Juicing

My husband and I watched "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead" this weekend and I am again, totally motivated to continue to make changes to my health.  Joe Cross, the guy who did the documentary, is an Australian guy that is about my age, but a little older and was about twice my weight.  He also had an autoimmune disease that I do not have.  After a 60 day juice cleanse, he had lost weight, was off all of his medications, and was on his way to a healthier lifestyle.

I am not ready to do a 60 day cleanse, but I am thinking a good couple of days of juicing and not eating solid food may be just what I need to get me over eating the crap that I crave, but is bad for me.  I am hoping that maybe a 3 day cleanse will help me to clean out my system and maybe then I can start trusting my body to tell me what it needs.

This morning, I made my normal smoothie.  I gave my husband his and then I strained mine though some unbleached cotton muslin.  This morning, I used half of a cucumber, some parsley, some kale, a green apple, a red delicious apple, a banana, and some blueberries.  It was a little messy to strain it, but it wasn't too bad and I don't have to buy another appliance or find room for another appliance.  The best part, is that it actually tastes good.  The hard part for me is going to be not eating solid food.  For now I am going to have a goal for 3 days, but I am also going to take it one day and maybe even one meal at a time.  I am not going to kill myself, but I am also not going to give in easily.  If for some reason I feel like I need solid food, I am going to make sure that it is healthy.  I am really going to try to only have juice though!

I am actually looking forward to seeing how I feel.  There was lots of talk about having more energy.  I can only hope that that will be a result.  The other thing that they talked about was cleansing your system.  I have wanted to do a detox/cleanse for some time and maybe this is the time to actually do one.  I need to find some recipes, so that I am ensuring that I get the nutrition that I need, but I am thinking that I can also figure it out on my own.

Wish me luck, and if anyone has any feeling on juicing or recipes, or success stories, please let me know!

Amy

Going Green (Smoothie)

With my desire to start being healthy, I have started to look at the raw foods world, at least for the summer months.  One thing that I noticed is the whole green smoothie "revolution".  Ok, so maybe not a revolution, but it;s certainly a popular concept.  A few years ago, my husband and I started to make green smoothies.  We bought a book by Victoria Boutenko, who has been promoting green smoothies.  Basically, it is a much easier and tastier way to get in your fruits and veggies, almost like a V8 fruit drink but better and probably better for you since you make it yourself.  Green smoothies basically consist of fruit, a green leafy veggie, and maybe some water and protein powder if you wish ( we've used protein powder in the past but I have used it recently).  I like my greens, but there are only so many I can eat at a time.  I can drink these smoothies and feel like I am being healthy and getting in my fruits and veggies.  Most recently, I have been adding in my homemade kefir with some stevia to sweeten the kefir.  I had some last night for a snack and even when my husband wanted ice cream, I was a little more able to hold off and not be persuaded as easily as I usually am.  I am hoping that one positive impact for me will be relieving me from my cravings.  I don't see it or expect that it will happen overnight, but I am hoping that these small changes I am making will help me with my overall health and in time I'll be able to listen to my bosy and really trust what it is telling me.

Last night, as I was researching green smoothies, I went to a blog I have been following for some time now, www.choosingraw.  One of the things that I read, which totally resonated with me was making small changes.  For along time now, and with many things, I often feel like I have to be perfect right away or else it is a failed attempt.  I am slowly realizing, I can make small changes to my diet that over time will accumulate to large very positive changes.  I am also realizing that it really isn't an all or nothing idea.  I can have some meat even though I want mostly to be a vegan.  I can have dairy even though I don't want to have it every day.  The healthier I get, the more I can listen to my body and the more I can trust it to tell me what it needs..com

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that I have been making homemade kefir.  I am making both milk and water kefir and am loving both.  I love water kefir.  It is fermented water that has some small bubbles in it.  Often I will drink it in a champagne flute or a wine glass just for the fun of it.  I love drinking out of fancy glasses even if it is just water.  I haven't really experimented with flavors yet, but I plan to do that soon.  I haven't really been drinking the milk kefir, but I have been using it in mainly my pancake recipes and have made butter out of it also.  I have strained the kefir and made "kefir cheese" and then used the whey in my pancake batter.  I have started (just yesterday) to add kefir to my green smoothie.  I really enjoyed it though I did need to flavor it with stevia, since straight plain kefir, like plain yogurt, is a little too tart for my taste.  I'm loving my kefir grains!

