Green Smoothie Goodness Experiment

Here's what I wrote the Raw Divas regarding the CHIdiet home study course that I won in their Mother's Day contest...

After having a couple of months to begin to digest the information I've studied so far in this course, I know that I have only scratched the surface of all it entails. The information is very detailed and wide in scope. It begins with talk on enzymes, chlorophyll, and the life of Ann Wigmore. It goes on to talk about how to set up your raw food kitchen, benefits of this lifestyle, as well as how to transition to a living foods diet. Eating simply and sleeping well, drinking pure water and the power of thought are all touched upon...and this is just the beginning.

Being a teacher by trade, my thoughts kept turning back to how I could introduce this lifestyle to my students without turning them off the idea of eating healthier. They are a group that lives on sugar, processed foods, and the traditional SAD diet. I have a new class this year and they were not fully aware of how I eat, or why. I am very open about what I eat and they see me in class, eating my raw, fresh, ripe, organic fruit and salads. They also see me with various concoctions - warming chia pudding, and the like. Something they haven't seen me eat is my green smoothie. I began bringing my green smoothie jar to the school instead of drinking it at home in the mornings...I wanted to pique their interest, and pique it did! They've always been curious about how I eat and I always tell them, if they ask.

The green smoothies were really the turning point! Every day they'd ask what I put into it and wanted to smell it and were so extremely curious about the whole idea of eating a drink that was so green. In fact one student asked if I had my "Shrek" drink, when it was missing from the desktop that day. We'd been enjoying "Fruitful Fridays" each week, where I bring in a different fruit for the students to try. The students bring in fruit to include in our Friendship Fruit Salad and we all have our class meeting while learning about a new fruit each Friday as well as enjoying a great fruit salad that we all made together. The first week we did that, the students made me swear not to tell their parents that they "enjoyed eating healthy" or else they'd be made to do so by force instead of choice...a valid point! However if you make this type of food available and tasty, they are bound to make a good choice!

Because of their interest in the green smoothie, I decided last Friday morning to bring my Vitamix to class and have a demo on how to make a green smoothie. The students were aware that I was going to do this and were full of anticipation when I opened the classroom door that day. First, they could not believe how huge the blender was, then their eyes became as big as moons when they saw how much kale I had ready to put into the drink! It was amazing how interested they all were! They are so impressionable at this age and this seed of an idea that was planted that day will reap rewards in the months and years to come.

I told them about the benefits of each food that I put into the blender. We made a very simple smoothie. Here's the recipe I made which fed the class a small dixie cup each:

2 cups blueberries
2 bananas
2 apples
1 stick celery
4 huge leaves of kale
3 cups of water (or more to assist in blending)

The blueberries made the smoothie more blue than green, however the colour helped a lot of them around the idea that there was so much green in there in the first place. We talked about the blender as well, and how it breaks up the cell walls and does the "chewing" for us so that the nutrients are more bioavailable.

Then it was the moment of truth: The Taste Test!!!

I began pouring the drinks, not really knowing what to expect but figured the great taste of the smoothie would encourage even the most finicky in the class. Some comments made include:

"I can't believe there's like a whole salad in here, you'd never know it!"
"It doesn't taste bad at all!"
"If I didn't see you put those greens in there, I'd never know they were there, it tastes so good."
"I have to get the recipe!"

There were so many positive comments made that morning that I had each student write a testimonial on a cue card for me to reference. Here are some of what the cue cards said:

"I was not nervous to try (the smoothie) but it was better than I thought it would be." - Rhylan, Grade 7

"When Ms. Gill was putting in the fruit, it looked pretty good. But when she blended it it looked bad. It smelled like bananas and when I took a sip it was very good." - Kody, Grade 7

"Before I tasted the smoothie, I was concerned about what it would taste like. After I tasted it, it was delicious! It tasted like blueberries and bananas with a hint of a peppery taste. I would like the recipe" - Michael, Grade 7

"I would ike the recipe! Watching it blended, I almost didn't try it, it looked slightly unappealing. And well, it kinda was. Drinking it tasted ok but there was a bit of an after taste. Overall, pretty good!" - Rozi, Grade 7

