The Road to Health – The Green Smoothie Challenge

I’ve mentioned recently the health issues that I’ve been having over the last couple of months, well being ill has galvanised me into action!  I’ve been doing a lot of reading and thinking about what I need to incorporate into my life in order to be healthier and have more energy.   Over the years I’ve learned to pay attention to recurring themes popping up in my life, when one starts waving a flag at me I try to pay attention and turn the message into action.  A couple of different threads have been weaving their way through my research and in discussions with friends, and I am now trying to incorporate them into my life; one of these is raw foods.

I mentioned previously that I am going to try juicing, well I have a little but more of that later.  I’ve long been a fan of the blog Green and Crunchy, a blog written by a raw vegan mum about the food she prepares for her family of 7.  Though I can’t imagine ever being on that path myself I am always fascinated by her creativity and the yummy sounding ingredients she uses.  One of the things she raves about is green smoothies, something I have never dared to try.  But yesterday I was reading Heather’s blog Shivaya Naturals and she mentioned the Green Smoothie Challenge being run by Suzanne at Enchanted Chameleon.   I knew this was a moment to grab and when I discovered that yesterday was the last chance to sign up I did!

Today was the first day and, inspired by the emails that Suzanne sent out prior to the challenge, I jumped in.  Now I should explain first that I have the developmental maturity of a 4 year old when it comes to food.  I am funny about texture, colour, flavour…well just about everything really.  I am drawn to entirely the wrong foods in the wrong amounts so green smoothies are not something that would normally be found on my menu!  I was encouraged, though,  by Suzanne’s ‘do what is comfortable’ mentality so I focused more on the fruit and less on the greens for this first day.   I am hoping to build up the veggie content as I continue on over the next two weeks and, hopefully, beyond.

So here is my first ever green smoothie:

Not very green but pretty tasty!  Here is the process I used (as recommended by Suzanne):

In a food processor I whizzed 2 cups of water with one cup of baby spinach:

Then one at a time I added my fruit.  First one cup of sliced strawberries:

1 cup of Raspberries

1/2 cup of Blackberries

1 cup of frozen Blueberries

Whizz it all up and done, liquid purple yumminess.  Now I will admit that this isn’t a true green smoothie as the ratio of greens to fruit should be higher (40% greens to 60% fruit and water) but this was just the beginning.  The boys both had a glass each and really enjoyed it, I also had a full cup and though I’m not a massive fan of the texture of the seeds I enjoyed the flavour and I certainly did feel that it gave me a good energy boost.   I have plenty left over in the fridge for the next two days (a smoothie will keep for 3 days in the fridge)  as it apparently best to eat the smoothie on an empty stomach in order to get the full benefits.

Though this is a small step I am really pleased to be moving in the right direction and including more natural, whole and raw foods in my diet.  My goal is to be healthier and have more energy so that I can 1) be a better mum and 2) have a little energy left over at the end of the day for myself and my own projects.  Both things worth overcoming a fear of green veggies for.

If you have any recipes you’d like to share I’d love to hear them!  Until later my lovely friends…