The ups and downs

What a yoyo week it has been! In food wise. Monday I started the day with green smoothie, and continued the day fairly well - huge sprout salad for lunch and baked salmon with veggie and couscous mix for dinner. Then on Tuesday I had no desire for smoothie at all, so I had toast for breakfast. I then ended up having vegetarian sandwich for lunch and as I got home late, I didn't have time to cook any proper dinner. I threw a pie and few chips into oven for my hubby, and ended up having huge salad with couple of chips (couple=10). Naughty, I know. But it proves the theory that if you start day healthily, you're more likely to stay on track of healthy food rest of the day. 

So yesterday to "balance" the naughtiness, I started the day with 1.5 litres of green juice (recipe below), continued with 1 litre of green smoothie and for lunch I had sprout and seaweed salad with salmon sashimi (I only managed to eat couple of pieces as that particular salmon tasted extremely raw fishy and not very pleasant!). I didn't choose sashimi because it had raw salmon in it (I'm not THAT dedicated raw foodist yet), I just fancied sushi, and wanted to opt out the usual rice that's in most of the sushi. For dinner I had rice noodle and tempeh stir fry with loads of veggies. It was my first encounter with tempeh, and I must say I like it (not keen on tofu though). This particular one was organic marinated tempeh from Planet Organic. Like tofu, tempeh is made from soybeans, but tempeh is a whole soybean product with different nutritional characteristics and textural qualities. Tempeh's fermentation process and its retention of the whole bean give it a higher content of protein,dietary fiber, and vitamins. Guess who spat it out at dinner table?

This morning I was in hurry so had to skip the green juice, but had lovely protein green smoothie. Roasted halloumi and quinoa salad for lunch from my favourite salad bar - Tossed. When thinking what to have for dinner, I just felt I had to have mashed potato! Don't ask me why. It was so good. I tried to ignore the accusing stares from Kate Wood, Victoria Boutenko, Natalie Rose and other raw food author's books from my book shelf while enjoying my mash, but they seemed to shout at me: that is not raw! Get those organic carrots out from fridge instead and dip into raw almond butter NOW! :-)  But I did have over 1 litre of green smoothie this morning, so I wasn't phased. 

Wednesday's Green Juice

1 smallish or half of large head of romaine lettuce
5-7 leaves or large handful of kale (I used purple kale as it's in season now and easily available)
1 unwaxed, organic lemon, skin on (if waxed and not organic, then peel it)
2 apples (organic if you have, I didn't so I scrubbed them hard)
2 organic carrots (easily available and cheap)
1/2 organic cucumber
1 stalk of organic celery

This yields 1,5 litres of delicious green juice.

Blackcurrant Green Smoothie

250 g Blackcurrants
Handful of frozen mango chunks (or use fresh mango and ice)
Juice of 2 large oranges
Handful of organic spinach
Couple of dates for sweetness
1 Tbsp of maca powder (optional)
1/2 Tbsp of bee pollen (optional)

The verdict? Still quite tangy and sour, could've done with more dates or maybe a splash of agave syrup. It was also quite thick, almost like a pudding, so more orange juice or maybe water would've been nice. Otherwise a great smoothie, no trace of spinach neither in taste or colour (gourgeous purple colour!), so excellent for those who gringe when hearing the words Green Smoothie.

Peachy Protein Smoothie

3-4 peaches

2 smallish frozen bananas (or fresh ones and ice)

4-5 kale leaves, stalks removed

1 Tbsp of hemp protein powder

1 Tsp of raw cacao powder

200-300 ml water

Happy blending!

Oh, nearly forgot: our little angel has been in monster mode again this week, I start to see pattern- one week nice, one week not so. Tomorrow is my last day at work before 2 weeks leave, so it will be nice spending some time with Maya, complete my to-do list for which I never have time for and then go for a short beach holiday with K, K and K. Can't wait!

Good morning routine

I recently read that good morning routine sets your day - if you have healthy breakfast you're more likely to eat healthily rest of the day. I think it's probably true, during the week when I have my green smoothies for breakfast I find it much easier to stick to raw or vegan diet, than the day's I have a toast or similar. It's especially noticeable at weekends as I tend to have "normal" breakfast with my family - Marmite toast with cheese or scrambled eggs on Sunday's - I'm then more likely to eat cooked food, this weekend I even had chicken. I still try to have my green juices, usually before dinner, so at least I don't miss out on my "greens" completely. 

