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Get the “Jamaican Green Smoothies” Book for FREE!

The Gift-giving begins today! It’s my birthday today and I want to give you a gift! For the next 3 days the eBook version of, “Jamaican Green Smoothies: The Essential Guide to Transforming Your Life, One Cup at a Time, With the Leafy Greens & Fruits in Your Backyard” will be FREE to download from Amazon.com and I want you to grab a copy and tell everyone you know to grab one too!

 

Maybe it comes with age, but I’m really grateful for all the amazing opportunities, experiences and relationships that I have been blessed with. So, instead of only anticipating gifts and affection, I want to give something, too. (Notice I said, “too”. This means I still expect you to flood my inbox, phone and heart with affection and affirmations as you and I celebrate another year of my life 😉

By the way, you don’t need a Kindle device to download the book. You can read it on any device! The Kindle App is available for Apple, Android and Windows smart phones and tablets, as well as your personal computer (Mac & Windows). But, my favourite way to access my Kindle Library (which has books for days) is via the Cloud Reader which works from any browser. Just go to http://bit.ly/jgsgift to get a copy. You can share this like with your friends, too!

 

The 30-Day JGS Challenge

The next thing I want to give to you, is the opportunity to (re)build a blending habit for the new year. The 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge is scheduled for January 2017 and is the perfect way to kick off the new year.

So many years and resolutions have gone by and you’re still not as radiant or full of vitality as you’d like. This is why I’m recommending that you choose just one habit to work on for the first 30 days of the year and watch as you wake up your immune system, rev up your metabolism (fat burner) and reprogramme your cravings and tastebuds.

This 30-Day Challenge will NOT require you to eat less or differently than you usually do. All we’re doing is ADDING a 16oz serving of blended fruits and leafy greens to all the deliciousness you enjoy everyday. If you’ve never had a Jamaican Green Smoothie before, the first thing I will tell you is, “If it isn’t creamy and delicious, you’re not doing it properly.” We won’t be blending up your Granny’s washout nor chugging any lawnmower pulp. So, please come prepared to be hooked!

To join the 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge January 2017, please go to http://bit.ly/JGS2017 to submit your name and email address. We’ve had participants from various nations across the world, like Jamaica, Japan, USA, Canada, Cayman, Trinidad & Tobago, the UK, France, South Africa, Cameroon, and Australia. So, you can get support wherever you are.

 

I’m really looking forward to taking this challenge with you. Thank you for accepting my birthday gifts and I’m expecting to hear from you soon 😉

 

 

 

 

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The Ultimate Formula For Lip-Smacking Green Smoothies

Green smoothie dumps and chugs are quite common. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. It is totally possible to have guaranteed delish every time you turn on your blender. Yet, horrid-tasting green smoothie attempts are more common than they should be. You blend up your ingredients, taste it and throw it straight into the sink, because you refuse to drink anything that tastes like pond water. Or you realise the recipe is a fail, but tell your taste buds to “Shut up!” and drink it all as fast as possible because you don’t plan to waste a red cent by dumping a jug full of liquefied fruit, veg and superfoods.

 

For a green smoothie fan, it might not be such a big deal – the yucky blend – because you often have a few recipes that you can fall back on for yumminess guaranteed. The pain comes for the sister who is drawn in by all the testimonials about easy-to-make, delicious, health-restoring, weight-managing, affordable blends. When she finds the bravery to through green leaves into a blender and opens it to a lawnmower fragrance and the smoothie tastes like sludge, she will often swear never to touch a green smoothie again!

 

The Answer
The big difference between a green smoothie dumper/chugger and a green smoothie connoisseur is a formula. A connoisseur will often start by following a recipe, but eventually they try so many variations that they spot a consistent formula and start using it to come up with their own recipes. A perfect example is the “60/40 Rule” that Victoria Boutenko came up with. She encourages green smoothie newbies to make their blends 60% fruit and only 40% leafy greens. This way, the sweetness and flavours of the ripe fruits will overpower the natural bitterness of dark-green leaves. These blends are usually fruity and only the colour might give away hints at the vegetables hiding in the smoothie.