"When I saw my new teacher eating a raw green smoothie I thought 'Wow, what is she eating?' So we asked her and she said she was a raw foodist. Now if you told me I would be trying some, I wouldn't have believed you. So I was pretty nervous when I got a cup full of "slush". I took a sip...tasty, but yet kind of bitter. I love my smoothie. Yes I would like the recipe." - Mitchell, Grade 7

"While I was watching Ms. Gill make it, it kind of looked like "unmentionable" and I also thought it would taste like that, but when I tasted it, it was "greenalicious", yummy, yummy! Yes I would like to try it again!" - Simran, Grade 7

"I really liked this drink because it was really good and I would love to get my mom to buy the ingredients so I can have more." - Matt, Grade 7

There were only two students out of 29 that said they really didn't like the smoothie but would be open to trying different combinations if we ever did this again...which we are!

As you can see it was a very successful endeavor. Afterwards, the students asked if we could do a green smoothie every week. I said we could call it our "Smoothie Start to the Week". The students will bring in 25¢ every Monday morning to help offset the cost of the ingredients and we're going to have a green smoothie each Monday morning to get our week off to a good start. So in our class, we will begin the week with a green smoothie and we will end the week with a fruit salad. Baby steps, is all I keep thinking. As I absorb more information through the CHIdiet course, I will slowly incorporate this in my teaching in a fun and informative way.

The message to take away from this is that children are open to trying these things in the right circumstance, but the long term change has to include the the whole family. I especially liked the comment Matt made about getting his mom to buy the ingredients so that he can have more. It's true, I can plant the seed, but kids need encouragement and help at home too. I can only hope that his mom WILL buy him the ingredients and that he will enjoy green smoothies for a lifetime!

This gave me another great idea! Get the parents involved! That leads me to my next adventure...the PAC (Parent Advisory Council) meeting. Stay tuned and we'll hear how that one goes.

In closing, here's a short poem I wrote in honour of Ann Wigmore:

Raw and Living foods
Ann Wigmore knew it the best
Green simplicity

In simple green goodness,

Melinda

TRAWvelling on the Road

Raw on the Road.  I got a crash (not literally) course in this during our summer vacation.

Here are some things that I did in order to stay raw on the road:

 

Buy a great cooler

Bring along my juicer (if at all possible) and for sure I bring along the blender

Google the places we will be driving through.  I look for juice bars, raw food restaurants, vegan restaurants, farmer's markets and organic stores to shop at.

Pre make a number of my favourite recipes to pack up and bring along.  Dressings and desserts are my favourite to pre make.

Nuts and dried fruit packed and ready to go.

Lots of fresh fruit!  

We went on three road trips this summer.  Our first was to Vernon, B.C.  for four days.  After only three days at home, it was off to Powell River, B.C.  Lastly we travelled for nine days through the interior of B.C. over the Rocky Mountains to Calgary and eventually Drumheller, Alberta.  It was much easier to be successful than I had originally thought.  It just took a little planning on my part.

Let's start with Vernon, B.C.

I ate prepared foods and fruit during our drive up.  The universe aligned for me in that our motel was walking distance from a Booster Juice.  I did not have my juicer on this trip so I was thrilled to have a place with wheat grass juice and other juices so close.  The first day I arrived there to get my juice, their juicer broke!  It would be out of service until further notice.  At least I had a wheatgrass juice.  The second day I came in and they were out of wheatgrass!  So that was the end of that!  

I did get a chance to use my blender though.  Vernon has an amazing farmer's market, it's huge! We got greens, organic fruits and I was blending my lunches up with green smoothies.  So great.  I ate salads mostly in the evenings and some nuts/simple veg and fruits for snacks.  I did not do any eating out there.

Powell River, B.C.:

Five hours, two ferry rides and about 2 hours on the actual road.  Again, I did the pre pack of many items like I listed above so that I could be able to eat on the road.  Once in Powell River I knew that I would be set up for juices as there's Big Robbies Hemp Products and Juice Bar.  His address is 4691 Marine Ave. and the phone number is 604-485-7671.  They have a wide variety of juices as well as wheatgrass juice.  Shop for some great hemp clothing while you sip on your drink.

I was able to blend foods for meals and eat salads for dinner with prepared dressings I had made.  Again, easier than I thought!

Road Trip to Drumheller, AB:

Here's where things got a little more tricky!  More on that next time...

"Relentless Hope" Conference in Hope, B.C.

A day of incredible alignment!

