it, then let us know and we will arrange for another prize.

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

Hi, Marnie! Thank you so much for participating and contributing to our green smoothie adventures. We are so happy to hear that this was a positive experience for you. We’d like to award you with the set of Kristen’s recipe books to inspire you and help you spice it up when you have company coming over for dinner. You can check out more of Kristen’s resources here: www.KristensRaw.com. THANK YOU! and good luck with your continued adventures.

Queen,

Well, I have loved the past experience and intend to take it to the next level.

Because I just dropped my son off at college this weekend I wasn’t able to jump in with both feet like I wanted. But every am I had my smoothie (1 quart to be exact) and a big raw salad at lunch and a regular dinner. So since my son is now all settled in I am making a redu of the 3 day challenge with breakie and lunch a smoothie and a raw salad for dinner. I am supper psyched cause the 3 day challange made me feel wonderful.

So it if I kick it up a notch the benefits will only blossom! I know this is something that I want to persue further. I feel so much better! I had been doing the smoothie adventure for a few weeks. The results have made me feel so fab, great looking skin, hair and nails that actually grow. Plus TOM didn’t hurt, no cramps no emotional rollercoaster, yea Green Smoothies!

Thanks ladies, nice website, so motivating and supportive!

-Wendy

Thank YOU, Wendy, for your kind words and willingness to participate and be a part of this incredible adventure with us! We sooo apprecited your involvement and applaud your wins! We want to award you with the special surprise package from Matt Monarch! We have no idea what he’s sending, but hope it’s scrumptious and delicious!!

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 ever 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 chocalates… and we all know the end to that story.

Take care and again…. THANKS

Gwynne Heard

Gwynne, we totally applaud your courage and wanted to offer you a special prize. Once you complete the 7 Day Detox (to the best of your ability) then we’d like to gift you with a 6 month subscription to our Sisterhood program, where you are GUARANTEED to get monthly raw food menu planners, loads of support, community and constant encouragement on your path. But first… let us know how you make out on that 7 Day Detox. We’ll keep the prize dangling as a bit of motivation to get you through it.

All the best to you, Gwynne! We totally applaud your courage and commitment!!!

I am so excited about green smoothies.

There are very few people around me who are as into nutrition as I am and I’m really not that extreme so it is so nice to have your emails and blog for encouragement.

Anyway, I joined your 3day smoothie challenge a couple months ago and just felt great. I pretty much went back to eating normally ( a fairly healthy cooked food diet) after that but continued to have the green smoothies almost everyday. Then my family and I (we have 4 kids , 6, 4, 2 and 1) moved to Mexico for about 6 weeks. I decided to bring my blender (a blend tec I got for my birthday… and Christmas and valentines day…(: ) I am confident the green smoothies helped me breeze though the summer. I even got my Nanny hooked on them.

We had some pretty interesting stuff like barbacoa (cow face) in corn tortillas for breakfast one morning with a family we spent the day with; apparently it is a Sunday morning tradition. Yes, we got sick (: But while we were in our own place we had lots of green smoothies. I have slowly sold most of my kids on them too. My youngest will practically grab them out of my hands, even the mango parsley one. It took me all day long to drink that thing but he was chugging away on it. I tricked my two year old by putting it in a solid sippy cup so she couldn’t tell it was green, now she loves them. My 4 year old saw the 2 year old drinking and gave it a shot and now she will drink from my cup. The six year old will occasionally try my drinks and every now and then say, Thats not bad mom.

My husband on the other hand…well that will just take a miracle (he really is supportive of me and my “hippie tree-lovin” ways, he just wants to stick to his hamburgers and french fries!) So, anyway, when I got back home, and got to see everyone I hadnt seen in a while, they all commented on how good I looked and my answer was always Its my green smoothies!

So for the international green smoothie day challange, I was at my mom’s house for the weekend. So what did we do?

I took her to get a blender and a bunch of greens and fruit and we made green smoothies! It was a blast and Sunday night she was raving about them at her church. She had to call and tell me everybody was really interested in knowing more about them.

I’ve been nursing or pregnant for the better part of the last 7 years; I so wish I had found green smoothies a long time ago. It feels so good to be nourishing my body this way; I feel like my cells do a happy dance everytime I drink one. Last night, I put it in a wine glass and took a bath and just felt so pampered…like a true green goddess (: My favorite, by far is Kale, peach, pineapple, pear and some lime juice; so refreshing.

