The Live Green Smoothie Diet

The post below was originally published on my “This Raw Life” blog on September 14, 2009: This Morning’s “Cappuccino”: Fresh Juice In A Cup

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My morning "cappo"...

I “brewed up” this deliciously sweet fresh juice this morning for my first taste of the day…a tall jar-full, which I enjoyed in my favorite Starbucks coffee cup, usually reserved for a “long espresso” or a fresh cappuccino (”cappo” in my house…) made in my sexy silver Ascaso espresso machine.

I’m a serious lover of great espresso…and not for the caffeine, for the flavor. As it’s much lower in caffeine compared to drip-brewed coffee (a fact most people don’t realize), I can drink it or not drink it, it’s all the same to me caffeine-wise, and I don’t get any headaches or other withdrawal symptoms when I stop.

But when I start the day with juice, it doesn’t even occur to me to make coffee of any kind. Late in the afternoon, when I want a little sump’n-sump’n, I might indulge. But even then, I’ll still be flyin’ on the energy I get from fresh juice.

It just changes you. You feel it in the mornings when you wake up…the clarity…the well-being…the calm and inner restfulness, which you can feel from your heart, cells, and bloodstream on out. Fresh green veggie juice is just amazing stuff.

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The post below was originally published on my “This Raw Life” blog on September 12, 2009: Today’s Fresh Juice, a Great Daily Combo: Kale, Carrot, Celery & Apple

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Here’s this morning’s juice fare…with three stalks of celery, two apples, four carrots, and a large bunch of kale. This proportion is on the sweet side, so good for beginners and kids.

I just love the creamy froth that sits on top of the juice when it’s fresh, and I enjoy seeing the layers that naturally develop in the receiving container before you pour it out. Truly a rainbow of vitality!

Juice it up and feel the inner glow!

The post below was originally published on my “This Raw Life” blog on September 10, 2009: This Morning’s Fresh Juice: Spinach, Pear, Carrot, & Celery

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Juiced up a handful of fresh spinach, 3 pears, a good bunch of carrots and celery…to make enough juice to nearly overflow my 2-cup pyrex measuring glass! Whatta great way to start the day!

The post below was originally published on my “This Raw Life” blog on September 6, 2009: The Power of Juicing to Turn Things Around Quickly — Your Energy, Your Health, and Your Mood

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I’ve been into juicing on and off since around the late 80s…a lot longer than I’ve been into Live Green Smoothies. And while I stand firmly in my belief that nothing is easier than adding Live Green Smoothies to one’s lifestyle in order to improve health, energy, and well-being, I have experienced again and again for a couple decades that there is nothing like the power of fresh juice — especially green juices — to quickly break a rut in one’s life.

If I’ve gotten down in the dumps for any reason, or if I’m struggling with motivation, or if I’ve gotten far away from living foods and into a rut of pasta and bread (or worse), if I feel bloated and heavy, stiff or no-energy, all it takes is an intense infusion of some freshly made juices to turn things around and break the stalemate, usually overnight.

I’ve also found that it’s definitely the vegetable and green juices that seem to have the greatest power in creating this rapid shift. While I will always make my juices with some apple or red grapes for sweetness, it’s the spinach, parsley, kale, and beets that seem to carry that magic torch that can snap me out of my inertia and get me onto a new path.

Other fruit and vedge I’ll juice up to help break a stalemate: celery, carrot, cucumber, and even sweet potato. And I’m a big fan of making fresh lemonade and limeade using apples and whole organic lemons and limes, usually adding some parsley to the mix to make it green.

Live Green Smoothies may be the most effective habit to include on a daily basis, because they are just so dang easy… easy to make and easy to clean up. But I know if I want to powerfully and rapidly jack up my health, my mental clarity, and my momentum in a new direction or to a new level, I make it a point to bring in the green & the vegetable juices.

The intense infusion of all that life force and nutrition, not slowed down by any accompanying fiber, is a potent healing agent and energizer!

The instant, powerful shift is worth the hassle of having a juicer to clean up.

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My Breakfast This Morning: Fresh Juice Made From Broccoli, Orange, Red Grape, and Fresh Turmeric Root

I juiced up:

• 1 medium bunch of broccoli
• 1 large bunch of red grapes
• 3 navel oranges
• 1 2-3″ piece of turmeric root (unpeeled)

Delicious and, like… WOW energetically speaking. Not to mention it’s an alkalyzing, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer tonic in a glass!