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Bonnie Writes Us About Emphysema and Green Smoothies


Robyn Openshaw - Nov 28, 2012 - This Post May Contain Affiliate Links


I met Bonnie at my lecture near Baltimore. What a delight she is, a caretaker to her husband with emphysema. We got this email from her. (And I love to read the stories you send my way, so keep sending them!) Bonnie told me she knows diet won’t “cure” emphysema. I said, “But what if it gives you more years with Bob, and he was happier and healthier?”

I think you’ll enjoy this letter Bonnie wrote as our East-Coast friends hunkered down to get through the hurricane:

green smoothie dietAs I wait for Hurricane Sandy to slam into the east coast, I have been reading The Green Smoothies Diet.  I attended Robyn’s seminar/class last week in Edgewood, Maryland. I had the great pleasure of meeting Robyn after the class. What a warm and sweet spirit!

Since that night I have read 12 Steps To Whole Foods, given up anything containing aspartame (including my 6-pack-a-day diet gingerale addiction), and added sufficient water to my daily life.

I have begun to purge our kitchen of processed foods and anything containing MSG. I was already on the green smoothie train. I have added Steps 2, 3, and 4 from 12 Steps to Whole Foods to my life.

I talked with Robyn about my 3-year journey down from almost 300 pounds through Overeater’s Anonymous. I am no longer on the 100-pound roller coaster I have ridden for most of my life. God has allowed me to release 88 pounds. (I say “released” because saying “lost” implies I am going to look for them.)

God has led me from bingeing and food compulsion, to green smoothies and whole foods, towards health and well being.

There was a time when I would eat 4+ fast-food “meal deals” on my way to or from work.  I would then look for somewhere to throw away the trash so no one would know.  Food was my cocaine….my drug of choice.

Now God has brought me to this new phase of my life.  He did not do this just for me, but also for my husband who has advanced emphysema.  His diet consisted of sugar, pasta, beef and junk.  Why? Because those white flour / sugar products are SOFT.  It is difficult for him to chew, swallow, and breathe.  Eating salad was a major challenge for him.

He had his first green smoothie about 6 weeks ago, and every day since.  His favorite right now is the Hot Pink Breakfast Smoothie. He is virtually off sugar except for us Uncrustables each morning because they’re easy to chew. But he used to have 4 every morning with coffee.

Tomorrow morning I plan to make him a PBJ sandwich using peanut butter powder mixed with coconut water, 2 tablespoons of raw organic coconut oil, on Italian bread. Baby steps! Whole-grain bread will soon make an appearance.

Robyn is teaching me how to make the quality of Bob’s life so much better.  His coloring is no longer gray and sallow.  His skin is pink and his eyes are bright.  I am seeing him get back his sense of humor along with his appetite.  He does not have the constant hacking cough that plagued him all the time. He still coughs, but it is immeasurably better. I think his body was full of inflammation that is being cleared with nutrition. We will not “cure” the emphysema, but we can certainly make the body that houses those terribly damaged lungs a better place for him to live. If this gives us a few more years with a better quality of life for Bob, that’s another blessing in this journey.

As a side note, my carpal tunnel is almost gone in my right hand.  I had surgery for carpal tunnel in my left hand last year, and actually had surgery scheduled for my right hand earlier this year. Life events caused me to cancel the surgery. Thank God! I have (had) severe arthritis in my left thumb that the specialist wants to operate on to rebuild the joint. The pain in the base of my thumb is virtually gone.

I reach out to anyone who asks about what Robyn calls a “gateway drug”—green smoothies.  Okay, I’ll be honest—people don’t really need to ask. I find myself telling total strangers about green smoothies.

I talked with two people yesterday in a grocery store packed with people prepping for Hurricane Sandy, and gave them the website address so they could get more info.  There are five people in my office who have now progressed from the NutriBullet (gateway equipment) to the Blendtec and green smoothies for themselves and their families.

Robyn is on a mission, and the seeds she plants are growing in so many ways, but growing in the same direction toward health and a new happiness with life.  I see my husband and people around me changing…sprouted seeds.

I think Bob may be concerned about power failure in the storm more because the Blendtec needs electricity than for his oxygen concentrator! He says he has backup oxygen tanks, but no backup for the Blendtec.

God richly bless each of you for the work you do.  You have a special place in my heart and in my prayers each day.  You will hear from me down the road to let you know how this is changing our lives.

Bonnie Kauffman

Posted in: 12 Steps To Whole Food, Green Smoothies, Health Concerns

6 thoughts on “Bonnie Writes Us About Emphysema and Green Smoothies”

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  1. Eric Rothwarf says:

    Hi Robyn, I have been eating a high raw food diet now for 12 years, fruit, green smoothies, some nuts and seeds, fermented foods etc. I saw two of your youtube videos and came to check out your website. All great stuff, you are doing something really important for the planet and your fellow lost humans. However, I want to warn you, this diet will not make you younger (although it will change many things about your body for the much better) as you claimed in your video. Also eating this diet is not a guarantee that you will be safe from cancer or other diseases. My girlfriend with whom I live and who eats a high raw diet as well found that she had ovarian cancer this summer (we are 54 years old). Also another close friend who has been raw for 5 or 6 years also found out she had cancer about a year ago. So, beware, we are still human and still able to sicken and die. This diet is not the fountain of youth, nor a magic protector against death and dis-ease, but it is the best that we have. These were some hard lessons for me to learn, as I thought that I was special and protected. Thanks for your attention, Eric.