Two weeks ago I was trying to decide which conference to attend during this Professional Day for teachers.  I decided to attend "Relentless Hope:  Educating for a Better Future", the PAGE (BC teachers for Peace and Global Education) group put this on and it had a raw food presenter so my interest was piqued.  

I was supercharged with energy when I awoke today.  I was so excited to be driving up to Hope (1.5 hour drive from my home)  on my own.  It made me think about all the road trips I took in the past.  How my road trip eating habits have changed!  In my pack I had three apples, 2 litres of water, my chia seeds (dry) and some smoothie mixed up to soak the chia in.

Driving along the highway I was shocked at the amazing colours of the leaves!  They were so orange, and colourful and beautiful against the dark green of the evergreen trees and grass fields.  I had Neil Young playing on the stereo the whole way up, just one CD that went that long.  It also brought me back to my past road trips down the pacific coast down to Oregon, California and beyond.  I was in such a good space and had such a good feeling about the day.

I got there late as I couldn't leave before 8:30am...so Michael Byers presentation was just ending when I arrived, unfortunately I didn't see enough to comment on it.

My first session was the raw food presentation.  So we waited 15 minutes.  And waited...and finally got in the room only to find out that in fact the presenter was a no show.  I was somewhat disappointed but knew that this must have happened for a reason.  So instead I went to the "What Would Gandhi Do?" presentation by Pummy Kaur.  She has written a book by the same name which I have added to my bookshelf of must reads.  

I really appreciate her "realness".  I know it's not a word, but she was so real, taking ideas from the people in the session regarding what we think are major problems in the world today.  We had an extensive list!  Then she asked us to label them with an A (for those that we are directly influence) B (for those in which we indirectly influence) and C (for those over which we have no influence).  I could see that in every aspect, we could directly influence every one of those problems in some way.

Asked, "If you could do one thing to stop your negative influence on all of this, would you?"  Well of course we would (so long as it was easy and didn't ask us to give up anything we love)

In my mind I said "DIET" and also wrote it down.  That one thing, if most people changed small things to the large things...that would have a profoundly positive impact on all the negatives currently being experienced in our world today.

OK...then she goes on to talk about her "raw vegan thanksgiving" dinner that she made for her family.  I knew then why my first presentation had been cancelled, because I was supposed to be here in this session with Pummy!!  

She gave us a potato chip example.  Think about what goes into creating a bag of potato chips.  Really think about the impact that every stage has.  It is mind boggling what type of energy, waste and all sorts of awefulness goes into making this item.  That could be any type of processed food in reality!!

The closer to raw that we are, the closer we are to a more sustainable world.  Hard to refute a truth like that!  We talked about how just making little changes can have a ripple effect - like the slogan for a couple of high school students I was talking to from Mission.  As Gandhi says, "Be the change you want to see in the world".  

I got her book because I want to delve into this more and think she's got some really amazing things to say.  I can't wait to start reading it.  I also met a couple of teachers from Coquitlam and one of them is into the raw foods lifestyle, amazing.  I hope that we can stay in touch as it'd be nice to go to Gorilla Foods out in Vancouver with someone who will actually fully appreciate the food!!  

I was totally pumped even before I ate my chia seed soaked in smoothie.  Here's the I think I wrote the recipe here before, but it's from goneraw.com

1/4 cup chia seed

1 banana

1 date

1 cup of water

nutmeg (you decide how much)

cinnamon (to taste)

4 brazil nuts (but have used small handful of pecans, almonds, walnuts, etc.)

Blend all together except the chia.  Pour blended drink over chia seeds and allow to set for 15 to 20 min.  Then it's like tapioca pudding!  LOVE it!

The afternoon session was great too!  The Art of Living Wellness presented a great session on how to find calm and peace so that you may be stress free.  I'll have to write about that at another time as my eyes are telling me enough computer time!

Also further posts...Rawkathon 2008!  It rawked!

Carrotmob

These guys have the right idea. Their video shows the power of consumers when we band together for the right reasons! Environmentally friendly solutions with mass purchasing. Collective mind is at work here...


Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo.