Bananas and spinach are super simple and I have to be feeling really brave to make the mango parsley one again; it did grow on me by the end of the day though.

Thank you for the green smoothie challange. I really think three days is doable for anybody and you just see such great results in the way you feel it makes you want more. Over the last few months my diet has consistently gotten more raw; I’ve always liked salads but now I crave them. And when I reach the bottom of my green smoothie glass, I’m always a little sad. I’ve been so encouraged by you guys and the way you make this so fun and exciting. Thank you for your investment into people so that they can lead healthier, more energetic, fuller lives

Jeni Bateman

Thank you sooo much, Jeni, for sharing your story and for encouraging and empowering your family the way you have! We are so excited by the fact that you’ve gotten others on board in a powerful way. We’d like to give you a copy of Angela Elliot’s book, Alive In Five, because we just know that once your hubby gets a taste of her dynamite recipes, he’ll be hooked!! The recipes are easy (they only take 5 minutes) and in addition, we’ll throw in a few teleseminars that we have about how to survive as a Raw Mom with a Cooked Dad!

We’d love to have you share your story on the Raw Mom.com site and hope that you will keep us posted on your adventures! You’re a trooper and we’re thrilled and inspired by how you have shared this message with your family and now us!!

Dear Raw Divas -

I have to let you know that the green smoothie challenge has pretty much changed my life. I’m a 34 year old stay at home mom of two spirited girls, ages 3 and 5. My husband is in the military and spends over 9 months out of the year on overseas deployments. Running a household alone is hard work and up until this green smoothie challenge I have literally felt like I’m 100 years old. It’s emotionally draining to have your spouse away so much but add to that 30 lbs of extra weight and a subpar diet, and you get a big mess!

I’ve tried diet, exercise, herbs, vitamins and everything in between. I have had blood test after blood test, all the while my doctor telling me that “I’m fine, I’m healthy, I’m paranoid, I’m just a tired mom.” I knew something was wrong and it just dawned on me that my body was starved for nutrition. Brown rice, chicken breasts, and steamed veggies weren’t cutting it and binge eating just left me feeling guilty and inadequate. I needed fiber, vitamins, enzymes, and greens. After I drink a green smoothie I have the energy of a 20 year old, a healthy vibrant 20 year old. I can just feel every cell in my body thanking me for drinking something with real nutrition, and they taste delicious. This has really inspired me to completely my change my life and my diet, one baby step at a time.

I’m going to start the 7 day detox on Wednesday and I can’t wait to clean out my system of all the gunk that has built up over the years. After a long discussion about money we have decided to splurge on a good Blendtec – my old oster is just not cutting it. I’ve committed myself to save $20.00 month to sign up for the BES system. I’m tired of emotionally eating, I’m tired of feeling like crap, I’m tired of telling my young children that mommy is too tired to play with them. I want to feel good again and enjoy life and I know I can do it!

My kids have been 100% supportive and have even started to dabble with their own green smoothies. Makenna, 3 year old, loves to stuff whatever she can find into the blender and I can always count on Amelia, my 5 year old, to try it even if it looks completely disgusting. We have started a “Green Smoothie Star Chart” and every morning that they drink their green smoothie they get a happy face sticker. Tonight at dinner Amelia suggested we also start a star chart for nightly salads! Can you believe it, a 3 and a 5 year old drinking green smoothies and eating salads nearly EVERYDAY! The love to make “grasshopper milkshakes” – spinach and frozen yogurt and have insisted on having them at every playdate we have had. Strawberries and rainbow chard slushies are a big favorite too! I’ve turned THREE whole families to the green side and I’m going to send out some morning smoothie recipes to all the busy moms at my daughters pre-school.

So thank you. I know I’m getting a bit wordy but I just can’t contain how excited I am and how happy I am to be starting this journey. This isn’t a fad, this isn’t a diet, this is a new adventure to health and I’m just grateful to have found a place for guidance and support!

Take care and green blessings…Heather

P.S. – not for sensitive stomachs, green smoothies make green poop, and green poop has been a never ending source of delight for both of my kids. Every time they go they get so excited about green poop, they rush to find me and prance around proudly, normally with their bare bums hanging out. They always want to look at “mommies green poo” and whisper that they hope their poo gets to be as green as mine soon! Hilarious!

