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The 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge

The holidays are here in full swing and you’re eating like there’s no tomorrow! LOL. Who can blame you? It’s so good, right?! Well, I have a gift for you, that is just in time to help you with the ‘Glutton’s Guilt’ we develop after all the festivities. Plus, you need to start the New Year off on the right foot, anyway.

You know I coined the phrase, “Jamaican Green Smoothie”, and have broken it down so that every Jamaican can have a chance to enjoy the green goodness of blended fruits and leafy greens without leaving their backyard – callaloo patch, mango tree and all! Then, in July, we signed up with the gang at SimpleGreenSmoothies.com for the 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge. Well, it’s our turn now. For January 2014, I’ll be hosting “The 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge”!

That’s right. A wellness programme that requires you to drink one Jamaican Green Smoothie every day for 30 days! No other changes to your lifestyle are required. Just add one cup of blended leafy greens and fruit – that’s all. When you sign up for this challenge, you’ll be getting, for FREE:

  • Authentic Jamaican Green Smoothie Recipes
  • Nutritionist-backed Jamaican Green Smoothie Nutritional Info
  • Didan Ashanta’s Jamaican Green Smoothie Quick Start Guide
  • Customised Jamaican Green Smoothie Weekly Shopping Lists

By taking on The 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge, you will also:

  • Learn the benefits of local Jamaican leafy greens like Callaloo and Lettuce.
  • Learn the benefits of local Jamaican fruits like MangoJimbilin and Guava.
  • Learn the benefits of local Jamaican super foods like Ginger and Fevergrass.

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We only have a few days before the year has ended! Don’t make any rash resolutions about how much weight you’re going to lose, or which new diet you’re going to try, or how much you’re going to change your diet and start eating healthier. Within a few days you’ll give up and say, “Maybe next year.” So, to ensure that you have the support and motivation to make it through The 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge we’ll have The Jamaican Green Smoothie Facebook Group, where you’ll benefit from:

  • Daily Inspiration
  • Motivational Quips
  • Jamaican Green Smoothie Tips & Tricks
  • Support from other Jamaican Green Smoothie Challengers
  • Jamaican Green Smoothie Deals & Steals

Sign up for The 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge today! You will get:

  • Jamaican Green Smoothie Recipes for easy to find local leafy greens.
  • Jamaican Green Smoothie Recipes with easy to find local fruits.
  • Jamaican Green Smoothie Recipes using great liquids that are already in your kitchen.

 

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to transform your life! Green Smoothies are a proven and effective way to:

  •  Lose Weight
  • Detox & Cleanse Your Body
  • Improve Mental Clarity & Alertness
  • Kill Junk Food Cravings
  • Jumpstart Your Immune System

 

Sign up for The 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge today! Here’s the link.

Sign Up

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Green Smoothie Challenge: Tips & Quips

So, we have completed 2 weeks of the 30 Day Green Smoothie Challenge, a new shopping list is due out tomorrow and we are in the 3rd week of Melon Madness!! I still have a big watermelon sitting in my kitchen that I need to start slicing up. But, I’m trying to work through quite a bit of pineapple at the same time. LOL. You guys should probably know that since this challenge has begun, I’ve actually changed time zones – which means I lost a day – and I also changed hemispheres – which means I lost access to the lovely Caribbean fruits. This move also meant that the lovely heavy duty, brand-name glass blender that I had been using had to be left behind and I had to go online to order a new personal sized blender – which was delivered the next day, by the way! So, I have a had some challenges with sticking to the challenge – but I’m still smoothing my greens away 🙂

My New Blender & Mill
My New Blender & Mill

 

I have loved how the fever for consuming more liquefied fruits and vegetables has spread! This excites me because it means one less bottle of soda was consumed by some wonderful human being each time they drink a smoothie. *big grin* In fact, I’ve seen so many variations to this 30 Day Challenge that it has been simply amusing. Some persons are just juicing whatever they find in their kitchen while others are making power punches (oats, peanuts and all). So, I’m having a ball reading all the posts and viewing all the pics. Lovely. Lovely. Lovely.

Leafy Greens
Leafy Greens

Now, on a more ‘serious’ note. A green smoothie – in it’s purest form – is a beverage made by blending up leafy green vegetables, fruit and water. For example: lettuce, banana and water. For it to be considered an authentic green smoothie, the beverage must contain leaves and must not be strained, sieved or otherwise modified once blended.

