Warming Winter Smoothie

Love raw food but hate being cold? The solution is simple: Don’t eat cold food!

Everything that goes into you, including the air you breathe, must be brought to body temperature in order to maintain homeostasis (balance). Consuming very cold food and drink pulls heat from your body, it’s true. (The same may be said for consuming very hot food, ironically.) For this reason, perhaps the most useful tip for staying practically raw in winter is this: eat your food at, or slightly above, room temperature.

In practice, this means: avoid eating food fresh from the fridge. Let your salad veggies warm up on the counter before you prepare them, and use lukewarm water to rinse and scrub. Gently heat soups to 110 degrees or so. Warm prepared dishes in the dehydrator if you are so inclined. And be sure to include warming spices like ginger and cayenne in your soups and smoothies. Finally, consume a little bit of fat (chia, hemp, coconut oil, avocado, nuts/seeds, raw goat cheese) with every meal to provide slow-burning fuel and stoke the digestive fire.
Here are some healthy raw food fats that I sell at my Community Superfoods store! I also have Hemp Seeds and Really Raw Cashews. (The store is open tonight and every Wednesday from 5-7 PM, or by appointment.)

Your body will always thrive on fresh, living food – all year long. Even when it is cold outside, the truth is that we live in warm houses – meaning it’s quite temperate indoors. The “I need cooked food to feel warm,” argument just doesn’t cut it! Incredibly, as long as your raw food isn’t chilled, it won’t make you feel the least bit cold!

In winter, freshly blended room temperature Green Smoothies are a breakfast staple in my household. The following recipe - inspired by my dear friend Cathy's famous Burmese Green Smoothie recipe - is sure to please on every level, starting with your palate! Featuring tart cranberries and pucker-sweet grapefruit to wake up your mouth, living sprouts and greens to alkalize and enliven, and fiery cayenne to warm your blood.


Those with blood sugar concerns or mild candida symptoms will be glad to see this Warming Winter Smoothie uses low-sugar fruits exclusively. (Severe candida requires nixing all fruits for a time.) The addition of high-fiber veggies and raw coconut oil take the glycemic index down another notch. Begin with all ingredients at room temperature (exception: frozen cranberries, if using. No whole cranberries on hand? Replace with one small peeled & pitted lemon or lime.)
Makes two pints.

Warming Winter Smoothie

1 pink grapefruit
1 Granny Smith apple
½ cup whole cranberries, fresh or frozen
4 stalks celery, chopped
half bunch cilantro, chopped
1 handful alfalfa sprouts
1 Tbs raw coconut oil
½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¾ cup room temperature water

Prepare ingredients and add to blender. If your blender is not high-speed, chop celery into a small dice to facilitate break-down of long stringy fibers. Ditto for the cilantro.

You don’t need a high speed blender to make smoothies, but you do need to prep accordingly. For instance, in my pre-Vita-Mix days, I peeled apples for smoothies because the skin did not blend thoroughly. Now, I can skip this step. You know your blender – do what you need to get everything blended smoothly and enjoy!