*Note: This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.
What is Simple Green Smoothies?
[Repost] I heard of Simple Green Smoothies a few years ago, but because I’m not one to complicate food prep (why do more than I need to if everyone eats fruits plain as it is), I never gave it much thought. But I was reintroduced to the site and its challenge when I was looking into doing challenges because y’all know we love a good challenge around here. SGS was started by Jen and Jadah in 2011. They wanted to share their story of how a simple green smoothie each morning changed their lives, and they wanted to show others how being “green” is easier than we think! So SGS was born. There are lots of smoothies on the website and they have also come out with *a book of smoothie recipes (31% on Amazon right now!). In addition to smoothies, if anyone is beyond the basics (not me! :p ), Jen also has great (and easy-to-understand) information about cleanses, resets, wholesome eating, and making smoothies a meal replacement.
What is the 10-Day Kick Start?
Here’s the 10-Day Kick Start in a nutshell:
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10 green smoothies
10 days
@simplegreensmoothies
The book has a shopping list divided into two weeks so all your ingredients can be fresher. Each day has some useful information about the ingredients.
Prepping for Our Second Challenge
Norm does the grocery shopping around here because he’s better at remembering which stores are best for different items and what deals are available. So here are our shopping details:
– Trader Joe’s and Safeway
– Spinach was bagged
– Oranges and bananas were fresh
– Mangoes, pineapples, and berries were frozen
We didn’t track the cost this time around, although it would compare.
Instead of prepping ahead and freezing all the ingredients in baggies, we kept all ingredients as they were and Norm and sometimes Emily made the smoothies in the morning. We made sure to have the blender, measuring cups, and cups ready to go, and for a few of the days, we poured the coconut water into the measuring cup or peeled and refrigerated the oranges the night before. This saved on time. I think overall time used would be about the same as freezing them in baggies, but we didn’t time it to see the difference. :p
[Read about our Simple 7 Experience HERE.]
What We Did for the Challenge
I shared in our first green smoothie post that we don’t necessarily drink the green smoothies for any additional health benefits since we do try to get plenty of fruits and veggies. So, once again, we made a serving (16-oz.) to split up among the four of us each morning. It was enough for us since we would still eat a little something as well. (Repost: I will have to say MANY other Simple 7 Squad members have reported smoother skin, more energy, and better overall nutritional decisions in the rest of their meals.)
Note: We have a *Breville BBL605XL Hemisphere Control Blender and it works for us, but there are high-powered ones, basic ones, as well as personal-size ones in The Blender Guide.
Our Thoughts About the Smoothies
Unlike the Simple 7 Experience, the Kick Start only consisted of spinach as the greens, and I think we were all fine with that fact. Day 1 was Beginner’s Luck, and once again, we all agreed it was the best one. Citrus Crush on Day 10 was a close second for everyone. That is a great way to end the 10 days. We said we would drink it if it was offered to us, but none of really liked Pink Flamango from Day 2.
You can read more of our thoughts on each of the 10 smoothies on these posts: Update #1 and Update #2, but here’s the rating board Melody made for us to track which ones we liked best.
Our Thoughts About the Challenge…and Next Steps
[Repost] This is a great start to healthier eating, especially for people who do not regularly eat greens! It’s like I tell the girls all the time, you won’t know if you’ll like it until you try it. And if you try it and don’t like it, that’s fine too, but make sure to add fruits/veggies in your diet somewhere in your day/week. And if there are allergies or an ingredient you really don’t like, you can just swap it out. The Simple Green Smoothie Formula will help you out with that!
Prepping – Since we just made it in the mornings, the girls didn’t really get a chance to help prep much, but they did help to gather all the tools and ingredients each night. I think we will try to more out the ingredients into containers next time around. We will read through our *SGS book some more and choose a few more new ones to try. Everyone is a good sport about trying the smoothies even if it has ingredients that aren’t our favorites.
Freezing – The spinach blended much better without freezing, so we will continue to keep it out if we ever decide to freeze all the ingredients, but we think how we had the fresh stuff out and the frozen things in worked out perfectly.
Drinking – We definitely will continue to split the smoothies to drink among the four of us. For summertime, it would be a perfect middle-of-the-day drink to cool down from the heat! Be on the lookout for our next challenge!
Have you tried a green smoothie before? What other colors of smoothies have you had? :p What are your favorite green smoothie recipes?
Links:
– Check out Simple Green Smoothies here –> simplegreensmoothies.com
– Join the Simple 7 Challenge here –> simplegreensmoothies.com/simple7
– Buy the Simple Green Smoothies book here –> *amzn.to/2lR9xxj (it’s 31% off at the time this post goes live)
– Read about our Simple 7 Experience HERE.
*Note: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a tiny percentage if you make a purchase through my link at no extra cost to you. Read my disclosure policy here.
Moy Chronicles 