The Green Smoothie Diet by Robyn Openshaw. Published by Ulysses Press.
Are you familiar with The Green Smoothie Girl? She wrote this book. This is a wonderfully written book. Full of wonderful recipes and 38 pages of testimonies (my favorite part of any health related book).
Ch 1 Introduction- Awesome! Written by a mother of 4. I love reading books written by normal everyday women like me.
Ch 2 My Story- If you have been reading my blog and my reviews for a while you know my favorite part of a book is hearing how a person got around to making a huge lifestyle change. I loved how Robyn got her start with the green smoothie diet.
Ch 3 What I Did That Saved My Family’s Health
Ch 4 Why Green Foods
- Protein
- Chlorophyll and blood building properties
- Calcium
- Unparalleled nutritional profile
- Fiber
Ch 5 Which Greens and Why?
- Arugula
- Beet greens
- Bok choy
- Broccoli rabe
- Cabbage
- Chard
- Collard greens
- Dandelion greens
- Kale
- Lettuce and salad greens
- Mustard greens
- Spinach
- Turnip greens
- Watercress
- Wild greens
Ch 6 Why Green Smoothies?
- You’re going to eat amazingly nutritious green food you haven’t been eating, maybe ever.
- You don’t have to use high-fat, chemical-laden salad dressings to “get it down.”
- You will be living the way God or nature has always intended you to eat, similar to the way animals related to humans eat.
- A Blendtec Total Blender breaks down walls of cellulose better than your teeth can, making nutrition immediately available and predigested.
- Green smoothie prep is the highest-impact task you can undertake in your kitchen: the highest and best use of your time.
- You get more live enzymes in blended green drinks than in any other food.
- Smoothies retain all the fiber in the plant, without massive cleanup, compared to juicing.
- Green Smoothies are fast to prepare and fast to eat.
- You have a lower impact on the planet and you are eating lower on the food chain.
- Green smoothies actually taste good- almost anyone will drink them, including the vegetable-phobic and the very young.
Ch 7 How Green Smoothies Change Lives
Ch 8 Your First Challenge: A Quart a Day
- What Tools Do I Need?
- How DO I Drink a Green Smoothie?
Ch 9 Your Second Challenge: Be a Green Smoothie Evangelist
Ten Tips for Helping Kids Go Green
- Start with mostly fruit smoothies, or naturally sweeten them.
- Come up with a great name for your smoothies, and make the whole endeavor fun.
- Get your child off sugar.
- Educate your child about what’s in it for her by starting a green smoothie habit.
- Get your child’s pint in: Two sittings instead of one.
- Require raw food (like green smoothie) before the child eats other things, being firm and consistent (never bed and plead).
- Consider a reward system (only if your child is resistant and other efforts have failed).
- Make green smoothies into popsicles
- Make green smoothies when kids aren’t watching.
- Add lots of berries or dark colors and put smoothie in a pretty glass.
Ch 10 Ten Tips to Save Money as a GreenSmoothieGirl (or Guy)
- Learn to Garden
- Invest in a Large Freezer
- Harvest Edible Weeds
- Buy In Bulk
- Shop at Health Food Stores
- Freeze Fresh Fruit
- Freeze Fresh Greens
- Buy Frozen Spinach (I personally wouldn’t use frozen spinach- it has been cooked)
- Support Local Growers
- Get to know the smaller markets in your area
Ch 11 Tips for Buying and Storing Greens and Fruit
- Buying
- Storing greens
- Selecting and storing fruit
Ch 12 Grow Your Own Greens
- Why Garden?
- What you’ll need
- What if I have no space?
- What should I grow?
- How do I grow greens?
- What about organic produce?
- Why should I consider square-foot gardening?
- How do I keep the pests away without using chemicals?
- How can I get green produce in the winter?
- How do I compost?
- Which are the easiest green smoothie ingredients to grow?
Ch 13 The Green Smoothie Diet
- Three-Day Green Fast (Detox)
- Thirty Day Fat Burner Cleanse (Weight Loss)
- Green Smoothie for Life (Permanent Lifestyle Change)
- What to Do about a Cleansing Reaction
Ch 14 Making Smoothies
- Fruits for Green Smoothies
- Superfood Additions for Smoothies
- List of Superfood Additions
- Sweeteners for Smoothies and Sugar Restrictions
Ch 15 Recipes
- Robyn’s Green Smoothie Template Recipe
- Aloe and Apple
- Asian Green Smoothie
- Beet Blast
- Blended Salad
- Butterhead Brew
- Broccoli Blitz
- Cabbage Cool-Aid
- Chia Choice
- Dandelion Delight
- Endive Energy Express
- Glorious Green leaf
- Grapefruit Cilantro Booster
- Key Lime Broccosprout Blend
- Kiwi Banana Krush
- Latin Green Smoothie
- Mango Meltaway
- One Really Grape Smoothie
- Mixed Green Maca Madness
- Red Leaf Rocks
- Romaine Rounder
- Smooth Sunflower
- Sweet Beet Slam
The book ends with 2 great appendixes: FAQ’s: Dear GreenSmoothieGirl and Testimonies.
I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to get started with green smoothies.