Feeding your skin with Smoothies!!!!
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free skin care · Wed Sep 09, 2009 11:55 am

ClaudiaFE wrote:

I think another layer of Toby's success in addition to a food group that she sort of ignored otherwise, is all the extra water she's getting from the greens, and I'm really suspicious that the chia seeds are helping even further with that as well...In the end, it's a lot of fiber that full of water...Getting it into the system really helps the body eliminate, which keeps the intestines from sucking all the water from your body just to get things moving... INPUT anyone??

I totally agree with the water/fiber theory.. I also think the "Tobster" is getting the 'skin tightening' benefits of the Stevia she uses in her smoothies daily also.

BTW Claudia, I made your 'brocolli soup' yesterday and it was amazing! Even DH loved it, and he is not a brocolli or creamy type of guy.. Very Happy

free skin care · Wed Sep 09, 2009 12:08 pm

Here's a pretty good write up on Chia...I think it's really important for us to consider the imbalance of omega 3's, 6's and 9's... most people (myself included) don't get enough 3's... The chia seed should help wonderfully, I can tell you that it has little taste. And blends beautifully in with the greens!

http://www.living-foods.com/articles/chia.html

free skin care · Wed Sep 09, 2009 12:15 pm

Kassy... glad you liked it... try it with other veges that are your fave...

I've made mushroom pretty much the same way and it's soooooooo Yummy... I used about 6 large portebello (they were about 3 inches across), set aside, chop up a whole yellow or white onion. Toss in a skillet, with a little bit of olive oil. Start carmelizing... (getting lots of brown) Whenever you need some extra liquid, add some chicken stock and/or white wine. Whenever we open a bottle of white that we don't dig, it just goes on the counter for cooking. DH, learned the hard way not to leave expensive bottles on the counter... Let's just say I made about a $200.00 stew one nite...LOL! Ok, I didn't use the WHOLE bottle... jeez!

Anyhow, as your onions are starting to get a good bit of brown on them, add the mushrooms (hope you used a BIG skillet) and some more chicken stock, and hey a WEE bit of wine. Cook until the mushrooms look like they've taken a bit of a beating (they are absorbing those flavors of the onion, and chicken), When done, transfer to blender... (it's ok to leave some chuncks if you don't mind, or even leave a few back in the pan...) Add MORE chicken stock to thin out, and even a bit of milk... Transfer back to pan, and generally just pepper to taste. I don't find I need salt with this one...

HINT: Leave it thick and serve as gravy for your other dishes... LOW...LOW....LOW... FAT gravy and it's SOOOOOO good!

Also, basically, do you have a favorite vege? Try it with this basic principal of steaming or roasting (OMG... butternut squash anyone... DELISH), adding the seasoning that compliments in your mind, and BLEND with chicken stock to make soup...

free skin care · Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:01 pm

Kassy_A wrote:

ClaudiaFE wrote:

I think another layer of Toby's success in addition to a food group that she sort of ignored otherwise, is all the extra water she's getting from the greens, and I'm really suspicious that the chia seeds are helping even further with that as well...In the end, it's a lot of fiber that full of water...Getting it into the system really helps the body eliminate, which keeps the intestines from sucking all the water from your body just to get things moving... INPUT anyone??

I totally agree with the water/fiber theory.. I also think the "Tobster" is getting the 'skin tightening' benefits of the Stevia she uses in her smoothies daily also.

