30 Day Happy Foody Green Smoothie Challenge support thread

[ihugtrees]

Anyone else doing the 30 day Green Smoothie challenge? I start tomorrow and I'm psyched!! http://happyfoody.com/2009/08/10/hap...hallange-2009/ I've never done green smoothies but am looking forward to starting. This week is starting a whole new diet for me--a healthier lifestyle in general. I want to eat as little processed food as possible...*almost* everything I bought at the grocery store today was fresh, whole foods, and the majority was produce.

If you'd like to participate in the challenge, tell us what YOU will be doing during the 30 day challenge!

So I'm doing my green smoothie in the morning, green leafy salad for lunch (I have spinach/sping mix or a kale/avacado sald to choose from), and our dinners all week are veggie based with no bread or pasta. For snacks, I have avocados, cottage cheese muffins (made from scratch), a creamy sundried tomato dip eaten with sliced cucumbers, Kashi whole grain blueberry waffles with Tofutti cream cheese and bananas. I'm also breaking the Sprite habit I picked up when I gave up artificial sweeteners, and I am quitting the chocolate kick I've been on lately.

For my exercise, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I will be walking for one hour. Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday I will be doing a program that my hubby and I found called Two Hundred Sit ups, and also Two Hundred Squats (http://www.twohundredsitups.com/complete.html and http://www.twohundredsquats.com/).

I'm really excited and I hope you are too!!

[lil_earthmomma]

I just joined!!! :

My weight loss and healthy eating has totally stalled since we moved in with my parents.

They definitely eat SAD and I hate it. Blech.

Today I had a green smoothie and feel so great. Then I log on to mdc and find this!

I'm so excited!

[PatienceAndLove]

If I only had a blender...

[isosmom]

Thanks for starting this thread. I'm in for a month of green.

[Dandelionkid]

Sounds good. I am off to buy some baby spinach tomorrow!

[isosmom]

Started off well this morning. I need to get to the store and stock up. This morning I made my green smoothie with mango, blueberries, plums, bananas, and green powder. I'm going to hit my produce stand to get some overripe fruit for my freezer (it's always super cheap) and some baby spinach.

[Dandelionkid]

unfortunately not so cheap here. Spent 30 bucks on spinach, oranges, bananas today but just made my first smoothie and my currently veggie-hating son drank it all up. I can't believe it doesn't taste of spinach!! I used about a cup mangos, blueberries, 1/2 cup pineapple, 1/2 orange, 1 small banana and about 3 cups baby spinach. I whizzed it for a long time (2 mins) to make it really smooth. It is delicious!!! Thanks for the challenge ihugtrees! I also resisted cinnamon buns

[lotus.blossom]

I'm in! I tried to do this on my own last month but my infant coincidently had green frothy poo's just as I switched my diet over so I thought it may have been the reason. I'm thinking not so I will try again. I felt great having green smoothies!

I'll have to pick up some greens at the local farmstand, but for now I'll be using green powder (barleygreen) in my smoothies an doing a spring mix salad with my lunch. Exercise is a hard one. I get a 20 minute video in when my littlest one naps but thats sporadic.

[LeslieB]

Does anybody have a good website for green smoothie recipes? We're about to move so I can't really join the challenge, but I'd love to start doing smoothies more often.

[WuWei]

Originally Posted by LeslieB

Does anybody have a good website for green smoothie recipes? We're about to move so I can't really join the challenge, but I'd love to start doing smoothies more often.

Got Greens?

Green Smoothie Girl.


My understanding is that fruits and greens are ok together. Vegetables and greens are ok together. But, avoid fruits and vegetables together. Rotate greens.

Anyone have a daily smoothie to get certain nutrients into you quick and easily? has a bunch of recipes and tasty additions.

Pat

[isosmom]

I had a great day 1. Big ol green smoothie for brekkie, giant spinach salad for lunch, kale with cumin and paprika, stewed potatoes, baked beans for dinner. I took two short walks as well. And drank a ton of water (for me). Oh, had a couple of glasses of red wine as well, but that's o.k. by me.

[isosmom]

Made another wonderful drink this morning, and all 3 kids drank it up as well. Frozen pineapple, fresh blueberries and strawberries, and banana, and tons of baby spinach.

[Dandelionkid]

Originally Posted by isosmom

I had a great day 1. Big ol green smoothie for brekkie, giant spinach salad for lunch, kale with cumin and paprika, stewed potatoes, baked beans for dinner. I took two short walks as well. And drank a ton of water (for me). Oh, had a couple of glasses of red wine as well, but that's o.k. by me.

Wow you ate well!! I had my first green smoothie of the day just now. I enjoyed it but the kids didn't drink too much- 2 bananas were too many I think. I put the kids leftovers into popsicles to see if they will eat them frozen.

