Drink Your Greens and Achieve Your Dreams!
Blend It and Mend It! Inspiration. Motivation. Instruction. Take action NOW.
For months now I’ve focused on the blending: the balance of ingredients, the alkaloids, the protein content, the color, flavor, quantity. I think that I have seen all of Jane’s presentations, (some more than once), and I’ve blended the ritual of blending into my morning routine; into the way I pack my lunch; into my shopping habits; into my way of answering the question, “What’s for supper?” I think that it’s time to look at what’s been mending.
Well,… now I think differently about food. I’m thinking WHOLE. I’m thinking LIVE. I’m thinking in LIVING COLOR…especially GREEN.
This change of mind is mending my taste buds. Sweet is now green around the edges. Spinach disguises as sorbet. Avocado becomes ice cream. Arugula salad becomes arugula sandwiches! I’m thinking YUM!
Making Amends
Some of the extra weight has disappeared. (25 lbs. to date) That’s mending. Remember the blast page about belly fat where Jane asks us to think about our gut? I’m thinking more kindly about mine now that I am treating it more kindly. Surely kindness is a form of mending. Poor innocent belly; It did the best it could with what I gave it, and then I had the nerve to blame it for being overweight! I expected it to live well on dead food! I’m sorry for that, and now that I know better, I do better. (mostly)
Greens Are Sneaky
Salads and soups have been our menu mainstays, and smoothies are usually the first fare of the day, but lately I’ve noticed that beans have moved in where lean meats used to be, and nuts and avocados have become the new dairy! No wonder Jane urges us to “just drink your smoothies.” She knows that we don’t need to do more. She knows what the greens do once we let them in the door. They grow on you!
I’m still achy in the joints some, and imagine my body would be grateful if it had still less to carry. Since greens are insinuating themselves into every meal, and making themselves a preference, it has come to me to launch a deliberate vegan food plan laid out by Dr. Joel Fuhrman in his book Eat To Live. He suggests six weeks of essentially this:
Daily Eats
- One pound of raw greens and veggies
- One pound of cooked greens and veggies
- One cup of beans
- At least four servings of fruit including berries
- One ounce of seeds and nuts
- Two ounces of avocado
- Two tablespoons of dried fruit max.
- One tablespoon of flaxseed max.
Off-Limits
- Dairy products
- Animal products
- Between meal snacks
- Fruit juice
- Oils
- He has specific guidelines that make allowances for oils and dairy that I won’t go into here.
His emphasis is on eating nutrient dense foods for healing the body. It’s an interesting read if you have any chronic ailments that your doctor is treating with drugs, or that are claimed to be incurable, (heart disease, arthritis, high blood pressure, etc.)
I’ll let you know how it goes. Blending greens seems to be taking me into this plan of eating anyway, so why not go the rest of the way for six weeks and see what happens? Mending is a mystery, and sometimes hard to measure.
Rebecca, it is great to get this wonderful post from you! To see where the greens are taking you. Bravo on the 25 pounds gone and on your gentleness with yourself – you are a great example for all of us. Jane
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19 Responses to Blending And Mending My Ways
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Hi Rebeca,
Congratulations on the weight. That has to feel great! I love your paragraph about your taste buds being mended, too. ‘sweet is now green around the edges’ Keep us posted about your 6 weeks and how it goes. I’m interested:) Anna
Thanks for the support Anna. It’s great to have this community of “greenies” with whom to share the discoveries as they present.
The weight loss is the least of the gifts of greening, but I can tell that my body is grateful for the emerging leaner me! My mind is grateful as well, and that is the biggest gift; no badgering.
Clink to our beauty; to our evolution; to our green friendships!
rebecca
Congrats Rebecca,
I am doing exactly the same type of thing only making up my own eating habits from a bunch of books I have read. In a nut shell, I eat raw till dinner. All the smoothies, beauty waters, homemade lara bars for a snack, fruit all morning then veggies all afternoon. At dinner time the rest of the family wants some things cooked so we usually have steamed veggies, salad, sweet potatoe or brown rice or gluten free pasta, and sometimes a bean stir fry. Yes, beans have made it in to mylife as well as a plant protein and a good filler.
Jane was right when she said let the greens do the work for you, just drink your greens and don’t sweat the rest!
I am proud of you for keeping up with the greens and for the weight loss, and I am proud of myself for keeping it up as well!!
Heres to our health
Carrie
And I am proud of both of you, Rebecca and Carrie!
