Dr. David Katz and Dr. Stephanie Meller, at Yale University, completed a survey of the published research on diet over the past decade. The primary finding, surveying thousands of studies?

“A diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention.”

Score one for my mission. This is what we teach. Eat plants, unprocessed ones!

The study compared low carb, low-fat, low glycemic, Mediterranean, mixed/balanced (DASH), Paleolithic, vegan, and many other diets.

Fewer cancers and less heart disease are documented in thousands of published studies. The most effective diets included not just fruits and vegetables, but whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Some other interesting findings:

Katz and Meller found “no decisive evidence” that low-fat diets are better than diets high in healthful fats, like the Mediterranean! Those fats include a lower ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids than the typical American diet.

Finally, about the very popular fad, the “Paleo Diet”, Katz and Meller wrote:

“If Paleolithic eating is loosely interpreted to mean a diet based mostly on meat, no meaningful interpretation of health effects is possible.” They note that the composition of most meat in today’s food supply is not similar to that of mammoth meat, and that most plants available during the Stone Age are today extinct. [In other words, GSG interpretation, it’s not even possible to “follow” the diet Paleolithic man ate!]

Dr. Katz says, of the “dieting” landscape in the popular media:

“It’s not just linguistic…I really at times feel like crying, when I think about that we’re paying for ignorance with human lives. At times, I hate the people with alphabet soup after their names who are promising the moon and the stars with certainty. I hate knowing that the next person is already rubbing his or her hands together with the next fad to make it on the bestseller list.”

Another GSG teaching confirmed by the Yale study:

Exaggerated emphasis on a single nutrient or food is inadvisable. The result, Katz and Meller write, is constant confusion and doubt. My conclusion, instead, is to just eat a wide variety of whole, colorful, unprocessed plant foods. Greens, vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds.

The post Science compared every diet. The winner? Real food! appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

Our customer support rep Kami forwarded this to me and said, “This brought tears to my eyes.” Me, too.

“I was in so much pain I couldn’t sit. So I kept squirming. I felt that I was distracting those who wanted so much to learn from you. I kept starting to leave…but I selfishly wanted to learn too.

I want to tell you I have now been doing green smoothies for almost two years and am constantly getting other people started. Years of compulsively overeating carbs,sweets, and fats gave me the giant belly you saw that literally hangs to my knees.

What you would never have imagined is that my health was already greatly improved by your green smoothies. I truly believe the cancer was already being driven out by the greens. I believe that if I beat this, it will be because of you. If I had found you sooner I would never have had to go through all this.

Thank you for all the good information you made available to me. I am done with radiation and my first round of chemo . I am barely able to eat again. I am starting back on my green smoothies. I wish you could guide me through this but I could never afford you. I wonder how many lives you have saved and they don’t even know it.

Never become discouraged. The world needs you. Be well, dear sister, and never stop.”

The post When I came to your class I had just been diagnosed with rectal cancer appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

Here’s a little quiz: what do mesquite, beans, carob, peas, soy, peanuts, lentils, and even alfalfa and clover all have in common?

Say it with me: “lay-gooms.”  Legumes–the food group with a weird name–are plants whose seed grows inside a pod.

I love legumes! This whole class of food is highly underrated. I’m going to tell you some reasons to commit to eating this food group regularly, what my favorite 10 are, and give you my BEST legume recipes (including my famous split-pea soup) in a free ebook!

They’re cheap, they’re high in fiber, they’re high in micro-nutrients, they’re filling, they’re low in calories, and they’re easy to obtain, worldwide. They store well and have a long shelf life, especially split peas and many beans.

They’re great for your heart. They have nutrients and fiber that can lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and help you lose weight.

Legumes are high in protein while being low in fat. In his book How Not To Die, Dr. Michael Gregor cited major studies that associate higher legume consumption (about a cup a day) with lower risks for cancer, diabetes, and obesity.

In a podcast I recently recorded with Dr. Joel Fuhrman, the Eat To Live author shared why regular legume-eaters have higher amounts of unique beneficial bacteria in their guts, a special biofilm that buffers the glycemic load of higher-carb foods.  Scientists call it “the second meal effect,” where this biofilm slows glucose absorption from minutes to hours.  It’s just one of what Dr. Fuhrman says in the podcast are “a million reasons why beans extend lifespan.”

(And don’t buy into the bad rap legumes have gotten lately for their supposed “anti-nutrients:”  phytates and purines.  I addressed those scare tactics in another post.)

Bottom line: EAT MORE LEGUMES!

Legumes are easy to add to your diet

There are lots of ways to incorporate legumes into meals or snacks.

You can eat them in soups and stews, add cooked or sprouted ones to salads, or grind dry ones for bread or baked goods to substitute for part of the grains.  You can puree legumes and make yummy spreads for sandwiches or for dipping.

I like to add black beans and salsa to guacamole so that I can eat lots of it on homemade organic corn chips.

I like to add chickpeas (garbanzo beans) to salads. I love all varieties of lentils (green, red, and brown) in soups.

They generally take an hour to cook, some even longer. But I highly recommend cooking your own, rather than buying them canned. Not only will you save money, but you’ll avoid sodium and any weird phthalates and other stuff leaching from the inside of the can.

Cook a big giant batch, to save time, and save 1 cup servings in the freezer.

How to cook legumes: tips and tricks

Rinse legumes very well before putting fresh water on them to cook. They are amazingly dirty when they come out of the bag. Beans need to soak overnight (lentils and split peas don’t). Or, bring clean beans to a boil, turn it off, and let them soak two hours, to speed up the process.

If they have been in your storage for years, I recommend soaking them, draining the water, and soaking them a second time, for up to a whole day. This makes flatulence less likely.

(Flatulence comes from the oligosaccharides sugars in the beans not converting well into a form of sugars your body can use easily. Soaking the beans before cooking makes them easier to digest.)

To cook them, drain the soak water, and add at least 3 cups of water for every 1 cup you originally had of dry beans. Cook as much as you want, but remember that 1 cup of dry beans will become about 2.5 cups of cooked beans! Put clean, soaked beans in a heavy saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, keep covered, and cook until beans are tender.

For lentils or split peas, this will be about 45 minutes. For beans, it will be 2-3 hours, or for very old beans, it could be 4 hours.

Don’t add acidic things to your beans until they are fully cooked. Add tomatoes, vinegar, salt, or lemon juice later; otherwise, it inhibits the beans cooking.

My favorite 10 legumes

Lentils. Lentils are truly a super food. And you can buy the red, green, or brown varieties, all of which have a slightly different nutritional profile and texture. Brown lentils are the most common and least expensive. You don’t need to soak lentils, like beans. They’re high in fiber, protein, Vitamins B1, B5, B6, niacin, folate, iron, potassium, magnesium, manganese.

Split Peas. They take about an hour to cook and are called ‘split peas’ because when they’re harvested and dried, they naturally split in half. They are high in protein, fiber, Vitamin B1 and B5, potassium, and phosphorus. They’re so easy to use in soup–and please leave the bacon out! You’ve GOT to try my amazing split pea soup recipe in the free ebook I’ll send you!

Black Beans. Everyone’s favorite legume. I love to add it to guacamole and salsa as a dip, or mash for a burrito. High in protein, Vitamin B1, iron, folate, copper, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and manganese.

