Archive for October, 2011

In Dallas, we had folks who drove 4 hours from Oklahoma City, and a whole family who had driven from 6 hours to the south.

We had amazing volunteers. Like Jennifer and Ian in San Antonio, and Kim Mitchell who is thriving with good nutrition, after beating the same melanoma diagnosis her mom beat 11 times.

Britni Brown, Elizabeth, Michelle, and Rhonda—plus Amy Bailey and her mom, in Austin, whose story you’ll read this week.

Vic and Kathryn in Dallas. (Kathryn recovering from a jetski accident the same time as my ATV accident this summer—we bonded over that!) Dana and Charlene, and my old friend Pamalee from the first time I went to Dallas. And this darling young couple, Amy and Ray, who own Fitness Together in Allen—raw vegan personal trainers! (Too many trainers are eating too many animals.) Love them, love the gallons of green smoothies they made for my Dallas friends.

April and her posse of friends in Houston—I don’t know many people who have so much influence with their friends as April does. I think they want to be her! Angela, Amanda, thank you!

We had fabulous sponsors like Dr. Edgerton, M.D. and Dr. Ritamarie Lozcalzo in Austin. Georgia’s Farm to Market in Houston, who served a meal of my 12 Steps dishes, and made the biggest vat of green smoothie maybe in history? Certainly the biggest I have ever seen. (I would have taken a photo but I saw it after it was emptied!)

Andie Hamilton Photography in Dallas, who didn’t even want us to promote her already bursting-at-the-seams business—she just sponsored us because she wanted us to come so she could bring her friends, ’cause she’s cool like that.

All of you who sponsor, make smoothies for the crowd, lend me your BlendTec, work with us before/after/during….you all get to work with my event planner, Amanda. I love it when I can hire people who are not only incredible at what they do (not everybody is a detail person, but this amazing mom of three planned our first Boise event and I said HOLY COW, YOU’RE HIRED!), but they’re also evangelists for the super kick-butt message we are trying to fling all over North America. THANK YOU AMANDA!

I could not be more blessed. Thank you, 1,000 of my friends in Texas, for taking time out of your busy life, to listen to my message. I feel your spirit and your collective life experience buoys me up!

Stay the course. Hold fast to your healthy habits because your health underpins every darn thing you do.

Do I sound like a broken record when I come back from a speaking tour and tell you how in love I am with my job? My job where I get to hear people tell about their MIRACLES, achieved through simple but true principles, applied consistently?

And those who haven’t yet achieved a miracle, I get to give them some ideas, some facts, some of my own experience…..which translates into HOPE?

I’ve been “public” for less than 4 years now. Before that I was just in my kitchen, and with my nose in a book, studying and practicing.

Now, though, my conviction is complete—because in addition to my own family’s experience (I personally eliminated 21 chronic health conditions), I now have thousands of others’ experiences to draw on.

Just watch for my awesome video coming up, with breast-cancer thriver SHELLEY in San Antonio, and young-mom 12-Steppers WENDY and JANET in Austin!

Out of my own kitchen, we implement strategies to help people attain better health on a bigger scale every year. Kristin and I have long convos in the car and on airplanes about how clear it’s become that the mission we are on is so much bigger than we are.

After an event for 300 people, Kristin and I sometimes just sit and process and revel in our general awestruck-ness…..at how many phenomenal people we meet and exciting stories we hear. I cannot even begin to tell them all on this blog.

We are trying to bring together the internet, and a very active blog, with real-live events, great recipes and good books, solid tools and instruction, and third parties telling their stories on film, to spread an exciting message of good news:

1. That turning away from the S.A.D. has all upside, virtually no downside, after a learning curve
2. That you can eat natural, whole, healing foods, without being deprived or counting calories
3. That degenerative disease can and does reverse, when you nurture your immune system with the fuel it needs
4. That whole foods can be delicious, easy to prepare, and affordable

I got this email after my class last month in Sandy, Utah. Give Blake some encouragement on his new blog, or here? The idea of eating living/raw plant foods is new for him!

Dear GreenSmoothieGirl:

You probably hear this a lot, but what’s one more compliment?

Last week my wife dragged me to your event in Orem  (yes, dragged me – I didn’t want to go, I wanted to stay home and play video games). But I am so happy I attended!

As I listened to your story, I considered my own life, and the thing in your speech  that affected me most was a word you used: lifestyle. I had recently been seeking for other changes in my life: physically, emotionally and spiritually, and I had concluded on my own, that very week, that the only way I could effectively become the man I want to be, would be to make lifestyle changes, and not just temporary ones.

You spoke about making an eating lifestyle change, and I put down my phone (I admit I was playing a game at the beginning of your event) and listened. Your experience and recommendations were just what I needed then. I don’t think I would have been open before that week. It was perfect timing. I give the Lord all the credit for that.

