After Thanksgiving, I decided it was time to get back on track with my diet and healthy habits. Lately I have been treating myself to some small indulgences: coffee, chocolate, less water (not an indulgence per se, but a habit nonetheless), and too much dairy. While running, my diet became a bit of eat-what-you-want just to maintain calories and enough food. Then the holidays hit and I found myself snacking more and more and eating all the pie in the house. And while these items were much healthier than the traditional recipes, I still knew they were not ideal.
So I decided to make a few things my priority to create healthier habits until the next holiday hits:
1) Drink more water: Instead of a second cup of coffee, reach for a glass of water.
2) Get up and move: writing all day means I sit quite a bit. If I’m not teaching a class, I am most likely at home working on the computer. I need to get back to a running routine, yoga practice, walking the dogs, etc. to get me up and moving.
3) Eat more green vegetables: I’ll add green vegetables to my breakfast, incorporate veggies int o my lunch, and add more to my dinners. This way I know that even if I indulge, I have a well-balanced diet on most days of the week.
To help me get energized, hydrated, and have a few more veggies I am adding green smoothies to my daily routine again. In order to do this without the added stress and morning rush, I am prepping ahead of time. I used a few key ingredients that I knew would freeze well and blend easily once chopped up.
– Kale and spinach for nutrients, detox, and green goodness.
– Ginger for digestion
– Bananas and Apples to sweeten it up naturally
– Coconut water or water for hydration
- 1 cup spinach, chopped
- 1 cup kale, chopped
- 2 bananas, sliced
- 1 green apple, peeled and chopped
- 1 inch ginger root, peeled and diced
- Prep all ingredients.
- Add all ingredients to a freezer safe jar (enough for one or two smoothies, depending on your needs).
- Pop in the freezer until ready to use.
- In the morning, grab jar, dump into blender, add liquid (coconut water, water, or unsweetened almond milk) as needed. I also like to add a bit of lemon juice to my mix.
- Process until smooth and enjoy!
It’s as simple as that. Now even if I indulge a bit throughout the Holidays, I know I am have plenty of greens waiting for me whenever I need them.
Feedback time: What is your favorite simple way to get back on track between the Holidays?
Peace and Love,
Jessi
houseofhealthy@yahoo.com
December 3, 2014 at 5:59 pmPS Use a wide mouth jar (not small like the one I have in the picture) so you can “dump” everything into your blender. If you don;t have one, you can also spread your ingredients out on a cookie sheet so they don;t stick together, freeze them, and then store them in a jar.