Did you know that 100 calories of ground beef has 10 grams of protein, while 100 calories of fresh baby spinach has 12 grams? Author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Smoothies, BO Rinaldi, joined us on Twitter this afternoon to discuss how drinking green smoothies can make you feel better and improve overall health. Read on to go green. Cheers!

@CIG_Food: For our first question, what is the green movement?

@BoRinaldi: The Green Movement is more than the new chic Going Green is key to the survival of our planet. Local, plant-based food.

@CIG_Food: What is it that makes an ingredient “green?”

@BoRinaldi: Greens contain chlorophyll with is similar to our blood. Greens purifies, strengthens, and heals us while feeding our cells.

@CIG_Food: Is there a difference between green and organic ingredients?

@BoRinaldi: Yes, we suggest organic at all times – NO GMO, NO PESTICIDES. This is essential to go organic. Greens must be OG IMHO.

@CIG_Food: Are there health benefits associated with drinking green smoothies?

@BoRinaldi: Green smoothies provide all the essential nutrients, fiber, hydration and satisfaction necessary for optimum health. Green smoothies can get you to your perfect weight faster than any other way I know of, just use one instead of a meal. Green smoothies have been known to improve your sex drive, mood, immune system, endurance, and even the way you look!

@CIG_Food: What are healthy ingredients that we can easily sneak into a smoothie for a picky eater?

@BoRinaldi: Green smoothies give us an opportunity to use many ingredients that are harder to enjoy alone, and there are many examples. Try blending some spinach and apples with bitter greens that are great for you like chicory, dandelion, beet greens. Here are 10 ways to get your green smoothie on – http://t.co/OQFD1VsX.

@CIG_Food: What tools do you need to make the best green smoothies?

@BoRinaldi: All you need is a high-speed blender, like a Vitamix or Blendtec, email me bo@veganfusion.com for ideas. Oh, and the best tool is my latest book The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Smoothies!

@CIG_Food: Is blended food better for you? If so, why?

@BoRinaldi: Great question! Chewing helps digestion, but some of these ingredients are hard to make into salads and such! Blending organic greens and other ingredients DOES NOT break down the fiber or nutrition and truly makes it bioavailable. Green smoothies are also the best way to take a variety of ingredients and make a delicious meal. http://t.co/yo5k83IL

@CIG_Food: What are some common green food myths?

@BoRinaldi: Greens taste yucky and greens are for hippies. TRUTH: Green foods are mandatory for health!

@CIG_Food: Should athletes drink green smoothies in substitution for a meal?

@BoRinaldi: Many athletes already consume green smoothies for instant energy, endurance, hydration and convenience. The answer is YES! http://t.co/yo5k83IL – Chapter 9 Smoothies For Athletes has it ALL! There are more FREE GREEN SMOOTHIE RECIPES at http://t.co/OQFD1VsX.

@CIG_Food: Do you have a recipe for a calming smoothie, instead of one that gives you energy?

@BoRinaldi: Try my De-Stressor Green Smoothie with cabbage, cuke, tumeric and mint which calms and soothes naturally on page 100.

@CIG_Food: For our last question, is getting enough protein a problem when substituting meals for a green smoothie?

@BoRinaldi: As a vegan for 52 years, I learned that green smoothies are very rich in protein; in fact spinach has more than beef! FACT: 100 calories of ground beef has 10 grams of protein while 100 calories of fresh baby spinach has 12 grams!

Next Thursday’s TweetChat is with Deirdre Rawlings (@deirdrerawlings) the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to DASH Diet Cooking. She’ll explain why this diet works and has been dubbed, “the diet for all diseases.” The TweetChat is Thursday, May 24 at 2:00 p.m. CT. We look forward to tweeting with you then!

Green smoothies are not the sugary concoctions that come to mind when people hear the word “smoothie.” They are highly nutritious creations that increase energy, boost metabolism, burn fat, and cleanse body toxins. Green smoothies utilize fresh, healthful foods, “superfoods”, and a multitude of ingredients that together offer amazing health benefits.  The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Green Smoothies author, Bo Rinaldi, will join us for a live TweetChat on Thursday, May 17 at 2:00 p.m. CT. During the TweetChat, he’ll discuss:

• How to properly prepare and fully enjoy green smoothies
• Health benefits of green smoothies
• How to add variety to green smoothies

Log on to Twitter and search #AskCIG to participate. This TweetChat will be monitored by @CIG_Food. Bo Rinaldi’s Twitter handle is @BoRinaldi. Please include #AskCIG in all questions. If unable to participate, Rinaldi is available as an expert source to speak on vegan and vegetarian friendly foods, as well as growing and foraging green ingredients.

