Smoothie Challenge

A group of my raw food friends wanted to do a green smoothie challenge this week. After agreeing to try to drink as many green smoothies a day as I could, I realized I had already set myself up for failure....there is no way I can survive 7 days drinking nothing but green smoothies. I like to eat!

Actually part of what satisfies me on a daily basis is a variety of flavors and textures, which smoothies do not provide. There is one blended flavor and one texture, and I get bored with them easily. They do, however, pack a lot of nutrition into one simple meal that can be consumed without a lot of fuss...just drink and go. Other things can be added to the smoothies to give them an extra kick, but I prefer mine to be just fruit and/or greens. So while I wish my friends luck with the challenge, I am going to stick with what works for me. I will still try to get more smoothies in this week, but I won't be doing 3 a day.

Nonetheless, I tried today.

• Breakfast: 1 qt. green smoothie with apple, banana, pear and Swiss chard.
• Lunch: 1 qt. green smoothie with mango, orange, banana, spinach, ginger root and mint. (This is my favorite!)
• Supper: Another quart of the lunch smoothie.
• And then I had: Radishes and carrots with some leftover Brazil nut pate, lettuce wraps with romaine, tomatoes, cauliflower, tahini, red bell pepper, sunflower seeds and Bragg's Aminos.

I ended up overeating late in the day to satisfy my urge to chew. Lesson learned.

Photo: A smoothie favorite: mango, orange and banana.