recipes

I’m Still Drinking Reese Witherspoon & Kerry Washington’s Smoothie (Almost) Every Day – Here’s How It’s Going

/ Jess / 1 Comment

In April of 2021, I discovered the recipe for Kerry Washington and Reese Witherspoon’s green smoothie on Instagram and started making it for myself every day.

I thought I’d probably keep it up for a few months at best – making these things was a little more of a hassle than just grabbing a protein bar or slathering a piece of toast with peanut butter, after all. It also was kind of a pain to always have fresh vegetables and fruit on hand to make them. But, here we are, about a year later, and would you believe I still drink these things almost every single day??

I never would have thought I’d stick to them, but I can’t seem to quit them. I’ve gone 2 days at most without them before running to the farmer’s market for supplies and happily slurping one down the 3rd morning.

The Acne Benefits

A year later, my acne has stayed clear, though I cannot give these smoothies 100% credit for that. It did come back a few months after I started drinking them, so I started working with the experts at Nurx on clearing my acne for good. Today, I can safely say that I’ve got it under control thanks to the medicine I’m on through them. The side effects are a bit bothersome, but the great thing about Nurx is that I can continue to work with them until we figure out the right balance, all as part of the initial $15 I spent to have them help me with my acne. And I am not sponsored by them, I just love them and am happy to talk to anyone about them because I was skeptical at first but now have nothing but good things to say!

The Overall Skin Benefits

On top of the acne benefits, I’ve seen my skin texture and tone improve as well. I used to struggle with dry patches and rough spots, and didn’t feel comfortable leaving the house without makeup to even out my complexion and hide the things that I was insecure about.

Before, May 2021
After, March 2022

This is another “I can’t prove it” benefit and may also have to do with the other skin care that I’ve started doing regularly in the past year or so. But more and more, friends and family that normally don’t notice these things or ever make comments on my physical appearance have asked me about my “makeup” when I am wearing nothing but CeraVe Daily Moisturizer. I stopped wearing foundation over the summer and don’t think I’ll ever need to go back to it. Whether that’s from the smoothies or not, I don’t know – but all those fruits and vegetables can’t be a bad thing, right?

The Other Benefits

The number one question I get from people when I tell them I drink these things – without fail – has to do with their fiber content. More specifically, they worry that these smoothies have turned me into a walking time bomb, ready to explode at the slightest jostle thanks to the multiple grams of extra natural fiber I was taking in with my morning coffee. While it wasn’t THAT bad, I can say that after a month, the regularity with which I use the bathroom when I drink these every morning is such that you could set a German train schedule by my bowel movements.

This should come as no surprise to anyone with a basic understanding of how human bodies work, but it really is wonderful when you’re someone like me who always had stomach/regularity issues. The regularity makes me feel better, lighter, and gives me more energy. It also counteracts those troublesome side effects of the acne medication I’m on, which makes these smoothies even more beneficial to me.

Final Thoughts

As always, whenever it comes to stuff like this, you need to do your own research and make your own choices for what’s best for your body and your lifestyle. What works for one person may not work for another. But after seeing the interest in my last post about these drinks, I figured it was worth coming here to update you all about how it’s going and maybe share the good benefits with you as well!

I Drank Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington’s Green Smoothies Every Day for a Month. Here’s What Happened.

/ Jess / 2 Comments

A little more than a month ago, I was doing my morning scroll through my Instagram feed and stumbled on Reese Witherspoon’s IG Live video detailing how she makes herself a green smoothie every morning.

In her video, Reese explained that when she first met Kerry Washington, she remarked how clear her skin was and asked her for her secret. Kerry told her that she drinks this smoothie every day, and ever since then, Reese has done the same.

Because I was instantly convinced that this was the key to both of their beauty – that, or there is an oil painting of both of them in some dusty attic somewhere that is aging instead of them – and the fact that it seemed SUPER easy to make, I decided to give this a shot too.

The Method

If you’re interested in watching me perform this science experiment, you can watch the first attempt here. Long story short: I definitely didn’t blend it enough and omitted the almond butter. It also confirmed that I don’t enjoy coconut water in ANY capacity, so I switched to water or almond milk for subsequent batches. It also gave me the idea to add collagen powder because it was easier to add to this smoothie than to my coffee like I’d been doing for weeks.

Note: This recipe also makes roughly 60 ounces. I can’t fathom drinking 60 ounces of ANYTHING, so I took Reese’s advice and split it into two and saved the second half for the next day. This can give me middling results because fruit on day two is always a little weird. But re-blending it tends to revive it, and this is the method that I’ve stuck with.

The Results

I’ll be real: I started this because of Reese’s skin claims, but I really wasn’t expecting any eye-popping results in the skin department. Some people just have good genes. But to my surprise, something interesting happened.

About a year ago, a cancer scare convinced me to stop taking hormonal birth control after nearly 20 years, and my skin has been reacting badly ever since. It was like every zit I managed to avoid for 20 years on the pill came back for revenge, all over my chin and neck for 8 straight months, and nothing I did could stop it. Painful red welts every 3 weeks (timed with my cycle) made me super self-conscious. I wasted money on tons of topical treatments that never worked, and I was miserable for most of the last year (on top of being anxious and depressed because of the pandemic).