  • It may contain more than one type of leaves, e.g. callaloo, lettuce and mint.
  • It may contain more than one kind of fruit e.g. mango, june plum and pineapple.
  • It may contain extras like ginger, lime, cinnamon powder or even a sweetener like honey or raisins.
  • You may use fresh fruit or frozen fruit.
  • You may use other liquids aside from water like coconut water, cerasee tea or almond milk.
  • You may even use two different liquids, e.g. water and coconut milk.

Image 3If you don’t like bananas, you can leave them out. But, if you still want that smooth creamy texture, you may replace the bananas with mangoes, avocado pears or pawpaws. But, the most important things to note are:

  1. Do not strain the smoothie – you are throwing away all the lovely fibre.
  2. Do include a leafy green vegetable – pumpkin and cucumber do not count as leafy greens. LOL.

 

 

Please remember the advice we got from the ladies over by Simple Green Smoothies. The 60:40 rule or 60/40 formula (60% fruits; 40% leafy greens) means that you put more fruits than greens into your smoothie. The next big piece of advice is: always blend your greens and liquid first! Afterwards, you can add your fruits and extras. It’s the only way to get a balanced and creamy smoothie each and every time. I tried it many other ways and only the ‘greens first’ method works. Now, I would’ve loved to post all the beautiful pics that you guys have shared on here, but I’m just going to add a few of my favourites to the 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge (July 2013) album on the Didan Ashanta Facebook page. So, check it out, because I’ll be posting some recipe ideas for you to try on there as well.

 

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Oh! Before I go. Did you know that Real Farm Freshness has recently created a specially customised “Green Juice Pack” which features a varied mix of herbs like cilantro and parsley, leafy greens like kale and swiss chard – all from The Family Garden – as well as good stuff like grapefruit, ginger and lime. This market delivery service also carries fruits like pineapples and ripe bananas, along with leafy greens like pakchoi and lettuce. So, you have no excuse for not stocking up your fridge.

 

Another thing: I don’t know if anyone else has noticed the changes in their bodies… I’m definitely going through a detox because of this challenge – and I’m not even going hard like my friend Sapphire of Karisma Krochet! LOL. So, I’ve had to ensure that I’m drinking large quantities of water to help my body flush out the toxins. All, I can say to you is observe your skin and your stool – those two organ systems tell the tales. Based on these results, if you know someone else who you think would benefit from green smoothies, serve them up a cup. Let them taste and see that it is good 😉 Soon, more and more people will be grabbing their greens, fruits, liquids and blending away as we transform our lives… one cup at a time.

Spinach & Japanese Ume Plum
Spinach & Japanese Ume Plum
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The 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge

Everyone wants to have a high quality life! We want to be free from illness, full of energy, have radiant hair, skin and nails, and maintain a fit body with an ideal weight. But, for many persons, the thought of reducing or eliminating certain foods from their diet (like refined sugars, refined flours, salt, saturated fat, chemical preservatives, animal flesh, dairy, etc.) is just unimaginable. They feel like they can’t do without these ‘dietary norms’, but still want to be healthier. But, whatever your aim is – weight-loss, glowing skin, improved digestion, extra energy, mental clarity, a detox or optimal nutritional intake – green smoothies are the answer! Nope, I’m not joking. In fact, I’m challenging you to start a daily habit of drinking green smoothies. Yes, for the month of July, I will being doing it and you should join me. My long-time friend, Cheryl, and I are taking on this 30-day challenge.

 

The 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge, which is being hosted by Jadah & Jen of Simple Green Smoothies from 1-30 July 2013, is right around the corner and you need to jump on-board! The primary objective of this challenge is for us to drink a 2-cup serving green smoothie each day, for 30 days, in addition to our regular diets. No reduction or elimination of anything! Easy, right?! So, you just keep eating your regular food (healthy or otherwise – LOL) and drink a smoothie everyday. However, if your aim is weight-loss, you may choose to use the green smoothie to replace a meal or two.

 

So, tomorrow (Thursday June 27) the first shopping list will be sent out (and one will be sent out each Thursday)! Remember that this information should be used just as a guide and for inspiration. It’s not supposed to overwhelm you. If you take a quick look back at the last blog post I made about Jamaican Green Smoothies, you will see that we have easy to find leafy greens in Jamaica that you can use if you have difficulties finding some ingredients like swiss chard or dandelion greens. So, this would be a good time to stock up on some Callaloo, Pakchoy, Cabbage, Lettuce, Chinese Cabbage, Celery, Spinach and Indian Kale. It’s key to remember that you should rotate your leafy greens, and that you should experiment and try out new recipes on your own. In fact, if you are adventurous, you may even want to try other, not-so-popular edible leaves from the plants of the dasheen, yam, sweet potato, pumpkin or the pawpaw.

