Three things you should have everyday

By Teralee Trommes...

So there’s probably more than three things you should have every day, but for the well-being of those who are easily overwhelmed, let’s keep it simple. 

Number one! A smoothie. And not just any smoothie, a “green smoothie.” You may have heard the term floating around, and thought: Yes. Exactly what I want in my body - A strange, thick, green sludge of a drink. You may have thought someone took something perfectly delicious, a smoothie, and made it green, thus ruining it. Wrong. Those clever people carrying around the “sludge” filled mason jars have ingeniously found a way to consume more greens, without actually having to taste them! We’ve all heard it, greens are good.

Eat more greens  (I’m talking leafy greens here, by the way). But are you really going to go out and buy a bunch of kale, and sit down and munch on it? Well now you can! And if you do it right, you might even be able to fool your spinach-hating kids into drinking it too! Here’s how it works: By blending up the greens, you not only make it easier to consume, but you're also breaking down the tough cell wall of the greens, making the nutrients locked inside more available for your body to absorb. Blending one cup of greens is the equivalent of eating a whole head/bunch of of them! You throw in some fruit to mask the flavour, getting your fruit quota in for the day as well, and tada! A delicious, nutritious, and easy meal.

1 cup of greens (spinach, kale, collards, carrot tops, beet tops, chard, dark leafy lettuce – so NO iceburg)

1 Banana

Handful of berries, or a pear (whatever you want. Try experimenting with your favourite fresh or frozen fruits)

2 cups of water (or more, depending on your desired consistency)

Blend everything in your blender until smooth. Enjoy (and you will).

So once you’ve done this, you'd have literally just consumed more nutrition than you probably would have for the rest of the day. Maybe week, depending on your McDiet. Congratulations! Once you get the hang of it, try experimenting with the fruit to greens ratio, working your way up to more greens. I also like to throw some other goodies in there, for fun: pitted dates, hemp hearts, maca powder, dulse flakes, coconut oil, whatever your heart desires!

 

Number two! A great big bowl o’ salad! Rather than trying to decide what you need to remove from your diet, it’s better and more effective to incorporate more, healthier, things, and naturally there will be less room for the unhealthy. I eat a huge salad every day, and I like to call it the “Everything-but-the-kitchen-sink Salad”. I pile in the mixed green, chop up whatever veggies I have in the fridge (usually a combination of tomato, cauliflower, onion, cucumber), I toss in some dried cranberries, some raw cashews, raw pumpkin seeds, sprinkle on hemp hearts and dulse. Then I whip together this bad boy of a dressing:

1 part olive oil

1 part vinegar (depending on my mood, I’ll use either Balsamic or White Wine)

Splash of pure maple syrup (Number 3/dark obviously. I'm just a badass like that)

A dollop of Dijon mustard (optional)

One diced clove of garlic (optional)

Sea salt, and fresh ground pepper

Put together in a mason jar, and shake the ba-jesus out of it. Done. I bet you could have had that made up in the time it took me to type it.

Eat this salad for a filling lunch or before you chow down on anything else there is for dinner. You wont even have room for those artery-clogging scalloped potatoes! That’s a good thing, trust me.

 

Numero Three! More water! I bet you knew I was going to say that, didn’t you? I’m not the first person to say it, and I wont be the last. Drink more water! You don’t need a recipe for this one, do you? Ok, some simple ways to get more water into your diet:

·         Eat more raw fruits and vegetables, as they are packed with water. Think of how much smaller something gets when dehydrated. That’s because all that water has disappeared from it. Eating it fresh, your body will get all that water. (So drink your green smoothies!)

• Carry a water bottle around with you everywhere. You’ll be more inclined to drink it if it’s ready and waiting in front of you. And not plastic. If I see you with a plastic water bottle I’m going to knock it out of your hand and tell David Suzuki on you.
• Put a big glass of water on your night table, and drink it as soon as you wake up in the morning. Even before you pee. We naturally wake up dehydrated, so instead of starting with a coffee, which will make you even more dehydrated, try doing your body a favour for once and drink one or two glasses of water right away!

 

So those are the three things you should get everyday. Try it. You might like it. Oh, and one more thing. Stop being cheap! Yes, organic produce costs a little bit more, but maybe if you hadn’t spent  hundreds of dollars on your new iPad you’d have the extra $1.00 for the organic bananas.

 

Yes, I understand. The iPad IS very cool (if you like giant iPods. Ooo, I feel another discussion coming on). But you can pay a little extra for your health now, or you can pay the medical bills in the future. It’s your choice. Here’s a video of an 11 year old boy on TED Talks that can sum it all up for you.

 

Teralee Trommeshauser lives in Castlegar, BC, and is a health and fitness enthusiast, currently working on her Holistic Nutrition and Fitness Education certifications.