Well, it is our last day in “sunny, southern California” and it has lived up to every fabulous stereotype. Waking up each morning to the view of pelicans flying over the ocean and surfers riding the waves, and falling asleep each night to ocean breezes and the sounds of crashing waves, has made the busy time we’ve had here, relaxing nonetheless!

This is a beautiful, beautiful place, and I will be longing to return as soon as possible.

For now I will try to enjoy my last 18 hours or so without too much dread of impending winter in the north… Here’s to sipping green smoothies in the sun!

Amy

Ahhh….

Sweet Moon Man.

As I sat here wrestling the ebb and flow of another day of unpredicatability, Sweet Moon Man dropped this in my inbox like a life raft to a drowning sailor.

“Sweet Diva Love,

Fear not the topsy-turvy, and unpredictable day that has unfolded before you, for She has once again begun Her path…all around the world…She squeezes, pushes, tugs, hugs and challenges us all. She must ensure that we are all that we can be, for it is She, that we be, and She must, must be healthy and free. Like the papaya tree that springs forth in a miraculous fashion through the cracks in the concrete, She must envelope us in Her strength, too.

Her nursing may seem odd and unwanted, but as we all know by now, not all is as it seems.

Rise to Her Love…

Moon Man”

If the moon can pull on the oceans and create the tides and waves, it can sure shootin’ do a number on me, too! Thank you, Moon Man, for your wisdom, and your depth of spirit.

It’s Tuesday. Two days until my birthday.

Life is good.

mmmmmmuah!

Tera

I thought to spice up the blog, we could start doing some diva devotionals–taking the time to honor and celebrate the lives of extraordinary women. I’ve been reading a bit about Mae West in different places. I didn’t know anything about her, really.  I love her curves, and I wish we did more to honor gorgeous shapes like hers these days!

I watched for the 5th time this Dove ad which is so telling about our twisted perceptions of beauty. I have to tip my smoothie jug to Dove for the remarkable work they’re doing in the name of “Real Beauty”. It may be a big marketing tactic, but if it’s empowering women then I’m all for it.

Today’s empowered woman is Mae West. There are all kinds of different stories about her that you can find online by doing a google search, but I thought these divalicious quotes were enough to give us a sassy point of view and inspire us all to embrace our curves and take up more space in the world!

I generally avoid temptation unless I can’t resist it.

The curve is more powerful than the sword.

When I’m good I’m very, very good, but when I’m bad, I’m better.

Cultivate your curves–they may be dangerous but they won’t be avoided.

  Look your best–who said love is blind?

Good women are no fun… The only good woman I can recall in history was Betsy Ross. And all she ever made was a flag.

I didn’t discover curves; I only uncovered them.

You’re gorgeous, Darling. Dress it up and show it off a little!

Hello Raw Divas! As some of you know, I am currently in San Diego, California. This is my very first trip to the West Coast of ANYWHERE, and just as I suspected… I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT!!

We arrived on Tuesday night, after a fun-filled flight where I was convinced there were 2 terrorists on the plane (I am officially NOT a happy flier of the wide blue skies), and spent part of the flight in tears - a story my friends, family and co-workers will be teasing me about until the end of time (and rightfully so), until I decided that the 2 suspects (who were turned out in duds just about as American as can be - which is part of what tipped detective Amy off), who were too young to be standing together stoned-faced in line and not speaking to one another, were probably actually just hung over and not mentally preparing for anything more sinister than a nap on the plane. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong in my entire life! Phew!

My poor Mom! Talk about the creative imagination taking charge and making for a relaxing flight for all! (Yes, I even alerted the gate and flight attendants to get in on the fun!)

How embarrassing, but thank goodness for the 2 in question, their travel plans were not disrupted by my paranoia!

Once we arrived, and caught our up with our adrenaline, we were thrilled to discover that the cottage we’re staying at isn’t just “near” the beach, as we were told… it is ON the beach! Our living room picture window faces directly out over the Pacific Ocean! Each day we sip our morning green smoothies on the couch, feed the baby, and watch the surfers. (Of course, having been totally molded by watching JAWS at 4 years of age, I am not only on high alert for terrorists dressed as hung over college students, but also for surfer eating sharks! Thankfully, all is calm and well so far and we spend this time as armchair surfing experts, sharing our “wisdom” on surfing techniques learned from watching too many movies, and laughing at the more graceless wipeouts.)