Bo Rinaldi (Lake Oswego, Ore.) is an entrepreneur, chef, and co-owner of the acclaimed Blossoming Lotus restaurant in Portland. A proponent of the fantastic benefits of the vegan lifestyle, Bo is the co-owner of VeganFusion.com, CookingHealthyLessons.com, blogs frequently at BoRinaldi.com, and is the co-author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Eating Raw. Bo has been a vegan since 1960 and has managed, partnered, or owned many companies in the organic movement.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Green Smoothies

ISBN: 9781615641642, May 2012, $14.95

This Ten Ways to Get Anyone to Drink a Green Smoothie Quick Guide is by Bo Rinaldi, author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Smoothies. For more Quick Guides, search our website at www.IdiotsGuides.com.

One of the most fun, yet difficult things to do when introducing new healthy foods to a friend or relative is to actually get them to try it! Green smoothies are a huge divergence from pizza and ice cream and can even seem pretty unlike the familiar world of pink, red, and purple fruit smoothies. And if you simply hand someone a green smoothie and tell them it tastes great, they may shoot you a skeptical glare and refuse to even take a tiny taste. It may take some finessing, but you can do it. Here are ten great ways to get people to try a green smoothie—and to even to like it!

Drink Them Yourself

I’m sure you’ve walked into a room at some point in your life and asked your kids, parents, significant other, or friend “Hey, what are you eating?” It’s only natural to ask such a question because we humans are curious creatures. You can play this to your advantage. Sometimes all you need to do to get someone to try a green smoothie is drink one yourself! Chances are, your loved ones will want to try it, too.

Comment Positively

Never underestimate the power of laying it on thick! Feel free to gush about how amazing your green smoothie tastes as you eagerly gulp down every last drop before even offering it to anyone else. Walk around and peek into mirrors while commenting about how those green smoothies are smoothing out your crows-feet wrinkles or about how much your complexion glows and how clear your skin is. Hop out of bed in the morning and skip around the house while you exclaim about how much energy you have from your green smoothies and demonstrate to your kids how they give you more energy than a sugar-high.

This method works famously on friends and older relatives in particular. We all want to look and feel more youthful and have tons of inexhaustible energy, and green smoothies are the perfect way to acquire that exuberant vibrancy.

Create Intrigue

A more covert way to play up the curiosity factor as you drink your smoothie in front of loved ones could involve neglecting to offer to share altogether. Then you can play up the fact that your green smoothie tasted so amazing and how sorry you are that they didn’t get any!

When you know the kids are lurking within earshot, tell your partner about how incredible your smoothie was and how glad you are that you didn’t have to end up sharing it with them. Or, you could just say “yum” as you chug it down and serve yourself a second helping in front of them just before you realize how rude you were not to offer any.

Make Preparation a Game

If you have kids, then this one is for you! Kids love to do things that are against the rules so if you want to get them involved, let them have fun. Let your kids smash pieces of fruit and toss it into the blender, while pretending you’re in a laboratory. And if your kids want to test it by dipping in a spoon, let them. Get creative! You can also play up the fact that kids often like weird blue and bright green or purple gooey candies so try to make the drinking experience somewhat akin to having an oddly colored treat made with natural items.

Give a Light Green Smoothie First

There are a number of differences between green smoothies. Some green smoothies generally have a lot of texture and body to them. They can vary greatly in thickness and some may be creamy while others are more juice-like. The fact is that the lighter green smoothie can be more juice-like, which may be easier for someone to take a liking to at first, especially if it is brighter in color.

A light green smoothie to start with could be made with 2 or 3 medium sweet apples, 2 stalks of celery, half a large lemon, and just a small handful of fresh spinach leaves. You can blend these ingredients and even strain it to make it more acceptable at first. This is a universally appreciated style of green smoothie blend that will help your family get used to the idea of drinking greens.

After you share this with your family and they see that green drinks taste great, a variety of other green smoothies will be more easily welcomed and even requested.

Another method for slowly introducing green smoothies is to just offer a straight fruit smoothie with fewer greens in it. This way the flavor of the smoothie will be familiar and when a few more greens are added into future smoothies the flavor will be too similar to reject.

Start Small and Increase Slowly

You might also consider adding in just 1 or 2 spinach leaves and a little celery to a smoothie that your family already likes. It won’t change the color or flavor much, and if an objection comes up later on when you serve a more power packed green smoothie you can tell your family that you’ve always put greens into their smoothies and they’ve always liked them! Just be sure that when you do start adding more greens that you only increase the amount slowly and with more mild green items such as cucumbers, celery, spinach, or chard so the flavor doesn’t change drastically.

