So green

It seems as though healthy food bloggers all have a kicky name for their version of a green smoothie.  I’ve heard Green Monster, Green Beast, Green Envy, Green Machine…  I’m not sure what to call mine.  Maybe Green Demon? It took awhile for me to get on board with idea of spinach or kale in my smoothie.  I was pretty stuck on yogurt, strawberries, and milk for a long time.   Greens are so good for you and you can never eat enough.  I can’t taste spinach in my smoothies at all and kale just adds a nice “fresh” flavor.  I think I’m getting to be a much better smoothie maker.

Smoothie add-ins I’ve used:

almond milk, soy milk, yogurt, protein powders (my favorites are Peaceful Planet and Amazing Meal), spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, cloves), fruit, kale, spinach, pumpkin, cacao, carob, nut butters

Today’s smoothie was one of my favorites.  I usually add in a scoop of nut butter as well but I already had NB on my toast before working out.

Combine one scoop/packet Amazing Meal, 1 frozen banana (or fresh + extra ice), two good handfuls of fresh spinach, 1-1.5 cups almond milk, ice.

It looks horrible but tastes good.  It definitely fueled my recovery after working out.  I took a hiatus from exercise while I dealt with a mystery illness for three weeks.  I was getting these incredibly bad, debilitating migraines and headaches.  At one point the pain was so bad it was beyond any migraine I’ve ever had.  It turns out it was the result of  eye strain and a slow Refresh Rate on my monitors at work.  A month ago our IT guy kindly swapped out one of my monitors for a new one and my refresh rate must have set itself back to 60 Hz after I’ve had it at 75 Hz for YEARS.  I felt almost immediately better once I switched it.  I also got new glasses and realized I am straining a great deal when using the computer and reading.  They make a huge difference.  I missed a couple of days of work, many, many workouts, was getting REALLY depressed and just felt awful.  So many sunny days passed by while I laid on the futon doing nothing! It was really awful.  So keep this in mind if you start getting mystery headaches.

I’m back on board with exercise and have fallen in love with the community center that’s 5 minutes from my house.  All this time there has been this lovely gem right in my own neighborhood yet I’ve been paying much more $ to use a fancier gym father away.  I love the CC because it feels so much more family friendly and inclusive.  I’ve also been enjoying getting outside for walks and jogs.  The weather here has been non-stop incredible and we have SO earned it!