Black-Eyed Peas. Most people in the Northern states don’t know this delightful little legume, but they cook in an hour or less. I grew up in the South, where dinner was often a bowlful of black-eyed peas, plus a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar! It was simple, but I loved it. And black-eyed peas are high in fiber, protein, four B vitamins, copper, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and manganese.

Pinto Beans. These might be the cheapest legume you can buy, and easy to store. I grew up with this food as a staple that raised 8 children to adulthood on one military salary. Big pots of vegetarian chili are one of my main memories of growing up. Pinto beans are high in fiber, protein, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, B1, and molybdenum.

Kidney Beans. These are my favorite for adding to a salad, as they taste very starchy, which is a nice complement and balance to crunchy greens and vegetables. Plus they’re pretty and dark red. A mix of these and pinto beans are great in vegetarian chili. They are high in fiber, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamins B1, B3, B5, and calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and iron.

Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans). Everybody loves hummus, and there are so many things you can put in mashed chickpeas with a little lemon juice, sea salt, and tahini (sesame paste): sundried tomatoes or any kind of olives, for instance. I also love them in salads. They’re low in calories and high in protein, fiber, manganese, folate, copper, phosphorus, and iron.

Soybeans. Soybeans are heavily genetically modified in North America, so buy ONLY organic to make sure you’re getting the good available from this food, and not the bad. Soybeans are extremely high in protein, so for many years, vegetarians made use of soy-based “meat replacement” products. I suggest avoiding all processed soy products and eating only whole, organic, occasional soybean foods such as edamame, tofu, or tempeh, or organic miso or nama shoyu as seasonings. Soybeans are well known to be high in isoflavones, a class of antioxidants known to be anti-cancer that ease hormonal symptoms in women and increase bone density. They’re also high in fiber, calcium, Vitamin B2, manganese, molybdenum, copper, potassium, phosphorus, iron, and omega-3 fats. Try sauteing tempeh as a sandwich filling or salad topping to replace meat.

Lima Beans. Called “butter beans,” these large Peruvian beans make a nice soup with onions and root vegetables (potatoes, turnips, carrots, etc.), or they’re great mashed in a burrito or with sweet potatoes. They’re high in protein and fiber, as well as folate, molybdenum, tryptophan, manganese, potassium, iron, copper, phosphorus, magnesium, and Vitamin B1.

Mung Beans.  Ayurvedic doctors feed this to sick people because they’re such a power food. It’s easy to sprout these tiny beans; just soak them overnight, drain in the morning, and rinse and rotate them twice a day until you see “tails” about ¼” long. In two days, you’ve got a superfood for your salads and sandwiches. They’re chock full of protein, fiber, potassium, Vitamin C, magnesium, folic acid, zinc, iron, and phosphorus.

Best-ever split pea soup recipe

Split pea soup got a bad rap in some classic horror flick I can’t remember, but just wait a little minute, here, because it deserves another look.

I want to send you my split pea soup recipe. It’s cheap to make, you can keep it in the fridge for a week, and it’s better the 2nd and 3rd days as flavors come together. It’s a great new recipe in your arsenal of strategies to eat more plants and increase your nutrition for better energy and ideal weight.

I’ve included the recipe in this free Luscious Legumes Recipes ebook I’d love to send you. Tried-and-true dishes your family will love, from my kitchen to yours!

Grab your FREE Luscious Legumes Recipe ebook here!

The post How To Eat Legumes appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

1.      Are you getting enough greens? They contain the most bioavailable minerals of all foods. Bioavailable refers how much of the nutrient is actually utilized by your body, as opposed to how much of that nutrient is in the food. (For instance, dairy milk is high in calcium. But human beings use very little of it, and the milk from cows causes other problems, for instance, it causes the human body to produce mucous. For baby cows, the calcium in their mothers’ milk is VERY bioavailable.)

Living green foods have to be plentiful in the human diet. Our digestive tracts, the way they’re built, demand lots of plant food. And all the nutrients in greens are highly bioavailable to humans. Cows, too, it turns out. Jordan Rubin is raising “green cows,” who not only eat only organic plant food, but eat GREENS rather than grains and other weird additives to increase weight that the big farms are now feeding dairy and slaughter cattle. Greens are what cows in nature eat, and the quality of the cows’ milk changes radically when they’re fed something else. Even organic dairy ranchers aren’t going to the length that Rubin is, to create a food supply that our grandparents took for granted, before we morphed our food supply chain into a Frankenstein-ish disaster.

In my research published in The Green Smoothies Diet, half of my 175 respondents said green smoothies alone improved the stability of their mood.

2.      Are you eating 60-80% raw or better? I am not convinced that 100% raw is necessary or even ideal, but a diet high in unprocessed, raw foods gives you enzymes that take little away from your higher functions so that you can achieve truly transcendent states, like peace, happiness, harmony in relationships, and self-actualization.

Patty, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 7 years ago at age 40, has been living with us for a month and making our food, according to the way we have always eaten. We eat cooked soups made with vegetables, legumes, nuts and seeds. In addition to lots of raw in the form of green smoothies, vegetable juice, salads, and just snacking on carrots, bell peppers, etc. Patty is used to the obsession, on the other side, with RAW, RAW, RAW.

I love raw food and EVERY meal or snack around here is 60-80% raw. Count it in the bulk of the food, or count it in calories, I don’t care—but eat a primarily raw, plant-based diet. But humans have rarely eaten “all raw,” and legumes and whole grains are good food and very difficult to eat much of, unless they’re cooked. It’s a natural human tendency to want their food hot, now and then.

Patty said to me, “I feel amazing, eating your diet!” It’s not 100% raw, but it is 100% whole foods, and well over half of what we eat is raw.

I’m not absolutely convinced that eating organic, wild-caught, or free-range meat is all bad, as a smaller part of the diet. I don’t personally want those things, or prepare and serve them in my home.

And when the economy falls out—which it will, since it’s mathematically unsustainable that we continue forever the way we’re going—and you have to pay $40/lb. for your meat, what will you eat? Best to just learn to eat like that anyway. The U.S. government massively props up meat and dairy. It doesn’t prop up vegetable, fruit, and legume crops. Obviously we’re paying less than we should for beef, if it takes 20 lbs. of plant food to yield 1 lb. of beef.

3.      If you ARE eating meat, please ensure it is wild-caught fish from clean waters (not farmed, and not caught in dirty places like, no offense my Michiganian friends, the Great Lakes). Or range-free, organic chicken or turkey. Or grass-fed, organic beef. NEVER processed meat or dairy. It’s full of hormones. It surely has the potential to affect mood disorders.

4.      Are you staying out of the drive-thru? Virtually everything sold there puts you at high risk for depression. Even the toxic dressings on the low-nutrition salads. Not only because of low nutrition, high calorie foods, with their cascading effects.

But also the fact that they are denatured and your body has to work excessively to digest them. This takes away from higher functions, like neurological function. This results in a far higher likelihood that your brain and spirit are brought low, too, even as their host, the physical tabernacle, is forced to struggle and toil. Possibly the worst thing coming out of the drive-thru are toxic, heavy fats, which are difficult to metabolize, in some cases impossible to metabolize, and cause cell damage.

And the fried foods you buy in the grocery store have got to go, too. Chips. Gone. Please.

The last five items in this Nutrition Strategies for Depression and Anxiety list, tomorrow!