Offer Them Control

If you prefer to be completely overt about your plans, you can tell your family that you’re going to start adding small amounts of greens to their smoothies and you can let them control the amount that goes into it. This way your family won’t feel like you’re forcing them to drink something they don’t want and they’ll be participating in the preparation, which can certainly make a green smoothie more appealing to kids. This works great when they see how completely delicious the green smoothie actually is.

Don’t Force the Issue

One of the common ways to sabotage your efforts is by trying to force your family to drink a green smoothie when they really don’t want to. As with most things, when you encounter resistance a battle of wills can ensue if you try to push the issue. In the end, they’ll associate drinking a green smoothie with being forced to do something they don’t want to do and this will solidify their position of rejection. Have them start with a small sample, even in an ounce sample cup, and they surely will be interested in more.

Keep a Positive Attitude

Green smoothies are about great taste and great nutrition, and a great attitude goes right along with that. So if you encounter rejection before a family member has even tasted a green smoothie, brush it off and shoot for next time. Just avoid pressuring or suggesting they try it too often. This way your household stays low-pressure and your family will be more likely to oblige your kind and subtle requests, especially when they see you enjoying them daily!

Go On a Green Smoothie Diet

Green smoothies are perfect for short-term diets! Take advantage of this and drink nothing but green smoothies for a day or two at a time, or even longer. This way yummy green goodness will be around the house during every mealtime and your family will have constant access. You could even suggest they make their own meals, unless of course they want to sample yours, as they see you lose weight while you enjoy that healthy glow everyone admires.

Use these techniques and you will soon have even the most reluctant person drinking green smoothies. Here’s to your health!

Rachel Singer Gordon, the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Couponing gave us great money-saving advice in this TweetChat. Read below to get the best deals for you and your family.

@CIG_Lifestyle: To get us started, what is the first step to becoming a couponer?

@MashupMom: Like anything else, start slow. Try couponing at one store, do a couple of deals, see how it works, and build up from there. It’s really a mindset: shop around sales not what you run out of, and stock up when prices are low — so never pay full price.

@CIG_Lifestyle: What is the best way to keep track of coupons and deals?

@MashupMom: Keep it simple! Wait to clip coupons – look them up before shopping at http://t.co/YFNSOJ6n and clip before you go. Then, just bring what you need for your trip. Clip coupons to your list instead of lugging a binder. Watch coupon deals on local blogs and make that list before you go to the store.

@SDale18: What stores have the best coupons and deals?

@MashupMom: Coupon Tom rocks! Keep whole inserts, mark date on front, then look up and clip before going. You can coupon everywhere, but high/low stores – higher everyday prices but low loss leader sales – are best for coupons. Stick with sales at high/low stores, use coupons on sales and you’ll do better than at everyday low price stores without sales.

@CIG_Lifestyle: What are some common couponing myths?

@MashupMom: You know how people think coupons are only for unhealthy food? Not true! My son is dairy/wheat free and I coupon for him too. This week alone, I got organic salad and eggs and soy milk with coupons.

@SDale18: What are catalina coupons?

@MashupMom: Catalinas / YourBucks, give you cash back coupons good for X dollars off your next shopping order. Almost like cash!

@SDale18: Where can I find catalina coupons?

@MashupMom: You get them by buying qualifying products at the grocery or drugstore. Sometimes see it in the ad, or local blogs tell you. Catalinas are like a cash-back coupon. Buy these product(s), get $X back to spend in the store next time. Catalina coupons print out at the register when you buy the products in the promo, on a separate machine.

@SDale18: Do you have any newsletters or websites I should sign up for to get special email/text coupons?

@MashupMom: Sign up for my daily email at http://t.co/uxqf6eND/ http://t.co/sbkKpm9v.  I list printables as they come out, also sign up with local stores. Walgreens sends text coupons, Meijer, Target and more.

@CIG_Lifestyle: Is it possible to get cash back when shopping online? How?

@MashupMom: Sure! Get cash back at ebates: http://t.co/DJYelqMw and Upromise: http://t.co/ME63hAHQ for college savings cash back. Start online shopping through cash back sites then use coupon codes to save even more!

@CIG_Lifestyle: What about date night or guy’s night out? Are there some ways to save when dining out?

@MashupMom: You can save on everything, right? Use sites like http://t.co/J68xl3km for discount gift certificates. Sign up at http://t.co/LKfR0fG8 for cash back for dining out — then use cash-back credit card to pay. Stack savings! Also watch Groupon and other daily deal sites for your favorite restaurants.

