THE BEyond the smoothie Challenge Recipe Book Getpurevitality.com
Welcome to the Beyond The Smoothie Challenge! This challenge is so much more than just about making smoothies it s about empowering you to take back your health by making healthy changes that last. Our goal is to give you everything you need to make smoothies a part of your lifestyle, not just another diet. Even if you don t have health problems, eating more fresh produce has been shown to prevent disease. And all of us could use more fresh produce in our diets these days. We have seen people get these kinds of health improvements from adding in a green smoothie to their daily routine: More energy Clearer skin Lose weight Better sleep Mental clarity What People Are Saying Ready to get started? Let s make 2016 your healthiest year yet!
The Rules All you have to do is make and drink one green smoothie each day instead of one of your regular meals. The smoothie should be at least 16 ounces or more. Please keep eating your regular meals. You don't need to make any drastic changes right now. If you are new to healthier eating, just a green smoothie per day is going to still make an impact on your health. Now, if you are ready to supercharge your New Year and lose weight even faster, feel free to have 2 smoothies each day. The Giveaway We will be giving away a special prize for one lucky winner.a Nutribullet Pro and a spot in our 90-Day Group Program that starts in February. So here s what you need to do to get an entry each day in our challenge: 1. Share our Green Smoothie Challenge posts on our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/purevitality with your friends and use the hashtag #BeyondTheSmoothie for one entry. 2. Take a photo of yourself with your green smoothie (or you making your smoothie if you are not photogenic) each day and post it to our Facebook page with the hashtag #BeyondTheSmoothie. It can be a comment to one of our posts that day. This will give you one more entry. (Aren t they cute!! >>)
Equipment Needed To make a smoothie, the only equipment you will need is a blender. It can be a standard blender, a stick blender, or a high speed blender. A standard blender may not be able to grind up nuts or other things very well, so be sure to use nut butter or powdered protein sources. The Smoothie Ingredients Time to get started! All ingredients should be raw and unheated if possible. Organic produce is also important, but if you don t have access to it, don t let this hold you back! Your body will still get amazing nutrition. Fruit: Use soft, ripe fruit, such as bananas, pears, peaches, mangos, etc. Be sure to vary the fruit you use during this challenge as your body needs variety. Protein: While we have used many different protein powders on the market, very few of them are all raw and organic. The other important thing you want to be aware of is that many contain whey or soy, which are NOT very good for you. Rice protein is another commonly used protein, but most of it comes from China and is potentially contaminated with heavy metals. That is not something you want in your smoothie! So, a couple of brands that we like are from Green Smoothie Girl and Sunwarrior. They meet our requirements AND taste good too! Don t have protein powder, you can also use almond butter, seeds, hemp protein, etc.
Healthy fats: Believe it or not, the body NEEDS healthy fats to function optimally. I know it s hard to believe that fats won t cause us to gain weight, but it s really the UNhealthy fats or highly heated fats that are the culprits. Processed high fat foods and fried foods are the worst things you can eat and they will cause you to gain weight. When you have healthy, unheated fats like flax oil or coconut oil, your body knows what to do with it and it does not cause excess weight gain. So, adding healthy fats to your smoothie can help give your better mental clarity, reduce cravings, and help you lose weight! Greens: Greens are the healers of the body. Chlorophyll in green plants is made up of a molecule that closely resembles the red blood cell. When you eat more greens, the body is able to start to heal and rejuvenate itself. It s that simple. Add a handful of spinach or other greens. You will not even be able to taste the spinach. It will just lend a green hue to the smoothie. If you are new to green smoothies, start out with a small amount- a small handful of leaves. It s a good thing to vary the greens you use: rotate spinach, chard, kale, lettuces, etc... Superfoods (Optional): Superfoods are foods with extra nutrition that can be added to smoothies to enhance their health giving properties. Things like bee pollen, maca, gogi berries, barley grass powder, spirulina, chlorella, raw cacao powder, etc can be added in small amounts to smoothies to boost your energy and provide other benefits.
FAQ Can I make a green smoothie ahead? Of course, a freshly made smoothie is going to taste best, but if you need to store it in your refrigerator, it will last a couple of days. Just be sure to store it with a lid on and give it a good shake before you drink it. What if I m allergic to one of the ingredients? You may have a particular food allergy to an ingredient in a recipe, so if that s the case, just make a substitution using another type of fruit. Smoothies are pretty forgiving, so just use something you know your body likes and keep blending! What if I m on a tight budget? There are ways to save money on produce, such as buying what is in season and buying in bulk. Frozen fruit is a great way to have fruit on hand for smoothies and it s less expensive than fresh fruit. Sam s and Costco have large bags of frozen fruit that is very inexpensive. Also, see if you have a farm nearby or a CSA. What if I want my smoothie to be sweeter? Fruit that is ripe is sweet, but you may find that it s not as sweet as you would like. Rather than add concentrated sweeteners, try adding dried fruit or dates for extra sweetness. Stevia is another natural sweetener that will not affect your blood sugar like other things do.
The Recipes On the pages that follow you will see 25 unique smoothie recipes that we created for you to get started. Feel free to find the ones that appeal to you and make those, or get creative and make your own! You can make any green smoothie recipe that you like in this challenge. We still encourage you to change it up regularly because the body does best when it gets a variety of fruits and veggies. If you like a creamy smoothie, use almond, coconut, or cashew milk as the liquid. Or if you like an icy smoothie, then you can use water and add some ice as the base liquid. What s your favorite smoothie temperature? Many people like a nice cold smoothie, but that may not be your thing in the winter months. A smoothie is just as tasty at room temperature as it is icy cold. Try it and see what you like. Got extra in your blender? One fun thing you can do is pour it into popsicle molds for your kids to enjoy. IF it s too green, just throw in some extra blueberries to turn it purple and they will never know there is spinach in there!
Week 1 Shopping List Fruit 1 bunch of bananas (at least 6) 2 cups frozen blueberries 2 ripe pears 2 mangos 2 oranges 1/2 cup dried figs Lime, optional Vegetables 1 large container of prewashed spinach Other 1 cup raw almonds or raw almond butter 1/4 cup raw cashews Almond milk or filtered water for the liquid base, depending on what you like Vanilla extract Almond extract Cinnamon Gogi berries, optional