The post Depression and Anxiety Nutrition Strategies, part 2 of 3 appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

I don’t preach about the -isms. I don’t talk about or embrace words like raw foodist, vegetarian, or vegan, even though I do teach to eat a high-raw, mostly-plants diet. I leave it to you to figure out whether you want organic, clean eggs, cheese, milk, or meat as a small (5% or less) part of your diet. The implications of the biggest nutrition study in history, the China Project done by Oxford and Cornell, are clear: a plant-based diet can overcome carcinogens in our lifestyle. The standard American diet that includes 20% animal protein is a cancer feeder and puts us at high risk for that, and many other diseases.

I personally do not ever put animal products in anything I make at home. Organic eggs and cheese were the last things to go, at my house. There were less and less of them until one day I realized it had been 18 months since I had bought either of them. Making an egg substitute with 1 Tbsp. chia soaked in 3 Tbsp. of water works great. The baked product is more crumbly, but I can live with that. That’s all I used eggs for, anyway. The days of serving my little kids “toads-in-a-hole” for dinner were long gone. (A piece of bread, a hole punched out and an egg put in, fried in a little butter.) In the early days of my transition, we had that WITH a green smoothie!

It’s a rare occasion that I eat anything in a restaurant with animal products, either. I choose not to embrace those titles for two reasons. One, I think they are a turn-off to many people who are just starting out, wanting only to learn about and eat more nutritious food. I want to “be there” for the folks just beginning a transition to a high-quality diet.

Second, because I am often approached in restaurants, everything I eat scrutinized and commented on, and I don’t want to be held to absolutes. So I never call myself any of those labels even though I have eaten a high-raw, 95%+ plant-based diet for 18 years.

I’m supportive of those who do eat veg, vegan, and raw, and I’m proud of my vegan daughter who goes out of her way to eat only plants, so that there is no cruelty to animals caused by her life. (She’s a competitive soccer and cross-country athlete, and we look high and low to make sure there is no leather in her cleats and running shoes as well.) She and I have two very different ideologies that fuel our similar choices—hers animal cruelty, mine nutrition—and both are valid and important.

The quotes below use the words “vegetarian” and “vegan” quite a bit, but of course they’re not my quotes. But if extremist labels offend you, just consider these thoughts towards my agenda of helping you EAT MORE PLANTS! Regardless of whether you have a goal of eating no animal products. 🙂

“A number of studies have shown that cancer risk is lower and immune competence is higher in individuals who consume a vegetarian diet. Epidemiological studies almost unanimously report a strong correlation between a diet high in fruits and vegetables and low cancer risk.”

– John Boik, in his book Cancer & Natural Medicine: A Textbook of Basic Research and Clinical Research

“I have been a vegan for almost two years now and the benefits have been tremendous. I have more stamina and it helps keep me in a positive state of mind. I didn’t realize how weighed down I was when I ate meat. I never really felt 100 percent until I freed it from my diet. Now, I can’t imagine going back to meat. I feel incredible.”

– Mike Tyson, World heavyweight boxing champion, in 2011

“Today you have processed meats and a lot of animals suffering unnecessarily for it. Now, some people just blow that off and don’t have a conscience about it, or they just don’t care. They wouldn’t eat their dog, but they feel that way about other animals. But for me, I decided to stop eating meat. I didn’t want to contribute to all of that. I’m not trying to change the world, or wear that on my sleeve, or make a political statement, because that just turns people away. I only have control over one person, and that’s myself. And I feel good about it.”

– Mac Danzig, vegan mixed martial arts champ

“I’ve found that a person does not need protein from meat to be a successful athlete. In fact, my best year of track competition was the first year I ate a vegan diet.”

– Carl Lewis, nine-time Olympic gold medal winner

“Someone may say that there are some antioxidants in meat. They are not incorrect in saying this. But, it is like comparing a raindrop to a lake, with a piece of meat being the raindrop, and an apple or other raw fruit or vegetable being a lake of beneficial nutrients. Any antioxidants in the meat only got there by way of the animal eating plants. Animals, including humans, do not conduct photosynthesis, which is the process that takes place in plant cells when they absorb sun energy and store it, forming the colors in the plants. Therefore, antioxidants, which are in the natural colors of plants, are vastly more available in edible, raw plant substances, and much less present in meat, dairy, and eggs. By consuming animal protein to try to access antioxidants is less than licking the juice from a knife that just cut through a piece of fruit, instead of simply eating the fruit itself.

By consuming animal protein, you are also consuming free radicals, which exist and form in meat, milk, and eggs. So, even if you are consuming some trace amounts of certain antioxidants in the animal protein, you are countering it by also consuming the damaging free radicals in that animal flesh, dairy, or eggs. This scenario does not equal good nutrition – especially considering that meat, dairy, and eggs also contain saturated fat, cholesterol, and a variety of other substances that work against health.

Studies are constantly revealing how certain fruits and vegetables not only provide needed nutrients that are beneficial to health, but also that they contain and provide properties that prevent certain serious ailments, such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease; limit intestinal exposure to carcinogens; and help the body to contain, transport, and eliminate toxins.”

– Sunfood Diet Infusion: Transforming Health And Preventing Disease Through Raw Veganism by John McCabe

The post athletes and experts quoted about eating plants appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are on the rise. In fact, it’s estimated that more than 3 million Americans suffer from this chronic inflammation in the digestive tract.¹ Drinking green smoothies can help lower that number.

There are two types of IBD: Crohn’s disease, which can affect any part of the lining of the digestive tract, and ulcerative colitis, which mainly impacts the colon or rectum. We’ll focus on Crohn’s disease for this article and share the best green smoothies to nourish this health condition.

Why the increased rates? It’s likely the toll from the Standard American Diet full of processed, packaged foods and refined sugar and flour that our bodies simply don’t recognize. If there’s one thing the human body knows, it’s plant foods, and they could be the key to nourishing your body as it heals from Crohn’s.

In This Article:

• What Is Crohn’s Disease?
• What Causes Crohn’s Disease?
• Treatment for Crohn’s Disease
• Lifestyle Chances for Crohn’s Disease
• Best Foods for Crohn’s Disease Support
• Green Smoothie Recipes for Crohn’s Disease

What Is Crohn’s Disease?

Crohn’s disease is inflammation of the digestive tract. This condition can cause significant pain, especially if it progresses further into the bowel tissue. Symptoms of Crohn’s disease can include²:

• Abdominal pain
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Low appetite
• Severe diarrhea
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Weight loss
• Blood in stool
• Anal fistula (a hole between the inner anus and surrounding tissue)
• Inflammation in skin, eyes, joints, liver, or bile ducts

The symptoms of Crohn’s disease are caused by inflammation of the gut, and can be painful.

What Causes Crohn’s Disease?

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, there is no officially recognized cause, but there are several theories about what increases risk.³

• Bacteria in your gut may cause an autoimmune reaction, meaning your immune system attacks healthy cells.
• Genetics
• Smoking
• NSAID usage (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen)

Treatment for Crohn’s Disease

Conventional medicine has no cure for Crohn’s and uses a variety of medications to control symptoms, like steroids and immunomodulators.⁴ This school of thought also recommends short-term liquid diets to allow the bowels to rest, and for more advanced Crohn’s, the recommended course of action is surgery. There is a risk for complications with these methods, none of which are pretty. Basically, if you head to the doctor with CD, chances are you’re leaving feeling pretty pessimistic.

