Robyn's Blog

How do you take your bee pollen?

Just a warning: today’s blog has nothing to do with nutrition. It’s just a funny story about something that happened in the Long Beach airport on the way home from Anaheim yesterday.

So Tiffani and I got there almost 3 hours before our flight was to leave. We’d been at a raw restaurant with lots of people from the show, raw foodie and earthy crunchy friends with dreadlocks and guitars, the night before, till late. And we’d been talking to people for 3 days straight. My vendors were there. My best friend and her parents from San Fran. One of my favorite readers, Tonya. A few of my former university students who came to hang out with me. A million people trying to get us to try their stuff. Skinny Bitch, the author. Heather Mills, the richest ex-wife in history. The Biggest Loser (who looks to have gained a few kilos). The whole show was a trip!

Point is, we were both in need of a cat nap.

So we saw these comfy chairs with no arm rests between them and we sprawled out. Each of us was taking up two seats. No big deal, in a room full of 250 chairs and about 10 people. Right? Well, you’d think.

A lady and her husband walked up. She had that frown-lined face that speaks of a lifetime of conflict and bitterness. She demanded: “ARE YOU GOING TO TAKE UP THAT WHOLE SPACE YOURSELVES?”

I said we were going to take a little nap. Tif pointed out that there were many chairs, all of them comfy, with hardly anyone in the waiting area. The lady became angry and demanded that we give her the seats. I said, very quietly to Tif, “I don’t think we should do something just because a bully wants us to.”

So Frowny Lady stormed over to a security guard. The guard came over with a triumphant Frowny and asked us, “Do you need that space?” We said yes, and the guard said to the lady, “Well I can’t MAKE them move,” and walked away.

At this point, I was finding the whole thing really amusing and I was fighting a case of the giggles. You know, the kind that you keep trying to suppress—you cover your mouth, you clamp your lips together—but it just going to come out no matter what! I think people who see a room full of hundreds of chairs and want the ONE and ONLY THE ONE someone else has—well, it seemed like great comedy at the time.

So an even funnier thing happened. Frowny stomped over and sat in MY seat, right up against me. She plopped down really hard, with a big “UMPH!” sound, to be extra obnoxious. Wiggled her fanny around to really settle in. Not in the seat next to me, mind you, but IN MY SEAT WITH ME.

Every point of the side of her body was in total contact with mine.

Well, here’s the thing. I love to defuse situations like that by doing what I call THE OPPOSITE. The opposite of what most people would do. The opposite of what is expected. The opposite of instinct.

When I make a driving error and someone flips me off, I employ The Opposite Tactic. I wave enthusiastically as if the person giving me The Bird is a close friend I am thrilled to reconnect with, on the road. (Warning: your children will be mortified by this.) (Tip: do this while thinking of someone you would truly love to see in the other car.)

The person who made the obscene gesture is completely taken off guard. At first they are startled and think (watch carefully and you can see this thought register on their face), “Oh no! I just flipped off a friend!”

Then they see they really don’t KNOW me, and they become very annoyed, because they’ve failed in their goal to make me angry. Instead I’m obviously just stupid in my giddiness to say hello, grinning ear-to-ear.

Back to the airport story. Doing THE OPPOSITE came in handy.

I imagined her being my grandma, whom I like very much. I snuggled into her—burrowed, really—and put my head on her shoulder, closed my eyes. Took a long, leisurely breath. A contented sigh, really. This was an even better nap than I’d get stretched out! Perfect!

This did not, however, go over big. She said:
“DON’T. F’ING. TOUCH. ME.”

Tiffani, whose jaw had been hanging open ever since I decided to enjoy my lovely, soft, Frowny pillow, finally spoke, indignantly:

“But you’re touching HER!”

Well, Frowny got up and stormed off. Everyone in the room laughed so hard, and so long, that very frankly the whole event was worth the stress. Laughter is like raw food, and oxygen—it’s just GOOD FOR YOU!

One woman, an hour later, came over and cozied up to me IN MY CHAIR just like Frowny had, and then cracked up and went back to her chair. One guy couldn’t stop laughing for about 20 minutes. Other people showed up, and they were told the story, and everyone got to enjoy it over and over.

It was great fun. Try it sometime. Do THE OPPOSITE. Anger is toxic. It’s really fun to defuse it.

My friend Laura once said, “Everything that happens is good. Either it works out well, or it makes a great story.” Hope you enjoyed mine.