We enjoyed a raw food dinner (my mom’s first raw restaurant excursion). To be truthful, it was disappointing (no competition to Pure in NYC or Live in Toronto - both of which I highly recommend), but I think my mom enjoyed the novelty anyway.

We are having fun being away from our cooked family and have been eating salads, green smoothies, and fruit galore. We may have also had a few peanut butter cups, but hey… what can I say?

Leora slept through her very first trip to the beach, but we had fun taking our morning walk in the chilly surf, chatting with our neighbours as they pulled on their wet suits.

Sunday we’ll head to a beach in La Jolla to watch our very first surfing competition, which a couple of my friends will be competing in. What could be more California than that?

I’m debating the 1.5 hour trek to Santa Monica… I hear there are great raw restaurants up there!

Wish you were here!!

Amy

I sit here stranded in the middle of an ocean of appreciation and while it doesn’t happen often, I’m at a loss for words. And so,  as has become my routine, when moved by emotion, THIS is the place I have learned to come and share the parts of me that ache the most to be expressed.

What do I say to messages like this one:

“You speak to the girliness in me that I’ve buried under dirty laundry, piles of books and an endless sea of toys! I truly feel the love in your emails and I love all the smooches and parsley kisses. I like feeling girly sometimes and I’m realizing too that it is okay to feel girly (: Or maybe a better term would be it feels good to feel like a Diva!”

*Guuuush!*

I love that! And then I was trying sooooo hard to blast through the neverending sea of emails and then I got this one that landed in my lap and left me stunned and speechless.

“Of all of the blogs in all of the world, I tell you honestly that hardly one day goes by that I don’t check in to your website and blog. I miss it a lot if I don’t happen to be near my computer and when I do get back to my computer, your’s is the first website I go to~! I love it all — the messages, the colours, the energy vibrating through every word I read. Even the stuff that you might wonder about being sad, or not quite what you would like to say — it’s all great because it’s all real and that is what makes reading you every day so marvelous.

In spite of the best laid plans, our lives sometimes go more like an old movie with a pile of scratchy lines blurring out our loveliness, instead of like the Doris Day movie we might rather it be! Nobody has all of the answers, but it is sure a huge relief to know that, in sharing some of our struggles, we find the strength to look ourselves in the mirror and say “I will keep going and smiling because there are a lot of green smoothie recipes I haven’t tried yet ..and besides that, he was a jerk ..and whose idea of a perfect body are we talking about anyway…etc.”

I am thrilled that so many people are discovering green smoothies and raw food and I am so grateful to all of you for putting such glorious enthusiasm into making us feel good. Because you are succeeding in making us feel really good about so many more things than just making green smoothies.

THANK YOU WITH ALL OF MY HEART!

Catherine”

And so I sit here, glistening streams of emotion trickle down my cheeks, and I’m paralyzed with gratitude and that universal “mush” that flows within me seems now stronger than myself.

*deeeeeep breath*

I can’t necessarily identify that lucky day when destiny tapped me on the shoulders to say,

“Hey, Sunshine! I’m gonna set you up with two dynamite muffins to love and a whole community of empowered and inspired women to remind you of who you are every day. All you have to do in exchange, is love the world and be yourself.”

While I’ve always known I’m a woman of words, at this moment I have very few that encompass my gratitude for the love and lives that touch my own.

I think that anyone who commits to speaking their truth, who pledges to love the world and her people in spite of countless reasons not to, must feel as I do now–overcome with gratitude at the recognition that we are not alone.

Not even close. While I sit in a silent and sunlit living room I send my deepest gratitude and appreciation to each and everyone of you. The things we see and admire in others must, inevitably, be the things we carry within ourselves or we would never recognize and appreciate them in someone else.

The more validation we receive from others, the more I realize how privileged we are to be connected to so many incredible women (and men) like you.

Thank you for being here and thank you for your big, brave heart.