But there is hope.

Plant-Based Diet For Crohn’s

New evidence shows that certain lifestyle shifts, such as transitioning to a plant-based diet, can keep Crohn’s symptoms at bay.⁵ According to the study, “several human trials have demonstrated that plant-based dietary therapies may have utility in both the treatment of acute CD flares and the maintenance of remission.”

The case study covered in the above research followed a man diagnosed with Crohn’s at 25 years old. He went the conventional route with intravenous medication, a treatment that left him with minimal improvements, and continued symptoms of pain and fatigue. 

Many Crohn’s patients think they shouldn’t eat fibrous plant food because a type of fiber found in vegetables, whole grains, and legumes—insoluble fiber—is indigestible. Its purpose is to bulk up our stool so it can pass through the digestive tract more easily. It was widely thought that having to go to the bathroom more often would be more irritating to the bowels, but more evidence is showing that plant fiber actually aids in digestion and, as the research notes, may be key to combating the disease.

The man went on a whole foods, plant-based diet following the conventional treatment and began exercising regularly. Within six months, he was symptom-free, and a colonoscopy revealed he had healed completely! How’s that for no cure? And he’s not the first, either. There are plenty of similar stories you’ll hear from people around the world.

People who have adopted plant-based diets and exercise have actually healed their Crohn’s disease.

Lifestyle Changes for Crohn’s Disease

Diet is a major factor in managing Crohn’s disease symptoms, of course, and I’ll get into that below, but as you read above, the food you eat is just one piece of the puzzle. The mind/body aspect of healing is the rest!

Stress can seriously affect the gut and flare up autoimmune disease symptoms. And the gut is what needs healing! So naturally, we want to be able to de-stress.

Some new practices you can try bringing into your lifestyle can be meditation, skin brushing, lymphatic self-massage, yoga or gentle stretching, other exercises, or breathwork. Also consider the stressful aspects of your daily life, whether they are physical, mental, or emotional. Maybe you’re not able to do strenuous exercise, or take on too much at work, or maybe there are toxic relationships in your life that you need to let go of. These things matter!

As you heal from Crohn’s, you must be your first priority, and incorporating self-care practices can help you stay centered, calm, and focused on your healing journey.

[Related Vibe Podcast: Discovering Your Innate Power For Self-Healing With Dr. Charles Cropley]

Best Foods for Crohn’s Disease Support

Starting off by eliminating processed foods (including gluten, dairy, and packaged goods) can be an important first step. If time is an issue, keep in mind that making your own meals in bulk (preparing big batches of green smoothies or simple meals to last throughout the week) will end up saving you time and stress in the long run. 

If your Crohn’s disease is severe, you may also want to ask your doctor about eliminating harder to digest foods in the short term, like grains, beans, and other legumes.

To really support your digestive system as it heals, incorporate some of the following foods into your diet. They contain key nutrients for gastrointestinal health like Vitamin A, Vitamin D, zinc.

• Sweet potato 
• Squash
• Leafy greens
• Carrots
• Mango
• Cantaloupe
• Citrus
• Watermelon
• Papaya
• Mushrooms
• Nuts and Seeds

[Related: 999 Cheap Plant-Based Meals You Can Make In 15 Minutes]

To add these foods to your diet, try some of my recipes, like Thai Sweet Potato Soup, Yellow Squash Raw Hummus, and Mango Bars, or get your leafy greens in with the smoothie recipes below!

Why Are Green Smoothies Helpful For Crohn’s Disease?

Smoothies are a great tool for those who are suffering from digestive issues. A lot of the digestive work of breaking up fiber has already been done, so your body doesn’t have to work as hard to do the rest. Blending up your ingredients, especially those that may be tougher to digest on their own, breaks them down even more than you could by chewing (but you should still “chew” your green smoothies!). Once they get to your stomach, the food particles are small enough to move through your digestive system without much issue.

Gut-Healthy Green Smoothie Add-In

One addition that will be beneficial to any of these smoothie recipes is bone broth protein. It’s a flavorless supplement (although flavored options are also available), so don’t worry about your fruity breakfast tasting like chicken. A main benefit of bone broth protein for Crohn’s sufferers is its gut-soothing collagen. It helps bodies build and maintain connective tissue, including the lining of the digestive tract. It also helps keep tissues hydrated and strong.

Green Smoothie Recipes for Crohn’s Disease

Blueberry Mango Green Smoothie

Both spinach and mangoes are great sources of Vitamin A, which is soothing to mucous membranes in the body. This includes the lining of the digestive tract, which needs all the healing it can get when recovering from Crohn’s disease. This green smoothie is a tasty way to use food as medicine.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups coconut water
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 banana
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup frozen mangoes
• 1 tsp chia seeds
  

The ingredients in our Blueberry Mango Smoothie are wonderful for Vitamin A, which heals the lining of all your tracts! (including digestive)

Directions

Place all ingredients into a high-powered blender and mix until smooth.

Watermelon-Lime Green Smoothie

This smoothie is super hydrating with juicy Vitamin A-rich watermelon. Its sweetness is balanced out by fresh lime juice, which can help stimulate stomach acid needed to break down the food you eat (or drink). Baby spinach or baby kale is a neutral way to get in an extra serving of veggies, too.

Depending where you are in your recovery, your stomach may be sensitive to even small amounts of alcohol in vanilla extract. Look for alcohol-free extracts (usually made with vegetable glycerin), or vanilla bean paste.

Ingredients

• 7 cups fresh or frozen watermelon
• 1 large handful baby spinach
• 1 cup ice
• 4 limes
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  

When recovering from Crohn’s, be sure to get alcohol-free vanilla extracts.

Directions

Squeeze the juice from the limes and add with the other ingredients to a blender. Blend until smooth, and enjoy now or freeze in ice-cubes to blend later for a slushy treat!

Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie

Pineapple is a great addition to your gut-healing diet because it contains bromelain, an anti-inflammatory compound that helps soothe the digestive system. The zinc-rich almonds in this recipe also are immune boosters–and since the immune system lives in the gut, it’s doubly important to support it.

Ingredients

• 12 raw almonds, soaked overnight and drained
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup fresh or frozen pineapple
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1 fresh or frozen banana
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  

Bromelain is an anti-inflammatory found in pineapple, which soothes the digestive system.

Directions

Blend water and almonds together for 60-90 seconds until very smooth. Add all other ingredients and blend until smooth. Enjoy throughout the day.

Note: For extra anti-inflammatory, gut-healing powers, replace 1/4 cup of the water with 1/4 cup of organic aloe vera gel.

Mean Green Detox Smoothie

You know how chia seeds get all slimy when you let them sit in water for a bit? The slick gel that it creates is actually great for the lining of your digestive tract. Spirulina, the blue-green algae is, too, thanks to the amino acid glutamine. Make sure you don’t go overboard with the spirulina, unless you want to taste the ocean—a little goes a long way!

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 banana
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 chopped English Cucumber
• 1 1/2 cups kale, rinsed and de-stemmed
• 1 small organic lemon, quartered
• 1 cup frozen pineapple
• 1/2 tsp spirulina
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup ice
  

Chia seeds and spirulini are great for your gut lining – just don’t go overboard with the spirulini! (It might taste like ocean).

