Look, I drank half of it.
My friend and colleague Marie, along with her boyfriend, Todd, follow elements of the ‘raw’ diet to stay healthy. Never heard of it? It’s a diet and lifestyle based on unprocessed, uncooked plant foods. Heavy on fruits and vegetables, it also incorporates nuts, seeds and grains. Food is never heated above 116 degrees, as raw foodists believe it diminishes the ‘life value’ of the food’s nutrition.
At first it sounds crazy restrictive and not too much fun. But as we learned more about it – and three other Courant colleagues underwent a 30-days raw experiment in the spring of 2008 – we found that you can get really creative with raw-approved ingredients like nuts, agave nectar and sea salt. See Marie and Todd’s raw apple pie demonstration on YouTube, for example.
Even healthier – and easier – is the green smoothie, which I’m enjoying for breakfast today as part of this week’s healthy eating kick. It’s a blend of leafy greens, frozen fruit and water (I used frozen spinach, papaya, mango, pineapple and a splash of OJ for more flavor.) It’s a fantastic way to get in several servings’ worth of fruits and veggies.
Trust me when I say it’s not nearly as scary as it sounds. I grew up on MicroMagic cheeseburgers and at nearly 29, I’m still working on learning to love veggies. If I can do it, so can you.
Here are some of Marie’s favorite green-smoothie recipes…
- 2-3 cups any greens of your choice, 2 cups papaya, 2 oranges, 3 dates
- 1 handful lettuce leaves, 1 handful mint, 4 bananas, 1/2 cup water
- Winter Smoothie – 1 cup organic frozen berries (any kind), 2 cups fresh spinach, 1/4 inch fresh ginger, water
- Spring Smoothie – fresh orange juice, ripe bananas, frozen mangoes, and several large leaves of kale
- 1/2 bunch romaine lettuce, 1 cup strawberries, 2 bananas, water
- 4-5 kale leaves, 4 apples, 1/2 lemon juiced, water
- 2 big handfuls mixed baby greens, 2 pears, 2 mangoes, 1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
- Choc-mint – 2 cups spinach, 10-12 mint leaves, 3 bananas, 2 Tbs. carob powder, 1 cup water
- 1 handful of spinach, 2 stalks of celery, 2 bananas, 2 pears, 1 apple, 1 cup water
- 1 small handful of spinach, 2 cups arugula, 2-3 mangoes, 1 cup water
- 1/2 head romaine lettuce, 1 small pineapple, 1 large mango, 1-inch fresh ginger
- 1 handful wild greens (e.g. dandelion), 1 small handful mint leaves, 3 cups honeydew melon
- 3-4 stalks celery, 2 ripe persimmons, 1 banana
- 1 handful chard leaves, 5-6 kale leaves, 3 large bananas, 1 cup water
- 1 handful parsley, 3 cups of peeled papaya
- 1 frozen banana, 1 pear, 1/2 cup of pineapple, big handful of baby spinach, 1-2 kale leaves, and a mint leaf.
Leeanne Griffin is a freelance writer and food enthusiast.
Yay! You joined the dark side! I’ve found that people tend to like pineapple in their green juice, but for me it’s too overpowering.
My green juice:
1 apple
1 pear
1 banana
1 cup of water
A couple of handfuls of baby spinach
and sometimes if it’s too thick, I strain out once or twice.
Another good one is bananas, blueberries and almond/soy milk. Mmm!
Oh, I’m proud of you, Leeanne! Did you finish it?
Confession: I don’t like eating salad. Too much cutting. Too much chewing. Salad dressing is kinda gross. I have a sweet tooth. It is easier and much more appealing to whip up a smoothie in the blender. I now consume 10+ servings of veggies throughout the day every day because they taste better…. better because the veggies are mixed with (masked by) sweet fruit.
Let’s see: Coolatta or spinach smoothie?? It’s a toss-up!
You’re right, Leeanne, eating raw IS crazy and restrictive and not much fun — and I speak from experience. That said, I do still make kale smoothies, consisting of about a cup of water, two or three leaves of kale (depending on size), three or so strawberries, a banana and a handful of blueberries.