A green start
Home » Blog » Sarah Jefferies » A green startNot only is this smoothie delicious and healthy but it is so filling you are literally not hungry until lunch!
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Sadly most of us require either a sugar or caffeine hit to wake us up in the morning. I can honestly say I didn’t feel human until I had some form of refined white sugar running through my veins. That was if I had anything at all. Half the time I would seriously drag myself from bed through the motions of getting ready and literally race out the door without a thought to eating a bite.
Usually by 11am I would
be starving and would rush out and eat whatever I could find, which was
far from healthy. The funniest thing is that I would think of things
like danishes, pastries and muffins as somehow okay for you. If a food
was considered a 'breakfast option' you could eat it to start your day,
but really let’s be honest, would you so easily gobble down a slice of
chocolate mud cake for breaky? The ingredients wouldn’t actually be too
different if you thought about it.
Even many of your
children’s cereal options are pretty appalling. My daughter has always
longed for me to be the nice mother most of her friends have and buy
her CocoPops, which I flatly refuse. Seriously, how is that sugary
processed cereal a good start to the day for any child?
So,
options for breakfast … I need quick and easy and something that can be
eaten on the go. At this stage of my life, sitting down while enjoying
a read of the morning paper (or a copy of my favourite Good mag) is
something I simply do not have the time and luxury to do. So here is my
new favourite green 'to go' breakfast option (which I have seriously
worked hard at converting friends and family to, with positive
results).
Green Smoothie
Use a blender and throw in a
selection of your favourite fruit. Mine is a frozen banana (take the
skin off and break into pieces before freezing), a chunk of fresh
pineapple, a passionfruit, some kiwifruit and the secret ingredient …
a great big handful of green leaves. I use organic leaves and whatever
is available and in season. For example: spinach, kale and silver beet
are all great and reasonably priced options.
Add some ice if you
desire and a glass of chilled water (more or less depending on the
consistency you want your smoothie to be) and simply blend! Everyone is
shocked that something so yummy can be so good for you. I have friends
whose children are hooked on this “milkshake” and it is a great way to
get the greens down those throats!
Any fruit is great, have
fun trying out whatever is in season. I have made various combinations
using apples, feijoas, mangoes, pears, watermelon etc. (Manderins are
probably the only fruit I wouldn’t recommend as they lead to hunks of the
white skin in the smoothie, which aren’t the best!) For more info on
why blending green leaves has great health benefits read Green For Life
by Victoria Boutenko (Buy@Fishpond).
To make this a to-go option, I invested in
a Starbucks recyclable frappe cup for around $20. It looks exactly like
the grande size throw-away version but is made from hard plastic. Each
and every day I make my green smoothie to drink and have it while
driving my daughter to school (she even steals a few gulps).
Now to keep this as a healthy dairy- and refined white sugar-free option, please do not do what one dear friend of mine did … After asking me for help with his diet, and me suggesting he make these smoothies in the morning, he very excitedly rushed out to get the ingredients and actually rang me one morning to ask if I thought it would be okay if he could add ice cream. His thinking was that it would be “creamy”. What the … ? A green and great start to the day minus the ice-cream guys!
Not only is this smoothie delicious and healthy but it is so filling you are literally not hungry until lunch.
Fri July 24, 2009 @ 06:31 PM