I have been trying to find a way to eat healthy, keep my calorie count down, get the necessary vitamins and minerals, and get back in shape. I have had a goal for about 2 years to get back in “high school” shape when I was an athlete, but still find myself eating hamburgers and fried chicken because I don’t like the taste of salads every day.

And to be honest, I am not a huge fan of raw foods. But your smoothies were the answer I needed. After trying the sample, I realized how good green smoothies can be. My wife already has a VitaMix, so all I needed to do was purchase the raw foods. We spent a couple days trying different recipes until we found some I like.

Today I begin my new lifestyle. I am starting with making raw foods a bulk of my diet — mostly in the form of green smoothies (according to your calculations, I am getting about 40-50 servings of vegetables and raw foods per day!).

I plan to maintain that until I get closer to the weight I want. During my weight-loss/get-fit months, I will try different types of recipes that don’t include the smoothies, so that when I am in the shape I want to be, I can have the smoothies for breakfast and have other healthy, raw foods for my other meals.

My wife is very grateful for your story and work. She has been trying to get me to eat healthy for the longest time (she is very good at eating healthy). And after a week of spiritual awakening and revelation, and attending your event to cap it off, I think I am on the right track for a healthier, happier life.

Thank you, Robyn, for your work. I hope to attend more events and continue supporting you and your efforts. You have changed another life this month.

Here’s my new blog about the health journey that I’ve just started:

http://fattofittoday.blogspot.com/

Best,

Boston Blake (South Jordan, Utah)

We’re about to take off to speak Thurs. night in DALLAS, where our tickets issued just topped 700. Then we have nearly 300 in SAN ANTONIO where we are determined to get in a late-night run on the River Walk, before jetting off to AUSTIN Saturday morning where we have 450 registered. After I talk with people for a while afterwards, we’ll tear out of there to speak in HOUSTON that night, where we have over 650 ticketed. Only 50% actually show up to free events, so these classes will be nice and small and intimate—come one, come all, and chat with me afterward please!

I love Texans, the warmest people on the planet! I get to see my little brother and his family tonight, and then tomorrow at 1:45-ish we’re gonna go stir up some trouble at the Heart Attack Grill in Dallas, so come hang out with us there, and make a video with us! I’m going to try to stuff some posterboard and sharpies in my suitcase right now in case we decided to PICKET. For sure we’ll be trying to get people to try samples of my own personal green-fountain-of-youth and talking them out of strapping on a hospital gown and clogging their arteries with motor oil…..I mean, triple-pattie burgers and stick-of-butter shakes and deep-fried potatoes and beer.

Today at the gym we dreamed up these picket signs: “CODE GREEN, NOT CODE RED!” What do you think?? Any other ideas?

Stand by to watch the video of me-n-Kristin—maybe my brother and his wife, maybe a couple of Texas friends—- try to save the world one green smoothie at a time!

In February I am doing two free lectures in Florida with the famous Dr. Brian Clement (I’m doing my class/demo and he’s speaking on CANCER AND NUTRITION), right after spending a few days studying at his Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach. We’ll be in FT. LAUDERDALE, Fri. Feb. 17, and ORLANDO, Sat., Feb. 18, so get some free tickets if you’re anywhere near there! (Oh, and write amanda@greensmoothiegirl.com if you want to help us find a location for either of those, thanks!)

I will continue to blog while I’m away. And we should be shipping and arranging for local pickup, for the group buy, by Oct. 30 or sooner!

I bought a car this weekend. It’s a 2012 red Toyota Sequoia Platinum. YES, I tried to buy the green one, but my children mutinied. I already have the vinyl lettering that will go in the back window designed.

You like?? Some of my employees are putting them on their cars, too. Cuz they’re awesome like that.

Anybody love the GSG.com mission enough to want this in YOUR back window? I will probably buy you one….if you write support123@greensmoothiegirl.com. I will have some extras made and you can send us a photo of you, with it on your car, for this blog.

People come up to me at gas stations and ask, “Really, you can put green smoothies in your gas tank?” (Several times readers have come up to me and hugged me at gas stations. One time this year, it happened twice in a row while I was pumping my gas, by women who were both named Carrie. This is my favorite thing. Much more fun than explaining to people what I meant by saying my car is fueled by green smoothies.)

Really. No. You cannot pour it in your fuel tank. It’s supposed to be a joke. The green smoothie fuels the driver, who propels the car, see. Haha. Get it?

Owning stuff is not a motivator for me. I had the most amazing weekend, completely unintentionally, and several things made it memorable and fun more than New Car. Won a tennis match playing in a higher division than my own ranking, in the beautiful fall sunshine. Went dancing with Matthew and my girlfriends. Rode the canyon on my bike Sunday afternoon, the trees’ oranges and reds blowing my mind. Had dinner up the canyon with my kids and watched them play soccer till dark. Gave my 16-y.o. and 18-y.o. driving lessons.