Directions

Place all ingredients into a high-powered blender and mix until smooth to enjoy.

Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie

Aside from the amazing pink color this combo produces, the probiotic benefits you get from this smoothie (if you go for the kefir option) are great for developing the health of your gut. Having a healthy balance of good bacteria has a cascade effect on the rest of your body, since so much of the body is affected by gut health, and you may see improvements in your digestion, skin, mood, sleep, and more.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup coconut water (optional: “ferment” it overnight on the counter with water kefir grains, strain, and replace with new coconut water for the following morning.)
• 1/4 cup raw unsalted cashews
• 2-4 large dates pitted
• 1 whole large carrot cut in chunks
• 1 golf ball sized raw beet peeled
• 1-2 tsp organic vanilla extract
• 12 whole large strawberries or frozen blueberries
  

There’s no greens in this Hot Pink Smoothie, but the probiotics and nutrients inside do wonders for your gut health and more.

Directions

Blend all ingredients aside from berries in high-powered blender until smooth. Add berries, complete blending until smooth, and enjoy.

Read next: 6 Common Herxheimer Reactions And 10 Tips For Clearing Them Quickly

Robyn Openshaw, MSW, is the bestselling author of The Green Smoothies Diet, 12 Steps to Whole Foods, and 2017’s #1 Amazon Bestseller and USA Today Bestseller, Vibe. Learn more about how to make the journey painless, from the nutrient-scarce Standard American Diet, to a whole-foods diet, in her free video masterclass 12 Steps to Whole Foods.

Sources

1. “Inflammatory Bowel Disease Prevalence (IBD) in the United States.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. March 21, 2019.
2. “Crohn’s Disease.” Mayo Clinic. June 26, 2019.
3. “Symptoms & Causes of Crohn’s Disease.” National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). September 2017.
4. “Treatment for Crohn’s Disease.” National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). September 2017.
5. Sandefur, Kelsea et al. “Crohn’s Disease Remission with a Plant-Based Diet: A Case Report.” Nutrients. 2019, 11(6), 1385; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11061385

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that help support the GSG mission without costing you extra. I recommend only companies and products that I use myself.

The post Green Smoothies For Crohn’s Disease: Research And Recipes appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

Dear GreenSmoothieGirl: I know that a great diet coupled with lots of exercise is the healthiest approach for all of us. Having said this, I just listened to a guy on the radio say he is a gym rat and is in excellent physical shape for his age (approaching 50,) but he’s a junk food king. Which is worse: Great diet, little or no exercise, OR so-so diet, but great cardio and muscle workouts. Happy Mother’s Day! –Patti

Answer:  It’s a funny question, and the answer may not even be helpful to anyone, but it will entertain me to answer it! Obviously it’s a terrible idea to have a bad diet OR live a sedentary lifestyle. But your guess about what I’m going to say is right: I think diet is even more important.

We do it all day long, eat food. It is so foundational. It’s the gas in the gas tank. When it’s hybridized, genetically modified, stripped of fiber and nutrition, or even made of nothing but chemicals (i.e. soda), your body doesn’t even have good fuel to work with, in a cardio or weight workout. Fuel is what builds every cell. With your weight, food is 80% and exercise is 20%. While I think both are critically important, nutrient density in your diet is probably the #1 most important issue for your health, and your emotional well-being. Stress management / attitude / ability to metabolize and move forward after negative events is the #2 most important factor affecting your overall health. Exercise is likely #3!

The post Diet vs. Exercise appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

Kathy with Robyn (Before)

I love when people send me their test results, or their before-and-after photos, when they’ve changed their life.

Kathy is a GSG Detox two-time graduate…..and the winner of a Blendtec Total Blender at my lecture.

We met in October, 2013, in Northern Virginia. She came to my next lecture, 9 months later, near Baltimore. Here you see the photos, with me, of Kathy before and after implementing a whole-foods diet.

Last Fall, she was just shy of 200 pounds, with cholesterol of 198, diagnosed pre-diabetic. She told me, “I didn’t like the way I felt. I had to wiggle into my chair at work. My thighs embraced each other as I walked, and my belly would sometimes cause the grocery store self-checkout machine to yell at me: ‘Please remove items from scanner scale!’”

Kathy realized she needed to do something. The day before Christmas, she started the GreenSmoothieGirl 26-day Detox. By the end, she’d lost 10 pounds. More importantly, she’d realized that she COULD make the switch, from the Standard American Diet, to a healthy, whole-foods lifestyle.

Each weekend, following GSG advice, she tried something new, adding one new habit. Her cholesterol dropped over 50 points in two months. Her doctor told her that her fasting blood sugar was back to normal range–out of danger for diabetes.

Kathy and Robyn (After)

Kathy has lost nearly 50 pounds in the last 7 months! She’s done the Detox TWICE. She says,

“I feel better about myself and I couldn’t have done it without the tools and information you provide on your website and books.  I am grateful for the work you have done in sharing your knowledge about foods and the food industry.”

Kathy, thank you for sharing your story!

The post Kathy Pugh Loses 50 lbs Eating Whole Foods! appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

Dr. David Katz and Dr. Stephanie Meller, at Yale University, completed a survey of the published research on diet over the past decade. The primary finding, surveying thousands of studies?

“A diet of minimally processed foods close to nature, predominantly plants, is decisively associated with health promotion and disease prevention.”

Score one for my mission. This is what we teach. Eat plants, unprocessed ones!

The study compared low carb, low-fat, low glycemic, Mediterranean, mixed/balanced (DASH), Paleolithic, vegan, and many other diets.

Fewer cancers and less heart disease are documented in thousands of published studies. The most effective diets included not just fruits and vegetables, but whole grains, nuts, and seeds. Some other interesting findings:

Katz and Meller found “no decisive evidence” that low-fat diets are better than diets high in healthful fats, like the Mediterranean! Those fats include a lower ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fatty acids than the typical American diet.

Finally, about the very popular fad, the “Paleo Diet”, Katz and Meller wrote:

“If Paleolithic eating is loosely interpreted to mean a diet based mostly on meat, no meaningful interpretation of health effects is possible.” They note that the composition of most meat in today’s food supply is not similar to that of mammoth meat, and that most plants available during the Stone Age are today extinct. [In other words, GSG interpretation, it’s not even possible to “follow” the diet Paleolithic man ate!]

Dr. Katz says, of the “dieting” landscape in the popular media:

“It’s not just linguistic…I really at times feel like crying, when I think about that we’re paying for ignorance with human lives. At times, I hate the people with alphabet soup after their names who are promising the moon and the stars with certainty. I hate knowing that the next person is already rubbing his or her hands together with the next fad to make it on the bestseller list.”

Another GSG teaching confirmed by the Yale study:

Exaggerated emphasis on a single nutrient or food is inadvisable. The result, Katz and Meller write, is constant confusion and doubt. My conclusion, instead, is to just eat a wide variety of whole, colorful, unprocessed plant foods. Greens, vegetables, fruits, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds.

The post Science Compared Every Diet. The Winner? Real Food! appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

Our customer support rep Kami forwarded this to me and said, “This brought tears to my eyes.” Me, too.

“I was in so much pain I couldn’t sit. So I kept squirming. I felt that I was distracting those who wanted so much to learn from you. I kept starting to leave…but I selfishly wanted to learn too.