 

The Jamaican Green Smoothie Formula
Well, I follow a formula like this too. For every 2 cups of dark-green leafy vegetables, I include 3 cups of fruit. Then to move the produce around the blender blades, I pour in 1-2 cups of liquid (usually pure water). So, it really is as easy as 1-2-3:
1 cup Liquid
2 cups Leaves
3 cups Fruit
It doesn’t matter if you use 1 fruit or 3, and it is okay to use 2 different leaves in the same blend. Those aren’t really the factors to focus on when blending up a delicious green smoothie. It is the portions that matter, not the particular ingredients.

 

So, the next time you look in the produce basket and realise that you’ve never combined the particular fruits and leaves that you happen to have on hand, just remember the 1-2-3 formula and you’ll be sure to drain your cup – every time.

 

 

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How the Green Smoothie Was Invented 

Excepted from “Jamaican Green Smoothies: The Essential Guide To Transforming Your Life, One Cup At A Time, With The Leafy Greens & Fruits In Your Backyard” By Didan Ashanta 

Life in old time Jamaica saw us enjoying a Sky Juice (shaved ice and water topped with brightly coloured, fruit-flavoured syrup in a bag with a straw) on a sweltering, hot day. But, as our consciousness of health and wellness increased, we changed old habits and today, we’ve grown accustomed to consuming Fruit Slush, instead – those thick, sweet blends of fruit, fruit juice or fruit-flavoured syrup and ice. This refreshing blend is popularly known as a smoothie in the United States of America; and smoothies are an easy and delicious way to incorporate more fruit in our diets. Many persons blend them up every morning – even as a breakfast replacement. But, the wellness industry still encouraged us to develop even healthier habits, by increasing our consumption of dark green, leafy vegetables. So, very quickly green juices became popular and soon after, the green smoothie was born and it has been trending since.

Dr. Ann Wigmore, known as “the mother of living foods”, was a pioneer in the raw food movement and she developed wonderful nut milks and seed cheeses that are still popular today. This Lithuanian Holistic Medical Practitioner also introduced the world to the wonders of wheatgrass, and according to the Ann Wigmore Natural Health Institute, Inc., she promoted fresh wheatgrass juice as “an effective healer because it contains chlorophyll, all minerals known to man, and vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, and K.” Dr. Wigmore also developed the Hippocrates diet, and advocated juicing fruits and vegetables as a way to obtain optimal nourishment. But, in her later years in life, she wrote:

“You may have noticed that I no longer advocate juicing, except for wheatgrass and watermelon juice. Juices such as green drinks can be too cleansing for most people’s bodies which have become extremely toxic from environmental and dietary abuse. Blending helps the body to clean itself and thus it restores health much quicker than just eating the foods as salads, yet it does not overtax the system with the rapid cleansing action of juices. Eating nutritionally balanced food in a blended form is a big help to the immune system and thus even seems to overcome “incurable” health problems.”

This little bit of history is the reason many green smoothie experts recognise Dr. Wigmore as the inventor of the blending concept behind the green smoothie. However, it was Victoria Boutenko whose pioneering made the ‘green smoothie’ famous. In 2004, while researching the perfect diet for humans, Victoria tried to liquefy her green leaves, but she didn’t like the taste. It was only after observing a chimpanzee wrap some fruit in the green leaves before eating them, that she thought of adding fruit to her blended green leaves. Her book, Green for Life: The Updated Classic on Green Smoothie Nutrition, and the follow-up, Green Smoothie Revolution: The Radical Leap Toward Natural Health, are excellent reference tools for anyone wanting to dive deep into the world of green smoothies.

It seems that while health-food enthusiasts were busy chugging down bitter-tasting green juices and the rest of us were experimenting with small salads, the first green smoothie was being blended up by Victoria Boutenko, just by adding ripe bananas to her blender full of liquefied green leaves. This minor discovery has resulted in a major revolution and I have also come to agree that green smoothies are the perfect dietary habit for everyone and anyone who hopes to adopt and maintain a healthy diet without making sacrifices to the taste of their food or to their lifestyle.

