We just launched a 7-day Green Smoothie Challenge at Balance Studio in Bethesda, MD (this is the studio where i see many of my patients and clients). Balance Studio is doing a "10-week pilates challenge" and they are now 5 weeks into the challenge. At this point the participants have the exercise part down and now they can kick up their nutrition with my 7-day Green Smoothie Challenge!!
If you are participating in the 7-day Green Smoothie Challenge i want you to jump right in and EXPERIMENT. Get the whole family involved. You need to buy the ingredients on the list and start with the recipes that i have given you as a base. next, experiment with different blends to find ones that you love. One key to eating well for a lifetime is to find healthy foods, snacks, meals and drinks that you love and crave in a good way. i honestly crave my green juice everyday. i rarely go a day without my green juice and if i do go a day without it i don't have the same amount of energy. i make green smoothies for my boys everyday and i drink green smoothies approximately 5 days per week. my husband makes green smoothies 3-5 days per week and he loves them. he will often do his for dinner when he gets home late at night. this is not ideal because of the high sugar from the fruit but its still fabulous to get all those nutrients in at some point during the day
i received a few comments today and emails asking about the difference between green juices and green smoothies:
Green juice:
Green smoothie:
the difference between green "juices" and green "smoothies" is that juices have no fiber and are just filled with loads of nutrients. the fiber has been strained out. this is beneficial because when juices are drank first thing in the morning before anything else the nutrients are easily assimilated into the blood and the nutrients go right to your cells. also, because the fiber is taken out you can have huge amounts of greens in one glass resulting in more nutrients into your body compared to if the fiber was in it in which case there is no way you could take in all those greens. for instance in one 32 ounce glass of juice you may have a whole head of kale, a head of romaine, a box of broccoli sprouts, a bunch of cilantro, 2-3 apples, 2 handfuls spinach, 1/2 cucumber, 3 stalks celery etc. Green "smoothies" are filled with both nutrients and fiber. we need fiber for optimal functioning of the digestive system. i also love green smoothies because that is where i throw in all my superfoods (more on this in another blog post). i will often do greens, fruit, water, ground flax seed, green powders, sun warrior protein powder, acai powder, camu camu etc... i have loads of superfoods and i vary between them dependent upon what i'm in need of that day. if i need more protein i'll use sun warrior protein or spirulina. if i need a hormone balancer i will use maca. if i need more omega 3s i may use ground flax seed or chia seeds. The bottom line is its beneficial to drink both green juices and green smoothies. green juices are either made in a juicer or they can be made in a blender if you blend the ingredients and then use a "nut milk" bag to strain the fiber out. green smoothies are always made in a blender. if you get into making green juices and smoothies i suggest you purchase good equipment. there are two high-powered blenders that are fabulous- the Vita-Mix blender and the K-tec. for juices i love the green star juicer but for sake of time most days i use my vita-mix blender and then strain out the fiber with my nut milk bag. this method does lose some nutrients due to the oxidation of the blending compared to less oxidation if you use the green star juicer. but i know i'm still getting loads of nutrients and it works with my lifestyle right now.
the key with this 7-day Green Smoothie Challenge is to have fun with it. if you, your family, business or school are interested in doing a Green Smoothie Challenge let me know and i'm happy to pass along the challenge recipes, grocery list and tips.
happy greens!!!
namaste, kelly
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