“I have spent all my adulthood overweight and miserable. My weight went from 135 to 280 during that time. Most of the time I had skewed ideas that I was either too fat (when I weighed 135) and not that fat (when I weighed 280). My perception was always off. But I did know that I just didn’t feel good.

I have been on Weight Watchers, the soup diet, hard boiled egg diet, Chinese tea, and every diet that came in magazines. I finally found that Atkins worked for me–three times! Funny that I would go off after several months and the weight would come back on, with its 30.-lb. friend! I realized that if I kept dieting that way I would completely ruin my health. I was so afraid to start another diet, so I decided to never diet again and just accept myself as I was.

I remarried at 210 lbs. and within 3 years had put on 70 lbs. with careless eating, primarily fast food. Then my DH was diagnosed with cancer (digestive related) and I found GreenSmoothieGirl.com. It was an answer to prayer because this is a LIFESTYLE–not a diet. In the last 9 mos. I have lost 40 lbs., my skin glows, I am nearly off the medications I was taking for high blood pressure, arthritic aches and pains, and mucus. My wrinkles also are going away!

I will NEVER diet again because I can eat everything I want and truly enjoy it (even chocolate). I am never hungry because I have God’s fast food with me all the time (fruits). I have found that the more raw I eat, the faster I lose weight. I am no longer fanatical about it and believe that my body will end up the weight I am supposed to be, not the way society says it should be. I just wish I had been able to learn this earlier in life.

Sorry about the long blog, but I feel that finding GreenSmoothieGirl.com and Robyn’s blog has saved my life! Thanks, Robyn and every one else!”

–Karen L.

Well, my friends, I’m off to Anaheim for the Natural Products Expo, to see what’s new and cool in raw, whole foods and natural healing.

While I’m gone, it’s time for another round of . . . are you excited? . . . I am! . . .

GREEN SMOOTHIE TESTIMONIALS.

I’ll do just a few days’ worth. Enough for a morale boost. Not so much that you’re bored. (I get excited about green smoothies again every time I read what y’all have sent me! So check in here every day.)

If you’re new and want to contribute your testimonial, write us at support123 [at] greensmoothiegirl.com with whatever part of your name you’re willing to have publicized on this blog.

Here’s a good one I received from Eddie:

“I started doing smoothies twice a day (breakfast and lunch), July 14, 2008. At the time, I had no idea what to expect, as I was just trying this on a whim. After about two weeks, I noticed I lost about 5 pounds. I decided to continue this process, and switching up my dinners to be cooked, mostly vegetarian. Another 2-3 weeks passed by and I lost another 5 pounds. Something was working… I suspect it was the combination of green smoothies and going mostly vegetarian.

Well, along my journey, I started seeing books about raw food and 80-10-10, and just a whole bunch of information. I decided to try doing raw, and for the most part I have been able to maintain about 90-95% raw since I started doing this. Every week that passed I noticed I kept losing 2.5 pounds a week, for an eventual total loss so far of about 47 pounds. About 3 months into my journey, I read 80-10-10 Diet by Douglas Graham, and have implemented a lot of his concepts in my daily routines, so most of my daily intake consists of fruits and vegetables, with very small amounts of nuts/seeds. I noticed that with gourmet raw using high content fat (ie. nuts and seeds), I would do alright but I truly thrived doing 80-10-10.

As far as exercise goes, even before I started smoothies, I was doing twice a week at the gym doing a cycle/spin class, and I would occasionally do some light weights at home. I have noticed that my cycle/spin classes, I have been able to maintain extreme high energy levels and not gas out when on 80-10-10. I also noticed that when doing raw-gourmet (with higher fat), that I would not be as energized. Another thing I should note, my muscle recovery times have improved dramatically with 80-10-10– gone are the days of recovery, instead my muscle recovery occurs in about 15-20 hours, ready to hit up more exercise the next day.

I used to have a sinus headache about once a week. Those are all gone. I sleep much better, and noticed that I can go on my day with less sleep and still have a ton of energy. My daily diet still consists of two smoothies a day (one breakfast and one lunch) and my typical dinner meal varies, but it is typically in line with 80-10-10. It took me about 6 months to lose nearly 50 pounds, but the whole process was pretty easy. It is just a matter of committing your mind, and making great habits and breaking the bad ones.”

