12 Step Testimonials
“Robyn Openshaw’s 12 Steps to Whole Foods is by far the most comprehensive, must-read, nutritional material out there! Our family has spent years reading the latest raw-food books/plans and struggled with contradicting information. We found most recipes to be too time consuming, complicated, and expensive for our large family. And we still had questions—if we are to eat “every seed bearing thing,” why aren’t grains widely used in raw food recipes? What about good qualities of dairy, such as probiotics in yogurt, etc.? Most importantly, how can a mom of four with a limited budget possibly make it all work?
I found Robyn’s site by chance—and all of a sudden the answers (plus more!) we’d been searching for were right in front of our eyes. Robyn has covered pretty much every topic in the nutrition field with a simple, doable approach. We are excited to finally have found a way to make nutrition work for our family!”
—Jennifer Bartlett
“I love that there is one goal a month! That makes changing your way of eating less stressful and more enjoyable. I also like it because you can focus on that goal and observe the changes that goal is making to your body and in your life.”
—AB from IL.
“Two years ago, illness and disease brought my life to a grinding halt. The medical community could not explain my symptoms nor could they offer me relief from my pain. I began to read books on natural healing and discovered the underlying truth that I needed to revamp my diet. I stumbled upon a GreenSmoothieGirl video on YouTube and discovered 12 Steps to Whole Foods shortly thereafter on the GSG website. What an amazing experience that was! Within a few short months, I was able to completely revolutionize my nutritional world. Wow!!
The 12 step program is a well researched, easy to read guide on eating well with lots of great suggestions on how to save time and money. Since implementing this program, I feel so confident about nutritionally meeting the needs of my family. Every chapter has fabulous recipes and challenging nutritional content. It charts a clear, achievable course for people who want to eat well but just don’t know how.
Since living the GSG diet, I have healed my metabolism. I weigh 20 pounds less and have dropped from a size 6 to a size 0 (who knew that size even existed!). I finally feel comfortable with my weight and how my clothes fit. My diet has become the foundation to my healing program and the improvement in my health has been remarkable in the last two years. I have way more energy and am excited about how my health will continue to improve.
I greatly appreciate the information in the 12 step program; it is well balanced and integrates time-tested traditional ways of eating with the latest research on healthy eating. Thank you for being a calm, reassuring voice that encourages us to make lifelong change. It’s not about products or gimmicks. It works for moms on tight budgets who stand as nutritional gatekeepers to the home. It worked for me and now my family is reaping the many, many benefits of whole foods!
Thank you!”
—Darlene U., Canada
“We are eating whole foods, including green smoothies, and feeling really good! I feel really good because my family is not eating any sugar, MSG, or preservatives.
My children ask before they eat things at relatives’ homes if they have these things in them!
My husband does irrigation work in central WA and so he is out in public every day, we go to town once a week, and so far none of us have gotten sick. I am praying it stays that way!
We really like the Almond Joy Fudge from Ch. 4, and my brother in law, whose wife is against anything I make (won’t eat it), told me he would pay me to make it for him!!
I made the Teriyaki Almonds for a camping trip in October and everyone gobbled them up! Some of them are going in on the Raw Almond group buy with us!
I like to make the whole wheat tortillas (Ch. 6) and fill them with different things like hummus, guacamole, and fresh veggies. For supper last night we had them as enchiladas, with brown rice, olives, salsa (homemade, canned), onions and homemade enchilada sauce. YUM!
We like Mexican food so I have made the Taco Lentils a lot (Ch. 6), which are especially good added to Taco Soup. I am even experimenting with converting sugar and white flour recipes (Ch. 11)–so far so good!
Early on in March we had a going away party for a friend of ours, he is allergic to dairy and so I made the ice cream in Ch. 11—YUM YUM! He really liked it and so did everyone else.
I made the Choc Chip Zucchini cookies for our camping trip and they were yum!
I like to read Robyn’s blog because she does the research for me and I don’t have work as hard to find things out! I still do a ton of research though. I like how it is all comprehensive in one spot. That way I don’t have to remember where I read it and it is easy to find.
I tell everyone about it, especially when they have health issues. Anyone who talks to me very long has heard of green smoothies. And some have tasted them. Anyone who eats at our house eats salad, whole food, and homemade salad dressing.
I have had little red bumps on my upper arms my whole life. Since I have not been eating any dairy they are gone. My husband’s chronic bad breath in the mornings is gone.
I wanted to try lactic fermentations (Ch. 9) next.
Love the dehydrator ideas (Ch. 7) and I am constantly learning new ways to use mine.
I really like the 12 Step blog for support. It’s nice to have somewhere to go and know that everyone eats this way and has the same problems with skeptics. It is great to know that we are not alone. GreenSmoothieGirl.com is a great place to ask questions and get answers.
Thank you, thank you!”
—Beth W., Washington
“I always considered myself a healthy eater and a good cook. I had been on Weight Watchers for 2 years and was almost to my desired weight, so I thought the foods I was preparing for my husband and children were healthy. Our dinner meals consisted of a medium serving of a white meat such as chicken, or lower fat ground beef in some form, a side of fresh or frozen vegetables, and a salad of lettuce and tomatoes with regular dressing and croutons.
However, in 2001, my husband was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He also had asthma, tons of allergies, and high blood pressure. He had suffered from these ailments all of his life and fought colds, bronchitis, and pneumonia every winter. If we had gone ahead with the doctor’s advice to remove the prostate, the operation alone would probably have killed him. Instead, I asked my husband if he was ready to try the “green diet” . When I’d told him about healthy eating before, his reaction was immediate, “That diet would kill me, I’m allergic to all of those vegetables!!” Now, with cancer looming, he said, “Well, if I’m going to die anyway, I might as well die trying something”.
In one month of eating mostly vegetables and drinking a green drink, he lost 40 pounds, stopped using his asthma inhalers, never went back to the doctor for allergy shots, and stopped using almost all of his medications. After a year of many healing illnesses, he is now enjoying the best health he has ever had in his life. The doctor who treated his cancer was very concerned with my husband’s choice to avoid surgery and told him that he would die within 10 years. He recently saw a new specialist in the area where we now live who could find no sign of the cancer and told him to never come back to see him! He said, “There is no proof that diet can cure cancer, but whatever you are doing, keep doing it!” It has been over seven years since the original diagnosis.
I discovered the GreenSmoothieGirl.com site while searching for new recipes and ideas for meals. I ordered the 12 Step plan for the recipes. I have found the book be to very informative and wish that I had raised my children in this way. They can see that the way we have been eating has really benefitted us, but prefer to continue to eat in the manner they were raised. We will keep working on them!
We began drinking green smoothies this summer, and now my husband complains if I don’t make time to prepare them! He has still had issues with his blood pressure and has recently noticed that he doesn’t need to take as much medication and is sometimes able to go completely without it. We attribute that to the additional nutrition we are getting from the smoothies. I am slowly trying the recipes in the book.
Last week I made the Chocolate Beet cake (Ch. 11) for a church dinner. It was entered in a dessert competition. Unfortunately, the highly sugared desserts won, but I had one lady who asked for the recipe and was excited to try it. She couldn’t believe it had beets in it! I also made a batch of the candied almonds for my father’s birthday gift. He has always loved dates and nuts, so this was a perfect gift for him! (I couldn’t stop eating them!)”
—Christine Workman, Covington, WA