S Is For Smoothie

My close friends know:  I am a big smoothie fan. Here’s why.

1.You can put in it fruit and/or vegetables, which counts as a big part of your necessary 6 serving daily intake.
2.You can add vitamins and fiberto make it even healthier. That is. if your doctor allows it and it doesn't interfere with other medication you're taking.
3.It’s texture suggests that if you are not a great chewer (like me), it absorbs well in your body.
4.It takes 4 minutes to make, including the clean up.

In no way am I saying that a smoothie will fill you for the whole day.  It will probably  make you feel good for about 2-3 hours in the beginning. But if you will drink the potion every day, you will feel gradually, after about 3 weeks or so. then it can replace breakfast. Or  not. In any case, you did your body a huge favor.

So smoothie it is.  For the next 3 weeks, as I wake up and try to figure out who’s who and what's what, I shall put the blender to work.

There are a few smoothie recipes that I like; each one is for a different reason. Some of them are my

recipes and some are not. Here are two.

Green smoothie: Considered to be very healthy, and is surprisingly tasty.  Scientists claim that we are missing on the amount of greens that we are consuming daily. Also, even if we’re eating a nice salad, we are not chewing it well enough into the paste- like texture, needed for a good absorption. Did I mention that chimpanzees, our genetically (almost) close relatives never have cancer? Or that Greeks, who include mustard greens in their daily diet, live until they’re 100 years old???

1 bunch of spinach, washed
¼ pine apple
1 banana
1 cup water
Buzz until smooth. Drink, and feel healthier by the minute. You already consumed 3 servings of
Your daily fruit and veggies.

 Anti oxidant your body with this berry- licious smoothie: This smoothie has Ester-C, which isVitamin C in a way that protects your stomach, and Psylium Husks- fiber addition. It comes with Berries, especially Blueberries which are great anti oxidant agents. are rich in fiber and vitamin c and have tons of manganese which converts protein and carbs into energy.

 ½ cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries
½ cup orange juice
2Tbs maple syrup or  raw honey
Powder of 3 capsules of Ester C vitamin
½ tsp Psylium husks
Cup of ice
Use the ice cursher in your blender to buzz for a minute.

Although I love smoothies because of their fiber, don't forget also to juice juice juice whenever you can. You consume that way much more vegetables than you would anyother way, plus it's so tasty!
Apple(I prefer Fuji)
1 celery head
1 spinach bunch
1/2 Romain lettuce
1 lemon, peeled

It's such a great drink!

A Wonderful Tool For Losing Weight

Hi all,

I registered today on this website, and loved it so much that I am sharing.
My personal trainer (don't get excited, it was a one time gig) recommended it to me. She said that some of her clients, who did not succeed in losing weight for a long time, used it and it worked for them.
You register on-line, and write your age, height and weight plus your weight loss goals and level of activity. In a matter of seconds, it caculates how many calories you need daily. But that's not all. It has a diary where you can record every food you eat, including the brand name. When you put the food in, it will break down it's nutritional value to calories, carbs, proteins, and fats. it will let you know how much you have left of each category for the rest of the day.
What you actually get, is an honest picture of what you eat daily, and where are your weakensses. My trainer told me that since she suffers from a certain desease, she found out that she ate too little. When she increased her carb intake, she lost weight!
I can tell you that from one day of recording I can learn that I eat food which is too high in protein (24 grams) and fat (some of it surprised me that it has protein in it- such as rice), and too low in carbs.
It also has a cute way to keep your water in take in check.
www.myfitnesspal.com

Water Front

We all know that we have to drink at least 8 cups of water, including me. As you read in my last post,I drink only a third of this recommended amount.Coming out of the assumption that I am pretty sane (I checked, for real), why am I not running around with a bottle of water during cool days and not only summer days?

In an attempt to make the change, I went to find out why is it so important to drink water. Not coffee, not soda, not anything else.

Did you know that about of 75 per cent of Americans have mild, chronic dehydration? Pretty scary statistics for a developed country that has available water through every tap.Are you tired during the day? Suffer from short-term memory loss? Have trouble reading this? You might be one of these 75%.

Apparently, out body relies on water as a base of almost all of it’s functions, from creating saliva to removing waste from it, and being the number one detox agent.I knew all that, but I didn’t know it decreases the chance for colon cancer by 45%, bladder cancer by 50% and in new studies, breast cancer.

Well, I am not in the business of scaring myself, and call me vain, but the most convincing arguments for me will always be the ones that are connected to diet and staying young…
When I say young, think grape vs. raisin, fresh vs. wrinkles- you got the picture. Water is the number one medicine to ensure longevity, and since it “drives” the food out of your body, guess what happens when you consume the needed amount of water.

OK. I got it. 8-10 cups of water is good for us. Now how do I get to drink this amount???

My friend T says she runs everywhere with a full bottle of water. The fact that it’s in front of her, makes it easy for her to remember to drink. I tried to put 2 liters of water in front of me, but the bottles looked at me and I looked at them. Do I have a problem with commitment??

