Anyone have any experience with this? I'm in my 6th day and I'd just like to hear what other people think. I'm not hungry, but I'm getting tired of the sweet taste always in my mouth. I tried making one with walnut mylk instead of apple juice for the base, but then I added lots of other fruits to it to make the spinach palatable so it was different and good but still sweet. I really want something savory, I am salivating over the hot dogs and lunch meat in the fridge ::blush:: =) Anyway just curious...

[www.rahorigins.org]

I wrote about my personal experience with Green Smoothies about 2 years ago. I tried it for a while, and you can read about my observations and experience.

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My experience with the green smoothies
Author: Bryan (---.nas51.oakland1.ca.us.da.qwest.net)
Date: 04-11-05 23:36

I've been eating the green smoothies ever since I first read about them in Victoria Boutenko's "Ode to Green Smoothies". They have really made eating bananas much more fun than before, since I can use berries to flavor the smoothies. Also, my intake of greens has doubled from before the smoothies.

Bananas are my least favorite fruit I eat. I eat them during the winter and early spring, as there are no better alternative where I live. Once the California fruit season begins, there is no reason any longer for me to eat bananas. So making smoothies has made eating bananas much more enjoyable for me.

With the doubling of my green intake, I find I have more volume to my bowel movements. Not that what I had before was a problem, and not that this is any better or worse. It's just different.

The other thing I'm noticing is that I don't get the signal to stop eating the smoothies until my belly is full. This is not what I get with mono eating. The other thing I notice is that once my belly is full, and the smoothies have digested a bit, I'm ready to eat again. This also doesn't happen to me when I mono eat fruit and greens. The smoothies also lower my body temperature more than eating just bananas. This is because I am often using frozen berries for flavoring, but also because I add water and the lettuce is refrigerated. When I mono eat lettuce, it seems to have time to warm up to room temperature, plus I can't eat the lettuce as quickly with chewing as I can in a smoothie.

Today I mono ate at noon 9 medium bananas and a head of lettuce. I was full the entire day. Yet if I had eaten the equivalent in smoothies, I would have been ready for another smoothie or two around 2-3pm. I ate dinner around 6pm, but I probably could have waited another hour or two since I wasn't really that hungry. For dinner I mono ate 8 medium oranges and 8 ribs of celery.

Over the last 2 months of eating the green smoothies, my fat consumption has gone up over previous winters. This is because at the end of the day, I am still not satiated (especially if I had smoothies all day), and 3-4 handfulls of nuts will do the trick. I pretty much ate fat every day I ate the smoothies. With the mono eating today, I ate a single handfull of nuts, and I think that was more out of habit rather than not being satiated. Before the smoothies, I would eat fat every other day.

The other disadvantage is the cost. I can eat more bananas (4-5) in a day with the green smoothies, and more lettuce. Yesterday I ate 3 head of lettuce in smoothies. Also the berries add $4 or more a day to my costs. So overall I spend $8+ more a day for the smoothies (not counting the nuts). Also, the berries I've been eating I would never mono eat. Strawberries are not in full season here in California (maybe way south they are, but not locally) so they don't taste great, and the blueberries are coming from South America and are not sweet. And often I will use frozen ones since they are cheaper.

I suppose I could omit the berries. But then at that point, it's not much different than mono eating in terms of the flavor. I also think the lack of chewing is hampering the feeling full and not being satiated. Also, I've read that not chewing does cause the teeth to weaken over time. This is the one of the reasons the SAD diet is hard on teeth, as cooked foods don't really need to be chewed like raw foods do.

I also played with an orange and celery and raspberry smoothie, which I enjoyed. Those smoothies were a little more filling, probably because of the acidity of the oranges. I'll continue with the green smoothies (though perhaps not every day like I did for the last 2 months) until I can migrate away from bananas as the local fruit season begins. For next year, I need to see if I want to eat the smoothies again.

Thanks for the post. It was interesting to hear your take on them.

[www.rahorigins.org]

bryan
i completely relate to your smoohtie post....i have not done green smoothies for 2 months.....yet i do them pretty much every morning....and my experiences are very similar to yours....i am hungry pretty quickly after a smoothie....i put about 5 bananas in there....whereas if i eat 2 wrapped in romaine leaves...i am full for much longer...and yes, buying the frozen berries gets expensive....and drinking the smoothies gives me a different full...then eating some fruit....smoothies are a more uncomfortable full....i can down smoothies and then almost feel a little sick sometimes...

i will just keep experimenting....bryan, do you work out??

