I’m on day 10 of my 30day GREEN smoothie challenge! WHY did I start this and HOW am I feeling ?
WHY A NEW CHALLENGE? Yes I’m still vegan! That’s NOT CHANGING. BUT lately, I’ve been super super busy and getting bored of my dishes. Yes, my go-to vegan Mexican dishes are DELICIOUS and EPIC, but know that and am ready for NEW INGREDIENTS.
WHAT INSPIRED YOU? Two weeks ago while taking a late night walk with a friend we stumbled on a box full of books near a trash bin. Sitting at the very top was a book about GREEN SMOOTHIES, I immediately snatched it and my friend said, this is perfect for you. My friend equally found a book of their interests called “Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man.”
I’ve been catching up on my reading (almost done with my first book this year) but I COULDN’T RESIST STARTING Robin Openshaw’s, The Green Smoothie Diet, and CANNOT put it down. It’s simple to understand, it’s a short read, and it BACKS EVERYTHING UP with scientific information and references (my favorite)!
Being vegan for 3 plus years, I already know the POWERFUL HEALTH BENEFITS of fruits and veggies (see what inspired me to go vegan, "It all Started with a Challenge). WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW and what I CONTINUE TO LEARN are the THOUSANDS of medicinal plant combinations that exist. I mean there are so many plants on earth that we don’t even know about! This is exactly the type of book I need in my life to make new INEXPENSIVE, NUTRITIOUS, HEALING plant-based MEALS.
WHEN DID I FIRST START? When I was a vegetarian and then early vegan I used to think of myself as a SMOOTHIE QUEEN because I would drink smoothies/milkshakes EVERY SINGLE DAY. Most of them were fruit-based since I did not want to add any artificial flavorings such as sugar or even sweeteners. Sometimes I would add veggies but not that many to be honest.
Don’t get me wrong I love veggies but I mostly eat them COOKED in my meals as solids or BLENED in THICK SOUPS (yummmm). I have heard about the RAW VEGAN movement and was always a bit scared of it because I LOVE MY SEASONINGS, there’s nothing I eat cooked that DOESN’T HAVE SEASONING. I have heard that EATING EAW fruits and veggies is the BEST WAY for your body to take in the nutrients in these foods, so here and there I eat raw AT LEAST ONCE A WEEK
But reading this book I have learned that there are so many veggies I did not know about that can be blended even WITHOUT AN EXPENSIVE BLENDER (mine was a gift $40).
HOW DID YOU START? Last week I took a trip to Whole Foods and bought three bags of mostly ORGANIC FRUITS AND VEGGIES for $58.00. thankfully the book has a lot of recipes to follow and this amount of food that I bought should last me 2 to 3 weeks worth of smoothies. There were so many foods that I did not know about such as ALFALFA SPROUTS, LACINATO KALE, and even these special kind of RADISHES. This brings my foodie game to a WHOLE NEW LEVEL.
HOW’S THE CHALLENGE GOING? I’m not replacing my smoothies with meals but more as a SIDE DISH to my main meals. So far I can tell you they are SUPER FILLING and SUPER AROMATIC! They make my mouth smell good and the recipes are pretty good. I think if I added a bit more fruit they would be even more sweet, but for now I am following them strictly! Excited to share any changes in the next blog post!
I even got my sister to hop on this 30-day adventure! Now you won’t really feel any affects of a food change until at LEAST ONE WEEK. But I wanted to share the beginning of my 30-day journey.
Stay tuned to my sister's and I's 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge. Next post will be on any observations on day 30!