Love and gratitude,

Tera and Amy

First of all, the feedback coming in about the feedback that came in is almost as moving and inspiring as the feedback was itself. We’re pretty excited! The noise about Green Smoothie Day has stretched far and wide and we’ve even been approached by some lovely people at a Publishing House that really want us to write a book to inspire the world about Green Smoothies!

How fun is that?!  We’ll keep you posted. In the meantime, I thought I’d let you know that we do have another winner, that didn’t get posted yesterday.

Raw Mom’s newest team member, Jamie, sent in this gorgeous picture and will be joining Dhru and the boys at We Like It Raw for dinner!! Even though she and her family live in the UK, they will be coming into NYC for some adventures in early November!

Anyway, congratulations, Jamie, for your win! We loooove this picture and hope you’ll take lots of pictures when you go out for dinner with “the boys” at Pure Food and Wine!

Loooove and hugs and green smoothie kisses,

The Green Smoothie Queen

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!

****
RECIPES
****

“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.

****

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

Oh my GOODNESS GREEN GRACIOUS!

The responses from the Green Smoothie Day celebrations have been keeping my fingers tapping and I dare say I am… weary! In the best way possible.

This is just a little note to say that for those of you who are watching the blog awaiting the announcement of our winners, you will all be winners, but these weary little fingertips need to take a bit of a rest.

I’m traveling back to Montreal with the kids today and leaving Newfoundland behind with sunny skies and windy weather.

Later this evening, I hope to be able to post all of our Green Smoothie winners. All I can say is there are few words that can really describe what a tremendous success this has been and how excited we are to read the stories, see the pictures and celebrate the lives of so many men and women taking dynamic and courageous steps forward to embrace their health and their lives in a powerful way.

Love and hugs,

Tera

Ooooh sweet green joy!!

You cannot even imagine how excited I am about the flood of green smoothie love coming in on the lines! Enjoy these gorgeous pudgy-faced pictures and Green Smoothie Love!

“My first day was an adventure. I love greens, but haven’t been able to tolerate them in smoothies in the past. For breakfast, I had a repeat of my first ever green smoothie: a bunch of Swiss chard, a banana, some water and a teeny bit of Stevia. Very green. Perhaps more fruit would help, but it was good. For lunch I had the same (Swiss chard, banana, water, stevia) but I added half an apple. This was waaaay too sweet and still too “green”.

Soldier on!

Tonight’s smoothie (still finishing it up now) is made up of Swiss Chard, 2 kiwis and half an apple. A little thick, but very tasty. And filling! Best one yet for sure. Tomorrow I’m going to try a berry one. So far, so good! Oh, and I haven’t had to eat anything BUT the smoothies because they are so filling, I’m not even hungry!! I’ve washed my blender and my smoothie is almost gone, but I promise I’ll take a picture of my berry green smoothie tomorrow morning!

I would NEVER have even TRIED this without you! How cool.
Ellen, a ‘virgin’ green smoothie gal”

Ellen, I smell Larabars and I don’t know why!

I have to be honest and say that when I got this next one, I melted! Soooo flattering and FINALLY!! it’s from A MAN!! Thank you, Adam!!

“Dear Green Smoothie Queen,

Thank you for pestering me! Your emails are stupendously moivating and may the whole world be infected with your enthusiasm for green smoothies!

Here is some feedback.
I used your program to ‘challenge’ fruit after two months of no sugar. I had a bad breakout of candida after a lot of stress at work and too many died fruit and nut snacks. Stress for me = binging on nuts

So I did my stomach in. I had all the confidence after living on a green smoothie every morning and beautiful fresh raw food for lunch and dinner that now would be the time to start introducing fruit into my diet, but it seems to have been too soon!

To be fair, I have been a bit of a stress-bunny at work, so I am not really blaming the sugar. But I backed off the new smoothies I was going to try on the three day challenge and just continued with my usual routine of green.

I have converted my dear mother to the way of the green smoothie, however ; ) Give me a pat on the back! She has now overcome constipation, a condition she has had for years and years and tried every remedy under the sun!