I want to tell you I have now been doing green smoothies for almost two years and am constantly getting other people started. Years of compulsively overeating carbs,sweets, and fats gave me the giant belly you saw that literally hangs to my knees.

What you would never have imagined is that my health was already greatly improved by your green smoothies. I truly believe the cancer was already being driven out by the greens. I believe that if I beat this, it will be because of you. If I had found you sooner I would never have had to go through all this.

Thank you for all the good information you made available to me. I am done with radiation and my first round of chemo . I am barely able to eat again. I am starting back on my green smoothies. I wish you could guide me through this but I could never afford you. I wonder how many lives you have saved and they don’t even know it.

Never become discouraged. The world needs you. Be well, dear sister, and never stop.”

The post “When I Came to Your Class, I Had Just Been Diagnosed with Rectal Cancer” appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

Here’s a little quiz: what do mesquite, beans, carob, peas, soy, peanuts, lentils, and even alfalfa and clover all have in common?

Say it with me: “lay-gooms.”  Legumes–the food group with a weird name–are plants whose seed grows inside a pod.

In this article:

• Health Benefits of Legumes
• Legumes Are Easy to Add to Your Diet,
• How to Cook Legumes: Tips and Tricks
• My Favorite Legumes
• Best-Ever Split Pea Soup Recipe

Legumes are an amazing food group that is often forgotten, but high in so many nutrients (and delicious!)

Health Benefits of Legumes

I love legumes! This whole class of food is highly underrated. I’m going to tell you some reasons to commit to eating this food group regularly, what my favorite 10 are, and give you my BEST legume recipes (including my famous split-pea soup) in a free ebook!

Legumes are cheap. They’re high in fiber. They’re high in micro-nutrients. They’re filling. They’re low in calories, and they’re easy to obtain, worldwide. They store well and have a long shelf life, especially split peas and many beans.

They’re great for your heart. They have nutrients and fiber that can lower cholesterol and blood pressure and help you lose weight.

Legumes are high in protein while being low in fat. In his book How Not To Die, Dr. Michael Gregor cited major studies that associate higher legume consumption (about a cup a day) with lower risks for cancer, diabetes, and obesity.

In a podcast I recently recorded with Dr. Joel Fuhrman, the Eat To Live author shared why regular legume-eaters have higher amounts of unique beneficial bacteria in their guts, a special biofilm that buffers the glycemic load of higher-carb foods.  Scientists call it “the second meal effect,” where this biofilm slows glucose absorption from minutes to hours.  It’s just one of what Dr. Fuhrman says in the podcast are “a million reasons why beans extend lifespan.”

(And don’t buy into the bad rap legumes have gotten lately for their supposed “anti-nutrients,” phytates and purines.  I addressed those scare tactics in another post.)

Bottom line: EAT MORE LEGUMES!

Legumes Are Easy to Add to Your Diet

There are lots of ways to incorporate legumes into meals or snacks.

You can eat them in soups and stews, add cooked or sprouted ones to salads, or grind dry ones for bread or baked goods to substitute for part of the grains.  You can puree legumes and make yummy spreads for sandwiches or for dipping.

Guacamole is made even better by adding Black Beans for taste, nutrition, and extra filling.

I like to add black beans and salsa to guacamole so that I can eat lots of it on homemade organic corn chips.

I like to add chickpeas (garbanzo beans) to salads.

I love all varieties of lentils (green, red, and brown) in soups.

Legumes generally take an hour to cook, some even longer. But I highly recommend cooking your own, rather than buying them canned. Not only will you save money, but you’ll avoid sodium and any weird phthalates and other stuff leaching from the inside of the can.

Cook a big giant batch, to save time, and save 1 cup servings in the freezer.

How to Cook Legumes: Tips and Tricks

Before putting legumes in fresh water to cook, rinse them very well; they’re amazingly dirty when they come out of the bag. Beans need to soak overnight (lentils and split peas don’t). As another option, you can bring clean beans to a boil, turn off the burner, and let them soak two hours to speed up the process.

If the legumes you’re using have been in your storage for years, I recommend soaking them, draining the water, and soaking them a second time, for up to a whole day. This makes flatulence less likely.

(Flatulence comes from the oligosaccharides sugars in the beans not converting well into a form of sugars your body can use easily. Soaking the beans before cooking makes them easier to digest.)

To cook, drain the soak water and add at least 3 cups of water for every 1 cup you originally had of dry beans. Cook as much as you want, but remember that 1 cup of dry beans will become about 2.5 cups of cooked beans! Put clean, soaked beans in a heavy saucepan, cover, and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to a simmer, keep covered, and cook until beans are tender. For lentils or split peas, this will be about 45 minutes. For beans, it will be 2-3 hours, or for very old beans, it could be 4 hours.

Don’t add acidic things, like tomatoes, vinegar, salt, or lemon juice, to your beans until they are fully cooked; doing it earlier inhibits the beans from cooking.

My Favorite 10 Legumes

1. Lentils. Lentils are truly a super food, and you can buy the red, green, or brown varieties, all of which have a slightly different nutritional profile and texture. Brown lentils are the most common and least expensive. You don’t need to soak lentils, like beans. They’re high in fiber, protein, Vitamins B1, B5, and B6, niacin, folate, iron, potassium, magnesium, and manganese.

   Lentils have different varieties, are loaded with nutrients, and don’t need to be soaked like beans.

    

2. Split Peas. These take about an hour to cook and are called ‘split peas’ because when they’re harvested and dried, they naturally split in half. Split peas are high in protein, fiber, Vitamin B1 and B5, potassium, and phosphorus. They’re so easy to use in soup–and please leave the bacon out! You’ve GOT to try my amazing split pea soup recipe in the free ebook I’ll send you!

   Split peas are easy to use in soup – and we have a recipe for you at the end!

    

3. Black Beans. Everyone’s favorite legume! I love adding black beans to guacamole and salsa as a dip, or mashing them for a burrito. You’ll get a lot of protein, Vitamin B1, iron, folate, copper, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and manganese with these babies.
4. Black-Eyed Peas. Most people in the Northern states don’t know this delightful little legume, but they cook in an hour or less. I grew up in the South, where dinner was often a bowlful of black-eyed peas, plus a tablespoon of raw apple cider vinegar. It was simple, but I loved it! And black-eyed peas are high in fiber, protein, four B vitamins, copper, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and manganese.

   Black-eyed peas are very quick to cook and high in fiber, protein, vitamins, and other vital nutrients.

    

5. Pinto Beans. These might be the cheapest legume you can buy, and they’re also easy to store. I grew up with this food as a staple that raised 8 children to adulthood on one military salary. Big pots of vegetarian chili are one of my main memories of growing up. Pinto beans are high in fiber, protein, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, B1, and molybdenum.
6. Kidney Beans. These are my favorite for adding to a salad, as they taste very starchy, which is a nice complement and balance to crunchy greens and vegetables. Plus, they’re pretty and dark red. A mix of these and pinto beans are great in vegetarian chili. They are high in fiber, protein, omega-3 fatty acids, Vitamins B1, B3, B5, and calcium, magnesium, potassium, zinc, and iron.
7. Chickpeas (Garbanzo Beans). Everybody loves hummus, and there are so many things you can put in mashed chickpeas with a little lemon juice, sea salt, and tahini (sesame paste); sundried tomatoes or any kind of olives are great options. I also love them in salads. Chickpeas are low in calories and high in protein, fiber, manganese, folate, copper, phosphorus, and iron.

