I had a client who loved his protein powders. Loved them. He drank two shakes a day, every day—like clockwork.

I get it. Protein powders are convenient. They’re marketed as the ultimate shortcut to strength, energy, and muscle recovery. But here’s the catch: convenience often comes at a cost. Protein powders are highly processed. Processed is processed.

When I suggested he try a whole-food smoothie instead, you’d have thought I’d asked him to give up his firstborn child. He didn’t believe a smoothie could deliver the same protein punch without the powders.

Challenge accepted.

I set out to create a smoothie that was:

• High in protein (over 20 grams, to be exact).
• Made entirely from real, whole foods.
• Easy to digest—because what good is protein if your body struggles to use it?

And here it is. A nutrient-dense, clean smoothie packed with plant-based protein that fuels your body and eliminates cleanly (no sticky buildup here).

Berry Energized Protein Smoothie

Real Protein. Real Food. No Powders. No Compromise.

 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 1 cup raw cauliflower, chopped
• 2 cups spinach
• 1 cup blackberries or blueberries
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
• 2 teaspoons spirulina
• 1 teaspoon maca
• Stevia to taste

How to Make It:

• Add the almond milk to your blender as the base.
• Toss in the cauliflower, spinach, blackberries (or blueberries), and avocado.
• Add the pumpkin seeds, spirulina, and maca for that protein punch.
• Blend until smooth and creamy.
• Taste, and add stevia if you want a little sweetness.
• Pour into a glass and enjoy immediately!

Why It Works (And Why I’m Obsessed)

1. 23 Grams of Protein—From Whole Foods
   Pumpkin seeds and spirulina are MVPs here. You get plant-based protein without fillers, chemicals, or mystery ingredients.
2. Supports Energy and Digestion
   Fiber from cauliflower, spinach, and berries keeps things moving (literally), while antioxidants and healthy fats fuel your cells and mitochondria.
3. It’s Clean. Really Clean.
   Unlike processed powders that can leave your digestive system struggling, every ingredient here is real food that is easy for your body to use and eliminate.

Gil Jacobs, often called the Godfather of hydrocolonic therapy, has performed over 100,000 colonics. When we spoke, he shared this insight:

“Poorly digested protein powders can contribute to digestive buildup over time.”

While this is anecdotal, it’s worth considering.

Why Whole Foods Win
Whole foods are the smarter choice for lasting energy and strength. They don’t just deliver protein—they come with fiber, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and co-factors, perfectly packaged by nature to work together to fuel your body’s ability to thrive.

So, here’s to breaking up with powders—and falling in love with food that loves you back.

Let me know if this smoothie wins you over. My client? He’s a convert.

Sip clean. Feel strong. Eliminate well.

Whole foods fuel better. Simple as that.

Someone once said to me, “You’re a self-actualizing machine.” But the context was, “You can do this get healthy thing, I can’t,” but she suffered with acute health problems and really wanted to look and feel better.

I heard the defeat in her voice and said, “I was once very sick. I had no idea at all of what it even meant to do things differently. What was healthy? What wasn’t healthy? I didn’t know where to begin. I didn’t know what to do. No one in my family, none of my friends, heck, it seemed like no one I even knew in passing had a concept of healthy lifestyle habits like I needed to make to feel better, so I started with one small step at a time.”

I tell this story all the time now, because everyone I work with struggles with the first steps of their get-healthy game, like I did, like you might too.

Just this week, as I wrapped up a wellness program I’ve been leading, one of the participants said, “I was so overwhelmed by everything you said on our first day.” But she opened up to the challenges I offered and lost 10 pounds, reduced her all-day coffee habit down to one cup in the morning, and… She even started making smoothies, including leafy greens and cucumbers, though she was opposed to the idea at first, “I’m not drinking my vegetables!”

This is just one of the participant’s stories from the program, but one example that best exemplifies one of my guiding credos, “Lean into it.” Do what you can. Don’t make yourself wrong if you falter. Just get back in the game when and how you can! When there’s no pressure, it’s just easier.

It’s like what Darren Hardy, editor of Success Magazine and author of The Compound says in this book:

“Small smart choices + Consistency + Time = RADICAL DIFFERENCE.”

I offer you here what getting healthy really looks like “on the street.”

It’s not perfect.

It’s not 100%.

And it’s definitely not a “self-actualized machine overnight.” But honestly, I couldn’t be more happy for every participant’s wins! They threw their ball on the court. They got in the get-healthy game and they played. No matter if they dropped the ball, they still played and that’s winning for me, because every step forward always leads to the next steps forward!