Jane you are just a proud green mama!
lovinya, clinkin’ and grinnin’
rebecca
Hi Carrie
Way to go! Sounds like you have a great plan in place. I’ve enjoyed reading your progress posts. Thanks for being such a visible support on the site. I look forward to your shares, and all of the juicy details.
Clinking the beauty waters!
rebecca
rebecca
Congratulatoins on the 25 pounds! I just checked that book out from the library after watching the video Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. Dr. Furhman was the doctor who helped those people. Please do updates on how that way of eating is going for you. And I had not linked the smoothies with that way of eating yet. Good insight! I am enjoying a modified version of the carrot cake smoothie now (modified so my 20.00 Wal-Mart blender can handle it
). Carrot cake smoothies are addictive! I want one everday!
Hi Hope
Where did you see that film? Sounds like something I’d like to see as well.
Haven’t tried the carrot cake smoothie yet….sounds dangerous!
I plan to share the six week vegan journey here with updates as the weeks pass, but I can tell you now (less than a week in) that three more pounds are gone, and I don’t find myself longing for anything that isn’t on the plan. I’m guessing that it’s because the transition was gradual and natural beginning with just drinking Jane’s K.I.S.S. green smoothies, and letting the changes in preference guide the way.
Thanks for your interest, and please let me know what you notice about your own journey as you go.
clink
rebecca
Wonderful inspiration, Rebecca. I’ve been on a similar journey. Finding that I feel so much better when I have my green smoothies, but not being successful in having them every day. Determining why that’s happening and what I should change. I’ve found myself moving closer and closer to vegan and raw foods eating (when I’m not hitting the fast food places because I’m “too tired” to go home and wash and blend up a smoothie – LOL).
I haven’t read Dr. Fuhrmann’s Eat to Live book, but I am currently reading his Super Immunity book. As well as a couple books on juicing since what I’m going to be changing is making & freezing vegetable juices on the weekend so that I can have one as soon as I get home from work. Instant energy, instant nutrition. And the goal is that with that boost and satiation, I WILL be able to wash the produce for the next morning’s green smoothie so that I WILL be having that on a daily basis. If I’m doing JUST those two things on a daily basis, it shouldn’t be difficult to then prepare a healthy lunch for the next day as well – at least most days. Baby Steps!
Experiencing a vegan diet that helps reverse my diabetes was a baby step; not able to maintain it consistently was falling down – which is what happens when you’re learning to walk. Using my VitaMix for fruit smoothies and begin loosing weight was another baby step (and a way to eat vegan consistently). Finding Jane and green smoothies was another baby step – though I’m still falling down a lot. I am now implementing another baby step on my way to good health by adding juicing.
OK… I just looked at the carrot cake smoothie recipe. I have everything except the orange. So I’m going to make up my green smoothie (baby bok choy, apple, strawberry) and then head over to the store so I can have carrot cake for lunch!
Wow AndiRae thanks for this delicious post!
You are an inspiration to me as I read about your thoughtful planning and self-understanding. Planning does seem to be key to eating live foods. I know that I want something fast and rewarding after work AND at the end of the day. Now that my rewards are really so much kinder, I don’t have the rush of ‘committee’ voices telling me that I have failed! Your post reminded me of a friend who likes to ask, “what if everything we’ve ever been or done was our perfect purpose in the greater picture?” It comforts me to think that that could be as true as any other theory…like guilt or failure or ‘missed’ opportunity. I know that for me it takes what it takes to move me along. Being in pain led me to Jane, and now I wouldn’t change that course and miss the opportunity to learn from her and meeting you! Eating fast food was on the road to finding Jane and green smoothies…who knew that I was on the path to something really nourishing??? I like your concept of baby steps. Seems very kind.
I have not read the book on Super Immunity yet. Thanks for mentioning it, and please post your thoughts about it.
clinking to our falling and getting up!
rebecca
Failure! Rebecca, I so hear you on that. Being a perfectionist by nature, it is hard for me to be satisfied simply with progress. I can tell myself all I want – progress, not perfection – but I don’t always actually hear it. But, for today at least, I am hearing it.
I’m on vacation this week. So my plan, starting this past Saturday and through this upcoming Sunday, was to spend most of the days sewing and/or quilting. I’d have a green smoothie in the morning, drink at least 1 quart of cucumber & ginger & lemon water each afternoon, and have an 8oz bottle of Green Lemonade around suppertime as an ending to the day’s activities. And any “solid” food I had would be mostly vegan.