Keep inspiring,

Adam W. (Melbourne, Australia)

Oh how perfectly delicious to have Green Smoothie love from across all those oceans! We gave Adam some helpful suggestions about following up with Dr. T, and hope that he starts feeling more fruit friendly soon!

“OK, here are a few quick thoughts (I would love to write my own ode to green smoothies some day because they have helped me eat healthy and feel better) –

I’ve been drinking green smoothies for the last several months, and when I traveled for work in March I realized the food I missed most was my green smoothies so I purchased a travel blender before traveling again in June. That was about the time I stumbled upon your website! By early summer I was drinking a green smoothie nearly every day and sometimes twice. Just about a month ago I decided to make a health commitment and purchased the Blendtec Total blender! Now I’ve been able to be sure to have my quart of green smoothie every weekday morning before rushing out to work because it’s SO much more efficient. I truly feel energized and no longer even miss my morning coffee! Since then I’ve also been eating more and more raw foods and feel great, and my husband feels like he has his “Tami” back after over 2 years of suffering from Fibromyalgia symptoms! (That is the short version of course)

This morning I started the day with over a quart of green smoothie: 2 bananas, chard, and lots of blueberries. I blended it with 2 large chard leaves first and gave some to the kids and then added another banana and 3 more chard leaves. Yumm! I had an early lunch of a salad with a wonderful green dressing, and then rushed off to our county fair for the afternoon. Besides water I did have a smoothie at the fair, you know the kind that come out of box even though they say it is made of all real food — no so yumm. Back at home I grazed on some veggies from our most recent CSA box and then made another quart of smoothie and didn’t tell my family how yummy it was until it was all gone! — it was several apricots (5 or 6 … I didn’t count but used all we had), a bunch of kale, a banana and some ice, and then a handful of frozen blackberries. Thick and so refreshing!!!! Since I was in a hurry to watch more Olympics I neglected to take a picture before drinking it either!

My goal tomorrow is pictures AND some fun creations from your ebook that my 3 year old, the ultimate picky eater, will not be able to resist! But now I have to put a sleepy 3-year-old to bed and watch some more Olympics.

Thank you for helping me Wake Up and Smell the Green Smoothie!

Tami Groth”

And we simply couldn’t resist including the quote that Tami has attached to her email messages!

“Everything I’ve learned about life can be summarized in three words:
‘It goes on.” ~Robert Frost

And here’s the latest recipe from Ms. Marnie Sweet Greens (she ACTUALLY signed up with this name!! How great is THAT?!):

“I think one of my favorite ways to start the day is the following smoothie:

about half the blender full of spinach
1 cup of orange juice
1 banana, frozen

I cut up the banana before freezing because my blender can’t handle a whole banana frozen solid! Delicious!

-Marnie Sweet Greens”
“Dear Green Smoothie Queen,

Thanks for the excellent 3-day green smoothie challenge! Those of us raised on the standard American diet can especially benefit. My husband Zach takes a quart of green smoothie to work most every day (his co-workers think he’s nuts, but ask to try some on occasion). Our little 8-month old Isaac loves green smoothies and will grunt until we share our smoothies with him.

Today we had a Rainbow Orchard smoothie:
1 peach
1 orange
1 banana
1/3 cup blueberries
1 bunch of rainbow chard
2 cups of water

Thanks again for the challenge,

Angie in Michigan

Here’s a picture of adorable Isaac! Can you get any cuter than THIS!??! I’m not sure, but we can certainly get as cute! Keep reading and you’ll meet “Jai” another green smoothie poster baby!

Hi Divas!!

Just wanted to give you ladies a wonderful update on my progress.

I’ve lost 2 lbs already!!! I really don’t eat a lot, but I had 2 big smoothies yesterday and an avocado.

Today I made my ‘Green Dream Supreme’ (in the pic attached) with coconut water, strawberry, banana, orange, flax seed, broccoli and spinach. My 5 month old son Jai had his first green smoothie today and I think he likes it! (other pic attached)

I feel so good I will extend my Green Smoothie Feast to at least 5 days instead of 3!!!