BTW Claudia, I made your 'brocolli soup' yesterday and it was amazing! Even DH loved it, and he is not a brocolli or creamy type of guy.. Very Happy

WEll I will weigh in the my thoughts about the change. Stevia has been in my diet for eight years in a big way and it has done wonders for stabilizing blood sugar but I am not using any more now than I have already been using. As far as the chia seeds the changes were evident before I introduced them...however I know they are tremendously beneficial. I have always drank lots of water and have never had any water retention issues even in pregnancy. I think it is the abundance of greens because I have never eaten them in my life. I don't always use avocados, but I do have lots of blueberries daily. Still the amount of greens coming into my body I think is major. And let's face it cutting down on protein, and all but eliminating any kind of bread would be major as well. The great thing is I really enjoy the smoothies and am so satisfied. So glad for this adventure because it is one that will be with me for a lifetime.

free skin care · Wed Sep 09, 2009 2:21 pm

Claudia, the mushroom sounds awesome, and is next on the agenda.. Very Happy

Thank you!

That's hilarious about the wine/stew.. Laughing

Toby, do you always make the green (veggie) smoothie sweet? I'm just not liking cold veggie smoothies on their own.. I can get by with 2 greens and the rest fruit, but for an enjoyable experience 80% of mine have been fruit..

I love veggies hot as is, raw with something for dipping, or in a great soup, but cold, pureed veggies in a glass just is grossing me out.. Sad

free skin care · Wed Sep 09, 2009 6:50 pm

I've been using mustard greens this week, and they are burning my mouth and throat. I'm not liking them very well, but they are high in vitamins and minerals. I think they might work better in a tomato based smoothie rather than a fruit smoothie.

free skin care · Thu Sep 10, 2009 4:22 pm

Kassy_A wrote:

Claudia, the mushroom sounds awesome, and is next on the agenda.. Very Happy

Thank you!

That's hilarious about the wine/stew.. Laughing

Toby, do you always make the green (veggie) smoothie sweet? I'm just not liking cold veggie smoothies on their own.. I can get by with 2 greens and the rest fruit, but for an enjoyable experience 80% of mine have been fruit..

I love veggies hot as is, raw with something for dipping, or in a great soup, but cold, pureed veggies in a glass just is grossing me out.. Sad

Kassy,
I think the taste for smoothies is a personal thing. I love the green smoothies with lots of greens(the blender is totally loaded with greens and a small amount of fruit....I prefer an apple in it. I love them cold and icy sweet and I put greens in all my smoothies even the blueberry ones now. I have tried a veggie soup type with some tomato in it...kind of warm smoothie and couldn't handle it at all. The greener,icy cold sweet ones are so appealing to me. I guess it is like some people like sweet things while others like the salty. I remember getting into that with a body type book I read a long time ago.
Maybe going with what seems right is the way our body is communicating with us. All I know is the good green smoothies are really making me feel energized and the skin is responding well. My life is very busy now and being able to drink these nutritious smoothies is keeping me balanced,and not hunger free.

free skin care · Thu Sep 10, 2009 6:56 pm

I've been making smoothies everyday before work - about 25 packed oz worth of greens and tomatoe and a little fruit and it really satisfies me all day. Everyone else is eating pizza and other stuff and I'm sucking back this big green, icky looking thing. Laughing

Mine is cold also and has a slight sweet taste - probably from the cucumbers or frozen banana (watermelon, apple, peaches whatever) I put in.

free skin care · Fri Sep 11, 2009 1:56 pm

Okay, you all have gotten me on a green smoothie kick as well! I love them. I also add in my flax and protein powder. Smile

free skin care · Sat Sep 12, 2009 12:50 pm

Do you find you get very full from the smoothies? I have been trying to get 11 serves of veggies/ fruits per day on and off - a lot on - for the past 18 months and I have felt so full doing it. It was to the stage of I didn't feel like eating it at all, I was just cramming it in to get the number of servings. It wasn't blended but it was mostly raw. I do eat blended peas - mushy peas every now and then and get just as full as if they weren't blended.
Lately I have just stopped chasing a number and been eating the amount I felt like. I immediately felt better - less gorged - and could almost fit in to an old pair of jeans which are about 2 sizes smaller than the fat pants I have been wearing. I won't go back to gorging myself no way.
I just can't see that blending would be any diff fullness wise to eating it as normal. For this reason I am leaning toward getting a juicer. The amount I do eat would provide enough fibre and I would be able to get the increased amount of nutrients in the juice. Does nobody else feel totally stuffed on the huge amounts they are consuming?? Lots of other raw people don't seem to identify either and report knocking back gargantuan portions such as 5 bananas, 200grms blueberries, half melon for b'fast!!...on and on with whopping servings throughout the day Shock

