I really wasn’t sure. It was always my guess that children come into the world programmed to enjoy real food. That they don’t need sugary puffs and processed, animal shaped cookies.
Seems like it’s true.
Now, I know this won’t last forever. There will come a day when Danny says, “Hey mom, I want Cocoa Puffs!” because he saw them at a friend’s house. There will come a day when he smears cake all over his face at a birthday party. Or a day when he and I share cookies and milk and tell stories and laugh.
It’s all good.
But for now, his tastebuds don’t know what white flour and sugar taste like (except for a few bits of muffin he picked off the floor of a coffee shop last week) and that’s fine by me. It’s fine by his body too – after all, sugar and white flour do nothing except make us weak and tired.
So for now, my sweet boy gets only the good stuff. For as long as I can hold out without being too idealistic.
In the video he’s enjoying this:
A simple smoothie
2 handfuls green swiss chard
1/2 apple
enough water to create desired consistency (about 3/4 cup)
I used to drink a lot. Not falling-down-the-stairs kind of drinking, but close. Wait, I did fall down the stairs once, at Pour House in Boston. I still have a scar where my pint glass broke and cut me.
We lived about 20 high-heeled steps from the closest bar, and routinely saw last call there as the lights came on. I can almost smell it still. I knew that one foot on the floor while lying in bed later would keep the spins at bay.
Give me a break. I was 20 years old. And yes, had an excellent fake ID. And I believe I was dating the barback which is why we were ever at Pour House in the first place. Barback is a word I haven’t spoken aloud in nearly a decade but back then it was a mighty fine second place to bartender or doorman, in terms of someone you might be dating.
I’m on a bender. Every day I’ve got my drinky drink blended up and swallowed down before you can say “diaper change.” See, after my c-section I was feeling really icky. Unable to move for a few days, full of IV fluid and drugs…boy oh boy did I want something to make me feel better when I got home from the hospital!
That’s where it began.
I’m talking green smoothies, people.
While the rest of the world chugs beer and paints glittery shamrocks on their cheeks, I’m celebrating St. Patty’s Day my own way.
Awareness. That’s it. If you want to summarize what healthy eating and healthy living is all about, it’s about taking responsibility for knowing what the heck is going on. All of my programs are based on this premise.
I figure, once you really know what you’re eating, where it comes from, and how it makes your body feel, you’re going to start making better choices for your body. Note that this is a lot different than eating whatever is advertised as healthy.
This means, you have to do your homework.
Well, I’ll be honest. I got a big fat F last week on my homework last week.
My blogging has been flagging lately, and I’d like to blame summer fun – but really it’s because my site got hacked and I’m dealing with switching servers, etc…
But other than these administrative details (bor-ing!) this summer is off to a pretty magnificent start. The other day was hot, to the point that I didn’t feel like eating much of anything. That’s when a bell went off in my head:
JUICING!
Wow, all winter goes by and I pretty much forget about my kick ass Breville juicer. Do you have a juicer? If so, time to break it out. If not, think about making an investment. Juicing is something you really can’t replicate – not even the highest quality bottled stuff comes close to fresh, homemade juice.
But let me be clear: juice is in no way a replacement for eating real food! Just like vitamins, it’s a good way to get nutrients. But juice is not a whole food – it’s got the vitamins, antioxidants and sugars from the fruit and veggies you juice, but not the fiber.
Have you ever traveled to a place where the water wasn’t safe to drink? Well, residents of Eastern Massachusetts didn’t have to go anywhere for the past few days to get that cultural experience.
A water main break caused this big ol’ problem and a boil water order was mandated by the state. Boil my water? All of it? WHAT? First of all, I received this news via Twitter, which apparently is my news source of choice – found out Michael Jackson died that way too. Seriously, why watch TV?
Like I said in my previous post, the publishers of Victoria Boutenko’s Green Smoothie Revolution sent me the book to review awhile ago. I felt like a dummy for waiting so long but honestly, wouldn’t we rather talk about raw food when spring is just around the corner?
Well, happily the publishers are still letting me offer a giveaway for you guys! Yay!
