29-01-2010 om 12:47 by Sueli Brodin

It happened several times last week at the monthly social meeting of the International Women’s Club of South Limburg (IWC) and this morning again. In fact not a week goes by without someone - colleagues, people at my children’s school, neighbours - commenting on my “radiant” appearance:

“You're positively glowing, Sueli!”
“Je ziet er stralend uit!”
“Ravie de t'avoir revue au meeting, tellement en forme et jolie!”
“I noticed your radiant glow and svelte physique lately.”
“What is your secret?”

Even at the local gym, strangers are coming to me asking about my transformation: “Sorry, may I ask you, have you lost weight lately? Are you on a diet?”

Everything started last summer when my Brazilian friend Jacqueline came to visit me for her weekly French conversation class and handed me a book in English entitled “Green for life”. “Read this Sueli,” she said, “It’s something for you.”

Jacqueline had just finished reading the book herself, which she had borrowed from another Brazilian friend in Maastricht, and spent the entire hour telling me about the wonderful benefits of drinking “green smoothies” as recommended by the author, Victoria Boutenko, a Russian native now living in the United States.

“Green smoothies are very easy to make Sueli, and very healthy,” Jacqueline told me. “I’ve been drinking them for two weeks only and I’ve already noticed the effects. I sleep better, have more energy, my skin and my hair are shinier.. It’s astonishing.”



Indeed, Jacqueline looked strikingly beautiful that day and I had rarely seen her speak so enthusiastically about a new discovery. I was intrigued, of course.

I started reading Victoria Boutenko’s book with some initial reserve, I admit it – I couldn’t see us adopting the strict raw food diet practiced by the Boutenko family – but by the time I turned the last page I had made up my mind. “Let's get ourselves a powerful smoothie blender,” I told my husband.

Secretly I also liked the idea of having a blender because it reminded me of my childhood - my mother always had one at home -  and of my country of birth, Brazil, where unlike here in Europe it is a common item in every kitchen.

In her book Victoria Boutenko explains the importance and the many benefits of adding more greens into our diet. Because they contain so much chlorophyll, green leafy vegetables are excellent conveyors of sunlight energy. The most efficient and tastiest way to eat a sufficient daily amount of greens and absorb all their nutrients, Boutenko recommends, is to blend them together with other fruits and vegetables into healthy beverages she calls green smoothies.

As my friend Jacqueline had assured me, green smoothies are very easy to make. First of all, I try to use only organic fruits and vegetables, which come in our weekly Odin subscription bags and I vary and rotate ingredients as often as possible. The main rule obviously is always to include at least one type of dark, leafy green vegetables, such as kale ("boerenkool" in Dutch), spinach, romaine lettuce, parsley or pak choy...

I simply put a combination of raw vegetables (greens, celery, broccoli, cauliflower..) and fruits (apple, orange, mango, pineapple, pear, kiwi, strawberries, avocado..) into the blender, whenever possible with skin and all, add some water and blend everything for a few minutes until I obtain a beautiful, deliciously sweet, often creamy, green coloured juice.

My husband, children and I have been drinking at least one cup of green smoothie every evening before dinner for five months now and we all find them a real treat. They’re so tasty that my children don’t even ask me “What’s for dinner?” anymore but “What’s in the smoothie?”



My original plan was simply to add something healthy to our diet. We didn’t change anything in our lifestyle. We still eat a normal meal for dinner after drinking our smoothies and haven’t started exercising more than usual. As far as I’m concerned, I was only hoping to experience some of the same health improvements reported by other green smoothie drinkers in Boutenko’s book: decreased cravings for unhealthy food, increased energy, improved sleep, stronger immune system…

Well, I can honestly say that the results exceeded all my expectations. I almost immediately started experiencing an immense feeling of general well-being and renewed energy, which was soon accompanied by a noticeable weight loss, as if my entire body was coming into balance.

Although some friends have commented that it seems odd to combine fruits and vegetables, and that the green colour doesn’t look very appetizing… most are eager to give it a go, especially after seeing me: “You look great Sueli! What was the name of that book again?”

Bing! An email just came in, from a dear friend I saw at the IWC meeting last week. Guess what it reads: “Hi Sueli, you told me about something you drink, that gives you energy and does all other good things. Can you please tell me more?”

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