   Chickpeas are what make up delicious hummus and are very versatile.

    

8. Soybeans. Soybeans are heavily genetically modified in North America, so buy ONLY organic to make sure you’re getting the good available from this food, and not the bad. Soybeans are extremely high in protein, so for many years, vegetarians made use of soy-based “meat replacement” products. I suggest avoiding all processed soy products and eating only whole, organic, occasional soybean foods such as edamame, tofu, or tempeh, or organic miso or nama shoyu as seasonings. Soybeans are well known to be high in isoflavones, a class of antioxidants that fight cancer, ease hormonal symptoms in women, and increase bone density. They’re also high in fiber, calcium, Vitamin B2, manganese, molybdenum, copper, potassium, phosphorus, iron, and omega-3 fats. Try sauteing tempeh as a sandwich filling or salad topping to replace meat.

   Soybeans are heavily modified genetically (a GMO) so make sure you only buy organic!

    

9. Lima Beans. Sometimes called “butter beans,” these large Peruvian beans make a nice soup with onions and root vegetables (potatoes, turnips, carrots, etc.), or they’re great mashed in a burrito or with sweet potatoes. They’re high in protein and fiber, as well as folate, molybdenum, tryptophan, manganese, potassium, iron, copper, phosphorus, magnesium, and Vitamin B1.
10. Mung Beans.  Ayurvedic doctors feed this to sick people because they’re such a power food. It’s easy to sprout these tiny beans; just soak them overnight, drain in the morning, and rinse and rotate them twice a day until you see “tails” about ¼” long. In two days, you’ve got a superfood for your salads and sandwiches. They’re chock full of protein, fiber, potassium, Vitamin C, magnesium, folic acid, zinc, iron, and phosphorus.

    Mung Beans are a power food, used by Ayurvedic doctors to help sick people with nutrients.

Best-Ever Split Pea Soup Recipe

Split pea soup got a bad rap in some classic horror flick I can’t remember, but just wait a little minute, here, because it deserves another look.

I want to send you my split pea soup recipe. It’s cheap to make, you can keep it in the fridge for a week, and it’s better the 2nd and 3rd days as flavors come together. It’s a great new recipe in your arsenal of strategies to eat more plants and increase your nutrition for better energy and ideal weight.

I’ve included the recipe in this free Luscious Legumes Recipes ebook I’d love to send you. Tried-and-true dishes your family will love, from my kitchen to yours!

Grab your FREE Luscious Legumes Recipe ebook here!

Read next: Grains and Legumes Made Easy

Robyn Openshaw, MSW, is the bestselling author of The Green Smoothies Diet, 12 Steps to Whole Foods, and 2017’s #1 Amazon Bestseller and USA Today Bestseller, Vibe. Learn more about how to make the journey painless, from the nutrient-scarce Standard American Diet, to a whole-foods diet, in her free video masterclass 12 Steps to Whole Foods.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links that help support the GSG mission without costing you extra. I recommend only companies and products that I use myself.

The post How To Eat Legumes appeared first on GreenSmoothieGirl.

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) are on the rise. In fact, it’s estimated that more than 3 million Americans suffer from this chronic inflammation in the digestive tract.¹ Drinking green smoothies can help lower that number.

There are two types of IBD: Crohn’s disease, which can affect any part of the lining of the digestive tract, and ulcerative colitis, which mainly impacts the colon or rectum. We’ll focus on Crohn’s disease for this article and share the best green smoothies to nourish this health condition.

Why the increased rates? It’s likely the toll from the Standard American Diet full of processed, packaged foods and refined sugar and flour that our bodies simply don’t recognize. If there’s one thing the human body knows, it’s plant foods, and they could be the key to nourishing your body as it heals from Crohn’s.

In This Article:

• What Is Crohn’s Disease?
• What Causes Crohn’s Disease?
• Treatment for Crohn’s Disease
• Lifestyle Chances for Crohn’s Disease
• Best Foods for Crohn’s Disease Support
• Green Smoothie Recipes for Crohn’s Disease

What Is Crohn’s Disease?

Crohn’s disease is inflammation of the digestive tract. This condition can cause significant pain, especially if it progresses further into the bowel tissue. Symptoms of Crohn’s disease can include²:

• Abdominal pain
• Fatigue
• Fever
• Low appetite
• Severe diarrhea
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Weight loss
• Blood in stool
• Anal fistula (a hole between the inner anus and surrounding tissue)
• Inflammation in skin, eyes, joints, liver, or bile ducts

The symptoms of Crohn’s disease are caused by inflammation of the gut, and can be painful.

What Causes Crohn’s Disease?

According to the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, there is no officially recognized cause, but there are several theories about what increases risk.³

• Bacteria in your gut may cause an autoimmune reaction, meaning your immune system attacks healthy cells.
• Genetics
• Smoking
• NSAID usage (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen)

Treatment for Crohn’s Disease

Conventional medicine has no cure for Crohn’s and uses a variety of medications to control symptoms, like steroids and immunomodulators.⁴ This school of thought also recommends short-term liquid diets to allow the bowels to rest, and for more advanced Crohn’s, the recommended course of action is surgery. There is a risk for complications with these methods, none of which are pretty. Basically, if you head to the doctor with CD, chances are you’re leaving feeling pretty pessimistic.

But there is hope.

Plant-Based Diet For Crohn’s

New evidence shows that certain lifestyle shifts, such as transitioning to a plant-based diet, can keep Crohn’s symptoms at bay.⁵ According to the study, “several human trials have demonstrated that plant-based dietary therapies may have utility in both the treatment of acute CD flares and the maintenance of remission.”

The case study covered in the above research followed a man diagnosed with Crohn’s at 25 years old. He went the conventional route with intravenous medication, a treatment that left him with minimal improvements, and continued symptoms of pain and fatigue. 

Many Crohn’s patients think they shouldn’t eat fibrous plant food because a type of fiber found in vegetables, whole grains, and legumes—insoluble fiber—is indigestible. Its purpose is to bulk up our stool so it can pass through the digestive tract more easily. It was widely thought that having to go to the bathroom more often would be more irritating to the bowels, but more evidence is showing that plant fiber actually aids in digestion and, as the research notes, may be key to combating the disease.

The man went on a whole foods, plant-based diet following the conventional treatment and began exercising regularly. Within six months, he was symptom-free, and a colonoscopy revealed he had healed completely! How’s that for no cure? And he’s not the first, either. There are plenty of similar stories you’ll hear from people around the world.

People who have adopted plant-based diets and exercise have actually healed their Crohn’s disease.

Lifestyle Changes for Crohn’s Disease

Diet is a major factor in managing Crohn’s disease symptoms, of course, and I’ll get into that below, but as you read above, the food you eat is just one piece of the puzzle. The mind/body aspect of healing is the rest!

Stress can seriously affect the gut and flare up autoimmune disease symptoms. And the gut is what needs healing! So naturally, we want to be able to de-stress.

Some new practices you can try bringing into your lifestyle can be meditation, skin brushing, lymphatic self-massage, yoga or gentle stretching, other exercises, or breathwork. Also consider the stressful aspects of your daily life, whether they are physical, mental, or emotional. Maybe you’re not able to do strenuous exercise, or take on too much at work, or maybe there are toxic relationships in your life that you need to let go of. These things matter!

