Green, the color of life!

DAY 10 raw and DAY 5 of green cleanse...

When people asked me what my favourite color is I would often reply that I didn't have one because I love them all so much, but now that I think about it I'd have to take back my answer. I love green! Why? Green is the color of growing things, of God's incredible nature, it's the color of life! The most important (I feel) foods we can eat in the raw diet are things that are green because they are the ones with probably the greatest effect on our body, alkalizing it, bringing along chlorophyll, an army of vitamins and nutrients, and giving us abounding energy. Greens are powerful!!!

During this green cleanse I've felt great and had a lot of energy. It's been fun whizzing up concoctions that you don't know how will taste. Mom and I we've made so many shades of green with our "recipes", bright, verdant green, khaki green, army green, swampy green, and forest green. Some we liked more than others that's certain but none of them made me wish I didn't have to drink it. No sir, I'm now an official fanatic of green smoothies. Like the Green Smoothie girl (http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/) says, "If you do nothing else in your day that's healthy, do this!" (BTW, I really liked her site and she's got a great green smoothie demo movie on her home page you should check out)

CHLOROPHYLL Some people wonder, "Why are greens so important?" One of the many great reasons (putting the incredible results of a more alkalized body, more energy, weight loss, the essential vitamins and nutrients it gives aside) is because of the chlorophyll. This is the green pigment that makes all your greens green. Chlorophyll tackles tumor growth, purifies the lymph nodes, helps the adrenal glands, unstops arteries and enriches the blood. It has a lot of vitamins and minerals, phyto-nutrients, and colon-cleansing cellulose. Did you know that chlorophyll is only one molecule different than the makeup of human blood? It is a fighter, a good battle guy for our body. There. That's one reason.

TRY TO GET ORGANIC One thing I'm trying to do when we get greens is to get organic. As Serene Allison says, "Greens are your medicine." That's a great reason to our greens straight from the garden. You don't want your medicine to be sprayed with chemicals and pesticides, grown in depleted, horrid soil. No! You want it to be fresh and organic. At our house, it's not problem getting organic greens in the summer and spring because we do organic gardening, but in winter and fall it's a little more difficult, especially since where we live it's hard to get good organic, whole food, type of stores and resources. But we do our best and that's what counts.

HOW TO GET MORE GREEN IN OUR DIET My best advice would be green smoothies (a recipe below). Have a salad at the supper meal everyday (this helps your family eat more greens). When you're making your applesauce put in some greens (not cooked) and serve it the "green" way. Pick a milder green (like spinach) and put it in your raw ice-creams, add some pure mint extract and then you've got something that looks and tastes like mint ice-cream. Use your creativity and think of lots of ways to get more greens in you and your family's life. You can also get green supplements (and there's a lot of good ones out there) and put that in smoothies, juices, or water to help increase your "green-ity". Currently, I don't do that, but I would like to in the future (especially for when I'm on trips).

Here's one of my favourite green smoothies: (I won't give measurements, but just let you take it to your own level to emphasize the berries, bananas, or greens to what extent you desire)

BERRY GREEN

A mix of berries (your choice of one or more of raspberries, blueberries, huckleberries, blackberries, strawberries)

Banana(s)

A mix of greens (your choice of one or more of spinach, kale, collards, ect.)

Then add pure water or a berry juice to the consistency you want in the blender and whizz it up and lastly, enjoy!

When we eat our greens in the smoothie form, all the cellular walls of the greens have been broken down and we can absorb more nutrients than if we chewed a big salad. That's why when you eat greens you should chew long and well.

Here's to green!