Farnoosh Brock - The Healthy Smoothie Bible: Lose Weight, Detoxify, Fight Disease, and Live Long

Copyright 2014 Farnoosh Brock

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

ISBN: 9781-62873-712-7

Printed in China

Disclaimer

This book is not meant to be used to diagnose or treat any medical condition. For diagnosis or treatment of any medical problem, consult your own physician. Consult with your doctor before beginning any new diet or exercise regimen.

For more information about smoothies, please visit:

http://www.prolificjuicing.com/healthysmoothies

To all who seek health and healing from Mother Nature

Acknowledgments

I wanted to write this book to make healthy, delicious smoothies accessible to you. Food and nutrition can get complicated, and I prefer it simple. Simple is easy to follow. Simple is easy to integrate into a busy lifestyle. And if simple works, then why not? Smoothies are simple. You dont need to shop at fancy health food stores to make great healthy smoothies. You dont need to get everything organic and locally grown. It would be nice, but it gets expensive and takes longer to plan, and you will have a hard time keeping it up. I want to help you develop a healthy smoothie habit for life by using ingredients found in a typical kitchen and within an average budget.

I feel fortunate that so many wonderful friends, family and fellow smoothie lovers extended their kind support in the writing of this book. First, I want to thank my husband, best friend, and business partner, Andy Brock, for keeping me on task, helping me come up with the best recipes, and going to a smoothie-tasting contest with me to help get all my recipes in order. I want to thank my parents and my husbands parents for being supportive of my vision of helping you return to health and harmony with natural foods. I was thrilled to have the generosity of many companies that sent me samples of their products to test. A complete list of these companies appears after the index. I also want to give a special thanks to all my fabulous recipe contributors: Joshua Waldman, Hollie Jeakins, Rob Cooper, Leslie Broberg, Vickie Velasquez, Adrienne Jurado, Tracy Russell, Jen Hansard, Jadah Sellner, Katherine Natalia, and Jennifer Thompson. They shared their favorite recipes and what led them to healthy smoothies to inspire you to make your own journey to health. Our humble hope is that you will experience it all for yourself. May this book help you find your way back to total health and vitality. Blend away and breathe new life into your body!

How Best to Use This Book

Are you new to smoothies, or just here for the recipes?

I f you are brand-new to smoothies, then please read the book in the right order. Ill introduce you to the smoothie basics, the simple and more complex ingredients (from greens and fruits to nuts and superfoods and other additives), and take you through the preparation and set-up process step by step before we dive into the recipes. Then we talk about cleansing and detoxing with smoothies and easy ways to build smoothies as a sustainable daily habit.

If you are a smoothie pro and are here just for the recipes, then skip over to the Smoothie Recipes section on page 122 for 108 healthy smoothie recipes. You can use the recipes index to find recipes by name or search by major ingredients.

You will also come across a few featured recipes throughout the book from smoothie-lover contributors who have shared their own spin on making a delicious smoothie.

This book can serve as a reference for you over time. As you might know, its a great idea to rotate your recipes, and especially your greens, so you get a nice variety of ingredients in your system to build up your taste buds as well as get all the vitamins and minerals your body needs. As tempting as it is, dont make the same recipe every day. Not that I can easily convince my own husband when he locks in on his favorite concoctions, but it really is best to switch it up for variety and for maximizing overall nutrition. Plus, variety will keep you intrigued and inspired on your smoothie journey, so dont discount it as you build up your healthy smoothie habit for life.

Introduction, and Why Love Is the Path to Smoothies

When diet is wrong, medicine is of no use. When diet is right, medicine is of no need.

~Ayurvedic Proverb

I am in love with the color green in every shade. The green of spinach, kale, Swiss chard, and parsley. The green of lime, cucumber, celery, and green peppers. Simply and utterly in love!

My fascination with green leafy vegetables started in 2007, which I affectionatelyalbeit seriouslycall my fat year, even though my family and friends still laugh when I refer to it as such, because for reasons that are still beyond my comprehension, none of them will admit to this day that I had grown larger in size, uglier in character, and miserable in spirit that year.

If you want the truth about your health, my advice is not to ask your family or friends. When has anyone in history ever responded truthfully to the question, Do I look fat?

We love them and all, but our families and friends always lie about this (although they have good intentions). Oh, honey, you look great! comes out automatically, often without really looking at you. Yes, they love you, no matter what, but if your concern is to be your healthiest, happiest, and most energetic, you need to take charge here. It does you no good to be deceived that you are just fine when you know that you are far from your optimal health and shape. This is one area of your life in which you need the brutal version of the truth as soon as possible.

Start by looking within yourself for answers: How do you really feel about your body? How much energy do you really have to get through your days? And how happy or not so happyare you with yourself and your general state of well-being?

You are your own voice of truth, and it is that voice that will carry you from the depths of any misery, sickness, and sluggishness to better health, more vibrancy, and higher energy. Trust that voice, always!

As for me, when I could no longer deny being miserable in my own body, I started to take baby steps in the right direction.