Heather Zolzer

Heather, thank you so much for sharing your story with us and for your super, playful sparkling Mom Enthusiasm to turn things around for yourself and your family. Our special Mom’s Prize was a package of all of Jinjee and Storm’s books from www.thegardendiet.com. And in addition, we’d like to award you with a $100 scholarship toward the BES. We really look forward to having you as a part of that program with us and hope that you will keep in touch with us to let us know how we can support you along your journey.

Please stay connected to us through our Raw Mom site, too! There’s so much support for you there, as well. We’d love to have you share your story on the blog with others as well.

Dear Divas,

When I started this 3 day challenge centered around International Green Smoothie Day, I did it as a fun way to celebrate something that has already made a big difference in my health AND my attitude toward food. As I read your emails, wrote back to you, and talked to my friends and family about the challenge I began to realize it was so much more than just a celebration. It is instead and ideally timed beginning to the next step on my healing journey.

You’re right as I continue my journey toward wholeness, I don’t need more information. I have lots of books and access to many more. And we all know I could stay up way too late every night following link after link in the many wonderful online communities. What I need next isn’t merely information, but rather the kind of support and guidance that your Body Enlightenment System can provide!

This is a big step from just a couple of weeks ago.

In addition to the enthusiastic and responsive support of the Raw Divas, my husband’s continued support and encouragement help me realize that this is something that I need to do. Earlier this week my husband was looking at me smiling (he seems to do that a lot lately), and when I questioned him he said, “it’s just so good to see you actually excited about food.”

See, ever since my pregnancy with my now 3-year-old I have not had a good relationship with food. Everything made me ill while pregnant (homeopathy finally brought me some relief), I had an emergency appendectomy when I was 24 weeks pregnant, and then just when I was hoping things would truly be better I had my gall bladder removed 3 months after my daughter was born (the birth itself was wonderful). Then normal post-partum fatigue and new mom brain fog morphed into true PPD and then that led a fuzzy line to what later was referred to as chronic fatigue or fibromyalgia. I kept trying to exercise my way out of the depression and fog like I had years earlier when my 2nd daughter died. (I completed a marathon the next year, in over 6 hours, but I completed it.) This time I could barely function for days after spending a day shopping with my eldest daughter. Alternative therapies helped me out of the PPD, but now I was just depressed about my health while still putting all of my energy into my wonderful family.

Removing possible allergens from my diet also helped a great deal and I was given enough hope to return to my work as a technical writer that I had been missing for awhile. However a swing of feeling a bit better and then facing more physical fibromyalgia symptoms caused me to spend both time and money on additional Integrative Therapy appointments, including weekly acupuncture for several weeks. At one point my doctor had me in tears as she told me I would just need to learn to live with my new reality.

Personal Note from Tera: Grrrr…. Comments like this one set my red headed temper through the ROOF!! No one just needs to learn to live with ANYTHING!!

When I didn’t want to accept this my doctor’s answer was to send me to a therapist. All of this clarified that I needed to take control of my own health.

YES SISTER!!!

I read and very carefully tried things (supplements had sent me into a downward spiral too many times), and with every thing I tried I believed more and more that the answer, or at least a big part of it, was in food.

I had been limiting my food based on various allergy tests or elimination diets for over two years, and it wasn’t until I had to make my way through figuring out my daughter’s health challenges, resulting in a Celiac diagnosis, did things begin to clarify. By the time I met with a GI specialist for myself I knew more about the Celiac research than she did and yet I couldn’t get the appropriate tests ordered because my initial blood tests, known by researchers to be flawed, were negative. That appointment left me confident in making my own decision as I didn’t need a prescription to change my diet.

Since going completely gluten free my physical symptoms, particularly the digestive ones, have abated enough that I’m confident in diagnosing myself with gluten intolerance that was affecting multiple body organs (Celiac or not). But again my diet was all about what I was avoiding rather than enjoying what I was eating. Eating anywhere but home, was torture, and eating at home was either a continued chore or a challenge to see what I could indulge in and yet remain gluten free. And I continued to be frustrated as our diet became more and more whole foods, and yet I seemed to be gaining weight.