1. “I feel lighter and happier.”
2. “What I eat now, how I plan my grocery shopping, what I prepare for my meals is better. I’m more conscious of healthy choices now.”
3. “I used to drink coffee all day long. Now I only drink one cup in the morning.”
4. “I don’t like smoothies. I’ve not figured out how to make the time for them yet, but I like the juices. I can buy them.”
5. “I wan’t perfect. I did eat a little junk, but I made a smoothie and a salad every single day. That was different for me.”
6. “I added more whole foods to my diet everyday – I ate way less junk. I am definitely more aware of what I am eating now.”
7. “I lost 10 pounds.”
8. “My doctor said I lost weight and my high-blood pressure is way down.”
9. “No, I didn’t do the evening exercise, but I did do the morning one.”
10. “Someone offered me a cup of coffee during the day, said the challenge is over. I said no. This is a new lifestyle habit now.”
11. “I really like the breathing exercises.”
12. And the best response of all, because I know this participants meant it, “I bombed, but I’m inspired to try again.” She said this, though she made a smoothie everyday. She felt she bombed, she felt defeated, because in the end she wished she did more. BUT she did create one new healthy habit, a smoothie everyday.

One of the best parts about the whole experience and their responses? I got to meet all sorts of different people, from all sorts of different experiences, and… I got to appreciate again, what it’s like to watch people rise to a challenge! SO awesome! What I see over and over again is, we always want to be our best selves. Even when we are so busy, even when we think it can’t be done, that it’s impossible, we always figure it out, we always find a way = super cool! It turns out, “the self-actualized machine” is actually only a series of steps we take in the direction of our goal. 

When I lead workshops, I’m reminded about what’s most important in life from every person I meet.

As I learned from one of my mentors, “Great is the need of the student to learn — far greater is the need of the teacher to teach.” As a student of life, I’m honored by every lesson I learn when I teach.

Now you’re turn.

What does getting healthy really look like for you?

What do you bump up against? What pulls you forward? What stops you?

Post your comments below. I’d love to hear, and help if need be!

I often text my clients and say, “want to look and feel amazing overnight?” When they say yes, and they always say yes, “Yep! Count me in,” or, “Definitely. I’m in,” they know what I mean = let’s do a juice day!

Mind you, I often text my clients mere hours before the next day… and they’re always in = gotta’ love a player = super badass clients who are committed to their health and a fun friendly challenge! This accomplished group includes, a busy realtor and a stay-at-home Mom, a marketing genius and a thriving entrepreneur, a CEO from the banking industry and… me!

That means that together, from literally all points around the country, we join together and rock a group juice party! Matter of fact, tomorrow a group of us from Oregon, California, Chicago, Virginia and Connecticut are juicing together, albeit from our own homes 3000 miles away from each other!

We don’t do anything but say “yes, I’m in!” We don’t text, but maybe a picture! We don’t talk on the phone, but maybe that text of a picture. We don’t meet up virtually anywhere, but in our hearts. We just join together with our word and our juice for some good, clean, healthy fun!

And I got to thinking… why not ask you to join us! 

So with this post, I officially invite you to join me and my clients any or every Monday for a group juice day… so you too can look and feel amazing overnight! Just email me and say, “I’m in,” and I’ll make sure you’ve got a virtual group to join you, or at least me, so you feel supported in your experience!

Download Your Free Juice Cleanse Guide! 

You can share pictures of your juices on my Facebook biz page and tag me here with the hashtag #juiceoneday

You can share pictures of your juices on Instagram, and tag me here with the hashtag #juiceoneday

You can share pictures of your juices on Twitter, and tag me here with the hashtag #juiceoneday

Or you can skip the pics and just rock your juice!

No heavy. No hard. Just healthy, juicy fun!

One Juice Day to come together to cleanse and rejuvenate for healthy fun and camaraderie! All you have to do is download this simple and easy recipe guide, and give me a shout out via email at carol@carol-egan.com and I’ll get a group of others, with you and me to virtually support each other!

Oh, by the way, for you who might be interested, but maybe feel you’re not quite ready for an all-day juice fast, I’ve got you covered! You can do juices AND smoothies, until you feel ready for an all-juice day (which is utterly magical!)! I included some smoothie recipes in the download guide so you can participate too!

That’s it! Join me and my clients for an all-juice day! The more the merrier!

