Green Smoothie Magic - 132+ Delicious Green Smoothie Recipes That Trim And Slim (3 page)

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Introduction

Green smoothies are well ... green! Maybe not green in color, although many of them are, but they are green in contents. They may be fruit blended with some of nature’s other magical ingredients. Some are light and fresh and tangy. Others are smooth, luxuriant, sweet and creamy. Others have a citrus note, others taste more herb-laden.

Whatever your goals, whether it’s your quest for vibrant health, weight loss or shape management, incorporating green smoothies will be the revelation you have been looking for! Welcome to
Green Smoothie Magic
.

There is no greater gift than the gift of great health.

Taking this positive step is the way to give back to yourself and in a way where you can feel the results in your body and the clarity in your mind. Bold claims eh? To the
Green Smoothie Magic
uninitiated these may seem like lofty assertions! So rather than taking my word for it, you’ve taken the plunge, you’ve bought this book (and I humbly thank you) so now it’s time to get started.

With the modern age of processed foods there’s a move away from home prepared foods in favor of pre-packaged food and less of an emphasis on fresh produce. With so many enticements to move away from the kinds of foods we should be eating one really has to be careful not to stray too far from the (garden?) path.

When you take control and start pumping in the good nutrients that processed stuff becomes far less attractive. You’re even likely to find your cravings will morph, your shopping habits right along with them.

While I don’t believe in making generalized health claims, I do know for a fact that most people don’t eat enough of ‘the good stuff’. Everyone has their tastes! Most of these tastes have been shaped by years of habits. What you eat was largely what your family ate and what their families ate before them.

I am positive that there are not many people who would dare to dispute that, on the whole, our diets are sadly lacking. We all KNOW that when it comes to the essentials, you really cannot go past fresh, raw fruit and vegetables.

While fruits are seen as the easy way to get some of your important foods in, it does seem the green leafy stuff and many vegetables in general continue to get a bad rap. This is where
Green Smoothie Magic
comes in.

There are many theories and explanations for so many benefits of particular ‘diets’. This book is not intended to explore these in depth.

Whether you’re vegetarian, vegan or an omnivore who loves their meat, this book is about taking control of your health. It’s about taking a practical approach to finding balance. The magic of green smoothies is that you can reclaim that true satisfaction of
really
eating well.

This may even be satisfaction that you will discover for the very first time. With that you’re very likely to find that your habits transform into ways that will support you to find strength and health.

If You Are New To Green Smoothies Start Here

Thank you for buying this book! If you’re new to making or drinking green smoothies then it’s important to take the plunge and make and drink these amazing concoctions. It’s far less important to read all the information. That could sound odd coming from the author, but to be clear, it’s acting on the impulse that got you here that is the key to making a difference in your life.

If you just want to jump right in without reading the entire introduction (which is quite detailed) then I highly recommend you start your journey by reading the section entitled
Green Smoothie Magic 101: Instructions At A Glance For Blending Any Smoothie
.

The instructions that you will find come as a list of 7 reminders. They were all extracted from expanded information in the previous sections so you can go and research more depth in any subject.

Whatever you need clarification on will become evident to you and you can select different sections appropriate to your needs directly from the contents.

As I mentioned previously, this book is designed for you to ‘dip in’ and get what you need. That means you will find that each section can be read on its own without too much cross-referencing. In order to do that, there is a small amount of repetition in the book to facilitate the ‘at-a-glance’ nature of the book.

Other chapters that are worth looking at before you start (as a beginner)

Take a look at the topics covered in the table of contents. I recommend getting some information about using greens. In the ‘Greens’ section you will find a heading that will take you to a very long list of the different mild green leafy vegetables and a shorter list of strong greens. Using the table of contents you will be able to instantly navigate to both these lists. If nothing else it will give you confidence and give you a road map to be able to create delicious smoothies with literally dozens of greens you may not have ever considered using before.

You may find that understanding why to vary the greens you use will empower you to greater health. Find such a chapter by navigating from the contents to
Don’t Get Stuck With The Same Green
.

You do not need to read all the theory to make great green smoothies. Don’t feel pressured to read from cover to cover just because you bought the book. Do however, dip in and find some recipes to get the ball rolling.

If You Don’t Need The Information And Just Want The Recipes Start Here

I know there will be many people who purchase this book (thank you too!) who have been making green smoothies for ages. Maybe you do not want to wade through more information but just want to go to the recipes.

So, it’s handy to know that just before the 132 recipes there is a short section called
Green Smoothie Magic 101: Instructions At A Glance For Blending Any Smoothie
. These few pages will help you understand the way I have presented all the recipes in this book. These come as a list of 7 reminders. All those reminders are expanded upon in previous sections so you can go and research more depth in any subject.

Go directly to the Recipes Section here >>

I've also included a short note after the reminders explaining the "
Recipe Index Cross-Referenced For Major Ingredient
" - which is a section at the BACK of the book allowing you to see lists of recipes sorted by their major ingredient. Just click on any recipe title and you'll be taken straight to it. I've put this at the back of the book because I believe you will get more enjoyment from the book initially by browsing the information and the recipes - but as you progress, you may have some ingredients on hand and be wondering "now which recipe do I fancy today?". In which case, this is the section for you!