Thank you for creating such a blissful experience!

xoxoxoxo

Jennifer”

“I’m not really good at this “sending pictures” buisiness but decided to take a picture of my two tumblers full of my Green Soothies along with my furry pillow, green flowers (notice the parsley tucked in) and the raw foods I put in my smoothie. I’m fortunate enough to have a green fig tree, lots of peppers of all kinds and beet greens. I picked the Piglet balloon because he’s my hero….the only skinny pig I’ve ever known.

Kaydee”

Kaydee also sent us some great pictures of the fresh figs she’s putting in her green smoothies EVERY DAY!! Thank you, Kaydee!

“Just thought I’d let you know that I’ve been eating about 85-90% raw for the past few weeks and lost 7 pounds while doing it, but couldn’t get past that certain weight that I was stuck at. While doing the Green Smoothie Challenge, I was able to get past that weight and lost 2 more pounds. While 2 pounds may not seem like much….remember that it was 2 pounds in only 2 days (not even the 3 days for the challenge) and it has boosted my self-esteem and I know that I can do even better! Thank you so much for this wonderful program! You are the best!!!

Hugs & Blessings,
Brenda”

“Just wanted to send a quick thank you for the 3 day challenge and also the detox. I’m doing everything at once with my whole family (modified for the little kids, of course) and we’re all loving it. My 7 month old just finished eating her green smoothie mixed with organic baby oatmeal to thicken it up and she downed 3/4 of a cup! My 2 year old is sucking back his second cup as I type this and my husband powered his back before his workout. I’m leisurely drinking mine over the course of the afternoon to keep me from snacking on other less healthy choices. Here’s the recipe for what we’re drinking right now…one of our new favourites. I made it up just according to what was in our fridge needing to be used up. It’s huge, so we blended it in bits and combined it in a big jug to keep in the fridge, but it would be easy to cut in half or quarters if you wanted less.

Summer Blender Brew

4 nectarines, pitted
4 plums, pitted
4 kiwis, peeled
2 peeled bananas, fresh or frozen
2 cups blueberries
1 huge handful of baby spinach
1 long english cucumber
4T ground flax seed

Blend and enjoy!

For our weekly playgroup this past week I decided to host a Family Friendly Green Smoothie Brunch. It was a huge with with mamas and kiddos alike! We made the above recipe and a few others from your sites and other sources and served them in large jugs. On the table we also offered fresh slices of everything that was in the smoothies. I wish I had remembered to take a picture - it was gorgeous! The kids drank from special big-kid stainless steel wine glasses and we mamas used martini glasses. The only thing that would have made it better was a better blender…hint hint!

Thanks again for everything!

Nicole (Alberta, Canada)

This last one was from Nicole, and when we asked her to send in the number of guests she had at her place for her Green Smoothie Party and once she let us know that including the dogs and cat it added up to a whopping 34 guests, well, we couldn’t resist letting her know that she was the proud new owner of a Blendtec Total Blender.

And here’s what she had to say:

“OH MY GOODNESS! Are you freaking kidding me? I am SOOOOO EXCITED! My husband will explode with happiness - I told him I wanted to save for one like yours if I didn’t win it and he thought I was insane but would have indulged me, because he’s just that cool.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! I have never won anything more than 5 bucks on a lotto ticket so you made my year!

AHHHHH…my heart is palpitating!

Whoohoo!
Smiles,
Nicole “

And that, Ladies and Gentlemen, is exactly why we’ve been busting our little butts and emailing until our fingers tingle to bring you the very best we could for this first annual Green Smoothie Day celebrations. We have so enjoyed this adventure and we will be doing one final update tomorrow announcing all our winners and sending out big “Thank Yous” to our Sponsors!

Catch you tomorrow for the rest of our Green Smoothie Awards! Keep smiling and keep those blenders humming,

Love and hugs,

The Green Smoothie Queen

Ooooh. Our inbox has been hopping and popping with more Green Smoothie Good News and I am very, very happy to report that our Green Smoothie Challenge participants are doing an AMAZING job! I wanted to take a moment and acknowledge their efforts and contributions, and I’ll kick off with Vanessa Stewart, who is our Clutter Free Diva! Vanessa Stewart sent in a Green Smoothie Poem:

“It’s International GREEN SMOOTHIE Day!!