Your countonable Monday juicing partner!

Cheers!

Download Your Free Juice Cleanse Guide!

Food cravings are a common problem.

Processed foods. Sugary foods. Salty foods.

Food cravings take over and thwart our very best commitment.

Someone I know emailed me the other day and said, “I need help. I’m addicted to sugar. Can you help me?”

My answer?

One, sadly your ‘addictions’ are highly manufactured. Processed foods are carefully formulated to trigger your brain’s pleasure center at the footnote of of $60 billion every year to make sure you want more!  

Second, I’ve got very good news to counter there efforts and your addiction! You need only do this one thing to easily free yourself from any and all food cravings,

With a high, live-food diet and lots of fresh-pressed, green juices, intermittent fasting is my top health recommendation for all it’s many benefits, plus it conquers cravings!

Think about it, by simply scheduling a shorter window of time to eat everyday, which is what intermittent fasting is, you reset your body to burn fat for energy, instead of sugar.

This reset is significant, since your body typically burns glucose/sugar for energy. When you shift your body to use fat for fuel, rather than sugar, your body will crave sugar less. 

Fat for fuel, rather than sugar for fuel equals freedom from cravings.

It’s that simple.

Just choose a shorter duration of time to eat everyday, like from 12:00 noon to 6:00 pm, or 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, and you will become a fat burner, rather than a sugar burner.

Au revoir food cravings! 

No joke. This works. Plus I can not impress the overall health benefits of intermittent fasting enough!

Your Turn:

1. Schedule your first intermittent fasting.
2. Plan and prepare what you’re going to eat for your first fasting day, and probably best to include the next day too, so you’ve got healthy food ready to go.
3. Come back and tell me how it went for you. I’d love to hear! PS — Do note, it’ll take more than one time of fasting to become a fat burner, but give one day a go and let me know how you do!

 

Do you struggle with losing weight? Feel exhausted? Stressed? Possessed by cravings, even preoccupied with chronic symptoms?

Worse, do these symptoms impact your day, even your productivity at work and your relationships at home?

It’s kind of wild, but research today says that our body is home to more bacterial cells than human cells. That each of us hosts roughly 100 trillion bacterial cells, that these bacterial cells outnumber human cells 10 to one, and an imbalance in our ‘friendly flora,’ versus rogue pathogenic bacteria can impact every facet of our life. 

You might say, “Cool,” and forget about it. You might say, “So what. Who’s got time to care?” But you might say, “Whaaaat?!?!,” as I did near 30 years ago when I was diagnosed with an imbalance of ‘unfriendly’ bacteria in my body.

Here’s why I say you want to remember and care about this factoid. If the balance of good bacteria in your body, particularly in your gut, becomes imbalanced by poor diet, stress and the fast pace of the modern lifestyle,

• Healthy digestion becomes compromised, and
• Immunity becomes compromised, and
• It spreads throughout your body, including your brain

Even cancer, cardiovascular disease and obesity are linked to an imbalance in the ‘microbiota,’ the inner bacterial terrain.

If you’re serious about reclaiming your health and vitality, there is plenty you can do to encourage friendly bacterial growth to rebalance your inner terrain.

1. The most important first step is to remove processed food-like substances, starchy foods, hard-to-digest foods and the top 5 common toxic-trigger foods, gluten, dairy, sugar, caffeine and alcohol. These foods feed the bad bacterial overgrowth that has taken over. Without the first step, every other step will bottom out. Hands-down.
2. The second important step is three-fold,
   • Add in nutrient-dense, electrically charged live foods that can help restore inner-balance, AND
   • Add in probiotic-rich fermented foods, foods laden with good bacteria, like raw sauerkraut, raw fermented kimchee and kombucha and you can find them all in refrigerated section of your natural foods market. Fermented foods,
     • Help boost the digestibility and boost absorption of foods
     • Produce their own nutritional benefits — They make vitamin B12 and vitamin K that are produced in the digestive wall. Fermented foods actually make them both for us.
     • Reduces IBS symptoms, like bloating, stomach cramping, abdominal pain, diarrhea and/or constipation and flatulence
     • Produce numerous compounds that destroy and inhibit the growth of pathogenic bacteria.

1. • Add in an anti-bacterial, like oregano oil. Yes, this very intense oil is available in capsule form, but I highly recommend the drops, When you add your drops to a small glass of water to drink, it will coat every tissue it touches, from the mouth, through the alimentary canal. This is super effective in killing rogue bacteria.
   • Add in a high-quality probiotic. This is the one supplement I recommend every client take.