free skin care · Sat Sep 12, 2009 1:01 pm

ClaudiaFE, I tried the broccoli soup. Delish! Thank you for sharing. Next, I'm going to try it with squash and then butternut squash. That's the first time in my life that I've ever eaten a pound of broccoli in one sitting and I loved it! Thank you for sharing. I tried to make baked yam fries last night and totally bombed them. They were flimsy. I guess I cut them too thin. Oops!
Toby, I'm like you. I like to put one apple with a blender full of greens and some cold water. I also like a bit of lemon and stevia. I also tried your blueberry, acai, chia, avocado, spinach smoothie. Yum! That's my afternoon snack now. Yes, I am totally copying you Very Happy

Actually, I didn't know that you liked your green smoothies with an apple and a blender full of greens until just now. Maybe that's worse. I'm copying you without even knowing it. Laughing

free skin care · Sat Sep 12, 2009 3:01 pm

Quote:

Do you find you get very full from the smoothies?

TTD, I do get a very full feeling from the smoothies, but I find that they move through my body very fast, so the full feeling doesn't last for long. I've been surprised I haven't lost more than a few pounds, because I've replaced a lot of junk food and two meals with two smoothies a day.

I just had the best smoothie I've ever made - it had tomatoes, carrots, celery, one small can of V-8 juice, half an avocado, mustard greens and ice. I think it would make a delicious hot soup, too. I never thought I would like the taste of avocado but I think it's what made this smoothie so good. I didn't like the mustard greens in the fruit smoothies, but they give this smoothie a peppery taste which is really good.

free skin care · Sat Sep 12, 2009 3:38 pm

TTD... I can drink a smoothie and feel pretty comfy for a few hours.

I actually think you can consume more fruits and veges oz or oz drinking them. But I'm not into drinking all of meals... Just green smoothies for the purpose of adding more veges to my diet.

So... like my broc. soup... for example... I can eat literally 1 lb of broc. in one sitting. That's more than "1 serving"... I think that's about 4 cups... and about 4 servings... It will hold me for about 3-4 hours... depending on activity.

I don't think anyone is really advocating putting 5 bananas in their smoothie... usually one or even half. For many, (myself included), the sweetness of the banana cuts the bitterness of many greens.

I know I wouldn't be getting 4 loosely packed cups of spinach (or other green)a day without the smoothie bit. Add a cup of Mango, and a cup of pineapple, with my banana, and orange... and I've had all my servings for the most part in one meal. My kids too... so I worry less about getting it covered in other meals...

There is also a bit of science behind blending the greens for the purpose of really breaking them down and digesting/absorbing their nutrients. I can tell you as mother of young children, it's quite easy to observe that many foods are not even broken down by the time they are exiting the body.

Personally, regarding getting in all your nutrients through food and such, I wouldn't recommend to anyone to eat more than they are comfortable doing. You force that person to ignore their own needs and hunger cues (this is discussed often by pediatricians when it comes to forcing your child to "clean her plate".) Your example of pant sizes shows how overeating and stepping towards obesity is easy when you force feed.

I think fresh juices have a lot of vitamins to offer... Just no fiber. So, they are basically just calories. Not ideal in my world. I occasionally make a green lemonade for the purpose of cleansing, and treating inflammation. I'm working towards the same ingredients in a smoothie... as I don't care for "texture" with this mix. Wink

I'm not a Raw foodie...I think my professional chef DH would drop of a heart attack if I tried to make that transition in our household...LOL... Most of my information I've gleaned for the purpose of adding more veges and fruit to the diet come from the China Study, Dr. Fuhrman, and Victoria Boutenko... There are about a million resources out there... I think most of us here are doing what we can resonate with...

