Love Your Bod, Eat Raw

Today I shared the following smoothie and juice tips with my boss' boss. Everyone in the office sees me with weird green juices in the morning, spooning avocado at my desk, and slicing fruit in the kitchen on a weekly basis. So I often get questions about my diet and how to eat healthier. Since I already wrote this up and shared with a head honcho, I thought I'd share with you all as well! 


Your body needs AND craves foods that are closest to their natural form - straight from Mother Nature - RAW. Here are two of my favorite smoothies, as well as a green juice I like in the mornings. There are additional tips and suggestions for eating more greens and for when you concoct your own recipes as well. Happy eating, greenies! 


Two Favorite Smoothies

Choco-Nut-Nana Smoothie - tastes like dessert! But it's ALL healthy!

• 2-4 TBSP Chocolate Hemp Powder (from Trader Joes) or Cacao Nibs or Cacao Powder
• 1-2 TBSP Raw Almond Butter (from TJs)
• 1 Banana
• 2-3 Dates (optional)
• 1/2-1 cup of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (TJs or most grocery stores)
• As much ice as you like (I like about 6 cubes)

Morning Smoothie

• 1 banana
• 5-7 strawberries (fresh or frozen)
• Handful of blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• Cubed mango (fresh or frozen)
• Splash of Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
• Spinach (you will be surprised at how much you can add and still not taste it - try two big handfuls)
• As much ice as you like

Smoothie/Fruit Tips

If you want to blend with kale, it's best to counter it with a citrus fruit (like orange) and/or pineapple, and maybe even some ginger. Bananas always help to sweeten it up and mellow it out too. Spinach is a lot easier to mask than kale. Keep trying out different fruit combos unlike you get the sweetness you prefer. I suggest not blending in apples with your greens, as they tend to hurt the stomach when trying to digest simultaneously with greens (I did research on fruit/veggie combos and digestion). Apples are best to eat by themselves, and before any other foods (as they digest quicker than most other foods).

Substitute Almond Milk with one cup of plain, non-fat Greek Yogurt if you want a thicker and more filling smoothie.

Greens

If you have a juicer, it's really easy to get your daily value of veggies in the morning with a fresh juice. Otherwise, even when I'm eating super healthy, I may forget to eat enough greens and go fruit and nut crazy. If you like hummus, eating broccoli and cauliflower florets and some baby carrots is yummy with that. Not only does Trader Joes have awesome hummus (if you don't want to make your own raw version), but they have those great pre-washed veggie medley packs that you can separate into zip lock bags for the week. Hello, encouragement!

Green Juice

• 2-3 carrots
• 1 cucumber (this is essential to add "water" / mellow out the other intense flavors)
• 3 big stalks celery (this is essential to add "water" / mellow out the other intense flavors)
• Kale and/or spinach and/or whatever other lettuce you have in the fridge
• 1 orange or 2 spears of pineapple 
• Ginger (optional - helps with stronger greens)
• Lemon (optional - helps with stronger greens)
• Suggestion: stay away from or limit the amount of collard greens and chard - they are INTENSE and add an icky kick to your smoothie if not countered properly
• This juice is not super sweet, but it's really refreshing. You start to crave it in the morning 
• Tip: I drink immediately after juicing with some ice on my way to work. The quicker you can drink your juice after juicing, the better. The juice will lose the vast majority of its nutrients if you, for example, make the juice the night before.