Go directly to the Recipe Index Cross-Referenced For Major Ingredient here >>

My approach to using nuts and superfoods may be different to what you have been used to. So please decide after reading your 7 reminders whether you want to selectively read other portions of this book! Have fun in your smoothie-licious adventures.

Is It All Just Too Simple?

It does seem that way. Here we are in the modern age of astonishing medical breakthroughs, pharmaceutical concoctions that are claimed to cure just about every ill known to mankind. And then come the food fundamentalists (haha) who say, ‘hold on a second, take a look at how you eat in the first place’.

Far be it for me to make medical claims about drinking green smoothies. In fact, I won’t. I could write a book hundreds of pages long citing anecdotal evidence where thousands upon thousands of people just like you and me have created, regained or sustained vibrant health simply by changing the food that they eat.

Thousands more will tell you that they have lost weight, regained their former trim figures and toned any excess fat by eating well.

But is it too good to be true? Maybe.

It’s not just about finding the perfect potion. It’s about embracing an approach that is well-aligned with the essence of our human being-ness.

We weren’t created to eat the latest greatest pre-packed highly-processed enticingly marketed pasta sauce, yoghurt, soda or potato chip. So it’s really no surprise to me that ANYONE can have health and wellbeing at their fingertips when they eat more fruit and vegetables and cook way less than they did before.

I don’t call that detoxing. That’s a concept that has become a billion dollar industry. Although – and for this we can be grateful – it is getting people to think about what they should and shouldn’t eat. However, in my not so humble opinion, it is gearing people towards believing that they need expensive products. Not so!

Do people lose weight or feel better on a detox? Well yes, they do! And it probably has little to do with those special proprietary products.

Ever noticed that for detox regimes those taking part usually drink juice, have smoothies, or water with lemon juice, cayenne and maple syrup. For many programs that’s ALL you have for days or weeks at a time. I mean, who wouldn’t lose some pounds or feel cleansed after that?

So it’s really about taking control. How you got here to read this book is frankly not as important as where you go from here. Whether you call taking control of your health a ‘detox’, a ‘diet’ or a ‘sensible plan’ it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that the evidence IS there:

If you eat MORE raw vegetables and fruit, if you eat PLENTY of green leafy vegetables then your health is likely to improve. It could be better than it ever has been before.

Super Smoothies Without The ‘Superfoods’

You are hearing more and more about them, but what IS a ‘superfood’? To me there are ‘superfoods’ and superfoods. In a nutshell there are certain foods that are marketed with claims that they are ‘the’ answer to creating glowing health that you may not get with other foods.

So in this section I’m going to take a pragmatic approach to superfoods.

It is my belief that science has only really scratched the surface when it comes to uncovering and understanding the nutrition that wholefoods bring to you and me. Scientists can tell us that there are certain elements to a piece of broccoli but they don’t understand the magic of the synergy of it as a wholefood.

Just because you know that something (imagine here a box of breakfast cereal) has certain antioxidants, has specific amounts of certain fats, amino acids and so on and so forth, doesn’t mean you can quantify good health or the effect of that food on the body.

If you happen to be unwell then sometimes science – through tools such as blood analyses – may be able to tell you where you may need a boost in your nutrition. If you need iron then (beyond getting your initial and perhaps acute needs met by a supplement) it is far better for you to find out what wholefoods have iron in them than taking a supplement.

Far better to know that overall you’re eating foods that have the building blocks you need and then let nature provide the invisible keys to get on with the job of creating or sustaining some level of health.

By the way, while I do take some vitamins and other nutrients (which are themselves made of wholefoods and not chemical derivatives) I don’t believe that one should substitute a pill for eating well. Getting a good balance of nutrients is your primary goal.

What you’ll gain from using the principles and recipes in this book is that when you make and consume a variety of greens and a variety of green smoothies, you will create a great balance. There are certain so-called ‘superfoods’ that will help you boost certain aspects of nutrition.

Within these pages you’ll find recipes that use wholefoods and superfoods. Hmmm. What IS a superfood? That definitely depends on your definition. To me a superfood is generally wholefood that is thoughtfully cultivated without pesticides and ideally organic. These foods have good solid nutritional profiles. You can refer to superfoods as ‘nutritionally dense’.

To the public at large however, and because of the wonders of internet marketing, a ‘superfood’ is generally an expensive product (usually more expensive when it’s described by the word ‘superfood’) that often comes from an exotic sounding destination. The jury is out on whether these ‘superfoods’ contain EXTRA benefit to the ones we find in the fresh food section of the (super)market.

It’s absolutely fine to put these foods into your smoothies (I’ll give you guidelines for doing this and a list, should this be something you want to pursue.) I don’t want to marginalize anyone because of their beliefs or even their ability to afford some of these expensive products.

So, I will make some recommendations as to where and how to use certain ‘superfoods’ but you will rarely find them essential to any of the recipes. I live by the credo that good health and a great green smoothie recipe is within the reach of everyone.