Ok everyone... Tonight, I plan to make my 2nd attempt at Beet Chips... they were just OK... last time... But I hand sliced them...too thick... I've got a mandoline now!!! Will report back...

free skin care · Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:22 pm

I make a 25 oz smoothie almost everyday and drink it in my office at work in the morning and it carries me through until I'm home for dinner. My smoothies generally have about 4 cups loosely packed greens, a full tomato, parsely, juice of a lemon, 1/2 - 1 banana, ground flax seeds (about 2T), 1/2 - 1 cucumber. If I have on hand blueberries or a peach, apple or orange I'll add them in also. My cuisinart can't handle carrots, and celery. I do switch around on the greens - spinach, baby romaine or just mixed field greens, kale....

So, yes the smoothie is a breakfast/lunch combo for me and tides me over. My craving for junk has all but gone away -I took my kids to a fair/festival tonight I had no desire for the food. Green smoothies has changed my food cravings in general. Still like wine though Wink

And I have lost a few pounds and wasn't trying.

free skin care · Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:36 pm

Hi TTD!

Can you provide some examples, so we can see what you are eating and what amount makes you feel full?

Some potential explanations:

(1) Maybe you're eating too much at one go.
(2) Maybe you're not used to eating such a large volume of food and your stomach has not stretched enough to accommodate it.
(3) Maybe you're eating too many vegetables (lower in calories) relative to fruits (higher in calories). It is impossible to eat enough veggies in a meal to satisfy your caloric needs without gorging yourself trying.

Do you feel (a) satisfied volume-wise, (b) calorie-wise, and/or (c) nutrient-wise (e.g., no salty or sweet cravings) afterwards? What does the feeling of fullness in your stomach feel like?

Cheers! Smile

free skin care · Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:38 pm

Now that you mention it... my cravings are disappearing... and I'm eating fewer calories (as I'm logging)... and I'm not so hungry... In fact, I just discovered that I have to make a bigger effort to get my protein... Such changes... WOW!

free skin care · Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:42 pm

Sister sweets--I hope you don't mind me saying this, but wow, that's such a small number of calories for both breakfast and lunch! It looks like under 300 calories, no? I would be ravenously hungry by 1 pm if I had that few calories! I hope you don't mind my surprise that you can go so long on so little Smile

free skin care · Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:15 pm

Hi CM 5597 - I occasionally sneak in a yogart or a handful of walnuts if I get a break. I teach college so I'm in a class or a dental clinic and when i'm in the office it's office hours and busy as all get out so my time is usually occupied. The smoothie is on my desk and ready to go. This has been a real plus.

I do not get as hungry as I have in the past when I was eating other types of food for lunch. When I come home from work my desire is mostly for healthy foods. I really like it and it has been a noticeable change over time. Even when I've gone out for dinner I'm more mindful in general.

I have a Saturday ritual of going to a farmer's market and stocking up for smoothies of the week - it's fun, social and I come home loaded with stuff. I love well-prepared, good food when I'm out, but you don't always know where the produce, meat etc comes from. At home I'm very fussy about sticking to organic foods, free-range chicken and beef, etc. I saw a movie a few weeks ago called Food, inc. Highly recommend it. It made me all the more happy with the green smoothie approach.

Sorry - got off-topic there. I'm sure hoping all the green and healthy food will show up in my skin like Toby. Very Happy

I'm always following the Tobster around. She's on-pointe, that girl!

free skin care · Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:30 pm

Sister Sweets, that's great! I was just so impressed how long you could go...I would be toast by noon! Smile

So are you a dentist or professor of dentistry? Smile

He he, if so, I wonder if you could measure an improvement in teeth due to green smoothie drinking Smile

Would be fascinating if possible...

