Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Breakfast Smoothie


Day 3 of the cleanse and I am feeling a little...well, frumpy. Tired, can feel the detoxing happening throughout my body, and the newest kicker is my insanely vivid dreaming. Last night I had a dream within a dream, which was more surreal than I can express (yes, it was weird like the movie Inception). Am going to blame it on the cleanse.


While the last few days I have had freshly made juice for breakfast, today I opted for a smoothie due to the large amount of cardio and physical activity I planned on doing. Using Joy the Baker's Kale Spinach and Pear Smoothie recipe as a starting point, I tweaked the recipe a bit and omitted the honey to stay in line with my cleanse. I do have to say, drinking a full glass of my breakfast smoothie was quite filling! 


Plus a little shout out to one of my favorite local Eugene breweries, Ninkasi. If I can't drink their tasty brew while on the cleanse, at least I can drink out of one of their pint glasses. :)

Breakfast Smoothie
Adapted from: Kale Spinach and Pear Smoothie
  • Half a ripe avocado
  • Half a pear 
  • A handful of fresh spinach
  • One large leaf of chard (any kind)
  • One banana (you can freeze the banana if you like a colder style smoothie)
  • 1 to 1 1/2 cups of cold almond milk (hazelnut or rice work too) 

Chop of the fruit into large pieces to make the blending easier. Add all items to your blender and process until smooth and bright green. Pour into a glass and enjoy!

Monday, January 3, 2011

New Year, New Cleanse


Happy New Year! Wishing all of you a wonderfully prosperous 2011, filled with many tasty treats. :)

Once a year I usually do a sugar/alcohol cleanse, taking a break from two things that beat up my body but I adore. This year, being a nice transition into the year of the Rabbit, I figured I should base it around healing the body and mind. To start things off right, I devised a 21-day cleanse to fill much of January with. It is based upon the Clean Program by Dr. Alejandro Junger, obviously modified a bit for being a vegetarian.

So far I am on day 2 and in the throws of the initial detox period. One more day and I am over the initial hump. If I can hang a few more weeks, I'm sure my body will love me for it.

In the meantime, expect some smoothie and fresh juice recipes on here. A good one a friend turned me onto just today is from one of my favorite bloggers Joy the Baker. Just today she put up a recipe for a Kale Spinach and Pear Smoothie. Take out the honey and it is perfectly in line with the cleanse I am on!

Interested in just what my cleanse entails? Here is the gist:

Length: 21 days, or 14 days if desiring a lesser cleanse

Based Upon: The Clean Program (modified for vegetarians)

Recipes: The Clean Program recipes I didn't buy into the whole pre-made package deal (too expensive), and am doing all the juicing and smoothie making from organic ingredients. Also am making my own soup for lunches.

Logic: A basic pseudo fast-cleanse of processed foods, sugars, fats, and all the other junk we put in our bodies will benefit our overall health, specifically aiding digestion, allergies, skin color, 5-15 lbs weight loss (if followed correctly), illnesses, insomnia, etc. think of it as purging and resetting the body’s systems.

Breakfast: Freshly made fruit/veggie juice or non-dairy smoothie

Lunch: Salad, fresh fruits and veggies, chicken (I opt out), freshwater fish (I opt out), soup

Dinner: Freshly made fruit/veggie juice or non-dairy smoothie

Snacks: Nuts (although not peanuts), fresh fruit or veggies.

No-No Items:
  • Dairy, cheese, milk, etc.
  • Eggs
  • Alcohol
  • Wheat, corn, barley, spelt, kamut, rye, couscous, oats
  • Soy or soybean products
  • Meat, especially read meat
  • Raw fish, pork, beef, veal, sausage, cold cuts, canned meats, hot dogs, shellfish
  • Sugar, refined sugar, white or brown sugars, honey, maple syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, evaporated cane juice
  • Salt, added salt
  • Butter, margarine, shortening, processed oils, salad dressings, mayonnaise, spreads
  • Coffee, caffeinated beverages, soda pop, soft drinks
  • Chocolate
  • Oranges, orange juice, grapefruit, strawberries, grapes, and bananas
  • Corn, creamed vegetables, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, pepper
It sounds rough, but so far it hasn't been. This isn't a full fledged fast, so I am still ingesting low amounts of calories. In the meantime, a few dishes I made during the end of 2010 should tide you all over until my baking craze resumes in 19 days!