And LOOK what I’ve been doing!
To celebrate I went shopping, and here’s just some of the goodies I brought home!

My shopping is done,
My fridge is FULL,
I made a Green Smoothie,
Cause I’m no FOOL…
They make me FEEL great,
I’m lookin’ years younger,
I’m droppin’ some weight
It’s really no Wonder…
WHY I LOVE GREEN SMOOTHIES!!!
Have a Great day!!! Vanessa

HELLO ALL you wonderful Divas. I am so excited about drinking these yummy GREEN smoothies! with ALL of you! To CELEBRATE~ I went shopping!!! I bought LOADS of fresh fruits, greens, and veggies!
Got my fridge all cleaned out & loaded up AND… Made myself a WONDERFUL Green smoothie!

Blue-Green Melon Lush!
(this is GREAT with or without the spinach!)

1/2 Pure heart watermelon( you can freeze, it will make it slushy & cooling on a HOT! summer day!)
1 cup frozen blueberries
4-5 fresh mint leaves
BIG handful of spinach

Put berries ,melon & mint in blender until smooth, add handful spinach blend until smooth ! Pour into crystal goblet , garnish with fresh mint & a blueberry! NOW sip the nectar of the Goddesses!!!
This is my all-time favorite! Healthy Green Hugs coming your way!

We got a really neat message from Kaydee, who said:

“I celebrated by buying 2 tall green tumblers to pour my green smoothies into.  Yesterday I bought a big furry pillow for when I’m reading…or just lying back and enjoying a green smoothie.  Today I’m off to buy myself some green ballons.  Tomorrow….maybe green socks.  After the 3 Day Challenge I will have some fun reminders to continue to at least start each day with a green smoothie.  The extra day of the Challenge just means one more prize I get to buy myself!  Kaydee”

We think that is SUCH a great idea and a whole lot of fun! And speaking of fun, Doll’s husband caught some dynamite photos of Doll sunning herself in the pool with a green smoothie! She sent us some GREAT shots and here’s one that just screams, “I’m a Green Smoothie QUEEN!!” Thanks, Doll! You RAWK!

The Powder Room is a buzz and loaded with new Green Smoothie Recipes, so we’ll let you check those out yourself, but we absolutely had to stop and thank all the playful participants for helping to make this a whole lot of fun for everyone!

We’ve called upon a lot of friends to make this fun and have prizes to encourage participation, but just getting these pictures, there really is no substitute for the cheerful, playful participation of women like these!

Thank you, Ladies!!!

I couldn’t resist sharing this Green Smoothie Testimonial from Genesis, either:

“Wow, I finished the smoothie challenge (two smoothies a day, with a regular lunch) and had SO much more energy. So, I`ve decided to continue with it like this. I also had an experience that showed me just how good this is for me.

I usually am exhausted and after two days of green smoothies, I wasn`t even needing a nap in the middle of the day like normal. I could still stay up later and popped out of bed in the morning! It was great.

Then I gave in to PMS urges and downed some chocolate and Pepsi. HA! What a mistake! Up until then, I had NO cramps which is bizarre for me. The day after having all that sugar, I was doubled over in pain from menstrual cramps and exhausted again. I had to have a nap and I just dragged through the day. I think it`s pretty obvious that the green smoothie challenge had a profound impact on my life and energy levels! Now when I feel the need for sweet, I grab a banana or munch on a carrot.

I`ve gotten my kids eating banana-spinach pudding, too . . . it`s now a favorite in this house! Next, I want to try an all raw dinner once a week for the entire family. I think they will enjoy it . . . my 2 year old prefers raw food to cooked anyway!

In the Powder Room, I’ve put up some of my favorite recipes in the appropriate thread. I`ve found a new one today, so that will be going up shortly, too.

Thanks!
Genesis”

Today is the official start of the Body Enlightenment System as well! Participants started a 24 hour water fast as of 6:00pm. I’ll be joining them, and actually have my heart set on doing a 3 day fast while here in Newfoundland, but we’ll see how temptation holds up once hunger sets in.

Loooove and hugs and gratitude always,

Tera