–Eddie Yee

Researchers at University College London published findings that eating processed, fatty food increases the risk of depression.

One group in the study of 3,486 people ate whole foods (mostly fresh vegetables, fruits, and fish) and the other ate fried food, processed meat, dairy, and desserts. Researchers controlled for factors like exercise and smoking, and even so, they found those with a processed diet had a 58 percent higher rate of depression.

Findings were published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Why? The study doesn’t know, so this is me making educated guesses. A clogged digestive tract (eating a low-fiber diet) leads to lower energy, which leads to an inability to complete tasks and discouragement.

Sugar and other processed food taxes and burns out the adrenals needed for stable mood.

Lack of micronutrients starves cells all the way to organs (brain, blood, bone, and more).

As blood pressure, constipation, energy depletion, enzyme depletion, weight creep, and hundreds of other issues compound, depression seems an almost inevitable result.

Here’s a fun email I got this week from a mom at my son’s charter school:

Hi Robyn,

Love your program and everything in it. I wish that I had known about this sooner. I always saw GreenSmoothieGirl.com on the back of your car, but never paid that much attention to it. im glad to be on the right track. I am reading the China Study book and have the next book to read Eat to Live. I just can’t get enough of the information.

Keep doing the awesome work that you’re doing. I am telling everyone about the green smoothies hoping that they will listen.

I’ve just been on the green smoothies and raw whole foods diet and water for 3 days. I can’t tell you how much better I feel. It’s amazing when you treat your body right, it works like it’s supposed to.

I keep my CD changer in the car full with your 12 Steps audios while I do errands or carpools. I absolutely love it.

Also, you’ll find this kinda funny. Sydney was having a hard time drinking her first green smoothie. So she said, “I bet the dog won’t even eat it.” I said, Well lets pour her a bowl of green smoothie and see if she likes it. Well, as you can imagine, the dog ate every morsel of the green smoothie. So since the dog ate the green smoothie and liked it, it must be good. She hasn’t complained since then.

Have a great day!

Kris

Here’s Utah Valley Magazine’s 50 Most Fabulous, the Mar./Apr. edition just out:

http://blog.uvmag.com/marchapril10/fab50.html

(And the way you can flip pages in this program is so cool.)

Anyway, I don’t know if I really qualify as fabulous, but it is fun to be in that magazine. Also check out my friend Kathy Headlee Miner, who founded Mothers Without Borders and my former Brigham Young University student, Ryan Di Lello, a So You Think You Can Dance finalist, both of whom made this list.

I’m teaching a class organized by Leslie Smoot, in two days, Friday, March 5. It’s 9:30 – 11:00 at Schneitter’s Restaurant in the Zermatt Resort in Midway, Utah.

I’m covering Steps 2 and 3 of 12 Steps to Whole Foods, and we’ll have some teasers from two other chapters too! Lots of tasting–come hungry for lunch!

Call Leslie (801) 550-1881 to pre-register for $12, or pay $15 at the door.

Directions from Salt Lake City: Take I-80 east through Parley’s canyon and up to the Park City area. Take Hwy 40 (Heber exit) to the right. Follow Hwy 40 past Jordenelle Reservoir and take a right onto River Road. (There is a stop light). Continue to Burgi lane to the round about and take the second right. When you come to a stop sign make a left onto Homestead Drive. Zermatt is located a half mile on the right.

From Provo, take University Avenue North about 6.9 miles (it changes into Provo Canyon Road ). Take Provo Canyon Road (it changes into US-189) about 16 miles. Turn left onto Charleston Road (Highway 113) and go 4 miles to Midway. Turn West or left onto Main Street turn right at the stop sign onto 200 West .2 miles follow the green directional signs for approximately 1.1 miles. The road will turn into Homestead Drive at the top of the hill continue to follow for approximately 1 mile to the Zermatt entrance (on the left).

My friends, the past month has been one of the most stressful periods in memory. Not “too-much-work” stress (the kind you can dig your way out of) but just “life-circumstances” stress (the kind you can’t usually solve–you just have to slog through it).

You know what I’m talking about. You’ve been through stuff too, huh.

So the very worst thing you can do is eat SUGAR. You burn out your adrenal glands quickly that way. (The vast majority of us have stressed, overworked, even partially destroyed adrenal glands. And you really need those puppies to keep your mood stable through trials.)

So guess what we want when we’re stressed? Comfort. Sugar.

Vicious cycle.

