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!