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As I'm sitting at my desk writing this, I'm sipping on my green smoothie. If you look at it, you'll probably be turned off, but don't let this first impression put you off.
Green smoothies are just about the best thing you can put into your body. If your cells could talk, they would beg you for it.
Basically, the more green salads and leaves we consume the healthier we will get. But there's no way you can stomach all the green salad that is needed in one day if you wanted to achieve optimum health. So, what you do is blend it all up and drink it in less than three minutes. This way, you get your nutrition boost in one go and it will be concentrated and powerful.
My green smoothie today contains lots of coriander, parsley, and mint. To improve the taste, I added cucumber and apple. I sometimes add pineapple or whatever ripe fruit I have in the fridge. But the ratio of greens must always be higher. I also add a small amount of freshly-juiced ginger to give it a zing.
If you cringe at the idea of drinking all those greens, then start with a bigger ratio of fruits to make it palpable. Gradually, you can increase your greens to make it contain mostly green stuff.
Green salads and smoothies create an alkaline effect on the body. The more alkaline you are, the better health you can achieve. A virus or cancer, for example, cannot survive in an alkaline body. Acidity, on the other hand, invites disease; and all kinds of things cause acidity, such as stress, anger, sugar, fatty foods, animal products and lots more.
So the green smoothies are the best way to stay alkaline. And, it's a fantastic way to detox naturally.
Get all the greens that you can get hold of, pack them in your blender and drop in a few fruits or vegetables for taste. And then blend and drink from a straw.
There are lots of green smoothie recipes out there that you can get. Just remember that you're not adding any sugar, milk, or anything like that. What you can add is an omega oil blend such as Udo's oil. This contains essential oils omega 3, 6 and 9 and will help enhance your smoothie.
You can also add some 'super foods' to your smoothie. Every once in a while, I add one or two teaspoons of wheatgrass or spirulina powder that I get at the health store. These are powerhouses of nutrients. You can also add crushed garlic or ginger if you like the taste.
Do I always feel like drinking it? When I first started drinking green smoothies in the morning, I didn't always like it. Some days I would dread it but with time, it grew on me and I now feel strange on the day that I don't have it. I drink a full glass in the morning and take the rest with me to work to sip on throughout the morning.
I'm working on getting my kids to drink a green smoothie in the morning as well. If you do only one thing with your kids, then the green smoothie should be it. It will help counteract all the other unhealthy foods they might be eating.
How do you get a kid to drink a green smoothie? That's something I'm still working on. I find that with my youngest, it's very easy because he's been having them from the age of one. But as kids get older, it takes longer to build a new habit (especially if it's green!).
My eight-year-old is coming around, with a lot of convincing (not pushing), but she'll only drink a quarter of a glass. That's good enough for me for now.
I will let you know if and when I get them to drink a full glass daily, but for now just remember that parents should become the biggest food marketers. Don't just give your kids healthy food, market it and talk about how great it will make them feel and look!
For more information, to book a seminar, or to join my personal mailing list, go to www.AliaAlmoayed.com
HEALTHY RECIPES
Basic 1 mango 1 cup cabbage 1 cup water Yields 1 quart
Rocket Fuel 2 cups green or red seedless grapes 3 golden kiwis, peeled 1 ripe orange, peeled, seeds removed 1 small helping of aloe vera 5 leaves lettuce 2 cups water Yields 2 quarts
Morning Zing 1/2 bunch dandelion greens 2 stalks celery 1/2 inch fresh ginger root 2 peaches 1/2 pineapple Yields 2 quarts
Parsley Passion 1 bunch fresh parsley 1 cucumber, peeled 1 Fuji apple 1 ripe banana 1-2 cups water Yields 2 quarts