Take care, and thanks as always! Smile

free skin care · Sun Sep 13, 2009 3:51 am

If I have sagged and dark undereye area with wrinkles and fine lines, what kind of smoothies should I be drinking? Just give me a place to start!
Thanks!

free skin care · Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:05 am

ClaudiaFE: perhaps there is something in not being able to get all the nutrients and that they need to be blended first. I did chew my food though! Surprised

A lot of people on the raw food diet are actually reporting eating gargantuan portions of food. I think that a lot of these people have hit the raw food diet from a SAD startpoint and worse and this is possibly why they eat so much on the diet?

I'm glad for all that they are managing to get so much in, just having difficulty myself.

cm5597 wrote:

Hi TTD!

Can you provide some examples, so we can see what you are eating and what amount makes you feel full?

Some potential explanations:

(1) Maybe you're eating too much at one go.
(2) Maybe you're not used to eating such a large volume of food and your stomach has not stretched enough to accommodate it.
(3) Maybe you're eating too many vegetables (lower in calories) relative to fruits (higher in calories). It is impossible to eat enough veggies in a meal to satisfy your caloric needs without gorging yourself trying.

Do you feel (a) satisfied volume-wise, (b) calorie-wise, and/or (c) nutrient-wise (e.g., no salty or sweet cravings) afterwards? What does the feeling of fullness in your stomach feel like?

Cheers! Smile

Hi cm5597:
1. I used to eat one piece of fruit/ veg at a time generally. I was very busy at that time so would just grab something and cram it in. Eg breakfast eat a couple of carrots, morning tea a cucumber, lunch a bag of spinach, afternoon tea a banana, dinner a mixed vegetables, supper an apple. It was more smallish(still felt big as was not hungry) amounts spaced throughout day.
2. Def used to it - been stretching my stomach out like this for well over 18months.
I felt a) oversatisfied! but I think I might still have been c) deficient nutrient wise. I have salty, fatty cravings - always have - I thought this was normal as humans are built to seek this type of food out from when it was less plentiful in the past. It seems some people crave sweet things though! I know I need more leafy greens for sure.

I guess I have to increase leafy greens for sure and I'm sure exercising more will help, at the moment I am very sedentary and this could be a big factor in not being able to eat much.

The reason I was really checking this out was because not being sure I could consume much smoothie/ day I didn't want to get a pricey blender and not use it much. I just read though that you can use a nut milk straining bag to strain smoothies and get a juice! So I can get both in one machine!

free skin care · Sun Sep 13, 2009 10:07 am

Vor: I think a variety of leafy greens is what you need to focus on.

free skin care · Sun Sep 13, 2009 12:18 pm

Yippy Yay for me! I finally made a green smoothie that went down the hatch instead of the drain, that I actually loved!.. Dancing

Garden Smoothie

1 cup V8
1 big handful of kale
1 big handful of spinach
1 carrot
1 tomato
1 stalk of celery (with leaves)
1 apple
1 packet of sweetener (You are right Toby, *sweet* makes all the difference!)
some ice

YUMMO! Who'd a thunk I could get down all that kale.. Laughing

free skin care · Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:16 pm

Good on you, Miss Kassy! Your fruit smoothies were obviously healthy for you but I think the real power is in the nutrition of the greens.

I found I could eat most any green mixed with a banana and fresh pineapple. They covered up most bitter flavors. Today I tried kale and apple and its really a great combination too.

Congrats on your perseverance!

free skin care · Sun Sep 13, 2009 6:46 pm

Thanks Zoftig! I'm really loving these smoothies.. Now, I'm even looking forward to the *mostly* green ones.. I just couldn't imagine veggies + sweet going hand in hand, but I was pleasantly surprised when it worked..

A "little Toby" voice just kept whispering; try it, you'll like it.. And I did.. Laughing

I haven't tried the pineapple yet, but I will tomorrow. I have a couple of cans of unsweetened in the pantry.. mmm!

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