All posts in Events

Tomorrow I begin writing about the amazing week I just spent speaking and studying with Dr. Thomas Lodi, M.D. at The Oasis of Healing in Arizona. I hope the words I write and the videos I share give shape to the journey a cancer patient takes who chooses the path less traveled, to educate and empower  herself.

Julie from Houston sent me this photo after winning a BlendTec Total Blender! I am back home in OREM, SANDY, and LAYTON in January—so if you love someone who needs my message that it’s totally possible to get your health and your ideal weight back, with simple whole foods, have them sign up and I will fill their bucket for the journey with love and information.

I’m also working it out to speak with Dr. Leigh Erin Connealy, M.D. in IRVINE, CA, Dec. 12, on my cancer research tour, so don’t miss that one if you live near there. She’s an M.D. who treats cancer holistically and I want to go check out her hyperbaric chamber and other cutting-edge ideas to support the immune system, rather than nuke it, in America’s failed “war on cancer.”

And we’ve got ST. GEORGE, LAS VEGAS, SAN DIEGO, FT. LAUDERDALE, and ORLANDO coming up. I would like to plan a trip to CHICAGO so write us at amanda@greensmoothiegirl.com if you want to help with that one.

Stephanie was smack on the front row in Houston, a gorgeous tiny little mom who has lost 50 lbs. doing green smoothies. (Check out her before-and-after photos!)

Her husband was with her, and Stephanie said he’s gone from “couch potato to marathon runner.” Stephanie told me that despite the oohs and aaahs about how she looks, “What happened is more on the inside than on the outside!” I believe she would endorse my statement that a change in fuel impacts your emotional and psychological health as much as your physical health.

Here’s her story:

Since Green Smoothie Girl was so pivotal in my own transformation, it is poetic that I now get to share my story here with Robyn and her readers.

Just a few short years ago, I was overworked, overstressed, and overweight. I was living in a daze and life was not joyful. I was headed in the wrong direction and I was bringing my family with me.  I had to hit rock bottom before I decided to make any changes. I was a junk food junkie, not spending much time in the kitchen and never shopping in the produce section.

I had already tried diet pills, the no-carb diet, boxed food delivered in the mail, and counting points. I knew that I did not need a temporary diet, I needed a permanent change. I learned about a Raw Foods lifestyle and my interest was piqued. However, there was one major problem. I really did not like eating vegetables.

I soon discovered that I could drink them instead. I am a visual learner, so I hit YouTube to learn more. And voilà – I discovered Green Smoothie Girl. I soon bought some fruits and veggies and pulled out my 15 year old blender and went to town. I LOVED them! Before long I purchased a Vitamix and decided that I would replace 2 meals a day with green smoothies and incorporate more whole foods into my diet.

Magical things happened! As my diet cleaned up, my head cleared. The weight was coming off (50 lbs total) and I was feeling really good.  The fog had lifted. I decided that I was not going to return to my legal career.  I had a new passion for everything associated with health and wellness. I researched more, and the more I learned, the more I wanted to share with others.

This led me to enroll at The Institute of Integrative Nutrition. I am now working as a Health Coach and a Raw Food Chef and have a new zest for life!  I became “The Nutrition Mom” and my message is “Simple-Healthy-Solutions.” Eating does not have to be so complicated.  Let’s bring it back to basics.

I coach others to take one step at a time. I feel so blessed to not only teach people about proper nutrition, but to go on the journey with them.  I meet them where they are and give them the support that they need along the way. It’s a beautiful journey.

Thank you Robyn, for sharing your message.  You have set me, and so many others, on a new path and I am forever grateful.

Stephanie Merchant, Health Coach

TheNutritionMom.net

Just home from two weekends of travel with my kids. First in Yellowstone with my friend Brent and his kids, where all 5,000 bears in the park managed to elude us but Old Faithful doesn’t disappoint. Second, school shopping in St. George and Las Vegas (with my friend Wendy and her daughter). See photos below, including the t-shirt my daughters made me buy. And do you know how my boys shop these days? They make their mom snap cell phone photos of every shirt and jacket and text them for approval!

