Wednesday, April 10, 2013

HEALTH & WELLNESS:Getting Green

Okay so I'm trying to implement more green and all other colors of the rainbow into my diet right now.  For me this means breaking out the juicer, blender, and food processor, a lot more fresh, a lot less fried.  I have lost 8 pounds since February 14th which averages out to about 1 pound a week.  They slow and steady finishes the race, so I am obviously running a marathon right now and my body is pacing itself.

I hate to admit it, but I am a little bit of a picky eater. If  it is not tasty, creamy, savory, tangy, or tart I don't want to put it in my mouth.  I don't like chunks of stuff in my food, not a fan of mushrooms, spicy foods, bell peppers, and so much more. Honestly I am probably more picky than my three year old that I complain about, thus this journey has a lot of pit stops, roadblocks, and no-entry ways. Not to mention that I am borderline diabetic, anemic, my vitamin D level takes a dive from time to time, I'm a stay at home mom, and am still fighting my way out of depression drug free, all of which make it a little more difficult for me to loose weight than the average person.

I'm still in the trial and error phase when it comes eating the rainbow right now.  There have been a few hits and more than a few misses.  I've learned I can only eat avocado in smoothies, radishes are gross unless blended or cooked into something, and I abhor almond milk unless it is used as a dairy-less alternative in the kitchen.  It hasn't all been bad. I love coconut milk, greek yogurt is a great sour cream alternative, and just about any fruit or vegetable can be juiced or put into smoothie. Who knew?

As usual in my search for new recipes I have turned to the Worldwide web for flavorful options that don't take me too far out of my  comfort zone. I don't mind drinking anything green.  In fact my favorite juice is Green Goodness by Bolthouse Farms, which is a great alternative if you don't have time for juicing and need quick for snack.  I have tried a couple of different green recipes.Below are two of my favorite green recipes from juicerecipes.com. and one recipe that I created a week ago.

Beginners Green (Pictured Below) is the first recipes that I tried.  It is a combination of Apple, Celery, Orange,  Spinach, Ginger, and Lemon.  It is a great first juice, and even my picky three year old tried it and liked it.  It is a good balance between fruits and vegetables, a great started recipe if you are doing the juicing detox


Mean Green, (pictured below) is a juicing combination of  Apples, Celery, Cucumber, Ginger, Kale, and Lemon. It is a little on the bitter side due to the Kale, but with the addition of an additional apple it does the trick.  This juice recipe has a host of health benefits including helping with diabetes management, weight loss, cancer prevention, digestion process, and lowering blood pressure. 
Photo from juicerecipes.com
I got a little adventurous a week ago after juicing quite a few beets and carrots.  Introducing the Najeema Beet-Carrot-Berry Smoothie.  I used 1 cup of fresh beet/lemon juice(3 beet, 2 1/2 lemon), Carrot Juice (2 bunches of carrots), fresh apple juice (2 apples) 2 cups of frozen blackberries, 1cup of frozen strawberries, 1 cup of Almond Milk, and 1/2 cup of water.  It yielded about 4-6 cups of smoothie, which was enough for my toddlers and I. Overall my experiment turned out pretty well, but I will probably decrease the amount of beet juice, add some celery and Greek yogurt or avocado instead of almond milk.  I don't know all of the health benefits of this smoothie, but when I find out more I will post more information.


I still have a long road ahead of me.  Becoming fit is more than loosing weight it is a lifestyle change.  You must change the way that you think about eating, exercising, and living in order to succeed.  I'm weighing in at 281 pounds today with a BMI of 44.31.  I have more than 100 pounds to loose, but I know if I put in the work I will be worth it. Loosing weight one sip at a time.

Peace and Love,

Najeema Iman, I AM Curly Locks (On a new journey to implement Health and Wellness into my day to day life)
 

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