Feeding your skin with Smoothies!!!!
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free skin care · Mon Aug 10, 2009 11:48 am

Yay... glad to hear you like the brocolli soup.. it's one of my faves...

CM... Your list of detoxing symptoms... I match several... especially not being about to get hydrated all of a sudden... I literally could not believe the amt. of water I was craving the other day...

Lots of good ideas here... LOVE IT!

free skin care · Mon Aug 10, 2009 4:38 pm

CM thanks for your reply. So... what kind of cookbook do I want... hmm

maybe something easy for the moment. Or even if you could just list your absolute favorites. The ones you return to again and again.

Sounds like Victoria's book really put things together for you Toby. I was going to get it, but then had a quick look at some of the reviews on Amazon, and some of them said it mostly was full of testimonials, so started to hesitate. But maybe I should just get it.

I've been doing the green smoothie thing on and off for a few months now. I started because I have CFS and wanted to make my system more alkaline. Don't entirely know if it is making a difference to my skin cause I'm doing some other things like 302 and face exercises. All I know is that I love drinking them, and they make me feel fresher and more sparkly!

I don't have a super-duper blender, and I really want one now! I've just got a fairly basic model, and will just have to see how long it lasts before I burn out the engine! Laughing

Re the detox thing. I was put on a big detox diet for months last year, and had to take a powder formula to help it along. For me the symptoms were headaches, feeling kind of shakey inside, and needing to rest a lot for maybe a week or so. I definitely knew I was de-toxing, no doubt about it! Also if you are having trouble with hydration, squeeze a little bit of lemon juice into your water, it changes the ph and helps your system absorb the water better. I've been told that if your system is not functioning well, you can drink all the water you want, but you don't absorb much of it, and it just passes straight through.

free skin care · Mon Aug 10, 2009 6:10 pm

My favorites:

(a) Alissa Cohen's "Living on Live Food" - Probably the best intro book on raw food recipes. Easy to make with easy to get ingredients. The food is good, but not amazing.

(b) Kristen's Raw Recipe Books - http://www.kristensraw.com/raw_recipe_books.php. Simple recipes that are great! Slightly better recipes than in book (a).

(c) Renee Loux Underkoffler "Living Cuisine" - A great book with very tasty gourmet (moderately so, not the upper end of gourment) recipes. Somewhat more preparation and more ingredients are required. Good for those who love cooking or for the intermediate raw fooder who doesn't usually like spending lots of time in the kitchen but who wants nicer recipes for when guests come over.

(d) Terces Engelhart's "I Am Grateful: Recipes and Lifestyle Of Cafe Gratitude" - Amazing moderately gourmet desserts (great for entertaining), but not so great for most other things.

(e) Sarma and Matthew Kenny's "Raw Food/Real World: 100 Recipes to Get the Glow" - Excellent high-end gourmet and complex recipes, mostly for entertaining. Not recommended for the beginner and only recommended for those who don't mind spending lots of time in the kitchen and have lots of appliances. Requires considerable commitment or serious love of gourmet food.

Other really good books for beginners that in particular I've heard lots of others rave about but that I haven't tried myself are:

* Ani's Raw Food Kitchen, by Ani Phyo
* Raw Food Made Easy, by Jennifer Cornbleet
* Everyday Raw, by Matthew Kenney

And before you actually purchase a book, you might want to try out the following raw recipe blogs:

* http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com and http://thesunnyrawkitchen.blogspot.com/2007/03/this-blogs-recipe-index.html
* http://rawgoddessheathy.blogspot.com/
* http://goneraw.com/
* http://kristensraw.blogspot.com/ (gives away occassional recipes)

HTH Smile

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 12:04 am

Thanks CM, I'll have a look at them all. You are a total star!

By the way, I also loved your account of facial exercises. Very inspiring!

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:57 am

Thanks, CM!

It is so useful.
I am trying (so far unsuccessfully) to switch to raw or 75% raw food.

Thanks again.

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 10:32 am

Sigma,
I have gone through numerous diet changes through the years,and what it extremely helpful is to go slow and not be too anxious to be somewhere in the food world that you may not be ready for. I did that and got frustrated and gave up. I have had times of being totally fresh and raw, and times heavy on meat protein.I had to learn what works for my body and my family. If you have your sights on being
75%raw that is great and I am sure you can achieve it...... but break it down in steps is a lot easier and can build more success in the long run.

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:06 am

Toby,

thank you so much for the kindness and the encouragements. Most people just criticise without realising how difficult it is for a busy person with many responsibilities.

My goal is not just skin (skin is an afterthought) but to improve health and lose weight.

It was a very practical advice, and I will try to follow.

Thanks!

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:18 am

sigma wrote:

Toby,

thank you so much for the kindness and the encouragements. Most people just criticise without realising how difficult it is for a busy person with many responsibilities.

My goal is not just skin (skin is an afterthought) but to improve health and lose weight.

It was a very practical advice, and I will try to follow.

Thanks!

