Green is good!

Just before Christmas I did a complete overhaul of my diet for health reasons (I would need a completely different blog to go into all the details!).  Anyways, so I started eating a plant-based diet, cutting out meat (easy for me), dairy (not as hard as I had expected), gluten, most sugar and anything processed.  I really expected it to be super hard and I think most expected me to fail.  Well, I am proud to say that it has been over a month and I am still going strong.  I have a lot more energy (one of the main reasons that I started this is that my health problems were causing me to suffer from constant colds and symptoms similar to chronic fatigue).  I don't think that I'll be running marathons in the near future, but I can actually participate in my kids' lives a lot more, I can now handle homework, supper and the evening routine without many hurdles and have not had any joint pain (another one of my major symptoms!).

 

In the process, I have discovered the famous Green smoothie.  It turns out, that it tastes so much better than it looks.  Here is my favorite recipe so far:

1 mango
1 banana
A handful of baby spinach and arugula
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed orange juice (or store bought pure orange juice)
1 tbs ground flaxseed
1 tbs hemp seeds

Serving size : 1

Add juice to blender.  Take a handful of spinach and arugula (of your favorite greens).  Mix together for 20 seconds or until the spinach is all shredded.  Add mango, banana, flaxseed and hemp seeds.  Blend on high (I choose the frappe setting) for 45 seconds.  Drink and enjoy!

 

A complete diet overhaul might not be in the cards for most people, but simple changes can make a world of a difference.  My husband was not so willing to participate at first, but he has changed most of his habits and has not looked back.  It has been harder for my kids, so we are taking baby steps, introducing more fruits and having them try 2 new things a week.  I find that hiding the good stuff works best for now (my tomatoe/ spinach/ tofu spaghetti sauce that went through the blender before it made it on their plate) and the fact that I replaced their whole wheat pasta with quinoa and amaranth pasta without them knowing. 

 

Let me know if you have some great smoothie recipes.  Are you willing to try it?  If you do, let me know if you like it!

Have a great day!