day 92: cleansing body & mind

Since Monday I have been doing a “Green Smoothie Cleanse” much like what I was doing on the weekends during Lent. Basically that means that for 3 meals a day I drink a smoothie primarily made up of greens (swiss chard or spinach in this case since that’s that I have at home) with fruit and nuts/seeds. I also add in 1 scoop of protein powder a day to supplement my weightlifting.

What’s in it?

My usual smoothie formula is:

3-5 cups greens
+ 1 fresh fruit
+ 1 svg dried fruit
+ 1 tbsp nuts/seeds OR 1/4 avocado
+ 1 tsp spices

I like to add in dried fruit for extra sweetness especially if my fresh fruit isn’t at its ripest. Usually I will add 1 tsp of fish oil to one of my smoothies a day.

What’s the point?

-I end up consuming more servings of fruit and veggies than I would on a normal day. Especially leafy greens which are rich in minerals and vitamins like K, C, and E

-Produce is alkalinizing. An acidic pH in the body contributes to a host of health problems from osteoporosis to cancer.

Check out this table of acidifying/alkalinizing foods.

-I can give my digestive system a rest without fasting. I get loads of nutrients in a liquid form which is easily absorbed by the body.

-It reduces bloating and keeps me regular.

-It keeps my skin looking healthier.

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(source)

In keeping with the cleansing theme today I decided to try to cleanse my mind as well. I’m a pretty pessimistic person and critical of myself; I’m betting that I would be much happier if I could release some of my negativity.

So, I took my very first Mindful Meditation class.  I’m not generally one to take time out of my day for meditation, unless you count staring blankly at my computer when I’m at work (in which case I practice meditation very often).

What did I get out of the class? That I’m not very good at mindful meditation. Not exactly the outcome I had in mind.

I found it really hard to focus on the meditation and spent a lot of tie thinking:

- Man, my feet are asleep.
- I wonder what time it is.
- What colour represents my throat chakra again?
- I wish I had something to eat before this class.

I guess it’ll take quite a bit of practice to get  it right. I have a bit of a monkey mind.

How do you feel about meditation?

day 47: lalalasagna

So it’s 7:30pm on Sunday and I’ve finally had the chance to just chill out and catch up on my blogging and feed my google reader addiction. It’s been a busy few days!
It’s still Lent so I’m still drinking green smoothies all weekend long — I was lacking creativity this weekend so I just recycled some old green smoothie recipes. Tonight I had the Apple Pie Smoothie in honour of Pi Day (yeah, it’s a math major thing).

Thanks everybody for thinking of Bagigis. She’s gaining back some of her energy and has been doing much better today!

Saturday night Matt and I went to my dad’s house for a nonna-made lasagna dinner with my sister Vicki’s  in-laws. Of course I didn’t eat anything (did I mention how terrible this Lent is?).

Everyone was having an awesome time with lots of wine and some grappa (chamomile-flavoured. it is sooo good).

Mmm… My nonna’s lasagna is the best! (but I suppose everyone says that about their grandmother’s cooking)

Matt’s favourite food is my nonna’s breaded chicken. I think she made these just for him.

Here’s the head chef herself:

Vicki baked a lemon-pistachio cake for dessert. I think I asked about a hundred questions about the cake. What flavour cake is it? What’s that filling? What did you use to make the frosting? Is it really moist? … I think people were starting to pity me at that point.

I did some baking of my own this weekend but I will save that for my post tomorrow.

This morning I woke up extra early (well, not really, but the whole time change thing threw me off) and I went to my usual Sunday power yoga class. I must say that this is 3 Sundays now that I haven’t gotten a really tough workout from this class. I think I need to move on to something more challenging and was pondering getting a good yoga DVD or CD so I can practice at home. Does anyone know of any challenging yoga DVDs or CDs out there?

Back to eating solid foods and pumping iron tomorrow. Yes!

day 40: flamenco

I was lazy this weekend and didn’t get around to posting all my green smoothies. My favourite favourite favourite so far was this little ditty:

Apple Pie Smoothie!!

I’m trying my hardest to remember exactly what was in it. I was too busy enjoying it to write down the ingredients. Here’s a rough estimate:

Apple Pie Smoothie:

2 apples
3 c. kale
1 handful of raisins
6 almonds
1 tsp. hemp seeds
1 tsp. cinnamon
sprinkle of cloves
1 c. water

Even Bagigis loved it. Although she whines for all my green smoothies … such a healthy dog!

Look at that tongue go!

I have to admit that these green smoothie weekends suck. I’m craving a hot meal! Especially after watching Matt scarf down a delicious looking toasted prosciutto cotto sandwich with cheese. Oooh man.