By restoring your gut health and rebalancing your inner bacterial terrain, excess weight will fall off, energy will rise, stress will subside, productivity will return… and, you’ll sleep better, you’re mood will be better, your skin will radiate… and so much more. Makes sense though, doesn’t it, since you are largely a bacterial being?

Action Steps:

1. New to the get-healthy game? Lean in and choose one thing to add in, and one thing to take out.  and start with one.
2. Challenge yourself, this is how healthy change happens.
3. Prefer to start with more basic, but oh-so essential steps to getting healthy? Click here.

Got questions? Leave a comment below. I’d love to help!

Before you head out to the market, I recommend you consider two primary questions when writing out your grocery list:

1. Can the foods you choose leave your body efficiently and easily?
2. Will the food cause you harm?

These are the same questions I ask myself, and I recommend you ask yourself, before you head out to do your grocery shopping.

What I recommend in my ideal grocery list pivots off the grave statistics of chronic disease today.

Shopping for “healthy” is no longer enough. Healing is the game now.

One out of every two Americans suffers from chronic symptoms, so you need to eat foods that turn every cell, organ, system and bodily function on, so your body can run optimally.

And for we the one out of the two of us who suffer from chronic symptoms today, we know that these symptoms literally impact upon the quality of’our literal lived experience.

So, how do you plan a grocery list around these two important questions, with these statistics in mind?

1. Choose foods that leave your body efficiently and easily.

One of the easiest ways to take in vital nutrition is drinking green juice — it requires no digestive fire.

But we cannot live on green juice alone (although I’ve tried!), so your next best bet is eating a diet high in LIVE fruits and vegetables.

A good rule of thumb to follow is to choose foods from the periphery of the story — perishables. If the food you choose is refrigerated, it means it is still alive with life-force energy, vitality, electricity. The very vital electric energy in the live foods you choose is precisely what your body needs to ‘light up,’ and run efficiently.

But how efficiently your body can eliminate what you eat really matters.

What you eat and what your body is able to eliminate can make a profound difference upon living a full and vital life bursting with a Spirit of adventure, possibility and fun, or a life shackled to weekly doctor visits, chronic symptoms, excess weight and premature aging.

2. Avoid foods that cause harm.

Processed foods, nutrient devoid foods and even hard-to-digest foods cause irritation and inflammation in the body. The top 5 common toxic trigger foods known to cause trouble in the body are:

1. Gluten
2. Dairy
3. Sugar
4. Caffeine
5. Alcohol

Not only that, but many conventionally-grown foods are treated with harmful pesticides, so when possible, choose organic. When organic is not available, refer to the  Clean 15 list from the Environmental Working Group to find your best choices.

Oh yes, no doubt there is a whole big world of gastronomy that is considered ‘en vogue’ today, aka, “I’m a foodie.’ Bah! These bourgeoise influences, with familial and cultural ‘traditions,’ are keeping oh-so many of us sick today! One woman said to me, though her whole family suffers from chronic digestive problems, “but Carol, Americans don’t eat like that!”

So, what’s in my grocery cart?

While “Americans” may not eat like this, I certainly do, and so do my clients, as well as the leading health doctors I follow, add in my teachers, and my clients kids too! Heck, even my dear mother focuses on fresh vegetables!

So here’s a look at what goes on my grocery list and into my cart every week, and what I recommend you consider adding to your list and cart too!

• Always in my cart:

  I buy a rainbow of colors, leafy greens (all sorts of varieties), radicchio, sprouts, fresh herbs, avocados, cucumbers, celery, heirloom tomatoes, carrots, red beets, sweet potatoes, winter squash, zucchini, sweet and hot peppers, fennel, onion, garlic, ginger, berries, lemon, limes, grapefruit, green apples

• My favorite condiment:

  Raw fermented vegetables, like saurkraut and kimchee, though natural health food stores are offering many new mixes, with carrots and beets and even jalapeño… and Deliciously Detoxifying Pesto!

• Staples always in the house:

  Healthforce Nutritionals Green Protein Alchemy, hemp seeds, chia seeds, maca powder, raw cacao, sundried tomatoes, raw cacao, jars of organic marinara and Muir Glen tomatoes (yes, these are processed, but the ratio of live, nutrient dense foods to processed is minor)… and the list goes on.

• My favorite snack:

  Thinly sliced purple jewel beets with sea salt or a dollop of Deliciously Detoxifying Pesto!

