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This month's tip

Raw and green, before anything cooked

Every month I share one topic worth your attention, raw recipes you can make in minutes, and a short quiz so the lesson sticks. This month: the greens habit that takes sixty seconds, plus four new recipes from my kitchen.

The topic: greens go first

Most of us mean to eat more greens and then never quite get there. The salad sits beside the plate, the cooked food gets eaten, and the greens go back in the refrigerator to wilt. The fix is not more willpower. It is a change of order.

Eat something raw and green before your first cooked meal of the day. Not a whole salad — a handful. Spinach blended into your shake, cucumber slices with lemon, a few sprigs of parsley chewed slowly, romaine leaves eaten out of hand like chips.

Living food arrives with its enzymes and its water still intact, and that is exactly what long cooking takes away. Put greens first and they get eaten while you are hungry, not offered when you are already full.

Add a little healthy fat — avocado, olive oil, a few raw seeds — so the fat-soluble vitamins can actually be absorbed. Then watch what changes over thirty days: steadier energy, easier digestion, and less appetite for the heavy food that used to come first.

The recipes: four new favorites

Four fresh recipes from my kitchen this month — a morning drink, a dip, a slaw, and a stuffed pepper. All raw, all simple.

Okra Water (from Dr. Bobby Price)

  • 10 small okras
  • 16 ounces of spring water
  • 1 Tbs lemon juice

Wash okra with salt and baking soda. Cut into slices and place in a 32-ounce jar. Fill with spring water, add the lemon juice, and soak overnight for at least twelve hours. Drink 16 ounces first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Don't throw the okra away — add it to your smoothie or salad.

Veggie Sauce Dip

  • 1 Tbs lemon juice
  • 2 tsp molasses
  • 1 Tbs olive pickle juice
  • 1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/8 tsp turmeric
  • 1 pinch black pepper

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend. Pour into a small bowl and dip raw veggies, such as zucchini, into the sauce.

Broccoli Slaw

  • 1 cup organic broccoli slaw
  • 1 gala apple, cored and slivered
  • ½ cup shredded radicchio
  • ¼ cup raisins
  • ¼ cup chopped walnuts
  • ½ cup cashew milk
  • 1 Tbs fresh squeezed lemon juice
  • 1 Tbs olive oil
  • 1 tsp minced garlic
  • 1/8 tsp mustard

Wash the apple and radicchio. Place all ingredients in a bowl and stir well. Add more cashew milk if the slaw is too dry. Chill and serve.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

  • 2 bell peppers
  • 1 avocado, deseeded and mashed
  • ¼ cup diced papaya
  • 1 Roma tomato, diced
  • 4 olives, pitted
  • 1 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice (seeds removed)
  • 1 Tbs olive pickle juice
  • 1 Tbs olive oil
  • ½ tsp minced red onion
  • ¼ tsp minced garlic
  • 1 dash black pepper
  • 1 dash coriander

Wash and dry the bell peppers. Cut off the tops to make a covering cap and scrape out the seeds. Mix all other ingredients together in a bowl, divide in two, and stuff the peppers. Cover with the pepper caps and place on a plate. If you garnish with parsley, eat it too — don't throw it away!

Want all fourteen recipes in one printable book? Download the free recipe collection.

The quiz: how well do you know your greens?

Five quick questions. No wrong answers, only new ones.

1. What does eating something raw and green first do best?

2. Cooking greens for a long time mainly costs you what?

3. Which of these is a green worth eating raw every week?

4. What helps your body absorb the vitamins in a raw salad?

5. You need a big salad for greens to count.

Answer all five to see your score.

Keep going

Want the deeper version of this month's topic? The Detoxification page walks through the full protocol and shares some favorite raw recipes, and the 12 Week Health Challenge gives you a group to do it with. If you would rather have someone walk beside you, book a free 15-minute call on the Coaching page.