A Man on FIRE - Super Raw Life Magazine

Green Smoothie Transformation
64
“Hi. My name is Natalie Wheeler, and I love food.” As I
continued my quirky introduction to the group of people
at a recent marketing event I attended in New Orleans,
Louisiana, a lady sat in the back of the room, looked at my
thin frame and mumbled to herself something along the
lines of “Oh, shut up you skinny…”
Little did she know, what I had in my blender bottle on
my table was going to change her entire outlook on food
and essentially her life.
Let me introduce you to Kristen. She is gluten intolerant,
has celiac disease and is highly allergic to tree nuts, among
other things. Oh, and she didn’t eat salad either, because
she’s not a rabbit. Up to this point she had been surviving
on M&M’s and popcorn. She would start on a bag of
M&M’s at 10am and eat an entire 1-pound bag by the
end of the day, every day. You could say she was a sugar
addict. Her love of popcorn mainly came from her love
of salt, and although she drank water constantly all day,
she remained thirsty. Because of celiac disease, Kristen’s
stomach would bloat up like a balloon if she did not eat
when she started to feel hungry. She even had people
asking her when she was due, thinking she was pregnant.
She lived in a constant state of feeling uncomfortable.
The next day we had the opportunity to meet through
mutual friends at the event. I had shared my passion
with others in the group, and she had grown curious as
to exactly how I ate. When she told me about her physical
conditions, limitations and love for chocolate I couldn’t
help but smile.
I had just what she needed upstairs in my hotel room.
During a quick break I invited her up to show her what I
had, knowing it would be safe for her to eat. She became
excited and agreed.
When we entered the hotel room, she gasped and became
giddy with excitement when she saw I had brought a
VitaMix with me to the event and had it displayed on the
table. She had just bought a VitaMix a few days before and
didn’t have a clue what to make in it besides hummus. I
knew right then and there we would become fast friends.
I handed her a large container of chocolate flavored RAW
Meal, had her look at the ingredients to double check she
wasn’t allergic to anything else I may not know about, and
to her delight everything in it was safe for her. I got out
my spare blender bottle and filled it full of water and the
RAW Meal shake telling her to wait about five minutes or
so for it to thicken before she drinks it. While we waited
I opened up my fridge to show her all of the wonderful
greens and fruits I had stored in there for making green
smoothies. “What are green smoothies?” she asked. I
explained how blending greens and fruits together made
a delicious meal that I make almost every morning, and it
piqued her interest even more.
Running out of time, we headed back down to the event
and as we sat down she tried a sip of the RAW Meal and
was pleasantly surprised at how good it tasted. She drank
the entire full blender bottle by the end of the event that
day and loved every sip. She wanted to know more about
what else I ate and if it all tasted that good. I told her the
RAW Meal is more of a substitute I take with me on trips
when I am not sure what I’m going to be able to get in the
way of food and that the green smoothies I make taste
even better.
The next morning she couldn’t wait to find me, and as soon
as she did she was nearly jumping for joy. Overnight she
had lost 1 1/2 inches around her waist from her bloating
going down and her pants were fitting her snugly instead
of too tightly. I had brought her down a blender bottle full
of green smoothie to sip on for breakfast, and when she
tried it her eyes lit up at how good it tasted. I didn’t know
until that point that she didn’t like fruit very much either,
so having both greens and fruits, especially together, was
almost a foreign concept to her. She was delighted by the
taste. I told her I also add superfood powders to mine,
including raw cacao (or chocolate to her). That right there
was music to her ears—chocolate for breakfast!
Kristen drank the green smoothie throughout the
morning as the conference went on. By the end of the
day she looked at me with shock and told me she just
realized she hadn’t touched an M&M since before I had
originally given her the RAW Meal. I explained that
craving chocolate is your body’s way of telling you there
is a mineral deficiency; however, when you eat processed
chocolate, most all of the original minerals have been
stripped out of it, so when you consume it raw you
are getting what your body is really craving and so her
cravings went away.
That night I showed her how to make a green smoothie
in my hotel room, and I showed her all of the superfood
powders I use too. I put together a list of everything she
would need to start her on the path to better health. The
next morning as we departed from the event, she showed
me that her pants were starting to get wrinkles around
her thighs as a sign that even her legs were, in a sense,
deflating.
This picture was taken 40 days after we met. Kristen has
continued to lose weight and inches faster than she ever
thought possible. She wakes up every morning excited
to start her day with her delicious green smoothies.
Her interest in raw foods has broadened to things such
as carrots and cauliflower, which she now enjoys to her
amazement. My ultimate goal for her is to eat a salad and
LOVE it!
Coaching people like Kristen back to a healthier way of
life that they enjoy and delight in is incredibly rewarding.
Helping people transform who they are through a raw
food diet is one of my greatest joys.
Natalie Wheeler
is a Certified Raw Food Nutritionist, Raw
Transformation Coach and the creator of the 21 Day Green Smoothies
for Breakfast Challenge. She began her journey to better health and
weight loss nearly 3 years ago. She lives with her two rambunctious
boys and the love of her life in the heart of Oklahoma. Check out her
website at TheNewRawYou.com.
Issue #7 Winter 2012 SuperRawLife.com