Green Smoothie Recipe #2

1 apple
1/2 C frozen blueberries
1/2 C frozen berries
1C frozen mixed fruit
1/2 C sunflower seeds (magnesium)
1 head of green leaf lettuce (from my neighbor's CSA share)
water to blend to consistency of your liking
1/2 C kefir/yogurt (optional)
stevia to taste (optional)
 (for the first smoothie of the day, I added the kefir at the end and just stirred it in with about 7-8 drops of liquid stevia.  Later that night, I re-blended a glass of the smoothie with some kefir and stevia and I think blending it made it more amalgamated and I really enjoyed it much more)

I usually blend the fruit and water and then add the greens.  You really can use any leafy greens you want.  My husband is lacking in the magnesium arena so I added the sunflower seeds to help increase the magnesium for him.  Blend to your favorite consistency and enjoy.

I am looking forward to trying more combinations as well as using veggies from our garden.  I will post more recipes as I make them.  I am hoping that, in time, these green smoothies with help me get my health back and as I've said, I can start trusting my body!

Have you had green smoothies?  Do you have favorite recipe?

Amy

Eating In Balance

The name of my blog is "The Balance of Living a Handmade and Natural Life".  I'm not quite sure that I have been finding myself feeling very balanced lately, especially when it comes to eating.  My husband and i decided to move towards a vegan diet after his doctor and dietician recommended it for certain health issues and after some research about some family history on my part.  When the weather was cold, and here in New England it was raw and cold for what seemed like forever, I felt like it was easy.  Beans became a stable of our diet.  Of course the kisd hated this type of diet so we started to switch back to meat for the kids.  Then finally, the nice weather came and we started to cook on the grill.  I have now moved back into the meat eating, dairy loving person that I was before we made our diet change.  The problem?- I don't feel as good when I eat that way.  I love the taste, but I tend to over eat, I feel horrible after and the cycle continues.

How do I plan on fixing this problem?  Well, I have to say I feel more balanced when I eat a more vegan style diet.  I do enjoy it, and when I don't have a lot of meat, I tend not to miss it.  For me meat really ahs to be a once in a while thing or else I go over board.  My biggest problem is summer.  Now that the heat is here and that means BBQ season, ice and beans and roasted veggies don't really cut it.  I know I can roast veggies on the grill, and even fruit and I can eat lots of salad, but how do I make it filling and satisfying like when I eat beans and veggies soups?  One of the things that I am looking into, is the raw foods diet.  Again, balance, as this would really be for summer and really warm weather when you don't want to eat heavy.

Will I be able to enjoy a raw food diet?  That is the question that I keep asking myself.  For lunch i made my husband and I a green smoothie.  I really like them, but they tend not to hold me as long as other food, but I don't over eat with a green smoothie.  I think I just need to have a snack plan for when I get hungry (something healthy and satisfying). 

I am always striving for a balanced life, it just tends to be one of those things that I will constantly need to work on.

Today's "Green Smoothie " recipe:

2 bananas
1 apple
handful of green grapes
1 C frozen berries
a bunch of green swiss chard
water to blend

Blend all of the fruit together then add the swiss chard and blend until smooth adding water if needed.  Almost any green leafy veggie can be used.  Yesterday we had a variation using Red Russian Kale from our garden.  We're hoping to get some more leafy green growing so that we can have more smoothies and use things from our garden.  I would love to use more local fruits and hopefully I will be able to change that!

Amy