Get real.
Lisa Miller Maguire ’81
- Founder and CEO of GetRealGetRaw and creator of the Groothie
- Double major in art and physics
“Raw, plant-based whole foods have all of their thousands of nutrients intact. Once you cook your food over 118 degrees, most of the nutrients are destroyed, and we are talking about thousands of nutrients that the living cells in our body need to be happy and healthy. Love your body and try to make raw foods a part of your everyday life.”
“Get your Groothie on everyday. Make or seek out a truly delicious and nutritious green smoothie that you look forward to having. Our basic recipe is on our website and provides a great foundation. Also, recruit your spouse, partner, child or neighbor to be a support in making some changes.”
“Live with a positive attitude. Feel gratitude for the fresh produce that you get to consume, gratitude for the farmers who put love into growing your food, gratitude toward your body for all of its hard work.”
Click here to find out how to make a Groothie.
A recipe for success
“I worked in sales for Xerox after graduating from Wheaton for three years before going back to school at the University of Notre Dame for my MBA. I met my husband of almost 30 years in business school and we married shortly after graduation. We lived in Chicago, where I worked for MetLife doing estate planning for a few years, and then purchased an historic Victorian mansion in South Bend, Indiana, and converted it to an eight-room B&B. In 1993 we had our first of four daughters and I began my career as a mother. As the girls grew up I founded GetRealGetRaw as a nonprofit focused on education and promoting the healing powers of raw foods—encouraging people to incorporate raw foods into their daily lives. During this time, I developed the Groothie as a teaching tool to excite people to get their raw greens, and it took on a life of its own. We began to sell the Groothie at a local Philly fast food casual restaurant in 2012, and it soon became their number No. 1 seller and was voted the best smoothie in Philadelphia by Philadelphia magazine. With my husband’s encouragement and support, we transitioned our nonprofit into a mission-driven wholesale business in order to provide communities with a truly healthy option. Our focus is K-12 schools, colleges/universities, hospitals, senior homes and select retail stores. Nearly every other smoothie on the market today has been pasteurized, which means that all of the nutrients have been processed away, and/or they have added refined sugars, dairy or soy—all things that are not good for the body. The Groothie is none of these things. It is raw, pure and clean food. The most important part to me is the educational piece. I believe that people deserve to know the truth about foods so that they can make good decisions and then they need to have good options available.”
Photo by Keith Nordstrom