That’s the reason I had to buy a new car. Very frankly I could have driven that Honda Pilot another 5 years. Cade (18) is finally getting a driver’s license, at the same time his sister Emma (16) is. I am grieving the loss of all the car time with them. I’m kinda sick of driving Cade everywhere and having no helper-driver, so having them drive themselves will be more convenient. But I have my best conversations with my kids when we’re in the car.

I would be terrified to have my babies out jockeying for road space with other high-velocity boxes of metal-and-glass. But I have an evil plan to make sure they are under perpetual surveillance. I’m replacing the vinyl sticker in the back of my Honda as I hand it over to the kids. Now it will say:

“IF YOU HATE MY DRIVING, TEXT MY MOM. (801) XXX-XXXX.”

Last year on Halloween, I posted that I pay my kids $20 for the privilege of dumping their Halloween candy in the trash outside. On facebook, I have the interesting situation of 90% of my personal page’s friends being GSG readers, and 10% being people I actually know. One of my high-school friends, cheerleader Beth, who has no idea who I am 25 years later, protested:   “Awww, don’t throw the candy away, give it to the homeless!”

A few of my more vociferous readers pounced on her. She had no idea what she’d gotten herself into, poor girl. She wasn’t on the GSG page with 13,000 people who know exactly what we’re all doing there.

She was on the Robyn Openshaw page—for all she knew, I was that girl she left the high-school campus with, at lunch, to get 7-11 Nachos and a Diet Coke.

When I was at CHI spending 16+ hours per day with the same 15 people, only one heated argument broke out. It was on this topic: “Is it wasting food, to throw away candy?” A mother, Esther, and her two adult daughters, Kendra and Melinda, had apparently been “going the rounds” on this subject.

I inadvertently stepped on that land mine when I said, “I don’t want to poison my own kids—why would I want to poison homeless people?” KABLAM, the room instantly divided into two camps.

You know without even thinking what the response will be: “But homeless people don’t get enough to eat! It’s not like homeless kids are eating salad anyway, or have any options! Who cares what their nutrition is—they’re just trying to survive.”

I opt out of those conversations at that point, because they’re a little contentious. But if you ASKED me, I’d say that generally in America, the homeless are not in jeopardy of having a choice between going hungry versus eating candy.

Actually, I could go on all day with my more indirect arguments to that line of reasoning. (If I thought anybody cared.) Okay, just a little academic argument here, acknowledging right up front that I know the homeless aren’t academic—they’re real people, trying to survive. I get it.

But for instance, did you know that the #1 factor related to longevity is LOW-CALORIE DIET? Yep, when people are calorie-suppressed for many, many years, they live a long time! Really thin people have minimal disease risk. Whenever I say this, I just about get strung up from the nearest tree. Check out my report on what the weight charts should REALLY be—this is John McDougall’s stuff, okay? Not mine. But it’s interesting and (sorry!) really valid:

http://www.greensmoothiegirl.com/nutrition-manifesto/healthy-height-and-weight-chart/

I realize it’s not politically correct to advocate for extreme thinness! I am just making an observation: the low end of our weight charts are the UPPER end of the weights of cultures who have impressive longevity.

My points are, related to whether we give the Halloween candy to the “less fortunate” families/kids, or do the whole world a favor by throwing it away:

1. Kids who eat candy are HUNGRIER as a result. Sugar just fuels food obsession and cravings. So you fill their belly with fun-sized Snickers. Guess what: they then want MORE of it, not just in two hours, but the next day, and the next day, and the next. They are little addicts. Poor kids are America’s fattest kids. Sure, the poorest among us are the most addicted—but is it my job to feed the addictions?
2. IS IT REALLY better to give them candy, than nothing? Pretty sure going without—(within reason, of course, I’m aware we do have to eat SOMETIME)—would be better. Less comfortable, but much healthier.
3. It’s a matter of principle for me. I’m just not going to feed people toxic fuel. It goes against everything I believe in. It was HARD for me, at first, to throw candy away. I compost everything, for crying out loud! I grow my own food! I buy very little stuff in boxes and cans! BUT. If it’s poison for my kid (and it is!), it’s poison for everyone. Bottom line: I feel more guilty feeding someone else’s child candy than I do throwing out “perfectly good food.” Read about 1,000 books on the nutritional-deficiency health crisis in America as I have, and you will never look at candy the same way again. You will not see it as “food.”

I think I will make a new rule for myself, in honor of the reflecting I’ve done writing this blog entry.   From now on, for every $20 I pay my child to throw his candy away, I will also donate $20 (or more) to our homeless shelter, earmarked for raw plant foods. In fact, maybe I will come up with a fund to start making sure they have leafy green salads, and veggies and fruits at the shelters here.   Hmmmm, I’m glad I wrote this blog…..now I’m thinking about a plan……