Category Archives: Green Smoothies

Green Smoothies

Raw Diet – Day 6

imageI’m over half way through.  Today was rough, I was ready to throw in the towel until my dessert/dinner.

Breakfast was very tasty. I really enjoyed the green apple in my smoothie for it’s sweet tart flavor.  I was quite hungry by 9:30 and dove into my almond mid-morning snack. Time flew by and before I knew it I was hungry for lunch and it was 12:30.  Unfortunately, I cut into my avocado at lunch time and found strange brown, stringy, rotten looking things staring back at me.  This didn’t leave me with much to eat for lunch.

I wasn’t hungry at 3:00 but knew it was only a matter of time. I went to the local QFC and couldn’t find anything raw nuts.  They were all roasted.  I ended up buying some natural chunky peanut butter. It was delicious with a banana, but was not raw….hopefully close enough.

When I arrived home, I nibbled on the nacho kale chips from yesterday while I made a dessert for dinner and for the rest of the family.  It was a Fruit Tart recipe from Blender Babes that I recently saw on Facebook. I did not take a picture because mine looked nothing like theirs.  I really liked the taste and so did my husband.  It disappeared before I had a chance to ask if he liked it!  My two boys have different tastes; one loved the fruit and one loved the crust.

Today’s Menu

Breakfast – 169 calories

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 small tangerine
  • 1/2 cup spinach
  • 1/2 medium banana
  • 1/2 green apple
  • 1/2 cup strawberries
  • 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
  • 1/2 cup ice

Morning Snack – 119 calories

  • 1/4 cup almondsimage

Lunch – 32 calories

  • 2 cups 50/50 spring mix
  • Pico de Gallo from Day 4

Afternoon Snack – 295 calories

  • 1 medium banana
  • 2 tbsp natural crunchy peanut butterimage

Dinner – 335 calories

Evening Snack – 66 calories

  • Brad’s Organic Kale Chips, Nacho

Raw Diet – Day 5

I slept fairly well again except for three trips to use the bathroom.  I focused on drinking 64 ounces of water yesterday, so I’m not surprised about the multiple trips! I weighed in 5.8 pounds less than my starting weight today.  Hopefully I’m losing fat in addition to the water.

I was not starving this morning as I had been yesterday. There was a chill in the air. I can tell fall is coming and I was missing my usual hot cup of coffee or tea. I made a kale smoothie with cashews. I prepared for today with protein more often by including nuts in my smoothie and my afternoon snack. I was hungry again at 10:30, so I ate a plum for a snack.

At lunch, I ate the pico de gallo from yesterday. The batch made enough for three servings. I will be eating it again tomorrow. To mix it up, I ate it with spinach instead of lettuce.  Although not hungry, I ate almonds for an afternoon snack to keep my energy going.

It was leftover remake night at our house.  The family ate a left over pork roast turned into BBQ sandwiches and baked fries.  I didn’t mind my dinner of honeydew melon with blueberries.  It was perfectly ripe and delicious.  I scooped each bite out of the melon with a spoon and it actually took me longer to eat my dinner than the rest of the family.  As a side note, I was able to prepare my dinner in under 2 minutes and their dinner took 30 minutes. Winning!

I had stopped at Haggen on the way home today and searched for a raw snack food other than fresh fruit and veggies. I found Brad’s Raw Chruchy Kale in two flavors, Nacho and Vampire Killer.  I wasn’t able to decide which to try, so I purchased them both. I tried the Nacho flavor today. It was good but not great. It was also weirdly addictive.  I wanted to keep eating it because the flavor was so new to me.

Today’s Menu

Breakfast – 262 calories

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/3 medium bananaimage
  • 1/8 cup cashews
  • 1/3 cup blueberries
  • 1 cup kale
  • 1/2 cup mango, frozen
  • 1/4 cup cherries, frozen

Morning Snack – 30 calories

  • 1 red plum

Lunch – 199 calories

  • 2 cups spinach
  • 1/2 avocado, small
  • Pico de Gallo from yesterdayimage

Afternoon Snack – 119 calories

  • 1/4 cup almonds

Dinner – 196 calories

  • 2 1/2 cups honeydew
  • 1/2 cup blueberries

After Dinner – 132 calories

  • Brad’s Raw Crunchy Kale Nacho Chips

Raw Diet – Day 4

imageI slept fairly well last night.  I was discussing the diet/personal challenge of eating raw for 10 days with a coworker and discovered that, in addition to weight loss, I would love to benefit from this challenge with a better sleep pattern.  This was described as one of the benefits of eating massive quantities of fruits and vegetables in Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. I watched this documentary and it motivated me to make this personal challenge.  I had considered eating raw for many years and have read many blogs.  The documentary was just the push I needed to really try it.

I was feeling very good this morning and made a delicious smoothie that provided enough to also be my mid-morning snack. I made a larger quantity because my pineapple looked like it needed to be used or it would be spoiled soon. The chia seeds did turn the smoothie very thick by the time I drank it as my snack. It still tasted very sweet and fresh, just had a thicker texture.

