A Magic Smoothie?

Most of us want to eat healthy

to loose a little weight, look better, feel better, and to live longer with a better quality of life.

It can be a bit confusing.

What does eating healthy really look like?

Maybe more important is how much time does it take and how much does it cost?

Truth is

eating healthy takes more time and cost more than driving through the fast food line

where in a matter of minutes a hamburger with cheese, fry and drink can be delivered through the car window for a mere $5.50.

Quick, cheap, tastes good, but no health benefit.

Mr. Heart and I eat pretty healthy most of the time.
Lean meats.
Ground turkey rather than hamburger.

No bread in the house.

No boxed foods.

Nothing fried.

Fresh fruits and veggies.

Brown rice and that is limited.

We eat out on weekends and even then are mindful of what we order.

My husband is disciplined and exercises most every day.

Me...I come and go.

But the older we get, none of this seems to yield the results it used to.

My downfall has always been the holidays, Thanksgiving through New Years Day.

Thanksgiving.

Our large family gathers and we all bring lots of food.

Amazing food, delicious sweets, (I love sweets!) and boy do we eat!

Then leftovers for the week, so it's really Thanksgiving week at our house.

Christmas.

All the parties before Christmas.

The baking, giving of baked goods and receiving of baked goods.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day dinner with our huge family.

Then leftovers for a week, so it's really Christmas week at our house.

Then New Years Day.

We gather and do it all over again, and celebrate a birthday or two!

Then leftovers for a week, so it's really New Years Day week at our house.

I had to face the facts long ago.

There is no magic pill.

No magic ingredient.

No magic smoothie.

No easy choice.

Eating healthy takes time,

planning,

discipline,

costs more,

but is so worth it.

Though I haven't conquered eating too much over the holidays

there are a few quick things we do all year to help us with eating healthy so I thought I would share one with you.

We love smoothies.

Not because they taste amazing, some are better than others, but because they are so good for us.

For us, the goal of a smoothie is to eat healthy, in a quick and easy way.  

Many of these ingredients are on the salad bar, but with a salad the tendency is to also add cheese, croutons, dressings, and other fixings which throw all the health benefits of the salad right out the window.

Smoothies need to taste good or you'll never drink one, so the ingredients matter.

They matter for taste and they matter for the smoothie to be healthy and not just a fruit slushy to pack on more pounds and incorporate more sugar than we already take in on a daily basis.

The smoothie I am sharing today is the Veggie and Fruit Smoothie we have for lunch.

Making smoothies isn't a science.

It's common sense.

Use healthy items and good portions.

Raw veggies, fiber, protein, and fruit.  

Fruit is healthy and helps takes the strong fresh veggie taste down a notch so you can enjoy your smoothie.

Since there are two of us drinking the smoothing here is what I use:

I start with around a 1/4 cup of each:

-Milled Golden Flax Seed

-Organic Chia Seeds

-Hemp Hearts

These are the brands I use.

I find the flax seed and Hemp Hearts at Costco and the Chia Seeds at the health food store

but I believe you can find these most anywhere.

4 stems of kale - the stem removed

2 carrots

1/2 of an english cucumber

1 cup broccoli florets

8  frozen strawberries

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1/2 cup chopped pineapple with juice

1 cup of iced water

and

the dry ingredients mentioned above.

Costco is nearby so I buy these in bulk:

-large bag of precut and washed raw broccoli flourets in the cooler area (not frozen)

-large bag of frozen strawberries

-large containers of blueberries.  I buy several at a time, wash and freeze them myself.

-english cucumbers come in a pack of 3 or 4

-large bag of carrots

I purchase kale by the bunch and cans of chopped pineapple with no sugar added from the grocery store.

Kale is very inexpensive and when pineapple is on sale I stock up.

 It takes me about 10 minutes to prepare this smoothie, very fast and so good for us.

I add the above ingredients to the blender, pour in one cup of iced water

and blend in my Ninja.

(much easier to make a healthy lunch smoothie with a heavy duty blender)

Here are just some of the health benefits in this quick Veggie and Fruit Smoothie...

Kale:

There are so many benefits in adding kale to your diet.

One cup of raw kale has:

-3 grams of protien

-2.5 grams of fiber (helps manage blood sugar and makes you feel full)

-Vitamins A, C, and K

-Folate, a B vitamin that's key for brain development

-Alpha-linolenic acid, an omega-3 fatty acid

-Lutein and zeaxanthin, nutrients that give kale its deep, dark green coloring and protect agains macular degeneration and cataracts

-Minerals including potasium, calcium, and zinc

source

Broccoli:

The health benefits of broccoli are extensive and also has therapeutic properties.

-vitamin C, A, K

-iron

-zinc

-phosphorus

-phyto-nutrients

source

Carrots:

Incorporating carrots into the diet can reduce cancer and cardiovascular disease risks.

-vitamin A, K, E

-calcium

-antioxidant beta-carotene 

-fiber

-Manganese

source

Sometimes there is a little more than two glasses, if so Mr. Heart usually drinks the extra.

Smoothies.

Easy to plan.  Quick to do.  Great for you.

Here's the recipe:

Hope you'll join us each week for AMAZE ME MONDAY!

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