  2. Lisa Lam says:

    Hi Robyn,
    Is it okayto use frozen greens in my green smoothies? Such as frozen gai lan, celery, spinach and kale?

    1. Robyn says:

      lisa, yes!

  3. Tanya Williamson says:

    Hi Robyn,

    I am writing to share a ten day testimonial which I know is early, but I have made such strides, I am hoping I can give hope to other women who were like me. I don’t know if you will have time to read it, but I can say, just typing this up has in some ways, been very healing for me!

    I am 44 years old and to date have had more than twenty surgeries. I began with PCOS at age 14 and had a hysterectomy at age 31 – thankfully had three children. I had genetic predisposition for breast cancer and I have had breast surgery. I had Hashimoto’s Thyroid disease that turned into cancer and have had my thyroid removed. I have gallbladder disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic – almost constant ocular migraines.

    I utterly loathe being the weak, sick person. I want to go to my boys’ soccer games, ride horses with my daughter, go to Zumba, I want to jog! But in order to live the life I wanted, I had to consume an incredible amount of garbage to cope with my symptoms – all encouraged by my doctors.

    Each morning I made coffee before I went to the bathroom. With my coffee, I took 200 mg of Synthyroid and two Excedrin Migraine. After my breakfast of something chocolate, I had tums for my constant heartburn. I also took Phentermine to control my appetite because I gain weight easily. With my lunch at the school I teach ate, I would eat a governmental standard healthy meal with either more Excedrin or a narcotic pain killer followed by more tums. Sometimes I took Zofran for my upset stomach from all the pills. Afternoon – more coffee so I would have energy for the evening – with lots of sugar and cream. Dinner has been meat and potatoes my entire life. Before bed, I took Amyltriptaline and Nyquil. Oh my God – that is crazy!

    With this regiment I was able to work and make it to most of kids’ activities IF my eyeball or head did not hurt too bad. As my pain meds became less and less effective, I became desperate for relief from the pain and heartburn and sometimes even chest pain – probably from all the meds. I don’t even remember how I found greensmoothiegirl.com, but I did and ordered the complete program.

    Days 1-4 – I drank the smoothies and cut back the coffee. I decided that I would try to not eat meat, but I did have a few small portions at first. Boy did I have a headache that NO meds could touch.

    Day 5 it just disappeared. I kept drinking and read ahead and made salads and dressings. I really bloated and still am – my liver and gallbladder ache, so I drink more water. Day 6 – NO HEADACHE when I woke up. I made it til 5 pm without pain meds. I decided to cut out all sugar.

    Day 7 – woke up with a slight headache and decided to take a half a dose of medicine and it worked. Headache gone in an hour and didn’t come back. I decided to cut out flour and I put the coffee machine in the cabinet.

    Day 8 and 9 – FANTASTIC. I live on a farm and I went in the field and ran hills! I felt like I could go forever and I had not even had coffee. NO meds except the Synthroid. My heartburn has completely gone away. I left the house without Tums – which is actually a huge deal. I began noticing that my eye felt funny – in a good way. Like it was deflating? It felt wonderful.

    Day 10 – went out of town to a soccer tournament and ate pretty good until dinner. In celebration I had a piece of steak and a couple of cookies for dessert.

    This morning was day 11 and I woke up at 4 am with a terrible ocular migraine and heartburn. I took two Excedrin with my green smoothie. I know this sounds silly, but I was amazed that my headache was gone in less than an hour. Normally headaches last days and I take massive amounts of pain killers, far exceeding manufacturer recommendations, and I assumed this one would be no different. BUT mine was just gone with one dose of meds and my quart of green smoothie.

    To date I have not experience weight loss, but to be frank, that is low on my list at the moment. I want to heal and I thank God so much for what you have taught me – I can’t get enough. As I drove home today in the bright sunlight (another thing that I never could do on a “migraine” day) I listened to your CDs and I feel so blessed to have learned how to heal myself. I thought I would say if just my migraines will go away I’ll be happy – but that’s not true. I am so excited about all the other benefits I know are too come. Of course my liver and kidney functions are never normal but I can’t wait to go back in March and have them drawn again! Your program is literally saving my life 

    Forever grateful,

    Tanya Williamson, Richmond, VA

    1. Robyn says:

      Hi Tanya, yes of course I read what you have to say, and I am so excited for you, please keep going and keep in touch about your experience!!

    2. Judy says:

      Tanya, you must be my twin! I am only five days into the green smoothies that my poor magic bullet struggles to grind for me. Do you have an update to how you are doing now?

      Judy in Rehoboth, DE

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