Sigma,
Believe me I know how difficult making a food change is when you live life in the fast lane. I feel the the busy life could have eventually robbed me of my health and I would have let it just to keep my head above water. The thing that has turned me around is the smoothies because I can take them with me on the run and not be left to succumb to fast food hamburgers and such. No prep just blend and go. Of course smoothies aren't the total program but they can be a big part of that goal of 75%raw. They can also cover a multitude of sins when we fall off the wagon Laughing

Maybe the support from this thread will be a help to getting you where you want to go! Dancing

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:24 am

I love to help people change their habits because it's really rewarding to see people get healthier!!! Eating real whole food is the best way to lose weight and stay at a good weight. Salad is an easy way to eat the majority of plant food in your diet. I make a large salad and eat for lunch and dinner most days (put a towel over leftover salad in the fridge), add a little grilled chicken or some cheese. I find that I have to have carbs or else! So I eat with some organic blue corn chips or homemade croutons that I make w/left over bread. I always buy the unsliced whole grain or flaxseed bread at Trader Joes. Here are some recipes if you want to try.

Croutons--Cut up your bread into small cubes and put into a bowl--drizzle 2 TBS Extra Virgin oil oil over the cubes, add some sea salt, coarse ground pepper, and any herbs you want to use like dried basil, oregano, parsley, Parmesan cheese etc. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350º for about 10-15 minutes until crispy, let cool and then store in a container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. They make your salad really yummy!

Vinaigrette salad dressing

Mix olive and rice vinegar in a 3:1 ration (Oil 3 parts, vinegar 1 part)

add:
Honey
Dijon mustard
Salt
Coarse ground pepper
Dried parsley or other herbs (optional)

You can use different kinds of oils together like walnut, balsamic, and olive and different kinds of vinegars

The best I think are rice vinegar with a little balsamic. Shake it up, taste it, sometimes if it tastes a little off adding more salt is the solution.

(Sort of) RANCH DRESSING

Mix the following until smooth, I use a small food processor

2 cups plain yogurt
1-2 tsp. lemon juice (or rice vinegar)
1 TBS olive oil
4-5 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp dill weed
1/8- 1/4 cup milk or coconut milk to thin
1 TBS parsley
1 tsp onion powder
~ ¼ tsp. sea salt
~ ½ tsp. coarse ground pepper

Mince the garlic in a food processor, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth. You can play with the ingredients. I don’t usually measure much but just throw stuff in.

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 11:58 am

Ladies - you ROCK!!!

Thanks for all the advice.

Have some questions - do you put fruits/vegetables whole in the blender with skin and insides?

Toby - can you share how you prep thing from the evening?

Secretly - great recipes - please, share as much as you can.

Thanks to all again.

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 8:15 pm

Special Warning About Smoothies!!!!
I found out something very important about drinking smoothies that everyone should need to be aware of. This is what happened to me and it could happen to you.

I made a blueberry smoothie and I had a board meeting 30 miles away. I took my smoothie in a container that has a wide mouth and drank it during my drive. As I pulled into my destination I finished my drink and went to the room for the meeting. I decided at the last minute to stop by the restroom(small bladder here). After washing my hands I glanced up at the mirror and was horrified. I had a blueberry smoothie mustache Laughing

You would not believe how close I came to walk right into that meeting without going to the restroom. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would have been?? Or how hilarious

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:03 pm

I LOVE this thread. I started doing the smoothie thing in response to Toby and the positive results she has shared with skin and the revitalization it gave to that mission.

I hope we can all share the results we are getting with our skin - wishing us all glow and tauntness. I love the other effects as well: detoxing and the fact that we could lose weight. .... But isnt' it the coolest thing that we get to add this to the arsenol of very real and positive skin care benefits. Kind of adds right on to facial exercise, and appropriate skin products and supplements - but this is a way step up from that.

Just watched a movie tonight and recommend it to ALL OF You. It is called: Food, inc. Honestly ladies (and gents) it is so terrific and will let you know why (once again) we love our fresh, organic veggies.....

Bravo Toby.

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:07 pm

Ok... So, I have a big ol' smoothie almost every day... and have been pretty consistent for the last 2 or 3 weeks...

Today had a play date with some other twin moms (always funny... 5 moms 10 kids... all 4 y/os)... and when I walked in... It was one compliment after another. About how my skin looked really good. Each person, individually... not as a group... My only recent changes have been smoothies, and one new product (that I've used for about 5 days).. Wow!

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 9:49 pm

Yeah for the great skin changes Claudia. I'm only one full week in and I'm super-charged about it. I will be looking and I'm super critical. Plus my boyfriend is a super observant man with perfectionist tendencies. (Only saying I hope he notices!)

Glad you got the positive response of the uninformed. That means a lot.

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 10:09 pm

I have been doing two smoothies a day. My first one is always with Spinach...you guys know the rest of the recipe. My second one is usually blueberries and an avocado and possibly other things. Lately I started feeling something was missing from the second one....I added spinach and it tasted complete and whole...very interesting how my cravings and tastes are changing. Oh Popeye would be so proud of me

For those of you too young to remember Popeye the Sailor man this is a clip(if time is a factor move it over to 3:30 and you will see Popeye eating his spinach for his energy....)I just loved the cartoon as a child but hated the spinach!!I guess I have returned to my childhood to regain some insight Embarassed

free skin care · Tue Aug 11, 2009 10:20 pm

Wow, You knew you needed to add the spinach... How much spinach do you use morning and later? I still haven't gotten the avocado but then I still have the wimpy blender.