@CIG_Lifestyle: Great links! Why should couponers shop at Drugstores?

@MashupMom: Drugstores have great Catalina coupon programs – buy something and get $ toward anything else in store. Keep rolling those cash back coupons into more cash back items and get toiletries and over-the-counter medications for FREE! Also shop around sales cycles combined with manufacturer and store coupons — drugstores are high/low stores.

@CIG_Lifestyle: What are sales cycles?

@MashupMom: Everything in the store has a sales cycle and hits its lowest price point every 3 months or so. You want to play like the stock market. Buy low at lowest point of cycle, stock up, and never pay full price.

@SDale18: What are some website scams a new couponer should be wary of?

@MashupMom: Be careful online whatever you are doing, couponing or anything else. Does it look too good to be true? People pass around fake coupons via email and that’s a red flag. Page of PDFs for free products? Stay away.

@CIG_Lifestyle: Have you ever had a completely “free” shopping trip? If so, how did you do it?

@MashupMom: Nothing completely free in Chicago. We pay tax on pre-coupon prices – no fair, right? We can get free items with coupons all the time – I’ve bought stuff from medicine to dish soap for free. Keep your list to just free after coupon items and avoid impulse buys and walk out of the store just paying tax.

@CIG_Lifestyle: Aww, man! What was your biggest couponing success?

@MashupMom: I know, right? No double coupons here either, usually. Found out recently son has allergies, so had to buy all new foods for him. So grateful for coupon skills! Have learned to coupon even at Whole Foods – have gotten free soy milk, almost free gluten free chips, more.

@cowsarecool220: I plan vacation activities around free stuff – Google the city name and free. Also, zoo/museum memberships have reciprocals.

@MashupMom: Awesome. With reciprocal sometimes you can buy cheapest participating museum membership then use all over.

@cowsarecool220: For discounted vacation activities and meals, I use sites like Groupon. Great way to try out places you’ve never heard of!

@MashupMom: Deal of the day sites are great for travel, also http://t.co/J68xl3km. Beyond Groupon -think livingsocial and more.

@SDale18: Where did you find coupons for Whole Foods? Coupons for specialty stores?

@MashupMom: Whole Foods has printable coupons on their website. Store coupons, can stack — use with manufacturer coupon, save twice. Also keep eyes open in health/specialty stores for coupons on shelves, booklets like mambo sprouts.

Next Thursday’s TweetChat is with Bo Rinaldi (@borinaldi) the author of the recently released Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Green Smoothies. He’ll explain the health benefits of “going green!” The TweetChat is Thursday, May 17 at 2:00 p.m. CT. To ask your questions, join us on Twitter and include #AskCIG in your tweets!

Americans’ interest in couponing is ever increasing, as the economy continues its sluggish revival and the cost of everything from gas to food to diapers continues to rise. Shows like TLC’s popular Extreme Couponing have brought awareness of the potential dramatic savings from couponing to a much wider audience. While more shoppers are using coupons, many don’t know how to use them effectively.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Couponing author, Rachel Singer Gordon will join us for a live TweetChat on Thursday, May 10 at 2:00 p.m. CT to fill that gap, showing couponers how to maximize savings by being more strategic. She’ll discuss:

• Different types of coupons and how to use each most effectively
• Stacking coupons to maximize savings

• Earning money back from shopping trips
• Saving money while shopping online
• Couponing for special diets, including shopping for organics and allergen-free items
• Organizing coupons—and organizing the stockpile of purchases
• Finding the deals
• Sharing couponing bounty with others 

Learn how to save big with coupons everywhere you shop, from grocery stores, to drugstores, and online. Along the way, The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Couponing teaches readers how to coupon realistically for savings on everyday items.

Log on to Twitter and search #AskCIG to participate. This TweetChat will be monitored by @CIG_Lifestyle. Gordon’s Twitter handle is @ mashupmom. Please include #AskCIG in all questions. If unable to participate, the author is available as an expert source to discuss saving on everyday items and developing a couponing strategy that suits your lifestyle.

Rachel Singer Gordon (Lombard, Ill.) writes the popular couponing blog MashupMom.com, which has a corresponding e-mail newsletter and Facebook community. In addition to her most recent title, Point, Click, and Save: Mashup Mom’s Guide to Saving and Making Money Online (CyberAge, 2010), Rachel is the author of nine other books; most targeted at librarians and information professionals. She teaches couponing and “saving online” classes in the Chicagoland area, averaging several classes a month at public libraries, Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS) groups, women’s clubs, and other venues.

The Complete Idiot’s Guide® to Couponing

ISBN 9781615641536, April 2012, $16.95