Saturday night I went to a Rodrigo y Gabriela concert in Royal Oak. Honestly, I had never heard of them before but Matt’s friend asked us if we wanted to go. They were PHENOMENAL! They play flamenco guitar, but not traditional. Very edgy. I could not believe how fast they move their hands! Has anyone else ever heard of them? Check out their YouTube Videos. I tried to take pictures, but it didn’t work out so well

This morning I went to a Power Yoga class at my gym. Usually in this class I sweat like crazy and get a really tough workout. The last two weekends I have found the class to be really easy! I like to think I’ve been getting better, but likely the instructor has been a bit easier on us.

The highlight of my day today (maybe a bit pathetic) was getting this adorable doorhanger from Dollarama:

Matt and I saw it on his grandmother’s door when we went to visit her and I thought it was soooo cute! I wanted one too. I’m so stoked for Easter… mainly because of all the chocolate, eggs, and I’ll be able to eat solid foods again on the weekends!

day 33: Olympic hockey

I must admit that yesterday I didn’t feel so great. I didn’t get around to working out, but I was tired for much of the day that I don’t think I would have made it through a workout anyway. Luckily today I’m feeling much better. I even breezed through an intense power yoga class this morning, no problems.

For breakfast I had my prescribed breakfast smoothie with banana, beet greens, and grapes. I’ll be making variations of this for breakfast the next three weeks of my cleansing diet. I just know I’m going to be missing my usual oatmeal and eggs.

Lunch Smoothie:

3 c. beet greens
1 pear
1/2 avocado
1/2 c. walnut halves
1/4 c. raisins
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Verdict: Besides looking like ditch water this smoothie actually tasted really good! At first taste I wasn’t impressed, but I ended up chugging it pretty fast because it was so tasty. I got the ginger/nutmeg idea from Laura.

Today Matt and I hosted a party to watch the Gold Medal hockey game. It was a potluck so everyone had to bring a dish themed around a country competing in the Olympic games.
Since I love bread, the Olympics are Greek, and the whole day was a celebration, my dish was “Greek Celebration Bread“. It was a hit! I got the recipe out of the Bread Baker’s Apprentice book that I’ve been baking through for the BBA Challenge. The bread is an enriched bread with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice along with cranberries, raisins, and walnuts. (Hence, the raisins, nutmeg, and walnuts in my lunch smoothie).

We had quite the spread at our little shindig. Among other things we had Belgian waffles, Italian salami and cheese, French Onion soup, Chinese spring rolls, and Tim Horton’s doughnuts and Timbits. Of course, because of Lent, I wasn’t able to eat anything : (  This is by far the hardest Lenten fast I’ve ever done.

In all the business, I never ended up getting around to making my dinner smoothie. Ah well, to late now.

What an fantastic hockey game, eh?!

One thing left to say before bed: GO CANADA!!!

day 32: my second green smoothie weekend

Due to technical difficulties I wasn’t able to post my smoothies last night. Damn internet.

Breakfast Smoothie:

“Best foods you’re not eating smoothie”
4 c. swiss chard
1 banana
1/2 c. frozen blueberries
1 tbsp. hemp seeds
1 tbsp. chia seeds
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. cinnamon

Verdict: This smoothie was delicious. I really liked the addition of the spices. And this smoothie has 4 of the NY Times: 11 Foods You Should Be Eating (Chard, Cinnamon, Turmeric, and Blueberries)!

Lunch Smoothie:
This is based on what Dr. Natasha recommended that I drink every morning for breakfast (but I didn’t get around until grocery shopping until after brekkie so I made this my lunch smoothie). My additions to her recipe are italicized.

3 c. beet greens
1/2 beet
1 peach
1 tbsp ground flax
1 tsp Nutrasea fish oil
4 tbsp Manitoba Harvest hemp protein
Enough Almond Milk to get the desired consistency.

Verdict: Okay. With just one piece of fruit this smoothie was actually sweeter than I anticipated. I attribute it to the beets. The hemp protein also gave the smoothie a nutty taste.

Dinner Smoothie:

4 c. kale
2 c. pineapple
2 tbsp shredded coconut
1/2 lime, juiced
4 mint leaves
1 tbsp chia seeds

Verdict: Good. It had a really tropical taste. I think I would add some fresh ginger to this one to give it a crisper taste. I still don’t like kale all that much in a smoothie though.

It’s a short post, but I’m off to prep for our Olympic hockey game party! I’ll post about it later

day 26: cinnamon buns and solid food

Sunday means brunch at my in-laws. Brunch means solid food.  I was very excited to have brunch today: an english muffin with pb, cheesy scrambled eggs, bacon, and couple of home-fries.  Mmmmm.

I also brought my homemade cinnamon buns to share with the in-laws at brunch today. I got this recipe from the Bread Baker’s Apprentice baking book as I’m trying to bake my way through the whole book for the BBA Challenge put on my Pinch My Salt‘s blog. I didn’t frost them because I forgot to buy powdered sugar, but Matt’s mom prefers them un-frosted anyway.

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On to the green smoothies:

Breakfast Smoothie:

• 4 c. red swiss chard
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 cucumber
• 3 Medjool dates
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1/2 tbsp greens powder
• 2 c. water

Verdict: The dates add a great sweetness to this smoothie. The cucumber gives a cool, refreshing taste but it’s a bit overpowering. I think I would use less cucumber and maybe add more chard or a more neutral tasting green vegetable, like celery.