[ihugtrees]

I am blogging about my 30 day challenge here: http://my30daygreenchallenge.blogspot.com/

[dfunk98]

some questions fore you mamas...
are you drinking these smoothies w/ food, or in place of? i find that it's just not enough for me in the a.m.-when i make my smoothies and i can't drink 1 qt. at a time. i can feel the liquid sloshing around in my stomach (sorry tmi) i really need some "solid" food in me, as well, to soak it up.

also, i've been reading some smoothie recipes that have a large quantity of ingredients-not alot of different things just a large amount of them, kwim? anyway, for me, i try to only go food shopping 1x/week and buying that much would send my grocery bill through the roof. where do you get your kale and stuff from? i have a grocery store around the corner, but they don't carry alot of organics. are your smoothies largely organic? how do you afford it?
i just bought a bunch of frozen fruit and spinach from trader joe's, but i wonder if my smoothies are nutritious enough. i guess maybe i'm overthinking it. today's smoothie had 1 banana, handful of spinach, strawberries and pineapple and some water. it filled a 12 oz. glass for me and 2/3 full of a 10 oz. cup for each of my 2 kiddos. i'm still having a hard time getting ds (21 mos.) to drink it and he's the one who needs it the most. he is anemic and only eats a few select things-none of which are iron-rich, so now we're doing iro supplements . any suggestions?
thanks for listening to my rambling!!

[isosmom]

To answer some of your questions: I drink my smoothie in place of breakfast, it is for sure more expensive than what I usually have for breakfast (coffee or nothing), but I think in the long run it's cheaper. Both for my health and my wallet. If I'm drinking this, I don't so much have the urge to go out and buy junk, like today, I saved I don't know how much by not buying crap at the movies with my kids. And it's worth it how good I feel, and it's a lot cheaper than buying smoothies out. That being said, I don't think people should be dissuaded from this because for lack of fresh greens every morning. Trader Joes has a great green powder for under $10 that could make you a whole lotta smoothies and if in the same trip you picked up some of their cheap frozen fruit, you're pretty much in good shape. Another thing I do is hit my local produce guy and see what he's got in the ugly, cheap fruit/veg section. Since I blend it up, it doesn't really matter what it looks like. I just bought bananas for .10 a piece, a giant bag of bruised peaches, etc. Throw em in the freezer and you're good to go.
And my kids drink these, they know they're green and full of leafies, they just don't seem to care. :

For myself for today, I had my morning smoothie with romaine, apples, frozen blueberries, and banana.
Lunch was a big ol mixed salad and a bowl of veg black bean chili.
I snacked on some steamed kale and stewed potatoes.
And dinner will be I think veg stir fry at my sister's house.

[Delight]

So great to see you all taking part in the challenge! It will change your life...so don't give up!

Sara
www.happyfoody.com

[PatienceAndLove]

My part in the challenge shall have to wait til I move back home, and I have a blender.
But that will actually coincide with the beginning of September, so I can start my new life and new nutritional choices at the beginning of a new month!
New New New!

[ihugtrees]

Originally Posted by dfunk98

some questions fore you mamas...
are you drinking these smoothies w/ food, or in place of? i find that it's just not enough for me in the a.m.-when i make my smoothies and i can't drink 1 qt. at a time. i can feel the liquid sloshing around in my stomach (sorry tmi) i really need some "solid" food in me, as well, to soak it up.

also, i've been reading some smoothie recipes that have a large quantity of ingredients-not alot of different things just a large amount of them, kwim? anyway, for me, i try to only go food shopping 1x/week and buying that much would send my grocery bill through the roof. where do you get your kale and stuff from? i have a grocery store around the corner, but they don't carry alot of organics. are your smoothies largely organic? how do you afford it?
i just bought a bunch of frozen fruit and spinach from trader joe's, but i wonder if my smoothies are nutritious enough. i guess maybe i'm overthinking it. today's smoothie had 1 banana, handful of spinach, strawberries and pineapple and some water. it filled a 12 oz. glass for me and 2/3 full of a 10 oz. cup for each of my 2 kiddos. i'm still having a hard time getting ds (21 mos.) to drink it and he's the one who needs it the most. he is anemic and only eats a few select things-none of which are iron-rich, so now we're doing iro supplements . any suggestions?
thanks for listening to my rambling!!

I'm drinking it slowly from 7 to about 8. I think sipping it slowly helps. Then around 10-11 I eat something else. Mine are not organic, because I already buy soooo much produce that I can't afford to do anything organic. I figure it's better then nothing at all, and am looking into a local CSA to get cheaper produce. Is that an option for you at all? Here, we have cheap fruit stands and farmers markets (not organic) and like I said, the CSA and co-ops to get organic stuff. Does your DS not like the taste or the look? The look, not sure what you can do about (except maybe put into a dark sippy cup?) The taste...if he doesn't like it, add a little more fruit. You could try getting him a special cup and a special straw to drink it out of--something bright and colorful, or with a favorite character on it? I have to say my grocery bill is pretty huge this week, but am hoping it will go down once I do more shopping at the produce stand (need to remember to bring cash!) and maybe become a part of this CSA. Also, are you buying fresh or frozen? I'm finding frozen works better for my smoothie, and also is cheaper! It's usually frozen in it's prime, too, so that means that it's fresher then the stuff you get in the produce section of the grocery store.

[isosmom]

My smoothie was super this morning. It had plums, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, pineapple, flax, and chard. I had a big salad for lunch with greens, hummus, avocado, tomato, mushrooms, green beans, peas, and farro. Dinner was fruit salad, a couple dolma, and some more farro with peas and green beans. I'm feeling really great. Noticeably more energy, less hungry, drinking more water, no cravings.