The Universe is reminding me!

It's been ages since I have added anything to this blog. I drank a lot of green smoothies in the spring and summer of 2010, exercised more, lost weight, and looked and felt so much better. But like a lot of good habits, it's easy to slide out of the maintenance routine when other things take up your time, like learning a new job for example. So-o-o-o, I have completely gotten away from making and drinking green smoothies, and I can feel myself sliding back to where I was near the beginning of 2010 when I was having a hard time fastening the top button on my pants. And a gut is starting to materialize!! Well, not starting -- it's been there for a while. Oh Gut, I thought I had lost you last summer when I shed approx. 25 pounds! And now you're back with a vengeance. Ugh. I despise the middle age spread that is so common nowadays.

To get myself back on track with consuming green smoothies, I watched a number of videos on YouTube for inspiration. Clent Manich's story of losing 226 pounds in 12 months by incorporating green smoothies into his diet is definitely inspirational! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvFedV4Xvck

I have always liked the Green Smoothie Girl's website and videos. This is a good one in which Robyn describes how green smoothies contribute to weight loss AND great health: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAztZRlkOLE&feature=related.

What I like about Davy Russell's videos is his matter of fact style of responding to people's questions such as how many green smoothies should one drink a day for weight loss, body cleansing, and getting enough nutrients. Davy responds by saying that how much ever green smoothie one needs to consume two large bunches of greens a day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMPooDpw8h0. That makes sense to me!

Finally there is this very educational video from Sergei Boutenko who talks about what ingredients are best for green smoothies: greens, fruits, and water: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW5LUkeVA6s.

So there you have it, current and potential Green Smoothie Fans! I hope that more and more people will give green smoothies a try and find out for themselves the tremendous benefits derived from regular consumption of this green powerhouse for the body and mind.

Oh yeah, my personal goals: 12 pounds off the weight and 4.5 inches off the waist.

Fresher is definitely better!

It's a beautiful first day of spring in San Jose -- even if, according to environmental score cards, Santa Clara County is pretty high on the toxic totem pole with regards to “Toxic Chemicals Released by Factories, Power Plants and Other Industrial Companies" and "Worst Toxic Waste Sites (Superfund Sites)” as found on http://scorecard.org/index.tcl – oh well, what can you do? Stop breathing?? I know! Keep drinking green smoothies!

When it comes to green smoothies, the fresher the better. I learned that from drinking some of the green smoothie concoction I had put together with a lot of the not so fresh spinach we had in the fridge. The stuff that started to turn was sitting in a carafe. A couple of sips and down the drain it went. 

Besides being the first day of spring, it's also the start of the Persian New Year. Happy Nohrooz to all the Iranians living in Iran and living abroad. There is a very nice Persian woman working at the public library branch I frequent and she is trilingual: Farsi, Deutsch, and English. I wish I could do a Vulcan mind meld of her brain's language centers and effortlessly speak all three languages. And one or two more mind melds to toss in French, Italian, and Spanish, and then I would be all set. ;~))

Today I walked into the local Smart and Final store and thought I was in the wrong place. The outside sort of looked the same, but the inside was COMPLETELY changed around. It would be like walking through your front door and encountering a totally different layout of all the rooms in your home. Takes a little getting used to. The store's new layout, however, makes it look more like a traditional supermarket and less like a small Costco. I was able to score all the ingredients for fresh green smoothies at a lower cost than if I were to do the same shopping at my friendly supermarket about a mile away. 

Today's smoothie:

1 cup Bolthouse Farms Green Goodness

1 cup Bolthouse Farms Organic Carrot Juice

2 red delicious apples

1 large banana

½ cup frozen blueberries

3-4 ounces baby spinach leaves

1 kitchen sink (ha ha ha, not really)

In order to blend everything together, I mix all the liquid and fruit ingredients, pour out a couple of cups, blend the spinach leaves and/or salad greens in with what is left in the blender; then, after the greens have been mixed in thoroughly, I pour back the couple of cups that I had removed initially and blend it all once more. Results: a fairly fast green smoothie to put together, super easy cleanup and a filling tasty meal in a drink that is quite an energy boost.

Lots and lots of spinach!

Approximately half of the refrigerator is being taken up with bags and plastic containers filled with spinach. I bought spinach to go in my smoothies, and then DH, bless his heart, bought a HUGE bag from Costco -- all told, we probably have 5-6 pounds of spinach in the fridge -- no exaggeration!

I think I will need to make green smoothies for the unsuspecting neighbors in addition to my own. Usually the most I consume is 4-6 oz. of spinach per smoothie; I may need to ramp up the amount in order to get through this spinach before it dies and gets all slimy on me. 

Or I will have to investigate other spinach recipes in addition to using it to make smoothies. This one sounds really good, and it uses up a whole pound of spinach: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/spinach/. And THIS recipe: rice with spinach and feta cheese -- I think I'm in love! http://homecooking.about.com/od/vegetablerecipes/r/blv259.htm. 

We may get through all this spinach after all! If you have any favorite vegetarian spinach recipes to send my way, please do!

Popeye would be proud!

Looks like Swamp Muck but tastes delicious!

Is it possible to make a bad tasting green smoothie? This is my question because the color of today's concoction looks like something that parents could use to threaten kids with. "If you don't do your homework, you'll have to drink this swamp muck!" or "If you don't clean your room, you'll have to drink a full glass of swamp goo!" But, as bizarre as the color is, it sure tastes good! Today's recipe:

*1-1/2 cups Odwalla Superfood

*1 cup carrot juice (from Costco)

*2 apples

*6 or 7 frozen strawberries

*a few handfuls of Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix

I had to pour out some of the initial mixture in order to have room to shove the handfuls of greens in the carafe. (Wooden spoon handles are great for tamping down the greens.) Once the greens were blended in, I had enough room to pour in the rest of the initial mixture. The end result was about 1-1/2 quarts, which is all that this carafe can hold. No banana today simply because we're out of bananas -- we might have one left, but DH might need it for his breakfast tomorrow.