Well, it hasn’t turned out anywhere near that plan so far, and yet I don’t feel guilty over it. Spending 2+ hours Saturday morning making the Green Lemonade with the VitaMix made me realize I need the instant nutrition & energy from juicing, and I don’t have hours to commit to doing it with the VitaMix. So I ordered a juicer and spent the rest of the day watching youtube videos on juicing which led me to downloading the movie Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead from the library. Which led me to Dr. Fuhrmann’s website, which led me to downloading the Super Immunity book from the library (Eat to Live wasn’t available).
So here it is mid-Tuesday morning. I’ve had a green smoothie each day. I’ve had the Green Lemonade juice 3 of the 4 days. I’ve had about 20 ounces of cucumber water. That’s all I’ve accomplished from my Vacation Plan. I’ve not eaten vegan (except for the Chipotle bowl I had yesterday); in fact I’ve had a couple fast food meals. And yet I have no guilt feelings. A little regretful maybe at the lack of sewing/quilting, but I think it’s been extremely important to spend this time nourishing my body. Nourishing it with rest, good food (even if not nearly as much as I had hoped), and – most importantly – nourishing my brain with information. Without spending the time reading and watching all this health stuff and coming up with a plan to increase the baby steps towards health and vitality, I definitely WOULD be sitting here this morning whining about how I’m such a failure and am being a couch potato on my vacation.
Instead, I’m sitting here and I firmly believe that I can get the place picked up today so maybe tomorrow I’ll feel like doing some quilting. Or pulling out the sewing projects and determining what is still needed in order to begin them.
Rebecca, I love your friend’s question. It so beautifully encapsulates the notion of baby steps and progress, not perfection. So you fell down. Did you stay down? Or did you look at what happened and then got back up to try again – maybe with some modifications so you wouldn’t fall down as quickly if at all?
Andresa
Thanks Andresa for taking me on vacation with you! Sounds like one of those learning vacations where you give yourself something that does more over the long haul to bring quality upgrades to your life. I love that you’re finding yourself flexible and accepting. Nice.
I just finished watching Fat, SIck And Nearly Dead. Inspirational.
Thanks for the tip.
Please let us all know what you discover as you go, and I’d love to see what you create whenever you are inspired.
clink
rebecca
Hello Rebecca,
I rented it from one of those box things at the gas station.
Thank you Hope. I was able to find it on Hulu as well. People are pretty amazing; aren’t we!? And bodies are miraculous!
Hi Rebecca,
Is this your beautiful artwork?
Btw … I had some delish pineapple salsa made in vitamix today and chocolate tahini pudding. Now that’s living! My husband was just telling me this evening that a competing film and video crew in town just got done with a nig vitamix shoot. I think it was .8 days long — something about a prototype for a new model coming out. What I would’ve given to be on that shoot!
Happy greening
Anna
a
Hi Anna
Yes and no about the artwork. It comes as if someone else is using my hands and eyes, and is truly a gift that makes me happy every time I have the impulse to make something.
Glad that you enjoy it too!
rebecca
Hi Rebecca and Everyone,
Funny how we read each others posts and get inspired all over again. Knowing that we are all human and we all fall down at some point. But the bigger picture is that we get up again and dust ourselves off and get our hineys going again!! It seems like all my spare time these days are washing veggies and fruit for my next smoothies or salads etc. I find that my spare time is also busy with reading new books from the library about raw and nutritional eating. I sometimes think I am obsessed with it but I then think that this will settle once I am comfortable with how to prepare delicious raw and healthy foods. I have learned so much from Jane and all of you here in BIMI. I have learned to except myself completely the way I am right now!!!
That is the biggest step of all! To look in the mirror and say I love me for me and I will nourish me with all the goodness from creations from the sun and the earth!
Check out some great recipes in a book called, ” Rawlicious” by Peter and Beryn Daniel. Fabulous read!!
Keep on smilen and pilen on the green guys!!
The More Green, The More Clean!!!!
Carrie
Hello dear Rebecca,
I’ve just posted a particularly short post riddled with self doubt. You have helped turn my thinking around. I need to breath and regroup. You once wrote to me full of empathy and understanding on the hormone rollercoaster of menopause…It’s like my dads visit has thrown me into more than just a tiz… madness and mahem are at the helm… all I seem to want to do is impress him…I think I must have some serious psychological issues burried inside that need to come out but I’m eating chocolate and bread and cheese instead of facing Them. I’m back to one green smoothie or juice at a time and learning to accept my eater monster self all over again.
Anyway good to see you writing.It helped no end. Much love Sarah
Huggin’ yer neck!
In my mind God created chocolate and bread and cheese for when Dads come to visit. And greens will have their day as well.
loving you!
clinkin’ and clankin’
rebecca