National Green Smoothie Day & 10 Reasons to Drink Green Smoothies

Well Good Day!  It’s time to celebrate the Green Smoothie!  International Green Smoothie Day is Monday, August 15th.  Who would have ever guessed that there could be an official day for nourishing our bodies with a blended green concoction?  It’s the age of the internet–health gurus and social media–where word travels fast and furious and we are some how notified of these special days to celebrate.  So here we are with a perfect excuse to go crazy with a blender and drink some greens!  But here I find myself minus my most favourite and most used appliance, the Vitamix, but instead with a mini Magic Bullet!  They are like night and day when it comes to blenders.  We are traveling with our kids in a rented RV– I know… crazy huh? –but fun!  Have you ever done the RV thing before?? I really had planned to bring the powerful blender so that I could pretend to be like…. this guy Dan in his RV, but in our mad dash for the ferry we forgot a couple things, the blender & my toiletry bag-eek!  Oh well, so far we’ve survived, I got a new toothbrush and a few essentials while grocery shopping at Whole Foods, so it’s all good!  The mini blender will be fine but it won’t blend as fine or as creamy, nor as large a batch.  However, if it weren’t for my persistent 9 yr old son we wouldn’t even have this blender along. He likes to whip up his own recipe for a smoothie so this individual bullet is perfect for him to use.  I’m proud of his enthusiasm as we develop consistently good nourishing habits.

This simple recipe is the prettiest green since I don’t have berries in this recipe.  However, nothing is written in stone for smoothie success except that a high ratio of greens is necessary to really reap the benefits.  Adding fruit in moderation is fine as long as you use the low sugar fruits, and the high sugar fruits in very small doses or not at all.  If you are cleansing or doing a candida sweep or focusing on losing a few pounds it’s best to avoid the fruit altogether and make a thoroughly green alkaline smoothie as in this recipe where you can even interchange the coconut water with filtered water to eliminate all sugar as coconut water still has natural sugar even if it’s unsweetened.  For other tasty recipes you can check out this other smoothie recipe as well as this buckwheat one, which is yummy too!

Green Smoothie for National Green Smoothie Day
Yield: One Generous Serving or Two Small
1/2 avocado
6″ pc cucumber
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 sm kale leaves
2 lg stems of fresh mint
1 sm firm pear
1 cup unsweetened coconut water or filtered alkaline water
2 tbsp hemp nuts
1 fresh date, pitted,optional
Method
Place all ingredients in high speed blender or Magic Bullet and combine until all is incorporated and then blend to desired texture and consistency.  Additional water may needed depending on size of fruits & veggies.  Green Smoothie Cheer!  Enjoy.

Here’s our smoothie set up outside the RV. It works best outside as the counter space is nil inside.  We’ve also been juicing each morning here at the RV.  It’s hard to have all the things you have at home so we’ve been improvising–I also forgot the juicing containers so here’s the French coffee press holding our green juice–kinda cracks me up!  Our surrounding neighbors are all wandering everywhere with coffee mugs in their hands, kids with mini boxes of sugar laden cereals.  Not sure what our neighbors are thinking right now!!  Oh well!

10 Reasons to make a Green Smoothie part of your everyday!
1. Increases your daily intake of greens, which are alkalizing
2. Can help to eliminate symptoms of disease you may already be experiencing
3. Increases your daily nutrient uptake providing your body with essential vitamins and nutrients from a whole food source versus supplements, which are helful but are still processed.
4. Contains anti-inflammatory foods that your body is craving to reduce any pain and inflammation you may be experiencing
5. Chalk full of nutrients you may not have time to chew -a smoothie is quicker to consume than chewing a salad.
6. Easier to digest thus gentle on your digestive track allowing your body to use that extra energy for other activities
7. Can greatly reduce your risk of disease
8. Can assist in weight-loss and reaching your natural body weight
9. Great place to pack in omega oils, protein, and powdered greens for your daily doses
10. You may also notice the following amazing benefits as well….
•if you suffer from pain you may have some very noticeable pain relief by reducing inflammation
•improved sleep for those that experience restless nights
•decrease in PMS-this is a good thing!
•your hair may be shinier or dandruff disappears
•blood sugar stabilization- this is key for those suffering form diabetes
•improved digestion and regular bowel movements-this is sooo important for avoiding disease!
•decrease in cravings for sweets & processed foods-this is HUGE! and can lead to weightloss!
•more energy
•increase in sex drive-if this doesn’t make you run to the blender, I don’t know what will!
•increased desire to exercise, a feeling of well being
•your skin tone may get better, fewer blemishes to fuss over
•faster growing and stronger finger nails-no more chipping and peeling tips!
•New cravings for greens!! and for the way you feel after you drink a green smoothie!
•MORE ENERGY!! Did I say this already???

What have you experienced from this list or what would you like to see improvements in??

If you can find a way to enjoy a Green Smoothie 3-7 days a week you can dramatically improve your level of health.  Perhaps give it a try for 30 days.  Make a note of the changes you see and feel and you might find you are either addicted to the smoothie or to the results.  You never know until you try these things.

If nothing else give this recipe a try to celebrate Green Smoothie Day and see what you think!

I’d love to hear about your green smoothie successes, recipes you love? routines you’ve developed? Please indulge me on this celebratory Green Smoothie Day!!

We’re vacationing for the week in the sunny interior of BC.  We hope to make green smoothies a part of each day.  We have the juicing routine down but are working on building consistency with the blended green business!  I know… patience, patience!

Hope you are enjoying summer too!

A Green Smoothie Cheer to you!

Julie