Dinner Smoothie:

• 4 c. spinach
• 1 carrot
• 1 banana
• 1 handful cilantro
• 1 clementine, juiced
• 1″ piece of fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds
• 1 tbsp cacao nibs
• 1 tsp psyllium hulls
• 1 tsp greens powder
• 2 c. water

Verdict: Too watery. I always add 2 cups of water but for some reason this “smoothie” was more like a juice. The taste was predominantly ginger and cilantro, so if you don’t like cilantro (which, apparently, many people don’t) then you might want to substitute something else. A few sprigs of mint, perhaps?

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Lent weekend 1: complete. I think I did really well with my green smoothie drinking this weekend. I didn’t ever feel full but I never felt like I was starving either. I definitely had cravings, though. I hated how the liquid meals affected my bladder that I was almost wishing for a catheter. Honestly, I’m holding it right now, just so I can finish writing this blog post!

I’m already looking forward to breakfast tomorrow morning! Eggs, or oatmeal? I can’t quite decide. That’s okay, I have all night to dream about it! (Yes, I do dream about food, as a matter of fact.)

That’s enough blogging for tonight. Back to the hockey game. Come On, Canada!

day 25: it’s easy drinking green

On a Saturday morning the only thing that really gets me out of bed is breakfast. I’ll lie in bed thinking about what I’m going to eat and my excitement is what gets me up just a little earlier. This morning I was thinking “mmmmm…. oameal” until I remembered that I can only have green smoothies on the weekends for lent. I fell back asleep for another half hour. I didn’t feel too bad about it though because I was very productive today: I cleaned, I baked cinnamon rolls(!) for my family of course, I grocery shopped, I bathed Bagigis. All in all it was a Great Day!

I started the day with the juice of a quarter of a lemon mixed with half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and water to flush the liver and boost metabolism.

Breakfast Smoothie:

• 5 cups spinach
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1 tbsp goji berries
• 1 tbsp hemp seeds
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• 1 tsp greens powder
• 1/2″ piece of ginger
• 2 c. cold water

Verdict: The banana wasn’t as ripe as I would have liked so there wasn’t a whole lot of sweetness to this smoothie. I think next time I’ll add more ginger to give it more flavour.

If you’re wondering about my kick-ass blender, it’s an Osterizer I stole from the back of the pantry at my dad’s house. Judging by it’s mustard yellow colour I would date it circa 1976. I’ll have to check with my dad on that one. In any case it still works awesome. They just don’t make appliances like they used to.

Lunch Smoothie:

• 4 c. red swiss chard
• 1/2 avocado
• 1/2 lime, juiced
• 6 mint leaves
• 1/2 c. frozen blueberries
• 1 pear
• 2 tbsp dried coconut
• 2 c. water

Verdict: Good. I love the mint in here– very refreshing. I thought the avocado would help it to be creamier but it was not as smooth as my breakfast smoothie, probably because there was no banana. Also, for some reason, this smoothie wasn’t as filling as breakfast.

Dinner Smoothie:

• 4 c. spinach
• 1 banana
• 1 Medjool date
• 1 apple
• 1 tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 tbsp raw cacao
• 2 c. water

Verdict: Super sweet! Maybe I put a bit too much fruit in this one, but it was much sweeter than I expected. …or maybe my taste buds have already adapted to the not-so-sweet smoothies. In any case this is more of a tasty sweet snack than a dinner.

day 22: ash wednesday

Today is Ash Wednesday. That means Lent has started. For all you non-Christians, Lent is a forty day period of repentance and self-denial leading up to Easter. Now, I’m not very religious, but growing up in a Catholic family I have always practiced some form of food-oriented self-denial throughout Lent. Last year I was vegan, the year before that I gave up peanut butter and raisins, the year before that I gave up sweets and junk food, etc… For me, it’s more of a reminder to be grateful that I am lucky enough to not only have food to sustain me, but also food that I don’t even need for nourishment: food that is pure indulgence.

For Lent this year I decided not to eat any sweets. But for 40 days where there is no celebration of any kind this shouldn’t be too difficult. So I’m upping the ante. For the 6 weekends from now until Easter I am going to be drinking green smoothies as my meals. (My one exception being Sunday brunch at my in-laws. This would NOT fly with my mother-in-law.) The thing I love about green smoothies is I can get all of my required calories and even more vegetables that I normally eat in about 1L of smoothie. I can load it with superfoods like kale, goji berries, and cacao nibs. AND it’s all raw and all delicious (okay, mostly delicious… the taste can take some getting used to since I don’t add any sweeteners)

Feel free to join me by incorporating some green smoothies into your diet for the next 6 weeks too. I’ll be posting my smoothie recipes and my reviews on how they taste. I’d love for you to comment with some of your own smoothie recipes too. Cheers!