For the rest of 2011, here are the cities where I’ll be speaking. We don’t have locations or sponsors for most of these and will email you with the details later if you sign up. So if you’re interested in helping, please write amanda@greensmoothiegirl.com, thank you!

Los Angeles area
San Diego
Mesa (I will speak, followed by Dr. Thomas Lodi, an oncologist in Scottsdale
who runs An Oasis of Healing)
Phoenix

St. George
Las Vegas

(You may already know I’m speaking in Orem, Sandy, and Layton in a few weeks. Then Boise, Kennewick, Portland, Seattle. Then Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. Hope to see you soon!)

We decided to start answering more questions on video rather than just in writing, on this blog. I’m sorry that there’s just no darn way I can get to all of them. But feel free to send your questions to support123@greensmoothiegirl.com, and Jenni and Jackie will tell me what you want to know. I’ll do as many as I can!

These are a couple of questions that folks in Denver sent us:

(1) Can I bring my child to your class? And

(2) Do you like your job? What’s the best and worst part about being GreenSmoothieGirl?

I met this really cool girl in Castle Rock, Colorado last weekend. She was dying to tell me about how my homemade granola, chocolate beet cake, green smoothies, and other whole-foods habits and recipes have helped her THRIVE going into her third pregnancy. This is radically different than her first two, which were a scary experiment in managing blood sugar and other tough issues faced by Type 1 diabetics.

I am routinely frustrated that most diabetes doctors focus exclusively on insulin, and NOT AT ALL on nutrition. Some things that are tough and time-consuming to turn around with diet. Entrenched degenerative gut conditions (IBS, Crohn’s, colitis, etc.) and auto-immune diseases, for instance. But heart disease and diabetes? Top two for SO EASY to turn around and control, if you understand what WISE, RESPONSIBLE FUEL is. I’ve had a number of Type 2 diabetics and pre-diabetics reverse the disease completely by following my program—even though it’s not a diabetes-control program per se. There’s NO reason for diabetics to be losing limbs and sacrificing quality of life.

I would love to hear from some diabetics, here, about what happened when you made a strong commitment to whole foods!

Emma and Libby had a blast with some of your kids, at their Health Kids’ Chefs Camps last week. Next year they want you to know they’ll be doing all new recipes.

This year they did a scavenger hunt, where they learned about WHY lots of our favorite foods are healthy. They made aprons, they got their own recipe book with their photo in it, and played lots of games. They made fruit leather, blueberry muffins, hummus with vegetables, vegetable pizza, green smoothies, halvah, fruit and vegetable kabobs, and caterpillar sandwiches. All from our not-yet-released recipe book, Junk Food Dude’s Yummy Healthy Recipes.

If you’re on my facebook page (personal, and GSG page), you probably get the idea that I work hard and play hard. I don’t sleep much and have to be practically held down to watch TV. Kristin and I are going to go visit my friends in the 4 major cities of Texas, say hi to my brother and his family in Dallas….on our way to scuba dive in Mexico for a few days.

So sign up here for our free class in

DALLAS Oct. 20

AUSTIN Oct. 21

SAN ANTONIO Oct. 22

HOUSTON Oct. 22

(We’re giving away a $435 BlendTec Total Blender, a $180 12 Steps course, and lots of my favorite stuff at each class, so check out the raffle page when you sign up.)

We need a location and a business to sponsor each lecture—so please write Amanda@greensmoothiegirl.com if you’ve got ideas? Think chiropractors, naturopaths, gyms, health food stores, yoga or massage clinics, for sponsors. Think school gyms, rec centers, churches, for venues.

Just for fun, I had to show you these photos of Tennyson and me fishing with friends in the Uintahs last weekend—it was JULY 16 and there was still a few feet of snow on the ground! I’ve never seen that, in my 25 years here. Don’t you worry, I took the hook out of these tiger trouts’ mouths and sent them back to their mamas.

Barbara inspired us in Boise! If making simple changes in her diet helped her drop 20 lbs., disappeared a pre-diabetic condition and allergies, gained energy, decreased fibromyalgia symptoms—what will happen if she sticks with it for a year? Or for life? Watch her tell her story in 2.5 minutes here:

We are coming back to Boise in September—sign up for my free class here.