As you heal from Crohn’s, you must be your first priority, and incorporating self-care practices can help you stay centered, calm, and focused on your healing journey.

[Related Vibe Podcast: Discovering Your Innate Power For Self-Healing With Dr. Charles Cropley]

Best Foods for Crohn’s Disease Support

Starting off by eliminating processed foods (including gluten, dairy, and packaged goods) can be an important first step. If time is an issue, keep in mind that making your own meals in bulk (preparing big batches of green smoothies or simple meals to last throughout the week) will end up saving you time and stress in the long run. 

If your Crohn’s disease is severe, you may also want to ask your doctor about eliminating harder to digest foods in the short term, like grains, beans, and other legumes.

To really support your digestive system as it heals, incorporate some of the following foods into your diet. They contain key nutrients for gastrointestinal health like Vitamin A, Vitamin D, zinc.

• Sweet potato 
• Squash
• Leafy greens
• Carrots
• Mango
• Cantaloupe
• Citrus
• Watermelon
• Papaya
• Mushrooms
• Nuts and Seeds

[Related: 999 Cheap Plant-Based Meals You Can Make In 15 Minutes]

To add these foods to your diet, try some of my recipes, like Thai Sweet Potato Soup, Yellow Squash Raw Hummus, and Mango Bars, or get your leafy greens in with the smoothie recipes below!

Why Are Green Smoothies Helpful For Crohn’s Disease?

Smoothies are a great tool for those who are suffering from digestive issues. A lot of the digestive work of breaking up fiber has already been done, so your body doesn’t have to work as hard to do the rest. Blending up your ingredients, especially those that may be tougher to digest on their own, breaks them down even more than you could by chewing (but you should still “chew” your green smoothies!). Once they get to your stomach, the food particles are small enough to move through your digestive system without much issue.

Gut-Healthy Green Smoothie Add-In

One addition that will be beneficial to any of these smoothie recipes is bone broth protein. It’s a flavorless supplement (although flavored options are also available), so don’t worry about your fruity breakfast tasting like chicken. A main benefit of bone broth protein for Crohn’s sufferers is its gut-soothing collagen. It helps bodies build and maintain connective tissue, including the lining of the digestive tract. It also helps keep tissues hydrated and strong.

Green Smoothie Recipes for Crohn’s Disease

Blueberry Mango Green Smoothie

Both spinach and mangoes are great sources of Vitamin A, which is soothing to mucous membranes in the body. This includes the lining of the digestive tract, which needs all the healing it can get when recovering from Crohn’s disease. This green smoothie is a tasty way to use food as medicine.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups coconut water
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 banana
• 1 cup frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup frozen mangoes
• 1 tsp chia seeds
  

The ingredients in our Blueberry Mango Smoothie are wonderful for Vitamin A, which heals the lining of all your tracts! (including digestive)

Directions

Place all ingredients into a high-powered blender and mix until smooth.

Watermelon-Lime Green Smoothie

This smoothie is super hydrating with juicy Vitamin A-rich watermelon. Its sweetness is balanced out by fresh lime juice, which can help stimulate stomach acid needed to break down the food you eat (or drink). Baby spinach or baby kale is a neutral way to get in an extra serving of veggies, too.

Depending where you are in your recovery, your stomach may be sensitive to even small amounts of alcohol in vanilla extract. Look for alcohol-free extracts (usually made with vegetable glycerin), or vanilla bean paste.

Ingredients

• 7 cups fresh or frozen watermelon
• 1 large handful baby spinach
• 1 cup ice
• 4 limes
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  

When recovering from Crohn’s, be sure to get alcohol-free vanilla extracts.

Directions

Squeeze the juice from the limes and add with the other ingredients to a blender. Blend until smooth, and enjoy now or freeze in ice-cubes to blend later for a slushy treat!

Anti-Inflammatory Smoothie

Pineapple is a great addition to your gut-healing diet because it contains bromelain, an anti-inflammatory compound that helps soothe the digestive system. The zinc-rich almonds in this recipe also are immune boosters–and since the immune system lives in the gut, it’s doubly important to support it.

Ingredients

• 12 raw almonds, soaked overnight and drained
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup fresh or frozen pineapple
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1 fresh or frozen banana
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 tsp ground turmeric
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  

Bromelain is an anti-inflammatory found in pineapple, which soothes the digestive system.

Directions

Blend water and almonds together for 60-90 seconds until very smooth. Add all other ingredients and blend until smooth. Enjoy throughout the day.

Note: For extra anti-inflammatory, gut-healing powers, replace 1/4 cup of the water with 1/4 cup of organic aloe vera gel.

Mean Green Detox Smoothie

You know how chia seeds get all slimy when you let them sit in water for a bit? The slick gel that it creates is actually great for the lining of your digestive tract. Spirulina, the blue-green algae is, too, thanks to the amino acid glutamine. Make sure you don’t go overboard with the spirulina, unless you want to taste the ocean—a little goes a long way!

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1 banana
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 chopped English Cucumber
• 1 1/2 cups kale, rinsed and de-stemmed
• 1 small organic lemon, quartered
• 1 cup frozen pineapple
• 1/2 tsp spirulina
• 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2 cup ice
  

Chia seeds and spirulini are great for your gut lining – just don’t go overboard with the spirulini! (It might taste like ocean).

Directions

Place all ingredients into a high-powered blender and mix until smooth to enjoy.

Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie

Aside from the amazing pink color this combo produces, the probiotic benefits you get from this smoothie (if you go for the kefir option) are great for developing the health of your gut. Having a healthy balance of good bacteria has a cascade effect on the rest of your body, since so much of the body is affected by gut health, and you may see improvements in your digestion, skin, mood, sleep, and more.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cup coconut water (optional: “ferment” it overnight on the counter with water kefir grains, strain, and replace with new coconut water for the following morning.)
• 1/4 cup raw unsalted cashews
• 2-4 large dates pitted
• 1 whole large carrot cut in chunks
• 1 golf ball sized raw beet peeled
• 1-2 tsp organic vanilla extract
• 12 whole large strawberries or frozen blueberries
  

There’s no greens in this Hot Pink Smoothie, but the probiotics and nutrients inside do wonders for your gut health and more.

Directions

Blend all ingredients aside from berries in high-powered blender until smooth. Add berries, complete blending until smooth, and enjoy.

Read next: 6 Common Herxheimer Reactions And 10 Tips For Clearing Them Quickly

Robyn Openshaw, MSW, is the bestselling author of The Green Smoothies Diet, 12 Steps to Whole Foods, and 2017’s #1 Amazon Bestseller and USA Today Bestseller, Vibe. Learn more about how to make the journey painless, from the nutrient-scarce Standard American Diet, to a whole-foods diet, in her free video masterclass 12 Steps to Whole Foods.

Sources

1. “Inflammatory Bowel Disease Prevalence (IBD) in the United States.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. March 21, 2019.
2. “Crohn’s Disease.” Mayo Clinic. June 26, 2019.
3. “Symptoms & Causes of Crohn’s Disease.” National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). September 2017.
4. “Treatment for Crohn’s Disease.” National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). September 2017.
5. Sandefur, Kelsea et al. “Crohn’s Disease Remission with a Plant-Based Diet: A Case Report.” Nutrients. 2019, 11(6), 1385; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11061385

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