This winter, the “liquid coconut macaroon” has been such a godsend. I discovered this healthy hot cocoa that is so nutritious, at the beginning of the winter. My kids loved it so much, and I loved it AND its superfood ingredients so much, that I put it here in the store:

Healthy Hot Cocoa

All I knew when I first ordered it was that it had no refined sugar (just low-glycemic unrefined coconut palm sugar) and non-dutched cocoa. I was ecstatic, though, when I got it, that it also contains four different types of mushrooms that are used as superfood medicine in China for immune system repair, cancer treatment/prevention, and much more.

If I feel the need for a treat, I make a mug of cocoa. The coconut milk powder is low in calories, delicious, and high in lauric acid and other compounds that are anti-microbial, anti-fungal, anti-viral, and anti-bacterial. The cocoa contains the mushrooms and chocolate. The whole mug is about 100 calories.

I seriously love this stuff and just went to make myself a mug, writing this–it’s been my treat almost every day. Not just because it’s yummy and healthy, and not only because it’s chocolate (which has chemical properties women sometimes downright NEED), but also because there’s something very comforting about a mug of something hot.

I am blessed to report that through some difficult times this winter, I have still never gotten sick. There was one day I felt about 50% and didn’t go to the gym, but otherwise, that’s it.

Stress we cannot always control. But what do you do to remedy it? Yoga is another way I’ve gotten through the past 18 months–also prayer, time with good friends, and “me” time doing things I love (tennis, skiing). Melatonin before bed so my racing brain doesn’t keep me awake. Essential oils like peppermint. (The DoTerra people will probably pipe up making recommendations–the first one to read this, go ahead and I’ll approve it!)

Tell us your ideas. What natural things do you do, when you’re stressed? Let’s avoid “solutions” like Zoloft and Xanax that just cause other problems.

This is an email I got from a GSG reader. Dr. Larsen is a dentist who studies nutrition to help his patients and practices what he preaches. His observations at the obesity conference he recently attended parallel my own, as documented sometimes on this blog. What do you think?

Robyn,

I attended a seminar in Salt Lake a couple of weeks ago titled, “Obesity: A Scientific Update.” It was presented by Beverly White, PhD, RD and it was very interesting, thought you might be interested in what was said.

I will attach my notes, some of which may not make any sense, but the following are my overall impressions after the seminar.

First of all, the room was mostly full of nurses and dieticians, and I would say at least half of the group were either over weight or obese. These are the dieticians who are teaching Americans how to eat and be healthy.

The success rates for Americans who attempt fad diets is about 5-10% after 1 year. The success rates of the prescription medications is less, and ALL of them have serious side effects, and some physicians are leaving patients on them indefinitely because they know if they take them off, the weight will return, although none of the drugs have been approved for long term use. Bariatric surgeries are super expensive, and have complications and side effects as well, and not a great success rate. Dieticians working with clients may have a slightly higher success rate than the 5-10%, but when they stop seeing the nutritionist, the bad habits return and the weight comes back on. I got a very weird feeling about the whole obesity epidemic, kind of like there is nothing we can really do about it, even though we are the ones trained to help people eat healthy. Beverly cautioned the dieticians to not try to make too radical of a change to anyone’s diet, or they will rebel and not follow through.

I asked Beverly one-on-one between one of the breaks if she had read Colin Campbell, Joel Furhman, Mike Anderson, or had studied anything about plant-based diets in her PhD program. She was not familiar with any of the people I mentioned, had never heard of the China Study, for example, and they did not study plant-based diets.

At one point in the program, she asked how many eat 3-5 servings of fruits or vegetables/day (could be from a can, frozen, etc.) and about 30% of the group raised their hand. She asked if anyone eats 6-9 servings/day and I raised my hand along with I think one other person. After the class, one of the RD’s came running up to me and asked me how in the world I eat that many servings a day. I said it’s easy. I told her about green smoothies, she had never heard of them. I told her about plant-based diets, she had never heard of them.

They have done research that shows that children who are taught good nutrition at a young age can follow that for many years to come, and may be more likely to eat healthy than adults. Too bad what we’re teaching children isn’t always the best information, when it comes from government food pyramid.

Anyways, thought this might be interesting to you. It was kind of an eye-opener to me. I really feel like the MD’s and the RD’s and the nurses who are in our health care system don’t really believe in nutrition themselves.

Sincerely,

Garon Larsen