Event Recap : #HealthyJenell Smoothies & Juices

This past Saturday I attended Let Your Hair Down's #HEALTHYJENELL Smoothies & Juices hosted by Jenell Stewart. I was at home suffering from cabin fever & decided to buy my ticket 15 minutes before the event started & venture out to Brooklyn. It was scheduled for 6pm to 9pm at  Buy The Bag Thrift Store on 28th Street, Brooklyn. Also co-hosting was Candace Kelley of Supernatural. I arrived around 8pm & met Jenell & Candace in demonstrating.

Jenell Stewart & Candace Kelley

Jenell talked about being healthy & getting your fruits & vegetables in juice form. She demonstrated blending your smoothies as opposed to juicing them while discussing the pros and cons of each. When blending smoothies you need less product than you need with juicing. Also with blending all of the pulp is present while with juicing there is very little pulp if any along with some foam which can be strained.

Some of the fruits & veges she blended included apple, pear, kale, banana, & beets. I dabble in green smoothies here and there & even wrote a post about it a while back here. I don't experiment with a lot of recipes but got to taste some samples of what Jenell made to get a good understanding of what goes together. The result was that pear in a smoothie tastes awesome. Other tips:

• Chia seeds or flaxseeds in smoothies(I use flax and wheatgerm)
• Fruit: 3 to 4 servings daily(I get 1)
• Veges: 6 to 8 servings daily(same here)
• If juicing as a meal replacement you'll need about 24oz to make up the calories. If you're still not full from the juice alone you may need to eat something along with it. 

 

There were also awesome giveaways. First Jenell gave away about 10 boxes of Shea Moisture's Curl & Shine Kit. There was also a raffle sponsored by Buy The Bag where you could pick out one item of your choice. I didn't win the Shea Moisture but I sure won the thrift store one!! YAAAASSSS!!! I FINALLY WON SOMETHING!!!

Winners! 

Look at the cute jacket I picked out! EEK!!

I loved the event and I'm really glad I fought the urge to stay home.

What did you do this weekend?

Were you there? How did you like it?

Green Smoothies

PIC

What is a green smoothie?

A blended drink made of juice or water, and varying green vegetables and/or fruits.

Why drink it?
To get nutrients in raw form, a way pool different fruits and vegetables in one place. They can be a great alternative to salads, for people on the go, and can be made sweet or savory to taste.


I've tried Green smoothies on and off over the years. At first I was terrible at it; my ingredients were off. I think the issue was that I was trying to pack too many ingredients in thinking I would get the most nutrients that way. While that may be true I was ending up with a thick, slushy, weird tasting mess and got no nutrients because I couldn't stand the taste thus wasting perfectly good vegetables. The term 'less is more' proved itself. I had to learn simpler, tastier recipes.

I always have good results when I drink them consistently. I notice after a little over a week of drinking one green smoothie a day my skin starts to glow. But like usual I eventually fall off. I decide to stop for a bit for some stupid reason eventually going back to how I was with my skin getting dull again(I have a problem : / ).   I never checked to see if there was any effect on my hair growth but it doesn't matter to me as I drink them for overall health. I've also read on hair forums about green smoothies concerning hair growth and many reported wonderful hair, skin, and overall health results.

Other things I've noticed are keener sense of smell(eg. with meat), decreased sugar cravings, and boundless energy. Around last September/October I was on green smoothies for about a month and I was bouncing off the walls. That was actually my longest green smoothie stint. I had so much energy I couldn't sleep. I'd want to throw on my sneakers and go running around the block just to burn some energy but couldn't because it was late at night and I'd probably get snatched up and end up on a milk carton. So I took up some free dance classes with Shape Up NYC (if you're not using their resources you need to get on it). When I got midnight snack cravings I'd also make a green smoothie instead of getting a sandwich, ice cream and/or cornbread (hanging head in shame), frying an egg, or any other atrocity I shouldn't be eating at that time of night. Looking back, late night green smoothies didn't help my insomnia. Smh.

This is a smoothie I made today.

Kiwi, ginger, aloe, spinach.

Mix mentioned above, White Rose honey, Spectrum apple cider vinegar

 

Approximately 24oz. This batch was yummy.

My recipe

12oz. water

1 handful spinach

half kiwi

1 piece aloe

small piece of ginger

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1/4 teaspoon MSM

Amount of honey needed for desirable taste.

My findings/sugestions:

-Don't use regular spinach you need BABY spinach. I made the terrible mistake of making a smoothie with that stuff and nearly died.#throwsupinmouth# Slimy mess.

-Don't use tomatoes. Extremely acidic. Might work out in savory green smoothies. Look here.

I sometimes add apple, blue berries, straw berries, banana, chlorophyll, chlorella, celery, etc. Just about anything I have on hand that I think will taste good. My base juice is lemon, water, and honey. I used to use apple juice but wanted to try something more basic and unprocessed. Occasionally I'll go back to apple juice and other juices for a different taste.

So since I've been feeling sluggish lately I'm putting myself on a challenge to drink at least one green smoothie a day. If I drink more, like the entire contents in the above batch then great but this is my minimum goal. I also want to try my best to eventually replace my artificial juices with green smoothies and water.

When I'm really low on time or feeling lazy I add liquid chlorophyll to my juice so I'm at least getting some liquid greens in there. So that can be an option for someone. You can also use powdered chlorella, spiralina, or any other kind of powdered greens, or drink them in pill form.

What are your experiences with green smoothies?