Going green.............

       I am proud to say that I have recently made some major lifestyle changes that I am very proud of. I started the gym again, with the best gym partner ever, my hubby. Boy does he ever whip my butt into shape! We both quit smoking, which has been attempted before, but I'm sure that it will happen this time. Lastly, made some changes to our eating habits. We have never really ate "bad" but it doesn't hurt to do anything that betters your quality of life right?

       My household consists of five, and every meal is homemade, by yours truly. It sure does help that cooking is one of my passions! We are cutting down on carbs, switching to brown everything, cut our caffeine intake, loading up on H2O, sticking to strictly red meat, fish and poultry and a daily smoothie routine.

But I have recently come across this new juicing craze and I have always been big on my veggies and who doesn't love fruit? The rest of my household, how should I put this? Are not as adventurous as me with food. The V8 in the fridge, only for me. The beet and orange salad, only for me. The ceviche mixto, A mixture of white fish, scallops, shrimp and calamari, uncooked, but marinaded in lemon and lime juice for hours, yes you guessed it, only for me. Don't get me wrong I have managed to introduce them to many things I'm sure they would have never attemtpted to taste and will forever try to open their palates to new things!

     But back to this juice thing. Smoothies are a great way of getting your fruit intake, but how about veggies? My daughter will only eat, corn, lettuce, asaparagus and broccoli! Anything else is blended into a creamy soup. So I've come across a tasty way of getting the most nutrients and potency of your greens in a creamy, fresh smoothie. My first attempt, not so good! It was the ginger that did me in. I'm a big fan of ginger, but only in lotions and perfumes. Definitely not in my drinks.

       It's obvious that the healthiest juices are the ones that contain greens. Green leafy vegetables contain the most vitamins and nutrients, and you’ll feel almost instantly better after drinking a green juice! I know I did! I will post the original recipe and the non-ginger recipe at the end of my post.

       Typically you're supposed to do this for five days to cleanse your body of toxins, shed unwanted pounds and get your energy levels up. Not to mention the benefits to your skin, that beautiful glow you'll have. In my case, I can't afford to lose any weight and I'm strictly doing this for all the other benefits, plus still eating, but trying to limit myself to salads, soups, fresh vegetables and fruits and tons and tons of good old H20, which if you can grab yourself a few gallons of alkaline 9.5 ph water, all the better! So here we are ladies, the recipe.


This is the official recipe:

6 Kale Leaves
1 Cucumber (with skin)
2 Green Apples (with skin)
4 Celery Stalks
1/2 Lemon
Piece of Ginger

Modified recipe:

handful spinach
3 stalks of kale
2 golden delicious apples
small handful parsley
1 lemon
1 cucumber

*TIP for those of you who don't own a juicer, the same juice can be made in a smoothie blender, just add ice and bottled or filtered water.


    And for those of you who are in the gym as well, I found a tastier way to use up any leftover juice. Just add a whole banana and 2 scoops of Whey Protein to this! Simply delicious! Enjoy : )

     

                                                              

                                   Namaste....