Smoothies are a pretty hot ticket item these days. I see ‘em being sold for $8 at cafes and touted as healthy so everyone can feel good about themselves.
Let’s be honest though. Most smoothies being sold at restaurants or take-out places are full of sugar. They’re the “healthy” person’s ice cream cone.
Wait – I can already hear what you’re thinking! “There’s a place near me that makes fresh smoothies from real fruit!” I think that’s great if you have that nearby. But still, $7 or $8 for a smoothie? Yikes. Plus, I hear a lot of people talk about drinking fruit smoothies for breakfast. If that’s the case, chances are you will be starving by 10am. Most of us need some fiber and not so much sugar first thing in the morning. (Unlike juicing, smoothies include the whole vegetable with all of its fiber.)
As with absolutely everything, when you make it yourself you save big bucks and have 100% control over the ingredients. And so, I present to you….green smoothies!
It’s funny to me that every animal on the planet drinks water and then humans come along and we’re bored with water. It makes up over 60% of our body and covers 70% of the earth’s surface. Man, water is like, SO BORING!
So we drink our sodas and our lattes and our purple-flavored juices and I guess this is more interesting? Well, yes, it is actually very interesting…to read the ingredient labels!
Yikes. What is this crap and who decided it was something people should drink? Have you ever tasted a Pepsi that’s warm? It’s horrible. The ice-cold soda phenomenon works in part because of the numbing effect the cold has on our taste buds. It’s the same reason that cheap beer is advertised as “Ice Cold” but artisan crafted brews are served cask conditioned at a warmer temperature. So you can actually taste it.
Maybe this is a test of what we should and shouldn’t drink: Does it taste ok warm? Water, yes. Juice, sorta. But soda? No way.
Anyway, I usually recommend herbal tea as an alternative to drinking water. But now I have another trick – Water kefir!
Have you heard of kefir? It usually refers to a milk product similar to yogurt. But it is possible to make your own water kefir and get the same living probiotic benefits for a healthy digestive system. This has been my project for the past few weeks.
I started by ordering water kefir grains from Cultures for Health. They arrived in a dehydrated state so I had to rehydrate them in a bath of sugar water for a few days. Then they were ready to rock.
To make kefir you basically combine water and sugar, then add the grains. The ratio is 1/4 cup sugar to 4 cups water. Then, the mixture sits for 24-48 hours and the grains consume 80% of the sugar. You are left with a slightly sweet, sometimes bubbly drink that can be flavored in endless ways.
I like that you can decide what type of sugar to use. I’ve tried using Sucanat, which is the darker liquid in the jars pictured above. The molasses-y flavor of Sucanat works well with vanilla flavoring. Our favorite water kefir flavor so far has been lemonade, shown above on the right. For this we use organic evaporated cane sugar which has a more mild flavor. After the kefir is done fermenting, I add the juice and rind of 1 organic lemon. It’s a snap.
So already we have a number of great reasons to try kefir: probiotic benefits, control over ingredients, low in sugar, and lots of flavors to try. But what I really love is that once you buy those grains you can have a brand new yummy drink option every day or two for just pennies. It’s a really healthy and cost-effective way to banish the water blues. Learn more about water kefir here.
Finally, just a note on flavor and the fermenting process. If it tastes weird but good, that’s good. If it tastes and smells weird and bad, that’s yucky and don’t drink it. Happy fermenting!
My heart went pitter patter at the first sight of it in the deli’s drink case. Coconut water after all is one of the few sugar-free alternatives to juice or soda when you are eating out, but most places don’t carry it. Zico actually one-upped the other coconut waters I’ve had because they have different yummy flavors. Mango coconut water was definitely a happy, happy find. All natural, 60 calories per drink box, and 100% recyclable packaging. It just occurred to me that while I was excited about this packaging, I did actually throw it away in a trash can after lunch… shoot.
Anyway, it’s not widely available but you can buy online.
I help busy people find balance in their over-worked, over-stressed lives. Trust me, it's not an all-or-nothing situation! A few shifts in diet and lifestyle can rock your world like they did mine. Read on
