Thursday, February 16, 2012

Food Rule 21 and Green Smoothies


(Lest you think I've gone off the deep end with my treats consumption, ha!)

I'm going to throw down some honesty here today.  That up there?  That's my breakfast every day.  Yep.  A huge green smoothie that I suck down while I'm sitting in traffic, on my way to work.  Why?  Obviously I'm capable of making other, more traditional items to eat.  But why am I eating 3 overflowing cups of kale and spinach for breakfast?

Because I'm waging a war on my acne.  There you have it.  My skin has the ability to go from allllmost clear to a disaster within a matter of a couple of days.  It's 90% of the reason I avoid dairy.  Dairy hormones and sugars make my acne (and body hormones) fly out of control, resulting in painful red bumps and cysts on my face.  Which then turn into dark scars.  It's not exactly a great way for a girl to go out in the world, especially considering that wearing a bag over my head isn't something I've been able to pull off.  (Yet.)

Now, I'm a firm believer in healing my body from the inside.  I've done just about everything for eliminating external irritating detergents and fabric softeners and body washes.  So, when my skin flares up, I know that something isn't happy on the inside.  After reading a bit about alkalinity and watching this video, I really felt compelled to get more greens in my diet.  Which is perfect for another Food Rule:


I've raved about greens in the past, but short of throwing them into every single dinner, I couldn't figure out a way to get more into my diet.  Until I started seeing Green Smoothies pop up everywhere.  They sound iffy at best - Spinach for breakfast?  Raw?  And you drink it??  Yes, indeedy, my friends.  And they taste really, really good.  Throw in a banana and some other fruit, close your eyes, and you don't even know it's loaded with leafy green vegetables.  I swear.

I follow this basic recipe for my breakfasts each morning:

Some Chia Seeds for omegas, fiber, protein, and energy
3 huge handfuls of greens - usually kale or spinach
1 fruit to make things sweet - a ripe banana or an apple
1-2 other fruits for flavors - raspberries and mango together are really good!

Note: If you add red or blue berries, your smoothie color won't be as vibrant green.  Because red + green = kinda brown in color.  Which equals disgusting photos, lol.  I didn't want to scare you away any more than I already might be, so I left the fruit for this recipe pale in color so that all you see is that gorgeous green!

What do you all think??

Are you already a Green Smoothie aficionado?
Tempted to come over to the vibrant green side of the fence?
With Bo in thinking that my breakfast is too whack to even consider? :)

My Hippy Roots are Showing,
Sara




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Green Smoothie

2 Tbsp. chia seeds
1 c. water
3 c. kale, chopped with stems removed
1 c. frozen peach slices (unsweetened)
1 banana, sliced and frozen

Soak Chia seeds in water for at least 5 minutes, as you gather the remaining ingredients. Add ingredients to blender in this order: Water with soaked Chia seeds, kale, banana, and peach slices. Blend until smooth.  Makes one 24oz. smoothie.


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Seriously, check this out.  These are the numbers for my recipe above:




It's a pretty great way to start the morning, am I right?!

5 comments:

  1. Can't WAIT to try these out...on the whole family!

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    Replies
    1. Kelly - I hope they like them! My fave is to add strawberries. And I'm planning to start adding cinnamon to mine too (once I go grocery shopping and replenish my smoothie ingredients)!

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  2. I just started making a non green chia smoothie every morning. Currently use a non dairy milk, vegan vanilla protein powder, almond butter, chia seeds, and berries, been loving it with blueberries, sometimes I add a bit of cocoa powder but as much as I love chocolate it's a bit better without it. I love greens but green smoothies have always scared me. I think I might give it a try.

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  3. The recipe looks fabulous! I have been meaning to start adding greens into my morning smoothies for EVER but have just not gotten brave enough yet. I dont mind veggies but I have never been a huge salad fan so I think I have just never liked the idea enough to add them to my smoothie. You have inspired me to go buy some spinach and try it! Have you ever tried freezing the greens and then adding them? If so how did you do it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I've used frozen greens! Especially because the washed and chopped kale comes in bags that are way too huge for me to get through. I just put the cut greens in a ziploc in my freezer. I toss them into my blender frozen, and it works out great! You're going to be surprised at the fruits you'll start throwing into green smoothies. Blueberries completely cover up the "green" taste, but if you add citrus-y fruits (like pineapple and/or mango), they enhance the flavor!

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