For more green smoothie info and recipes, purchase a copy of Jamaican Green Smoothies, now available from major online book retailers like Amazon and in branches of Kingston Bookshop & Bryan’s Bookstores throughout Jamaica.

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3 Easy-to-Pick-up Habits For A Greener, Vibrant New Year!

Happy New Year!

You crossed it! You were given 366 blank pages to fill with vibrant, health-sustaining habits. If you spent most of 2015 underserving your body, then today – right now when you’re reading this – is the day to do something different.

 

Lifestyles & Habits

The question we most often ask persons who are hearty and agile in their 80s, 90s and 100s is, “What did you do?” This is because we understand that their lifestyle was the main contributor to their long life. But, what so many of us fail to realise is that a lifestyle is built on habits, and habits are things we have done so consistently that we do them on autopilot. These little things that we do every day, without even thinking about them, are so ingrained into our psyches that they are part of our identities. This is why short-term fixes like a weight-loss programme or even a fitness challenge never produce long-term results. We only follow the guidelines for a specific duration and then return to our normal way of being once the programme or challenge has ended.

Even if you have joined me in a 30-Day Jamaican Green Smoothie Challenge or even read the Jamaican Green Smoothies book cover-to-cover, it won’t be long-lasting unless drinking a green smoothie becomes a daily habit.

 

Pic 2

Greens

Now, I’m not just talking to you! This message is for me, too. You see, I got into the green smoothie movement by accident, really. I was trying to find a patch to fix a problem some of my friends had: food addictions that prevented them from sticking to their commitments to make healthier eating choices. Then as I sought out solutions and explored green smoothies, I realised three things:

  1. If you drink a green smoothie every day, you will get maximum nutrition and your daily supply of fruits and vegetables.
  2. If you drink a green smoothie every day, you will change your palate (the things you think taste good).
  3. If you drink a green smoothie every day, you will kill the cravings and addictions you have for all the wrong foods. For example, the cups of coffee you must have throughout the day, the extra cheese and bacon you always add to your lunch order, or the pastry shop you have never been able to walk by without getting your fingers sticky.

Well, anyway, these 3 lovely things, were my reasons for getting my friends and loved ones to join #TeamBlender. But, in the beginning, I never realised that even vegetarians, vegans and whole-food, plant-based eaters needed to pick up a green smoothie habit, too. Now, I do and today, my personal mantra is “Gratitude, Greens & Growth” (referring to my philosophy for life which addresses my values for Spirit, Body & Mind). ‘Greens’ have become my symbol for vibrant health because as I have researched nutrition and shown others to build a green smoothie habit, I have come to learn how essential dark-green leafy vegetables are to our diet. So, now I understand that while a diet made up of mostly plants is preferable, most of those plants need to be dark-green and leafy!

 

Greener Habits

So, if you’re like me and have decided to put your health on top priority for this new year but you want to keep it simple, I have 3 habits that you can pick up to transform your life, one day at a time:

 

Flush : Water

1. Flush

Have you ever seen the notice on the back of a bottle of chemical or cosmetics, that instructs you to flush your eye with water if the product gets into it? Well, that’s what I mean by ‘flush’. A big thing that many health-seekers miss is water! You need to flush your system out by drinking enough water. You probably already know that you need to rehydrate your body because you lose water when you exhale, sweat or urinate. But, in addition to that, you need to flush out waste matter and any harmful substances that get into your body through food or the environment.

If you are not drinking half your body weight (or more) in water, then you need to start today; and, “half your body weight in water” works out in ounces. Therefore, if you weigh 130lbs, you need to drink 65oz or 2 litres of water each day.) So, everyday you need to be drinking enough water to flush your system.

