The Busy Mom's Green Smoothie Experience

Photo Credit: http://www.thrivealive.ca/

I finished my 10 day Green Smoothie Detox with significant ease.  I want to say I had this big epiphany or learned a great deal about myself, but I'd be lying.  I started this challenge, like most of us do, because of a friend.  She decided she was going to Juice for 10 days, where I, not having a juicer, decided to blend my way to the same results.  After a bit of research, the main difference being that blending retained the whole nutrient content including the fiber. 

I actually had a false start with this fast.  Not know much about what I was doing, I began blending what I had on hand from both the freezer and fresh (which wasn't much BTW) and made an okay tasting concoction.  But by dinner I was STARVING, so I ate.  I called my friend and told her what happened and that I had decided this just wasn't for me.  She suggested that maybe I wasn't drinking enough, both water and smoothie.  I really didn't care at that moment, and basically wished her the best of luck.

Over the course of the next day, I thought about what she had said.  Since she was having success with her juice, I figured, I really need to give it another shot. I re-watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" on Netflix, which I had seen many months ago, and decided that I needed the energy and everything else this guy was talking about.

You see, I had been struggling this winter.  Here in the wild country that is Fairbanks, Alaska, we have been barracaded in this winter due to the weather. If you aren't from here, have you seen "Ice Road Truckers" on the History Channel?  Yep, it's just like that.   I have a personal rule of not taking the kids out if it's lower than -30* F out and lower than -40* F for myself.  But even then, it is so cold, who wants to be out in that?  I mean, even the dogs hate to go out and pee.  LOL  Lack of sun light, home 24/7, tons to do, and no family.  Yep, you've got the makings of an unhappy, insomniac mom who didn't want to do much and was frazzled half the time.

DAY 1:

Two days after my false start, I awoke with renewed vigor and decided to try this whole thing again.  I blended, still not enough, but was drinking more water.  This time was a little better, and I made it through dinner.  After dinner was when I struggled.  Because I hadn't had nearly enough Green Smoothie, my stomach was growling and I was really hungry.  But I didn't give in.  Instead I decided to google my way to success.  And that is exactly what happened.  I found http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/!  And then after reading tons of stuff on her site I found my version of heaven.... YOUTUBE VIDEOS!!!  She has almost 200 of them!!!  I sat for hours watching, and re-watching these things, and of course taking notes. :) 

Photo Credit: http://www.greensmoothies.ca/

DAY 2:

Armed with my new knowledge, the next morning I pulled out my VitaMix, now secretly wishing I had a Blendtec, because I could make bigger batches, and started blending.  2 cups of water (seemed like alot, but okay, I'll go with it.) and whole head of romain I had in the fridge (blended to a water super dark green liquid)  1/2 of a box of frozen lettuce, (getting even darker now)  2 banana's, (okay she says they make it smooth, but I still hate banana's yuck) I think I added 2 apples and frozen berries, strawberries, black berries and raspberries.  This needed a bit of sweetener, blended again and poured half into two seperate 1 quart jars, placing one in the fridge for later and popping a straw in the one for now.  Not bad!!!

Over the course of the next couple of days, I found my love afair with the frozen tropical fruit mix from Sam's Club.  Now we really have a smoothie.  The pineapple is so sweet, it needs no extra sweetener.  So this is how it went, one day after another an average of 3 smoothies a day, sometimes a little more, and sometimes a little less, depending on how hungry I was.

Around day 4 it hit me... The energy...It was like nothing I had felt before.  I was happy, sleeping like I hadn't in months, and I had ENERGY!  This was amazing!!!  I felt like a whole new person.  I still had moments where my head was telling me to eat something, but my body said it was satisfied.  But on those rare occasions it wasn't?  You got it... more smoothie.

I finished Day 10 with a bit of food.  I hadn't had solids for so long, and didn't want to undo everything I had done, after all I didn't want to risk losing my new energy and sleeping ability, I decided to indulge in just a bit.  Homemade refried beans about a 1/2 cup and about 1/2 cup of homemade spanish rice.  I wanted to keep it simple, but I also didn't want to make myself sick.  I felt completely satisfied with what I eaten.  And the food tasted... AMAZING!  It had so much flavor!  And it stuck with me all evening.  No urge to snack, not hungry.  I feel GREAT! 

Photo Credit: http://www.chefteton.com/

What now?  Well I will continue learning, and trying new recipes, but for now, I will be enjoying at least 2 Green Smoothies a day, along with slowly adding in some of my whole grains and whole fruits and vegetables.  And who knows, maybe in a few weeks, I'll want to do another Green Smoothie Detox, and maybe, just maybe you might find yourself wanting to join in the Green Smoothie Experience.