After less than a week of smoothies, the acne all but disappeared.

I thought I was just having a good skin week at first, and kept an eye on it. But one week went by, then another, and another, and no acne. Yes, I have one or two spots that manage to make their way to the surface, but it is NOTHING like it used to be, and I could cry from happiness.

I also thought this amount of fiber would have… shall we say… explosive results. I’m pleased to report that I have so far suffered NO ill effects. On the flip side, I will say that if I accidentally skip a day or two of the smoothie, I DO start to notice a NEGATIVE difference in my skin and in my stomach. TMI? Maybe. But we keep it real here.

Final Thoughts

Granted, the skin results that I’ve seen cannot be 100% proven by smoothie magic, but the way I see it, there’s no downside to eating all those fruits and veggies each day, right?

After a few tries, my final version of Reese & Kerry’s Smoothie is:

  • 2 heads of Romaine
  • 1 cup spinach
  • 2-3 stalks celery
  • 1 banana
  • 1 apple
  • 1 pear
  • 1/2 lemon
  • 6 – 8 ounces almond milk or water
  • 6 ice cubes
  • 4 scoops of Vital Proteins collagen powder

Yes, it’s kind of a pain to always make sure that we have all these fresh fruits and vegetables around. But after having such good results over the last month, I’m willing to keep this concoction in my daily routine as often as I can to keep the good vibes flowing!

UPDATE: One year later, I’m still drinking these smoothies – and still seeing the benefits! Take a look at how it’s going now, with before and after pics and all.

What I Eat In a Day – Part 1

/ Jess / 6 Comments

Now that I’ve gone about 95% gluten- and corn-free, some folks have asked about what I eat in any given day, so here’s a little rundown of my go-to’s! Note: I’m not sponsored by any of these products, nor am I a nutritionist. I’m just trying to eat in a semi-healthy way while still enjoying food, and wanted to share the love in case you’re looking for some breakfast, lunch and snack ideas to switch up your routine.

I’ll go into more detail about dinner and desserts in a Part 2 post later this week.

Breakfast: My go-to is a slice of Canyon Bakehouse Gluten Free Cinnamon Raisin Bread, with some Smuckers Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter and half cup of blueberries. If I’m not too hungry I’ll omit the peanut butter.

On the weekend, I experiment with gluten free baked goods (in October and November, we were partial to Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Pumpkin Pancakes and Pumpkin Butter but they’re seasonal and I don’t condone spending $18 on off-market pumpkin butter), or will make some scrambled egg whites and turkey bacon.

My favorite part of breakfast, though, is coffee. Hot or cold, I take it black with the tiniest pinch of Stevia (1/8th of a teaspoon maybe? does that make me pretentious??). Not too long ago, I discovered Trader Joe’s Instant Cold Brew. After a brief period where I saw the future because I made it too strong, I figured out the right balance of coffee to water and really enjoy it. If I need to warm up, I’ll have medium roast hot coffee, but will treat myself by adding some Nut Pods, and whip it up with a travel milk frother to turn boring coffee into an at-home latte. Seriously, that frother has changed my life in the most delightful way, get one immediately. And while I’m on Nut Pods, if you’re looking for a dairy-free, gluten free, unsweetened coffee creamer, they have incredible flavors at like 10 calories per tbs. My current favorite is the Peppermint Mocha.

Bonus: Bach’s Rescue Pastilles for natural stress relief. Placebo? Maybe. Tasty? Definitely.

Lunch: Here’s where I say that I batch cook on the weekend for lunches throughout the week. BUT I am human, and lazy, and don’t do that as often as I’d like to. When I DO batch cook, one of my favorite recipes is black bean soup: three cans of black beans (two blended and one whole) mixed with salsa, canned tomatoes and onions, chiles, salt, pepper and lime juice to taste.

I also enjoy the good old Millennial Classic: avocado toast! My cheat version consists of toasted GF white bread topped with Shop Rite deli department guacamole or Wholly Guacamole and a fried egg (or scrambled egg whites) and TJ’s Everything But the Bagel seasoning.

When I don’t cook, I am a fan of our local Shop Rite’s chicken salad with cranberries and slivered almonds, or will go for roasted or smoked sliced chicken from the deli counter either on a bed of baby spinach or toasted Canyon Bakehouse or Schar Gluten Free White Bread. When it comes to GF bread, those are the two brands we’ve enjoyed the most. Lastly, if I’m pressed for time or we’re out of fresh ingredients, I rely on frozen meals that have a good amount of protein and aren’t TOO heavy on sodium, like Amy’s 3 Cheese and Kale Bake and Healthy Choice Power Bowls.

Snacktime: In 2020 I set out to avoid mindless snacking and have broadly succeeded, focusing instead on snacks that are high in protein and not as many empty calories. I used to be big on snack time, but as I’ve gotten used to working from home throughout the pandemic, I don’t snack as much, but generally always have some cheese, 100-calorie fruit cups in juice, teriyaki turkey jerky, and Trader Joe’s Everything But the Gluten Crackers on hand depending on if I’m feeling sweet or savory.

Stay tuned for Part 2 where I’ll go into more detail about dinner and desserts, and include some of my favorite recipes!