Seriously, I think that the problem of sticking to a water regime or any other, for that matter is coming from another place. Laziness? Self- destruction? Lack of discipline? Or maybe just not believing that good things are so easy to get?

Theories of change say that you need 90 days in order to turn a change into a new habbit, so in the next 3 months, I am planning to take water with me, order only water at restaurants, drink a cup of water when I wake up and a cup of water before I go to sleep. Is anyone joining me?

Diary Shmiary

In my last post, I felt energetic and committed to write everything that went into my mouth, and measure it against the general rules I decided will bring me to better health. In order to get into a proper mood, I went and bought myself the most beautiful diary to promote inspiration
I recorded for a week everything that went into my mouth. I have to say that it’s a very disillusioning and humbling experience. Those handfuls of pretzels that seemed not so much are actually 20 when you count them...
I will also say that I am humiliated, defeated and sad to announce that if it was a test in the university, I would miserably fail. Luckily, it's only my good health we are talking about.
So ta da, the results:
1) I drink about 3 cups of water daily. That means, I am missing 6-8 cups from my goal of 10 cups a day.
2) I drank almost every day lemon juice but I did not drink it first thing in the morning.
3) Alkaline food- A big topic that we will discuss very soon. I can say that I tried very much to eat less red meat, which means I ate it once this week, which was a week with a lot of eating outside
with chances to eat even more. I made an effort to eat more fish than usual. Does canned tuna count??? I wonder...
4) I ate some vegetables and fruit but did not eat too many greens. I also can’t say those were a big part of my food though. Need a change there too.
5) Sugar? I didn’t sweeten my drinks however I ate a piece(or two or three) of cake.
I could go on and on, but you get the picture: There’s a gap or a distance between where I want to be, and where I actually am in the area of nutrition and health.
The truth is actually hiding between the lines of what I wrote in that diary. I always wanted to be this woman who radiates health. One of those that when you look at her, you know she eats well and takes good care of herself. I think it also means to me, that this kind of person loves herself enough to embrace the fact, that she deserves the best in life and in food:  The freshest ingredient, the healthiest choices that are also scrumptious. The food, that when you look at it, bursts with colors and energy. Doesn’t it mean that this woman will take the best produce on the shelf of life?

Rulles Of (Healthy Eating) Engagement

Once I decided on eating healthier, it was only a matter of time for me to try to make sense of all the material I have been reading about nutrition.

Don't you think it's the weirdest thing in the world that every animal on the planet knows instinctively what it should or shouldn't eat except humans? The smartest creature on Earth begins to sound more and more stupid.

I took three main approaches:

Let's look at what chimpanzees eat because they are the closest to us genetically (97%).

Let’s see what scientist say about food preventing illnesses and being your “real age”.

Let’s use some common sense and try to listen to my gut, see how I feel after eating or not eating certain foods.

It was quite confusing but here’s what I came up with:

1)      Drink a lot of water – 10 -12 cups daily would be great. 8 would be sufficient.

2)      Have lemon juice in the morning. And no: coffee, tea, juice and soda do not count.

3)      Eat alkaline food as much as you can, and eat acidic food as little as possible.

Some of the foods considered to be alkaline might surprise you because you would perceive them as acidic, such as lemon. This is the most important diet doctors give people who had cancer.

4)      Eat a lot of greens, vegetables and fruit. Chew well!

5)      Eat whole grains. If you can sprout them, you will do your body a nutritional favor.

6)      Reduce your red meat intake; Eat fish at least twice a week.

7)      I am not sure about my attitude towards milk products yet. Such a huge debate!

Is cow milk which was intended for her calf good for adult us or not? I am leaving it in the air right now. Let’s say I have almond milk and regular milk in my fridge right now.

8)      Sugar? Nope. Splenda etc’? Even worse. Let’s stick with maple syrup, honey, and no thank you, I take mine without anything.

In order to measure myself against those rules, and see what needs improvement, I will record anything I put in my mouth for a week. Please join me when I reveal my results. I’ll be more than happy if any of you would write a diary too, and share.

The family corner:

For my family, I am not that ambitious. If I will be able to have them eat food they love and I know is healthier, I’ll be happy. As I go along the way, I’ll share the recipes I have experimented on that got their seal of approval.

New Year, New Decisions

As many of you know, last week was the Jewish New Year. Ususally people tend to make their new year resolutions on January, which is a depressing and cold month, totally unfit for big decision making.
So this year, yours truly decided to go with the Jewish calendar,  make one Rosh Hashana decision and try to stick to it.
I won't exhaust you with the process, let's jut say that white smoke was seen only after I committed to making this year healthier.
I am trying to change my family's (and my own) eating repertoire and make us healthier food, introduce new ingredients, read a lot about cutting-edge research of nutrition, and use some common sense.
I will test the food on myself and my family, and see what the results will be. The winning recipes will be shared with you.
I am not going to cheat, at least not without admitting I did.
You are invited to follow my journey, comment, encourage and give nutritional info you gathered along the way.

So off we go!