 

For this 30-day challenge, we want to team up to start a daily green smoothie habit and use this new habit to change our lifestyle – one cup at a time! Wouldn’t it be great to see all the transformation pictures and stories on Augus’ Maanin?! Now, if you’re still timid and hesitant, they have posted a FAQ page where they deal with all the basics for green smoothie beginners and explain the ‘terms & conditions’ of the challenge. Some of you may want to read that first to feel comfortable that you can handle this challenge 🙂 When you’re done, please go to this link to get signed up: http://simplegreensmoothies.com/30-day-challenge.

 

So, what will you need? Between today and Sunday (June 30), please try to get (if you don’t already have them):

  1. Blender – to make the green smoothies in, any type is fine.
  2. Travel cup/mug/jar – to take your green smoothies with you wherever you go.
  3. Leafy greens – the more variety you use, the better.
  4. Fruits – both fresh and frozen can be used.
  5. Water – or any other healthy liquid like coconut water, almond milk or mint tea.

It’s as easy as blend, pour, drink!

If for any reason, you sign up after the challenge has started, you will still be able to have links to access past shopping lists (for the duration of the challenge). Please remember to share your daily green smoothies – pics, recipes, your feelings, anything – on your personal Facebook profile and on the Didan Ashanta Facebook page.

 

Let’s take on this challenge to jump-start a healthy lifestyle – “one cup at a time”.

 

 

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Butter Bean Stew

Stew Peas is a very popular and traditional Jamaican entrée that is made from Red Kidney Beans – known locally as ‘red peas’. It is often made with salted chicken, beef, pork or combinations of the three. However, many people enjoy the vegetarian version, sometimes called Ital Stew Peas (recipe link) either for dietary reasons or simply because of the ingredients they may have on hand. Even our favourite local cooking show, Creative Cooking, demonstrated a “Healthy Stewed Peas” (with Tofu):

 

Clearly there are tasty meat-less options to this Jamaican favourite. However, what does one do when there’s the craving for stew, but your kitchen cupboard is out of red kidney beans ? Well, I think ‘a bean is a bean’ – LOL – so, I grabbed a tin of Butter Beans (also known as Lima Beans) and whipped up my stew! I enjoyed the results so much that I actually reserved a tin of butter beans with hopes of making it again – and yesterday, I did just that. I threw in some veggie chunks (aka TVP) with potato, pumpkin, christophene and okra to make a very hearty dish which reminded me of a Japanese dish my family enjoys, called Hokkaido Cream Stew – just with a Jamaican flavour and no animal products.

Christophene, Okra, Butter Beans, Pumpkin, Potato, Veggie Chunks.
Christophene, Okra, Butter Beans, Pumpkin, Potato, Veggie Chunks.

 

Beyond being a good replacement for red kidney beans in a pot of stew peas, butter beans do the body good. According to Registered Dietician, Jill Corleone, writing for LiveStrong.com:

Most Americans choose meat and poultry as their primary source of protein, says the U.S. Department of Agriculture, but varying your sources of protein can help you meet essential vitamin and mineral needs. Butter beans are a healthy choice as an alternate source of protein. A 1-cup serving of butter beans contains about 14 g of protein. By comparison, a 3-oz. serving of meat contains about 21 g of protein. Healthy adult women need 46 g of protein a day, and healthy adult men need 56 g of protein a day. Butter beans contain 1 g of fat per cup, while meat and poultry can have up to 24 g of fat per 3-oz. serving.

She went on to outline that this humble legume is a good source of carbohydrates, fibre and iron. So, by stewing up those butter beans, I protected myself against iron deficiency and constipation, improved my blood sugar levels and lowered my cholesterol levels. Talk about a delicious way of fighting off disease! All too often, we trade our health for a tasty meal. But, we don’t have to. Whether it’s a bowl of Vegetarian Stew Peas or my pot of Butter Bean Stew, you can have your stew and eat it too! 😀

 

Butter Beans (via BBC.co.uk)

So, please be encouraged to experiment in your kitchen. Get to know your beans and maybe next Meatless  Monday, you can whip up something yummy and health-boosting at home.

 

Butter Bean Stew
Butter Bean Stew

I served up my Butter Bean Stew in a bowl of Jasmine Brown Rice and a side of Cucumber slices and Tomato chunks. Please let me know if you’ve tried any versions of the Meatless Stew Peas or if you’ve experimented with beans in your kitchen.