Is there such thing as green smoothies fasting? I thought the purpose of fasting was to rest the digestive system by not eating or eating lightly.

The fiber is geen smoothies is broken down by the blender but still the digestive system is not resting it has to do the job. Where is the fasting? Actually we end up eating more on green smoothies....

Minor semantic quibble. I mearly meant they were all I was eating. And for me, subsisting on smoothies is eating lightly.

[www.rahorigins.org]

ha ha ha!!

i like greens
i like em better when i get to drink em
i just put celery instead of fruit
and i like to juice em
it makes me feel good
otherwise what's the point :

oh yeah,

rah origins

that banana strawberry pie that u made
(saw the photo of it)
looks like its fit for royalty

gimme a slice o it

That's sweet of you to say.
I think my recipie got put in a cookbook somewhere, but I never got a copy.
The next time I make it I'll save you a slice. =)

[www.rahorigins.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/14/2007 06:02AM by RahOrigins.

1 day rah origins woke up and said to hisssself

"self!!" make yerself a starrr berry - 0- banana pie!

so ra origins decided to get back to his origins and climbed a banana tree
shook some o those creamy fruit off their pods
then wentt on all 4's swarmed his limbs across the blackened earth
and searched for the perfect sunlit crimson sesame seed decked starro berries

then he lept up like the glint of wheat
and in 4 seconds
diced preened prepped washed ca chortled, mirthled, gallolopollied and danced his hands into a pie making peace raking starberrybanna pie creatin' creation

and he won first place
wuz a purty purple royal ribbon

now gimme a slice

NOW!!

Maybe you'd call it a Green Smoothie "cleanse"

I used to do green smoothies every morning. Usually I used spinach or parsley as my green of choice.

After a while I got tired of them and really just wanted an all fruit smoothe, so lately that is what I've been doing.

However recently my son asked me to put the greens back in, so in they went!

meinleben,

Its not surprising that we have had the same experiences with the green smoothies. As for working out, say like in a gym, no. I do a regular hatha yoga practice, I go for walks in my neighborhood and hikes in nature. Once a week I do a full day of physical labor (last week it was chopping wood with a maul, and digging ditches, hauling wood).

la_veronique makes me smile inside,
to be part of a beautiful folk tale...



right back at'cha...

Bryan, you have explained exactly what I'm going through. Now I understand why after I have my green smoothy I want to eat handfuls of nuts. I love green smoothies, but would like to be satiated. After eating the nuts, I just feel awful. There might be emotional eating problems going on, too.

I never heard of a green smoothie fast. I wouldn't think it's a real fast because there's food involved. How does it work? I'm just curious.

rahorigins

thanxforsending me a slice of STARberry

i fed some to the forty seventeen seventy dancing lil joylets 2

they thank their raw origins for being able to apprciate it

I have enjoyed green smoothies - I went raw on them for 1 week on two occasions. Both times were a challenge, but that is probably because I am not yet consistently raw. I have found they do not make me more hungry, but I am definitely eating more fruit in one sitting because of the blending.

I have also had problems in regards to overeating (drinking?) them, but I can't be certain that the smoothies are to blame; I have had problems managing proper food proportions no matter what I eat (though it IS getting better!).

Cheers

la_veronique is most welcome, and is welcome in my hut at anytime.

Mona, by green smoothie fasting I just meant they were all I was eating. I guess it's not really a fast, but then Bragg says nothing but all water counts and I hear pleanty of talk about juice fasting so who knows. I drank about a quart a day in two sittings, plus mineral water and a little apple juice, for about a week, then added back non-blended foods and now I've been 100% rah for 9 days so I'd say they worked wonderfully. I didn't overeat, in fact I ate way less than usual, but I did get incredibly sick of sweetness and had to find ways of toning them down. If you're really interested I made the whole experience into a blog / video podcast which you can read, view, or subscribe to at the link in my signature. If you visit, sign my guest map. It's fun, and makes me feel all happy inside!

[www.rahorigins.org]

I think of having nothing but green smoothies as more of a cleanse. You are not really fasting in the real sense, but you can clean your body anyway. Greens are very cleansing.

I have done this for no more than a week. I find that a quart of smoothie will last me for 6 hours if I sip it over that time (with lots of water too). It doesn't take much to fill me up at a time - just a cup or so. I do add avocado to it which is why it stays with me for so long.

If you are salivating over hot dogs and lunch meats, perhaps you need more sodium or other minerals. Try adding celery! It is high in sodium. Mix apples and celery for a Waldorf smoothie (or just juice them). It is delicious.