I was very hungry by lunch. I didn’t pull myself away from work until 12:30 to eat.  My salad was very spicy and a good variance from the sweeter fruit based meals I’ve been eating.  I was left with garlic breath. I’m noticing that raw foods seem to leave a more potent flavor in your mouth.

For dinner, I was also very hungry again.  I really should have remembered to bring an afternoon snack.  I made a fruit and spinach salad and am really growing fond of lemon/mandarin orange juice as a salad dressing.

Today’s Menu

Breakfast – 186 calories

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 cup pineapple
  • 1/3 cup blueberries
  • 2/3 cup spinach
  • 1/3 tbsp chia seeds

Morning snack – 186 calories

  • see breakfast

Lunch – 224 calories

  • 2 cups mixed lettuce
  • 1/2 avocado, diced
  • Pico de gallo, made in morning
    • 1/3 tomato, large
    • 1/4 white onion, medium
    • 1/4 cup cilantro, minced
    • 2/3 garlic clove
    • 1/3 lemon, juiced
    • 1/3 lime, juiced
    • 2/3 mandarin, juicedimage

Dinner – 242 calories

  • 2 cups spinach
  • 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
  • 1/3 cup bluberries
  • 1/4 cup almonds, chopped
  • Dressing
    • 1 lemon, juiced
    • 1 mandarin, juiced

After dinner snack – 105 calories

  • 1 medium banana

Raw Diet – Day 3

imageI went to bed with a headache again. I did not have chills through the night, so that was good.  I also didn’t wake up starving.  I am down 3.2 pounds from my starting weight.  This leaves me only 13.6 pounds from my goal weight.

For breakfast, I used parsley after reading about rotating my greens to avoid alkaloid build up.  The parsley added a sharp and spicy flavor to my smoothie.  It was different and took some getting used to. I felt very energetic throughout the morning.

I made a very delicious salad for lunch.  I enjoy fruit in my salad, these will be my favorite meals during this challenge.  I was very pleasantly surprised by the taste of my dressing. It was made with the juice of one lemon and one mandarin orange.  I was also happy that I used my very first, home-grown leek!  It was a small leek and really gave some zip to my salad…and my breath.  My afternoon snack of raw almonds knocked out the leek breath.

I really experimented for my dinner. I had cold carrot and ginger soup.  The soup was made with our juicer and the Vitamix. The first bite was good. My 6 year old son also thought the first bite was delicious. After half of the bowl, I was done with the texture. There was some substance to the soup, but nothing to chew. It also wasn’t good to slurp up like hot tomato soup.  I did have to muster up some courage to finish my bowl.

Today’s Menu

Breakfast – 172 calories

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 small mandarins
  • 1/2 medium banana
  • 1 cup parsley
  • 1/2 cup raspberries, frozen
  • 1 cup ice

Lunch – 230 calories

  • 2 cups mixed baby lettuce and spinach
  • 2 small mandarin
  • 1 small leek
  • 1/8 cup raw almonds, coarsely chopped
  • Dressing – Juice from one small lemon and one small mandarin

Afternoon snack – 57 calories

  • 1/8 cup raw almondsimage

Dinner – 534 calories

  • 8 carrots, juiced
  • 1 green apple, juiced
  • 1 small avocado
  • pinch salt
  • cilantro garnish

Raw Diet – Day 2

I went to sleep with a headache and slept alright.  I had the chills through the night. I awoke very hungry and felt the need to eat immediately! Later, when the family was up, I made a smoothie for myself and my husband.  For the kids, I made 19 grain bread french toast and fresh strawberries.  It was tempting, but having my husband share the smoothie helps to keep me motivated.

For lunch, we were off to sell popcorn for the annual Boy Scouts fundraiser.  I made a kale ice cream smoothie recipe that I had tried on the Blender Babes 21 day challenge. I didn’t share it with anyone, so it packed a lot of calories.  I was not hungry or tempted at all because it was so delicious.  I skipped an afternoon snack and sipped water with lemon instead.

For dinner, again the family wanted to go out. I offered to cook but because it was the weekend, my husband felt like exploring a new restaurant.  I figured I could find something on the menu to eat and I did.  I was not satisfied by the meal but it was affordable and gave me a plate of food to eat with everyone else.  I came home and ate a quarter of a honeydew melon to fill me up.

Day Two Menu

Awakening Snack – 105 calories

  • 1 medium banana

Breakfast – 141 calories

  • 1 cup waterimage
  • 1 cup spinach
  • 1 cup strawberries
  • 1/2 cup raspberries, frozen
  • 1/2 beet, peeled
  • 1/2 tbsp Blue Agave Sweetener

Lunch – 672 calories

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 medium bananas
  • 2 cups kale
  • 1/2 cup cashews
  • 2 Medj0ol dates, pitted
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp minced fresh ginger

Dinner – 27 calories

  • 2 1/2 cups romaine lettuce
  • 3 cherry tomatos
  • 2 slices cucumber
  • 3 lemon wedges for dressing

After Dinner Snack – 62 calories

  • 1/4 honeydew melon