Raw Nogg

Oh, my...did I ever come across something delicious today! I've been reading all sorts of recipes and decided I needed something tasty tonight and decided to make a shake. I wanted to make something that would sustain me for my workout tomorrow morning. I have been going to bootcamp in the mornings now as it's the only way to fit it into my busy day. When the workout starts at 6am, I get up at 5:30am but there is no way I can eat. I have been eating something around 9pm so that I can work out in the morning and have energy throughout the strenuous workout. This is what I put into the blender:

1 frozen banana
1 tsp pure vanilla
2 tbsp. macadamia nut butter
1tbsp. honey
couple shakes of nutmeg
dash of sea salt
1 cup water

What came out was the most amazing taste sensation! I could not believe how much it tasted like egg nogg. It was exactly like it, even the consistency. I'll have to get my parents to try this one. My husband doesn't like bananas or egg nogg but agreed after tasting it (with much coaxing from me!) that it did in fact taste like the dairy version of egg nogg.

Perfect timing of course! I'll have to whip this one up for our Solstice Party in December.

Time to go nogg off, in health and wellbeing,

Melinda

RAWKATHON 2008!

Word is spreading like wildfire regarding Kevin Gianni's newest venture...Rawkathon is a free seven day event that Kevin will be hosting, and it starts October 19th. It's FREE! Now is the time to join in the fun. You can join by going to Rawkathon.

You will hear from the likes of:
Victoria Boutenko
Angela Stokes (who was recently profiled on CNN - also big news this week.)
Matt Monarch
Dr. Gabriel Cousens
Dr. Douglas Graham
David Wolfe
Mike Adams
Viktoras Kulvinskas
Nomi Shannon
Cherie Soria (who is coming to Vancouver to share her chef skills in a class she's offering...more info to follow)
David Rainochek M.A
Frederic Patenaude
Dr. Rick Dina
Karen Knowler
Dr. Jameth Sheridan
Happy Oasis

What a line up! I'll be quite busy that week, listening in on all of these knowledgeable people. You can watch on the net (webcast) or listen by phone. It's FREE. You also get the Health Book Summaries...another amazing free service that provides great, easy to read books about health and raw and living foods. It's like a Coles Notes version of these amazing books!

Don't wait any longer. You'll really be glad you listened to these. Let me know how you enjoyed them!

In health and rawness,

Melinda

Summer and Blueberries

So I'm loving summer, the sun, swimming, lots and lots of kid time, heat, fresh, ripe fruit and being able to relax without work constantly on the mind.

I'm juicing daily, doing smoothies daily and trying to keep my sugar (ie dates, honey, dried fruit etc.) to a minimum. I've also been back at 100% raw now since July 19th. It isn't as rough going 100% now, since I've done it many times before but I still get some detox like symptoms, like some minor acne, body odour, coated tongue, bad breath but these are occasional and not constant like the first time I went up to 100%.

I've also been back to bootcamp. It feels good to get some great exercise. Walking and such is great but this is where I can push my limits. I have also enjoyed swimming almost daily at our community pool. I am concerned about pool chemicals but so far don't seem to be experiencing any ill affects that I can detect. Excersise is great and making time for it is SO important. When I get stressed that seems to be the first thing I let go of, and then it's what I put in my mouth...not always the best option.

Summer has been great for me though and I love spending so much time with the kids. They amaze me daily with their reflections on life and our world. I'm going to start a blog up with all of their little daily insights and will post more on this in the near future.

I've also begun the Ann Wigmore home study course. That's another blog unto itself, so keep an eye out for that in the very near future.

There are a couple things of note in the raw food world. The CHIdiet.com website is releasing more of Ann Wigmore's home study course, that was not the original plan but after much coaxing it looks like this will happen soon (if it hasn't happened already!).

Also, Gabriel Cousens is putting on a "Reversing Diabetes" workshop which you can check out HERE. Even if you just watch the "Raw for 30 Days" trailer that they have there, it's worth a look. It's a definite if you are pre-diabetes or diabetic already, it will be really eye opening and give you some options other than insulin.

Blueberry season is upon us. I've already started eating too many berries! They are in my smoothies, my raw ice creams, whole berries, and so much more. I ate so many the other day that I woke up with a bluish black tongue and wondered what had happened...thinking maybe it was a totally random and weird detox thing...then my husband asked me how many blueberries I'd eaten...and that was it, my colourful tongue was due to the amount of blueberries I'd eaten!

Anyhow, that's all for now.

In raw summer goodness,

Melinda