February is Green Smoothie Month!

Well, it is for me at least.  

Most people have heard of the song, "June is Bustin' Out All Over!" from the musical Carousel. The song title came to mind as I was trying to fasten the top button of my jeans this weekend -- instead of "June," it's my waist that is bustin' out all over. Me -- the one who used to have such a skinny waist that any pants I bought for my hip size were always way too huge in the waist. Ha! Not anymore! My pants are feeling more like a vise -- or a girdle -- and, now that most of the Christmas goodies have been consumed, it's time to take serious action. 

I spent much of Sunday afternoon reading about people's experiences with green smoothies and raw food diets. One woman actually consumed nothing but green smoothies as an experiment, which lasted through much of 2007. She lost A LOT of weight as a result. I think that, if I were to drink nothing but green smoothies all the live-long day, I would miss having something to chew on. But my energy level would probably be off the charts. ;~))

So today is Day One of trying to drink a green smoothie (as Karen the Medical Librarian says) "every single dingle day." And my other goal is to eat mostly raw veggies and fruits during the day and have one cooked meal for dinner. No sweets for the sweet (with exceptions for the occasional dinner out) until I reach my target weight range, which means that I need to drop 15-20 pounds, the same 15-20 pounds that I have been carrying around for the past 3-4 years. 

Today's green smoothie: 1-1/2 cups of Odwalla Superfood, one banana, two apples, 7 or 8 frozen strawberries and a few handfuls of baby spinach leaves. I haven't finished drinking all of this yet (about one quart's worth).

DH went shopping at Costco today -- said that there wasn't any "green juice" (like Odwalla Superfood) but he did buy salad greens, so I'm good to go in that respect. I also set up a weight and waist chart because these two measurements will tell me everything that I need to know about how well I'm doing towards reaching my target waist size and weight range. "So, Bathilda, what ARE your goals waist- and weight-wise?" you may be asking. Bathilda isn't going to share actual numbers -- she isn't that revealing, but suffice it to say she has managed to add a whopping 7 inches to her waistline with the addition of the 15-20 pounds that are sticking to her like Super Glue. 

On that note, it's time to go drink some more of today's green smoothie. Adios amigos!

Yummy green smoothie with baby spinach leaves

On Thursday and Friday, I followed the same recipe:

*1-1/2 cups of Odwalla Superfood
*1 banana
*1 apple
*6-7 frozen strawberries
*A couple of handfuls of baby spinach leaves. 

I blended everything until it was really smooth, and it tasted great! No little pieces of straw to pull off my tongue. On Thursday, after drinking nearly a quart of this concoction before going to work, I had the strangest experience. I never felt the need to get my afternoon or evening cup of coffee for an energy boost. I had good energy and no mental cobwebs the rest of the day. I have never ever gone a whole day on just one cup of coffee. On Friday, however, I had a low-grade headache and was back to drinking my requisite cups of coffee. The only difference between Thursday's green smoothie and Friday's green smoothie was that I added even more spinach to Friday's smoothie, and it still tasted great and had a smooth consistency.

It's Saturday evening already, and I probably won't have a smoothie at all today, but I have been drinking some of the Odwalla Superfood without adding anything extra. Today we had an AT&T service representative at our house most of the afternoon doing a U-verse installation, and I was out working in the garage, so it just didn't happen. But there's always tomorrow!!

I have a friend in the East Bay who is also experimenting with smoothies. Here is what she tried for her very first smoothie experience:

*1 fuji apple
*1/2 banana
*1 zucchini
*small bunch collard greens
*1/2 cucumber
*about 1/2 cup water

And for her second smoothie experience:

*1 apple
*1/2 banana
*carrots
*2 zucchini

I hope these recipes and initial experiences will have you whipping out and revving up your blenders in no time!

Smoothie Concoction #2 -- the Midweek Smoothie

I have a friend in Wisconsin who says that the mere sight, perhaps even the mere thought, of something green and thick to drink makes her gag. MJ would have been truly disgusted by this evening's concoction because it was beyond the green of most salad greens -- more like a dark olive green or an Army green. It's almost brown. Think heavy swamp muck and that about describes the shade and consistency.

So what was in this evening's concoction? As with the first one I made, I started with some Odwalla Superfood (about 1-1/2 cups) and then added a bunch of organic spring mix greens (several kinds of baby lettuce, red and green chard, radicchio, arugula, mizuna [never heard of this before], etc.), a large handful of sugar snap peas, a sliced-up apple, and six frozen strawberries. It tastes really good; the only drawback are the membranous strings from the pods of the sugar snap peas (at least that's where I think they're coming from) which resemble pieces of straw. I suppose a super duper blender would tear those strings apart and blend them into the smoothie without a moment's thought, but our 10-speed Osterizer isn't quite up to the task. However, it blended everything else -- greens, snap peas, apple, and frozen strawberries -- quite nicely. So drinking this particular smoothie requires the additional step of removing what feel like bits of straw from the tongue after each big sip of smoothie. 

Quite a few people have green smoothie recipes as well as other recipes for other types of smoothies on their websites and blogs. Recipes for some delicious sounding smoothies (with a variety of colors) can be found over at Kristine's Squidoo page, aptly entitled, "Green Smoothies."

Yes, I think in the future (she said while continuing to pick pieces of "straw" off her tongue), I will leave out the sugar snap peas -- at least until we get a super duper BlendTec Total Blender.