• Best shopping tip:

  If it has a label, it means it’s processed, which means it is devitalized of any nutritional value — eliminate, or greatly reduce food-like substances with labels and buy fresh, whole foods from the periphery of the store. 

• My favorite place to shop:

  Whole Foods. Everyone who knows me knows I love Whole Foods. Matter of fact, I’ve been in near every Whole Foods up and down the east and west coasts! The produce is SO fresh… and I am primarily a produce girl! With that said… I SO support local farmers, farmer markets, small natural food markets and shops, especially for the speciality items and artisan wares you can’t find in bigger stores. 

• Best simple recipe:

  Roll a healthy dollop of Deliciously Detoxifying Pesto in a purple cabbage leaf with your favorite veggies, avocado and fermented sauerkraut. Super easy and super delicious! 

• Favorite Indulgences:

  Blueprint Juices, Imported Olives, Monterey Farms Fresh Grilled Artichokes and Jackfruit

Start your ideal grocery shopping today with these action steps.

1. Shop on the periphery of the store.
2. Begin to eliminate processed foods with labels.
3. Choose a rainbow of colors when you choose your veggies and fruits.
4. Experiment and discover new 'indulgences' that delight you, but won't harm your body!

And if you have any questions, leave a comment below. I’d love to help!

 

Green juice and green smoothies are taking the world by storm today. With the spotlight on the nutritional benefits of kale, spinach and other leafy greens, interest in green drinks continue to grow, as does the demand in local juice and smoothie bars.
But many ask, what’s the difference between a green juice and a green smoothie? Isn’t it better to leave the fiber in the fruits and vegetables? Which one is better for you?

While there is much debate about this, with varying opinions as to which is better for you, a juice or a smoothie, both offer benefits, albeit very different benefits. Let me explain.

Smoothies are made by processing whole fruits and vegetables in a blender, so they retain the fiber of all ingredients. Because smoothies retain the fiber, they tend to be more satiating than green juice. Green smoothies are quick to make, can be loaded up with ingredients like avocado, sprouts and raw cacao for a chocolatey flavor… and are a great stand in for any meal or snack.

Because of the delicious combinations possible, smoothies are a great springboard to healthier eating habits for newcomers.

However, when making green smoothies, do note:

• The blending process breaks the fiber down in a smoothie, but you still need to chew it to activate the digestive enzyme in saliva, amylase. Amylase begins the digestive process.
• Choose combinations like leafy greens with less starchy fruits like berries, green apples, pears, peaches and plums to ensure healthy digestion, healthy elimination and reduce the risk of fermentation or gas.
• Use only fresh produce. Disregard recipes that suggest using frozen kale, for example. Fresh fruits and vegetables deliver the live, vital, electricity your cells need to activate!
• A smoothie cannot take the place of green juice.

Green juice is made by extracting the vegetable and fruit water from the whole foods used, and discarding the fiber, unlike with smoothies.

This is what many do not understand. They ask, why would you separate the fiber from the water in the vegetables and throw it away?

In a nutshell, when you drink juice, no digestive fire is required. Your digestive system doesn’t have to do anything to take in the nutrients provided from the foods you juiced.

Think of it this way, juice is like an IV running medicine into your body, with the vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients and live energy from the fresh fruits and vegetables going directly to your cells to nourish and regenerate.

But also think of green juice this way, because it’s so electrically charged, green juices act like a magnet in the body and pull toxic waste matter out of the tissues and cells.

This is especially helpful for all of us who have lived on some version of the Standard American Diet, and suffer from any acute or chronic condition, excess weight, low energy or premature aging because you can take in so much more nutrition when you drink it, versus eating it. If our ability to absorb or assimilate is impaired in any way, green juice bypasses that and gets the nutrients right to the cells.

Green juice offers the most easily accessible and assimilable form of live, vital nutrition. But do consider this, juice is concentrated because fiber was removed, so you want to limit sweet fruits, or it will blast your system with sugar. Sweet fruits are best in smoothies, rather than juices.

My first recommendation always is green juice, but even with their differences, green juices and green smoothies are an awesome and healthy answer to the Standard American Diet laden with processed and nutrient-devoid foods.

Want to experience what more green in your diet feels like? Want to deep dive into an anti-inflammatory, get-healthy game to get your warm-weather swagger on? Join me this Spring for one of my favorite little programs, More Than A Detox. You can learn more about it here.