 

Flood : Green Smoothie

2. Flood

While drinking lots of water helps you to flush out the toxins in your body, drinking green smoothies helps you to flood your body with energising, nourishing, immunising and detoxifying nutrients. Green smoothies are blended beverages made from dark-green leafy vegetables, fruits and unsweetened liquids (like water, herbal tea or orange juice). The liquefied vegetables are easier to consume than if you had to chew through a large salad and your body is better able to digest the nutrients because they hit your stomach ready to be absorbed into your blood stream. Of course, the combination of the fruits and vegetables gives the drink a pleasant flavour that even children and sugar-lovers will enjoy.

So, as you blend up your greens, you can just begin to imagine the vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and antioxidants rushing through your digestive system and bloodstream like a big flood through a parched and deserted piece of land.

 

Flex : Exercise

3. Flex

Did you know that when you move your body, exert energy, raise your heartbeat, breathe heavily and break out a sweat you are helping your body to heal, renew and get rid of toxins? Working out is also a great way to manage stress, because it floods your body with the happiness hormone and distracts you from the challenges you have to hurdle from day-to-day. Flexing your muscles, through regular exercise is key to vibrant health and happiness. Of course, exercise helps you to use up any excess calories that make you overweight, but it can also build new muscles to make you fitter and stronger – which is so important as we get older with each new year.

But, you don’t need to fork out money for membership at the gym. A brisk walk through your neighbourhood or a quick workout with a fitness expert on YouTube will do you just fine. Just ensure that you recruit a friend or family member, because you will need the accountability partner and of course, you want them to be healthy and happy as well.

 

As we embrace the concept of ‘new beginnings’ that comes with the changing calendars and commit to living intentionally, let us work on building vibrant habits: simple things that we can do every day – not just for a 30-day challenge or a 90-day weight-loss plan. With consistency and focus you can design a vibrant life. Don’t think about your mistakes of yesterday or the health failures of last year.

You can start over today.

So, will you join me in building greener habits, this year?

 

 

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4 Simple Eating Guidelines You Should Adopt For Vibrant Health

For the past 5 years, I have been enjoying renewed health and increased vibrance by maintaining a plant-based diet. Many persons have asked me for tips on eating healthily and often shared their desire to cut back on eating certain foods. But, what exactly does a plant-based diet look like? How can you start improving your well-being by consciously choosing the foods you eat? Well, I’ve put some thought into it and settled on four guidelines that I know every one can follow without feeling deprived or missing out on the mouth confetti (food that tastes so good it throws a party on your tongue).

 

FFill Your Plate With Plants
We need to eat more plants. By plants, I mean fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts and seeds. These are the foods that heal, grow and sustain our bodies, because they supply us with fibre, vitamins, protein, minerals and complex carbohydrates. The more plants we eat, the more energised we are and better able to fight off disease.

 

 

EEat More Leaves
Many people eat a lot of plant foods, but not enough dark-green leafy vegetables. One doctor says, “Greens are the secret weapon to fight almost all diseases. Add greens to everything!” Another doctor encourages his patients with heart disease to eat leafy greens at least 6 times a day. This is why green smoothies are essential to health and wellness.

 

 

E1Eat Real, Whole Foods
The biggest mistake some vegetarians and vegans make as they switch from eating a meat-heavy diet, is replacing it with lots of ultra-processed foods. Real nourishment and vitality can only be found in whole (natural or minimally processed) foods. So, instead of eating pineapple-flavoured soft drinks, enjoy a bowl of fresh pineapple slices; or a package of corn curls snack, try having some boiled corn. Choose home-made over factory-processed.

 

DDrink More Water
This is a personal struggle for me. But, I know that water is life! High performance athletes often drink up to 6 litres a day. But, we shouldn’t drink less than a 2.5 to 3 litres a day if we hope to avoid dehydration (which is more common than you think). So keep drinking until your urine is colourless or a light yellow.

 

Those are my four guidelines for feeding my body right! I’m sure you can eat for vibrant health, too. Please share which of these eating rules you’ll be adopting today?