In the midst of the journey to my daughter’s Celiac diagnosis was when I discovered Green Smoothies. Between long days at the Mayo Clinic and reading all of that research I began to discover the joy of something that feeds both the body and soul. I feel in love with a kelly green and icy cool concoction of frozen pineapple, mango and spinach. I made it once or twice a week and rarely varied it. Then I read a few more Green Smoothie testimonials online and went ahead and ordered Victoria Boutenko’s book, _Green for Life_. It inspired me to experiment and primed me to fall in love with the greens that would come in our CSA box in June. And fall in love I did as my husband watched me dance around the kitchen exclaiming how gorgeous the chard is!

I should pause here to let you know that prior to this summer I had tried (cooked) chard once or twice, but would have been very nervous identifying it if put on the spot at the store. I ate lots of lettuce and spinach, but that’s it.

It’s no wonder my body feels so nourished with all the greens I have have eaten in my smoothies this summer — dandelion greens, several chard varieties, kale, beet greens, and a new favorite — carrot tops. Next week our CSA farm promised me some edible weeds too.

As good as I felt I always felt a bit like being on the verge of so much more. I know some transitions are slow, but transitioning over two years as some books talk about simply won’t work for my body that has been so damaged from both physical and emotional illnesses. I need radical changes. I’ve started to do this as I’ve moved toward a primarily raw food diet over the last six weeks. I’ve been doing it alone, or rather with my books, but I would love to change that. I was forced to prioritize and a few good raw food tools in the kitchen became my priority, so in reality I would truly not be able to afford The Body Enlightenment System for several months … unless … I WON IT.

Thank you Raw Divas — and thank you to anyone that has promoted Green Smoothies and health through raw food –

Love and belief,
Tami
Tami, thank you for sharing your story, and for having the courage to resist the opinions of the medico to take on your life in a powerful way. We totally, totally celebrate your courage and strength and it will be an honor to have you as a participant in our next Body Enlightenment System (starting in October). Until then, we’ll still get you signed up so that you can participate in the community and start getting acquainted with others, like you, who are taking their health and their lives on with courage!!

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

Wow, Michelle! Thank YOu for sharing your story and for letting us know that you’ve done to overcome, or at least start to handle your conditions. We’d love to see you graduate from our Body Enlightenment System and suspect that it would make a big difference because it really is a system that allows you the opportunity to address the underlying issues that get in the way of a healthy relationship with food. So, we’d like to award you with free access to this program and we also suggest that you and Tami buddy up for the adventure together!!

I have been trying to figure out how to share my Green Smoothie Day celebration but don’t see anything directly related to that. Please check out my blog for my green smoothie happenings- theunbaker.blogspot.com I have actually been celebrating the past two weeks. I decided to bring the blender into the office and share some green love with everyone. The event turned out to be a hit. I have orders everyday for green smoothies and people asking for me to do another demo.

For green smoothie day I made some pamphlets to hand out. I will attach them so you can see. I had intended to go all around the OC and pass them out. I ran into some hurdles so I was unable to complete my goal for that say, but fully intend to print up a big stack to stick everywhere I go.

All in all the best part of the day was simply being able to make my famous tropical green smoothie for my son an boyfriend. I have some pics but haven’t uploaded them. My son just loves green mustaches!

Anyhow, If I could still be considered for the blender give away please enter me…It would really help me get my business off the ground.

Thanks
Disa

Disa my dear, because we received your message after our winner had already been declared, I wrote a letter to Blendtec asking if they would consider giving away another blender! We were sooo impressed with your efforts and the work that you put together. If, for whatever reason, they cannot or will not round up another blender for you, we’ll do whatever we can to help you get your business off the ground. I’ll even give you some one on one business coaching and support so you can buy a fancy new blender and then some!

You really did such a beautiful job presenting and promoting Green Smoothies that we want to thank you and acknowledge your contributions in a special way. Drop me a line and I will keep you posted on the verdict from Blendtec!

The following people have also won a prize for their participation and contributions:

~Stephanie, Sarah Zeldman, Kimber, Christalie!

If we forgote you, please let me know. It wasn’t on purpose, just because we simply had way, way more messages than we expected.

Thank you again to all those who helped make this event a success. We so appreciate your contributions and look forward to hearing more of your improved health and adventures!

Love and hugs,

The Green Smoothie Queen