After my last trip to California
I went vegetarian for about a month. I don't know if it's the healthy vibe of California or if it's my brother. I think it's probably my brother.
Let's talk about Brother B for a minute. B has always been a "healthy" person. He played soccer in college and once ran a half marathon with me without even training. I thought I was going to die at the end but I'm pretty sure he could've gone another 13.1 miles without breaking a sweat. He's naturally athletic. But he also lives and breathes a healthy life. Aside from his son, obtaining and maintaining optimal health is his number one priority in life, followed by his desire to spread health to others.
B is a physical therapist. He is a Reiki master, certified massage therapist, certified Ayurvedic perfect Health Instructor and soon to be certified yoga instructor. The man knows health.
And he owns a Vitamix and is not afraid to use it. We had green smoothies chocked full of fruits and vegetables every morning before breakfast. I feel vibrantly healthy after drinking one of his smoothies. My body pracitally sighs and says "thank you" for not starting my day off with a load of crap food! And I've found that by starting my day with a green smoothie, I'm more likely to make healthy decisions as the day continues.
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Vitamix in action |
Before even leaving Cali, I made the decision to keep up the green sludge smoothie morning routine once I was back in Atlanta. So far I'm 9 for 11 (and the 2 days I missed I was out of town). And I swear my skin looks better in just two short weeks of drinking these drinks. But there's more.
The day I got back form California I stumbled upon a blog that was new to me called
100 Days of Real Food. It's about eating, you guessed it, REAL food. So I've jumped on that band wagon in addition to my green smoothies. It's not a diet. It's a way of living and eating. The rules are simple - only eat real food. This translates into not eating much processed foods. My rule of thumb is to not buy/eat anything that has more than 5-6 ingredients and avoid anything that has an ingredient that I cannot pronounce or do not know what it is. Check out the 100 Days blog, it has some amazing information and was very eye opening.
My body has been what I can only describe as detoxing the past two weeks. Now that I'm eating only real food my body is purging all the toxins from the fake food I've been eating. At least that is what the world wide web has told me is going on.
Eating clean does take some effort. It takes planning because I'm realizing that there are very few restaurants that have "real" food in their ingredients. At least not many fast food places.
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Box of Mangos from the Dekalb Farmer's Market = $5.00 (Much cheaper to buy, peel, chop and freeze mangos and make homemade smoothies than to buy a smoothie every day!) |
So what have I been eating? I kept a food journal the first few days:
Monday 8.13
Smoothie - pineapple juice, spinach, kale, red bell pepper, avocado, mango (frozen), strawberry
Coffee (black)
Cashews & almonds
Willy's burrito bowl - rice, black beans, steak, lettuce, salsa, guacamole, cilantro (I hadn't read the 100 Days blog yet, or I wouldn't have eaten Willy's....)
Pork tenderloin with roasted broccoli (olive oil, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese)
Tuesday 8.14
Smoothie - pineapple juice, spinach, kale, red bell pepper, cucumber, carrots, strawberries, peaches (frozen)
Coffee (black) (2)
Cashews & Almonds
Pork tenderloin with roasted broccoli (olive oil, lemon juice)
6oz 0% fat Greek yogurt with a dash of cinnamon
Quinoa made in vegetable stock; arugula, tomatoes, parm cheese; turkey meatballs (3)
1/3 banana
Wednesday 8.15
Banana
Smoothie: kale, red bell pepper, cucumber, carrots, strawberries, peaches (frozen), pineapple chunks & water + Moringa, Maca & Hemp Powder
Cashews & almonds
Quinoa made in vegetable stock; arugula, tomatoes, parm cheese; lemon juice
Apple
Edamame
Green tea
Hangar Steak
Brussel sprouts cooked with olive oil, bacon, balsamic vinegar
Banana
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Quinoa made in vegetable stock; arugula, tomatoes, parm cheese; lemon juice
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Thursday 8.16
2 eggs scrambled with a dash of feta cheese and pesto
Smoothie: kale, red bell pepper, cucumber, carrots, strawberries, pineapple chunks & water + Moringa, Maca & Hemp Powder
Cashews & almonds
Arugula with Quinoa, lemon juice, tomatoes, hangar steak, pork & parmesean
2 brownrice cakes with avocado
Brussel sprouts wtih bacon, olive oil & balsamic vinegar
Chicken burger (TJ) with avocado
Friday 8.17 (this was a strange day of food, I admit)
Smoothie: pineapple juice, spinach & frozen mango with Hemp Protein
2 bananas
Beef jerkey
0% Greek yogurt
Lara Bar
Banana
Blackened grouper with green beans and plain baked potato (no butter, etc.)
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My post Cali-purchases: probotics, Kids Superfood (makes chocolate milk with hidden veggies and superfood and tastes delcious); Hemp Protein, Moringa & Maca Powder (B says they're the new Acai superfoods) |
Today 8.23
Smoothie: spinach, kale, swiss chard, carrot, frozen mango, pineapple, cucumber, celery, water, Moringa, Hemp Protein, Maca Powder
Quinoa with zucchini, black beans, corn, cotija cheese
Banana
Almond butter (2 Tbls - from a spoon. Don't judge)
2 homemade pork tacos - slowcooker pork, tomatillo salsa, avocado, lime, cilantro on Ezekiel tortillas
It's really not that hard to eat clean, real food if you plan and have the ingredients at home. Last night we at out and I had the blackened fish with jasmine rice and snap peas. One night I made a knock off Chik-fil-A sandwich that I baked in the oven - it was amazing.
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Organic "REAL" knock-off Chik-fil-A sandwich - ready to be BAKED! |
I am cooking more and trying a variety of new foods. I plan on keeping this health kick going. I'll keep you posted!
And at some point we'll talk about the Insanity workouts I'm doing. But not now. I'm too exhausted from my workout.