 

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Jamaican Green Smoothies

 

Almost every week, I see a friend posting about some green juice or green smoothie they had or need to have. I’ve enjoyed a few myself and I remember my introduction to the world of green beverages: an extremely refreshing bottle of callaloo juice I randomly picked up off a supermarket shelf some years ago. It had only 5 ingredients: water, callaloo, lime juice, ginger and sugarcane juice. You can’t do it any better than that! *ahhhhhh*

I usually whip up my green smoothies at home by grabbing whatever’s green and blending it with a little water and a bit of fruit. If I have any bananas that are becoming over-ripe, I normally chuck them into the freezer for use in a smoothie. This is because I find that frozen fruit makes the drink extra chilly and quite the right stuff on these ‘force-ripe-summer’ hot days we’re having.

Most green smoothie recipes that you’ll find online will call for green leafy vegetables like spinach, kale, collard greens or mustard. But, if you’re in Jamaica, you don’t need to complicate things by thinking ‘foreign’! We have an abundance of our own green leafy vegetables to choose from. Don’t believe me? Look in your fridge! Don’t you see something green?! LOL.

Unless you live in a home with a very blessed backyard, or just went to visit your granny in the country, you’ll need to add the ingredients for your green smoothie stash to your regular grocery list. No! You don’t need to go through the hassle of travelling to the market to haggle for quality produce at great prices. To get all your fruits and leafy greens, you could use an affordable but high quality market delivery service like Real Farm Freshness. These are some courteous people who will bring your fruits, veggies and any other produce to your home or office door for likkl n nutten.  But, if you need the exercise from walking around and you enjoy the social interaction, please go to your neighbourhood fruit stand and green grocer, or a farmer’s market like the one held at Michi Super Center every month. Don’t forget that we need to build Jamaica by buying Jamaican and eating Jamaican!

Once you’ve got your fruit and leafy green stash, you’ll probably need some ideas for how to combine them for yummy beverages. While I enjoy my spontaneously crazy fruit and vegetable combinations, my green smoothies may not get the same frothy grins from you.  So, I checked out the blog at Simple Green Smoothies and they have a lot of info for the clueless and even offer a Free Green Smoothie Recipe e-Book. They also have what they call “The 60/40 Formula” in which your recipe is always 60% fruits and 40% leafy greens.

“For example: 3 cups fruit, 2 cups dark leafy greens, 1-2 cups of water. Makes 32-40oz or 4-5 cups.”

So you don’t have any excuse to say the smoothies will taste yucky or ‘green’. In fact, you could really benefit from taking on their “30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge” – which begins 1 July 2013 – and try to drink one cup of green smoothie goodness a day.

But, don’t get bogged down by all the recipes that call for weird sounding leafy greens, berries and super foods –  just use my list Jamaican fruits, vegetables and liquids outlined below, to make your green smoothies low-cost and local:

  Leafy Green Fruit Liquid Extras
Basic Callaloo Banana Water Lime
  Pak Choi Pineapple Coconut Water Ginger
  Lettuce Watermelon Nut Milk (coconut/soy/almond)  
  Cabbage Orange Tea (Peppermint/Lemongrass)  
         
Special Cucumber Mango    
  Stringbean Cherry    
  Carrot Guava    
  Tomato Passionfruit    
  Avocado Pear Otheiti Apple    
  Chocho June Plum    
  Broccoli Soursop    
   Sweet Pepper Sweetsop    

 

Once you’ve decided that you want to get your green smoothie habit going, my recommendation is that you:

  1. Plan for one week of juices.
    Fail to plan? Plan to fail!
  2. Make a shopping list.
    Don’t get too much of anything and don’t end up with snacks or other junk that distracts you while you shop.
  3. Get your ingredients.
    Wherever you can: Coronation Market. Market Delivery Service. Local fruit stand and green grocer. Farmer’s Market. Your backyard.
  4. Grab 5 mins to gather your stuff, blend and fill your bottle to go.
    The quickest meal you ever made! LOL.
  5. Always use local  fruits and veggies and buy whatever is in season.
    Healthy doesn’t mean you have to be wealthy nor make someone else wealthy.

Now, if you’re lazy – sorry – extremely busy, you could simply call up Live Juice Bar and order a few bottles of their “100% Fruit and Vegetable Juices and Smoothies made Live!” They deliver and you can win cool juice jars, bottles or even bonus juices when you order.

Remember, if you want to up your veg intake or just ensure you have something sensible for the day, try a green smoothie! No strainers, no twisting of muslin cloths to wring out precious juices. No fibre lost.

But, whatever you do, just keep it simple and fill up on your greens!