I’ve always told people that you don’t need a fancy, shmancy blender to do the Green Smoothie Challenge.

I’ve always told people that they can just use a cheap $10 Osterizer from a garage sale to do the trick.

But as long as I’ve been a raw foodist, I’ve always had a fancy, shmancy blender. So what did I know? Until this morning!

I had spotted his Osterizer some time ago and decided that it would be perfect for trying out some kitchen experiments for raw foodists on a budget!

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Well stocked with Swiss chard from our little garden plot, and oodles of fresh fruit, this morning I decided it was time to pull out the OSTERIZER!

I loaded it up with:

2 fresh bananas
2 frozen bananas
2 peaches
1/2 cup of Mr. Right’s Tropicana juice. ;-)
If you’re hard core, just add water. I was trying to impress the Prince of Prosciutto, so I sweetened it up with some of his favorite juice!

Then I got this whizzing, whirring, stirring and blending in the old Osterizer until there was a creamy smooth consistency happening.

(Honestly, at this point I was already very impressed with the smooth texture.) I was expecting the peel of the peach to be a bit chunky, but it was smooth as smoothie gets.

That’s when I started adding the Swiss chard.

I don’t usually add the spine of the leaves. I suppose I added about 5 or 6 big leaves before I called it quits.

I was SHOCKED, AMAZED, IMPRESSED and so SURPRISED that the cheap little Osterizer had pulled off a green smoothie of magnificent smoothness.

Could she have pulverized parsley with the same finesse? I’m not sure.

Could she have done it to grape skins, or think, curly kale? Hard to say.

But this morning’s ingredients were no competition to the persistent little blades of this blender beauty.

I still love my Blendtec. I don’t think this little Osterizer could ever pump out almond milk or other concoctions that I’ve come to love with my fancy, shmancy blender.
But the proof is definitely in the green pudding this morning:

I’m so excited to introduce a new member of the Green Smoothie Queen Blog Team, Lisa Simpson of Raw Liberty.

Her articles will be featured here every week and they will be chock-filled with great tips about greens! -GSQ

The Benefits of Green Smoothies

780106_garden_veggiesWe’ve all heard the sayings, “Eat Your Greens” and “Greens are good for you”, but do you really know how true they are?

Greens provide us with one of the most perfect forms of nutrition we can consume. They are loaded with amino acids, (the building blocks of protein), minerals, vitamins, fibre & chlorophyll.

In fact the chlorophyll – the green pigment of a plant – is biochemically almost identical to human blood! This just makes it our perfect food!

According to Victoria Boutenko greens are the primary food group that match human nutritional needs most completely.

Our bodies require a certain amount of nutrients to thrive. In drinking or eating something that is packed with nutrients you will find that you will be satisfied throughout your day and your cravings will be reduced accordingly.

Greens can be combined with any other food and enhance digestion by stimulating enzyme production.

Therefore, the combination of greens and fruit in green smoothies is an ideal combination.

green smoothie Girl Smoothies are smoothies that are made with blended fresh leafy greens. It’s as simple as that.

Often the greens are blended with fruits, which provide you with a delicious meal bursting with nutrition!
However, as fantastic as greens are, we would have to chew them for ages in order to get them to the creamy consistency that is necessary for us to be able to take full advantage of all the nutrition they hold – the nutrients are stored within the plant’s cells and their cell walls need to be ruptured in order to release them; that’s where the smoothies come in.

By blending your greens in a high speed blender, they are broken down at a cellular level which not only releases more flavour, it also makes the bounty of nutrients more readily available for your body.

So, what can Green Smoothies do for you?

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Drinking a green smoothie everyday will:
* boost your immune system
* boost your mental performance giving you clearer thought
* increase digestive efficiency
* support weight loss
* balance body PH
* give you more energy
* reduce body aches and pains
* reduce acne
* reduce illness
* promote easy weight loss
* reduce craving for coffee and caffiene

… and the positive benefits goes on.