By Michele Robert Poche
A few months ago, I put myself out there in one of our editorial meetings. “I want to try a few challenges for one of my columns,” I said. “Challenges?” they said. “Yes, challenges. Like eating this or doing that for seven days. Or ten days. Or whatever. Depends on the challenge. Know what I mean?”
Looking around the table, I could see that they liked the idea. I swallowed nervously, imagining articles entitled “30 Days on Nothing But Beets!” and “Sleep! Who Needs It?” My worries melted away the moment we established the first challenge:
Have a smoothie for breakfast every morning for seven days.
Sounds easy enough, right? Except that these wouldn’t be just any smoothies. They wouldn’t come from a commercial juice bar or “smoothery,” nor would they come from ready-made kits found in a frozen food section. The challenge smoothies would contain 100 percent all-natural ingredients with at least one super food per recipe. Oh, and I would be serving them to my daughter, so they had to be good.
Challenge accepted.
I left that meeting, picked up my daughter from school and drove straight to the grocery to purchase the ingredients.
How did it go?
With these ingredients, I made multiple batches of two distinctly different smoothies, and they were both delicious (recipes below). More than once, my daughter actually jumped out of bed in the morning when I mentioned her smoothie was ready. She even asked if we could take the challenge longer than just seven days. I can think of no better endorsement.
Oh, and before I forget, while I was at the grocery, I was approached by a beet juice salesman. I tried his product, loved it and bought it on the spot. So “30 Days on Nothing But Beets?” Not so scary anymore.
What’s next?
Green Goodness
• 1½ cups almond milk
• 1½ bananas
• 2 handfuls raw spinach
• 2 cups mango, frozen
• 1 Tbsp. chia seeds
• 1 tsp. coconut oil
Cancer Kicker
• 1½ cups almond milk
• 1½ cups raspberries
• 1½ cups cherries, frozen
• 2 Tbsp. Goji berries
• 1 Tbsp. tart cherry juice concentrate
• ½ tsp. Stevia sweetener (optional)
To create either recipe, place all ingredients in blender, add desired quantity of ice, and blend on high until smooth. Enjoy!