Kassy -I need a report on that awesome new "bronze" blender. I want that one. Shoot -

free skin care · Wed Aug 12, 2009 4:04 am

Toby wrote:

I have been doing two smoothies a day. My first one is always with Spinach...you guys know the rest of the recipe. My second one is usually blueberries and an avocado and possibly other things. Lately I started feeling something was missing from the second one....I added spinach and it tasted complete and whole...very interesting how my cravings and tastes are changing. Oh Popeye would be so proud of me

For those of you too young to remember Popeye the Sailor man this is a clip(if time is a factor move it over to 3:30 and you will see Popeye eating his spinach for his energy....)I just loved the cartoon as a child but hated the spinach!!I guess I have returned to my childhood to regain some insight Embarassed

Oh goodness I forgot Embarassed

to add the link for the Popeye cartoon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K04jSEfKhms%26feature=related

Wed Aug 12, 2009 7:04 am

I just saw the Food, Inc. movie too. I recently converted from being a vegetarian for the past 8 years to eating meat and the first half of that movie was fairly hard to watch. However, it is very informative and we need to know what we are putting into our bodies. I just made my first green smoothie because of this thread and I was also surprised at how good it tasted, especially when I only threw in veggies that I had in the fridge without much thought of how they would taste combined. I'm looking forward to more! Very Happy

free skin care · Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:22 am

Toby wrote:

Oh goodness I forgot Embarassed

to add the link for the Popeye cartoon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K04jSEfKhms%26feature=related

Thanks Toby!! I had a lot of fun watching the cartoons today! I can't believe how violent it is, with the guns and fist fights! And he's got such skinny biceps! Laughing

But ughh, canned spinich is still a really gross concept!

free skin care · Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:19 am

fat_swan,
Sorry about the violence, I didn't focus on anything but the spinach part....the interesting thing is when that cartoon was created (in the 50's or before)that spinach was connected to strength....now many more years later we are have the knowledge that spinach is truly the power house to fortify our body.

free skin care · Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:37 am

Oh I heard the Food Inc. was really good. There's another GREAT movie you can watch online for under $10 from Food Matters, they are all about how food is medicine etc. It's one of those life changing movies.

http://www.foodmatters.tv/_webapp/View%20Film%20Online

free skin care · Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:53 am

Just rec'd Victoria's Green Smoothie Revolution... some great looking recipes in there... Ideas that I hadn't thought of...about 200 recipes (even green smoothies for your pets!)

A basic write up as to why drink smoothies... and

VERY IMPORTANT, I will share here... She says it's VERY IMPORTANT to ROTATE the GREENS in you smoothies... Reason: "Plants carry a trace of alkaloids in their leaves to ensure that animals will move on to eat another green plant... alkaloids are poisonous in LARGE quantities... can't hurt you in SMALL quantities. HOWEVER, if you keep consuming the same exact green for many weeks, the alkaloids can accumulate in your body and cause unwanted symptoms of poisoning." So, consider this while shopping and perhaps allow the SALE of the day dictate which green you will use until your next shopping trip!

Best!

free skin care · Wed Aug 12, 2009 10:57 am

ClaudiaFE wrote:

Just rec'd Victoria's Green Smoothie Revolution... some great looking recipes in there... Ideas that I hadn't thought of...about 200 recipes (even green smoothies for your pets!)

A basic write up as to why drink smoothies... and

VERY IMPORTANT, I will share here... She says it's VERY IMPORTANT to ROTATE the GREENS in you smoothies... Reason: "Plants carry a trace of alkaloids in their leaves to ensure that animals will move on to eat another green plant... alkaloids are poisonous in LARGE quantities... can't hurt you in SMALL quantities. HOWEVER, if you keep consuming the same exact green for many weeks, the alkaloids can accumulate in your body and cause unwanted symptoms of poisoning." So, consider this while shopping and perhaps allow the SALE of the day dictate which green you will use until your next shopping trip!

Best!

Oh wow Claudia this is very good information because spinach was becoming my staple....what other mainline green can replace spinach??

free skin care · Wed Aug 12, 2009 11:47 am

sister sweets wrote:

Kassy -I need a report on that awesome new "bronze" blender. I want that one. Shoot -

Yay Sis, it's here and I love it.. True bronze and matches my other appliances perfectly..

I was saddled with the kids running crazy yesterday, so didn't even get it out of the box till today..

I'll let you know how my maiden voyage turns out later..

I'm gonna read the literature now, and read a bit of the recipe book that came with it.. A quick glance had me drooling, with hundreds of great recipe's to make.. (Would it be okay to share some here, or is that a copy right infringement.. hmm

!)

Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to read I go .. Dancing

free skin care · Wed Aug 12, 2009 12:09 pm

Just wanted to mention that people with arthritis have to careful with spinach (and should people with kidney stones). I do not remember why, but can find out of needed.

HTH

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