5 Easy Tips to Make a Super Smoothie and Lose Weight in 10 minutes (Interview with Emily von Euw Part 1)

Almost all of you know that eating more greens are better for you, and almost all of you could probably use more greens in your diet.

But just because you know that greens are good for you does not necessarily mean that you’ll actually eat the kale.

As  a matter of fact, you may reach out for that fat-laden cheese dish, rather that same old boring kale salad (Really?)

Even that picture of the coveted six-pack ab can’t stop you from craving that cheese.

But what if you could just effortlessly include more greens in your diet, flood your system with nutrients,  and naturally crave less fatty foods, without starving yourself?

Oh yes, I’m talking about making your own smoothie on your way out to work, to the gym…

Benefits of making a smoothie yourself are countless.

To name a few, making smoothies is fast and doesn’t require you to “cook”, cleaning a blender is relatively easy (ok, if you can’t even clean a blender, stop reading now), and smoothies are more easily digestible than vegetables in their whole form.

Maybe… just maybe…your six-pack can come back to play after you incorporate this daily routine. 😀

To get more smoothie tips for you busy people, I’ve invited Emily von Euw back for a second series. Emily’s second book 100 Best Juices, Smoothies and Healthy Snack, will be released in December.

To recap, Emily is the creator of the blog This Rawsome Vegan Life, with over 1 million views a month, as well as author of Rawsome Vegan Baking, published by Macmillan. Emily’s blog won The Vegan Woman’s 2013 Vegan Food Blog Award, was named one of the Top 50 Raw Food Blogs of 2012, and was nominated for “Favorite Blog” for the 2013 VegNews Awards.

If you’ve missed out previous interview with her, click here.

This interview will consist of two parts, and stay tuned for the second part as Emily will give us a sneak peek of her favorite savory smoothie recipe in the next article.

Let’s begin!

Q: Tell me about your upcoming book. You went from dessert to smoothies – why is that?

A: Raw vegan dessert is what made my blog popular. Who doesn’t want a healthy chocolate cake? I like that I’m able to share this book on smoothies, juices and healthy snacks, because a majority of my diet is smoothies and a little bit of juice, so the book is a better reflection of that.

I think this book more focused on recipes for daily making, instead of desserts, which are more for special occasions.

I have at least 1-2 smoothies every day.

Q: So why do you think drinking smoothies is one of the best ways to control weight?

A: Hopefully everyone knows that eating fruit and vegetables is good for you. And everyone could be using more in their diet. A lot of people struggle with how to add more fruit and vegetables into their diet every day. Smoothies just makes that so easy.

With fresh fruit and vegetables you’re giving your body the nutrition it needs, and they are very low in calories.

Blending all these healthy fruit and drinks is an easy way to get these stuff in and allows you to feel nourished and satisfied. This is all great for your body.

Q: How have you been incorporating smoothies into your daily routine, since you do quite a lot of dessert and snacks and everything else?

A: I usually wake up in the morning, work out, have some water, and when I feel hungry, I’ll make a giant fruit smoothie, sometimes adding greens. Usually its banana based, with some berries, and water, some nut milk if I have it in my fridge.

Sometimes I’ll add super powder like cacao, or maca, or green powder.

But I like sticking to whole foods in general.

Q: Has your health improved from drinking smoothies?

A: Definitely. Honestly smoothies are the perfect food, because the ingredients are totally good for you. They’re usually fruit and greens.

In my book, I actually have a chapter on savory smoothies, which you can kind of think of as like fruit, which are vegetable based.

The fruit I have every day are usually cancer fighting foods, full of nutrients, minerals and you get it in the most digestible format. You don’t even have to chew.

Q: Tell me more about your savory smoothie you just talked about.

A: I have a whole chapter on that. There’s more than just fruit or sweet smoothies. I really like savory smoothies.

Some people really struggle to find ways to incorporate vegetables into their daily diet, don’t know what to do to get more veggies in an easier way, and savory smoothies is a great way to do that.

You’re basically just blending vegetables with veggie broth, water and spices, and herbs, and you get this delicious soup at the end that is so full of flavor, usually in gorgeous color.

I like to just top it off with chopped vegetables, pepper, and it is amazing. You can whip it up in 5-minutes, and you get this giant bowl of super satisfying and super nutrient dense colorful food.

Savory soup really helps me get through the winter, and you have a nice bowl of warm healthy soup.

Q: Can you share with us your favorite and most unique sweet smoothie recipe?

A: Ok. I have my book here. I got my copy the other day which is very exciting. Out of the whole book, the most unique one… hard to say, because I like them all.

The Basic Green – it is still banana based and also has a bit of fruit in there and dark leafy greens, spinach, in this case. You can use whichever green you want.

A lot of times people just forget to add dark leafy greens into their diet. And once they add more greens, they realize that’s probably what they were missing out on. The amount of nutrients dark leafy greens have in them is so amazing compared to other foods, calorie for calorie.

So by adding a cup or two of greens in your diet, you’ll probably notice an improvement, in terms of how you feel and how you look.

If I don’t have greens for a week, I notice. When I put greens back in, my head just feels clearer.

Q: Can you give us 5 tips to make a delicious green smoothie in 10 minutes?

A: First of all, have all the ingredients ready.

Secondly, have your recipe handy so you have a good ratio of ingredients, or add liquid as you need it. For me I’d throw all my solids in there and slowly pour my liquid until I get the consistency I want. I like watery smoothies, but sometimes I like really thick ones.

Thirdly, once the smoothie is blended, you may want to taste it. Sometimes I’d find the smoothie not sweet enough, or not have enough spinach,  so I’ll add in more ingredients.

Then, let the blender go for a good amount of time – like one minute.

Sometimes I’d think I’ve blended everything and that it’s all smooth, but there may be a giant chunk of mango or something.

And to save time, I may just drink the smoothie straight out of the blender container.

Lastly, make sure you wash your blender/glass right after you drink your smoothie. Otherwise, it gets kind of messy; best to clean up right away.

An excuse people have for not making smoothies is because they don’t want to clean the equipment but it is so easy, especially with smoothies.

Just rinse your blender with hot water. I don’t even use soap, because it is super easy. Just let your blender dry.

That’s it for Part 1. Stay tuned for Part 2 here – don’t miss out on Emily’s favorite savory smoothie recipe! We’ll also be releasing our video interview in the 2nd part.

About Emily von Euw: Emily is the creator of the blog This Rawsome Vegan Life, with over 1 million views a month, as well as author of Rawsome Vegan Baking, published by Macmillan. Emily’s blog won The Vegan Woman’s 2013 Vegan Food Blog Award, was named one of the Top 50 Raw Food Blogs of 2012, and is nominated for “Favorite Blog” for the 2013 VegNews Awards. You can follow Emily here.