It's Not Easy Being Green (and Other Things That are Not Easy)

Good Morning Everyone!!  Today is going to be a good day!!  Just some quick thoughts before we head out today.

So, obviously, I'm trying to start every day on a positive step...which is a challenge for me, because I don't particularly enjoy waking up in the morning.  However, it's easy to be cheerful when you wake up, do your thing, get on the scale and see...SUCCESS...even if it's a minor change.  From when I got on the scale Monday (the day before we started in full gear) to when I got on it this morning - I've "lost" 7.8 lbs.  I put lost in quotation marks because I know that this is not really a loss in fat, but the flush of so much sodium, sugar and other processed junk from my system (to share, Kurt's loss has been +/-2 lb since he weighed himself a week ago Monday, but I bet that if he had weighed himself this last Monday, it would have been more).

So positive steps, every morning...which have become crazy and negative thoughts of giving up by bedtime.  I just want chocolate!!  Now, I made some brownies from the 100 Days of Real Food site - whole wheat flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, coconut oil and honey (about 1/2 cup) in an attempt to quell my want for sweets...but it really isn't a substitute for chocolate.  Neither is the apple or the slice of cheese that I tried last night in an attempt to stop begging Kurt for chocolate.Sugar withdrawal SUCKS!!  And now I can almost see why some say sugar should be regulated...almost.  It definitely was my drug.

And finally with the Green:

My new positive morning starter...the green smoothie.  So now for the part that makes me think that my brain is very weird and holds me back from doing some things.  I know its sweet - I've had the Odwalla Superfood, which is sweet regardless being green, and I've had this smoothie for two days now - and yet I still look at it and think "there is NO way I'm going to drink that".

So, I'm making an attempt to keep my brain out of the way when looking at recipes and am going to try hard to make/eat something and decide whether I like it instead of looking at its picture and saying...no - that looks awful.

I hope everyone enjoys their Friday and their weekend!!

The "Green" Smoothie

It looks like it would be AWFUL...but its actually very yummy!!

Originally from Cassandra Appleton - tweaked by us

Yields 1 serving

Ingredients:

• 1 cup berries (we tend to put in strawberries, but sometimes blueberries)
• 1 banana
• 1 kiwi - if we am using strawberries
• 6-8 spinach leaves
• Ice

 Directions:
(We use a Magic Bullet with the individual cups, but it can also be made in a standard blender)

1.  Blend together berries, banana and any additional fruit that you would like with the bananas closest to the blade (we find that because the bananas blend best, it helps drag everything else in if they blend first)
2. Add spinach and blend again
3. Add ice (we use between 4-6 pieces of ice per serving)
4. Drink :)

 Ok realistically it isn't hard to make a smoothie, and really you can put whatever you want into it...peaches, mangoes, pomegranate...you can even replace the spinach with kale if you like (we use spinach because its sweeter).  The point of it is make sure not to use too much fruit because, although a healthier substitute for processed sugar, it is still sugar none-the-less.  The spinach (or kale) helps toward satisfying your daily need of a green vegetable, plus a great source of vitamins A & K (and C with kale)...not as high in iron as I would have thought.