Tera Warner

BiG Green Smoothie Ripple Makers: Andrea Sinclair

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– by Stacey Terry

During our Believe in Green event, we challenged our participants to go out and make a difference in their own communities and spread the word about green smoothies to the most number of people!  The entire purpose of The Green Smoothie Queen is to spread the ripples of health… to change lives and health one green smoothie at a time.  And the only way that happens is for people to find out about our beloved lawnmower pulp and then try the gorgeous green gloop for themselves.

With the co-operation of the incredible folks at Blendtec, we have a spanky and spinachy new Blendtec blender to give away to the person who touched the most lives through holding a green smoothie event of their own!

I was just floored by the entries that came in.  I should have had someone there with a camera to take the photo of my face when I’d open up the entry e-mails and see what our participants had done!  I tell ya… it makes my heart expand and burst with optimism and joy when I see others reaching out and spreading the sunshine around.

We had four official entries into our BiG Blendtec Green Smoothie Ripple-Maker contest!  Each of these magnificent participants put her green heart and soul into her project.  And while there was originally only going to be one runner up, I’m inviting ALL our runners up to participate in the next LIVE group 21-Day Green Smoothie Detox in January (and seeing as how my personal hampster wheel was just running too slow [hehe… it feels like it’s running too fast and furious actually!!] to get them on our current detox, I’ll also invite our winners to our next LIVE 10-day event in October for Halloween).  We’re having a grand ole green time on the current 21-day program right now by the way… I have lots to tell you about soon!

But first, I’d like to introduce you to our first entrant:

Green Ripple-Maker: Andrea Sinclair

Enjoy this letter from Andrea Sinclair, one of favourite green smoothie smiles contributors :

Phew. I wasn’t sure if I’d make it or not. See, I had this fantastic, amazing, powerful and perfect plan for my contest entry. I work in the same office as the Division of Family and Geriatric Medicine for the University of Louisville’s School of Medicine. There’s a lot of capital letters in that name and a whole lot of impact on the future health of my city, my state and even beyond. I realized that I could talk about green smoothies to both the teachers and the doctors of tomorrow. Sounds perfect, right?

So I sat down with the nutritionist for the division. I’ve brought her samples from my breakfast smoothies before so she certainly knew how great they are. But how could we work a demonstration for the students into the curriculum? Together we brainstormed a change in her nutrition for diabetics presentation. But that doesn’t happen until much later in the year. In fact we’re still waiting on approvals and scheduling to be sorted out and I couldn’t count on the contest being open for much longer. Yes, at some point I’ll get a chance to follow through on that crazy powerful idea. But not in time for this contest, alas.

I had given up on winning that sexy red blender. I consoled myself with the fact that I’d have a whopper of a story for next year. But the more I thought about it, the more that seemed like wimping out at a time when all of the messages were about dreaming bigger, doing more, refusing to give in until the goal was met. Then on 8/25/10, when you officially announced that you were going to keep going until the full $10,000 was raised, I decided I could not let this chance pass without taking some sort of action. I stared at my computer screen and wondered what I could do today after work. Or maybe a party this weekend. Thursday I’d be too busy because I volunteer at the farmer’s market. Ah ha!

All of a sudden it dawned on me – I could buy the ingredients from the market, teach everyone there a new way to enjoy the amazing fruits and dark leafy greens that are available to us right now and start some serious ripples! Everyone involved would benefit and all I had to do was step up and be the person willing to walk around with a pitcher of green stuff and some sample cups. I could do that. I would do that! And on 8/26/2010, I did.

I asked the market manager, packed up my immersion blender and a 64 ounce pitcher and went down to the market bright and early Thursday morning. I told the vendors all about my plan as I shopped. Most had heard me mentioning green smoothies at one point or another, after all I was the woman who bought all their ‘dings and dents’ produce every week. So it was nothing new this morning, except that I promised them all that I would be back shortly with samples.

As I was blending the fruit and water everyone who passed by stopped to smell and comment on how delicious it seemed. Most were shocked that it was just fruit and water so far, no dairy, no powders. Nothing extra needed! Everyone was really paying attention now, especially when I started adding the kale. I explained the basic ratio of 60% fruit to 40% dark leafy greens as a target for the smoothie. I mentioned that the kale was an excellent source of calcium, and that by having a green smoothie for breakfast I was pampering myself with two servings of fruits and a serving of vegetables every day. I told them about how I prepare my smoothies the night before so there’s no extra hassle in the morning. And I repeated my mantra: “green is the color that food SHOULD be, right?”

Amazingly enough, a quarter pitcher of samples later, no one was concerned any more and my sales pitch for nutrition and convenience was long forgotten as people tasted the weird green stuff. In fact, out of all the people I talked to that day only three refused to try the sample. One of those was allergic to cantaloupe, so I’m glad he did! He was intrigued by the idea though, and may try the concept on his own with safer fruit.

Of the people who tried the smoothie only two said they did not find it tasty at all. Other responses ranged from a thoughtful ‘Hmm. Well, this is really good for you isn’t it?’ all the way to an excited ‘Yes! This is exactly what I’ve been looking for!’ I was stunned by how many people said they could do this, and that they’d be likely to try it sometime. Of course, the most adorable green slurping award went to the little toddler who not only demanded his mother’s sample when he’d finished his own but then held his cup out to me with an expectant ‘more please?’ look on his face. Of anyone there that day he captured the non-verbal reaction I got from my pitcher of green goodness.

The most common reaction was a surprised and almost breathless version of ‘wow, this is really good! It’s not at all what I was expecting.’ Several people asked for the recipe and I even discussed some health related websites where I’ll be able to post basic green smoothie suggestions soon. The market manager wants to send out an email to her list linking to the GSQ website and the BiG challenge so the ripples will continue.

Eventually the pitcher was empty and I had to decide if I had done enough, if it was ok to go back to my office and have some lunch now. But there was still that half a cantaloupe and more people coming to the market who hadn’t had the chance to try any yet. So I made another pitcher and did it all over again. Over the course of those two pitchers and that one day I think I told over 80 people about green smoothies, maybe closer to a hundred. It’s hard to say, since they clustered around me in threes and fives, called to their friends to come over and try this tasty green stuff. I poured and explained and poured some more.

I have no idea how many of the people I spoke with will go home and try it for themselves, that’s up to them now. As for me, I got to collect the most unexpected reward yet from this BiG challenge – I discovered as I’m typing this that I’m really incredibly proud of myself. I heard your challenge to go out and be responsible for making a positive change around me. And I think that’s exactly what I did. I took all the ideas and inspiration of this challenge and turned it into action. Go me!

I’ve attached a collage of photos from the event:

Melissa, the market manager, wanted to make sure someone documented this wonderful crazy thing that I was doing with her market. She was one of the first to try a sample, and a cheerleader for the uncertain to try a little sip. I owe her a lot for making this possible.

And thanks to everyone at the Raw Divas and Green Smoothie Queen for running an excellent event. I never would have done this without your nudging and belief that I could do something this big and meaningful!

I wish you the best in everything you do going forward,
Andrea

*****

WOW!  I don’t know about you, but that just makes me sooooo proud and excited!  You should be proud too, Andrea!  It’s little steps (which are really BiG steps!!) that make a difference, that open doors, that allow new and wonderful things to be!

And there are more wonderful things to come on the blog when I bring you our next three stories!

🙂

Wishing you BiG dreams and little nutritious nudges!

xox

Stacey