Haven't been at gym this week as I sprained my ankle last Friday, I fell down the stairs. My ankle is still swollen, not as painful any more, but definitely not ready for any form of exercise yet. It's a shame as I just started to get into the whole going to gym thing.

As for our little angel, that's exactly how she's been this week. It's unbelievable how the mood swings with toddlers, one minute a tantrum throwing monster, another minute a giggly adorable cute little person. She's so trying to speak now, and can string 3-4 words together: Mummy sit here! =) And the mixing of 2 languages, which was of course expected (we are doing OPOL - one parent one language, I speak Estonian with Maya), but still interesting to hear. Only 2 more months and she'll be 2 years old!

I haven't managed to take any food pix again, and I haven't tried any new recipes, so that's a bit boring. But I have been shopping a bit, here are few goodies:

Shazzie's Raw Cacao and Almond Spread

My new hair care range - John Masters Organics. I got Zinc and Sage Shampoo, Rosemary and Peppermint Detangler. Love it!

Just some thoughts

I can't believe, my carb cravings are almost gone! If it's green smoothies or added hemp protein, not sure. Maybe both. I'm starting to love my green smoothies now, it took some days to get used to them. I've had 3 large glasses of green smoothie every morning this week. I finally got my Green Smoothie Revolution by Victoria Boutenko (I've tried to order it twice and delivery company failed to deliver) and I'm looking forward trying some of her receipes. Maybe this:

1 mango

1 kiwi

1 cup collard greens

2 strawberries

1 sprig of basil

1 cup of water

or

2 ripe peaches

1 grapefruit, juiced

1 cup kale

3/4 cup water

or if you can get ingredients, this one sounds interesting. Makes 2 litres.

1 cup dandelion leaves

1 cup spinach

2 cups strawberries

3 mangoes

1/4 pine needles

2 cups water

So what have I been eating lately? As said, I have over a litre green smoothie after my morning glass of water. Then around 9.30ish I've been having bowl of organic cinnamon blueberry flaxseed cereal with hazelnut milk -  so delicious. Hazelnut milk is my favourite nut milk at the moment, it goes really well with coffee too. For lunch I usually have a salad with piece of sprouted bread. One day I had a vegetarian ciabatta as I thought I needed some carbs because I was planning to go to gym in the evening. It didn't give me the energy I thought it would, so I will not do that again. Then in the evening I usually have a cooked vegetarian meal. I did try a savoury green smoothie (or cold soup?) for dinner one night, but didn't like it. Green smoothie for me has to have fruit in it, at least for now. 

On Wednesday I finally got out my bike. It's been in shed for 2.5 years, since I moved from London. I used to bike to work, but since the move I haven't had chance to use it. But now I have no excuse, instead of taking the car to gym I can use my bike. 

On another note, it's been lately a bit mentally exhausting at home. Maya is in a some sort of terrible two's at the moment, and everything needs to be challenged. And the screams and the tantrums are never ending. Latest thing is complete refusal to eat sitting in her chair. Only way she eats her dinner is either on my or daddy's lap. And the sucking of thumb that started last week, at the age of 21 months? Why?

I've started to take camera with me to work again so I can take food pix again, and I promise to be better on updating more often here. My next goal is to be 100% raw 1 day a week, haven't set a date yet, but hopefully soon.

My greenies and a thought about cravings

I haven't forgotten my blog, it's just been one of those weeks when you just do not want to open your laptop at evenings after long day at work, spent behind a computer.

Anyway, the past week or so has been ok on food wise. I've been drinking loads of green smoothies, over a litre every morning. I've started to find my own favourites now, some recipes below. It hasn't taken off my hunger for breakfast completely, but I'm having much less as the smoothie does keep me full for much longer than green juice used to. I still try to have my green juices in the afternoon before dinner, if I have time.

I have been craving though. Yes, this irresistible feeling when you just have to have something now! I have been craving for carbs - wholemeal toast, mashed potato and wholemeal pasta. One evening my dinner consisted of just mashed potato and nothing else. So weird! I have been trying to find more information about cravings, and there seem to be two main theories about cravings - one is that cravings are an emotional and hormonal imbalance and other is that we get cravings due to mineral/nutritional deficiencies. I think it's probably both. Cravings for sugar is a sign of deficiency of chromium, cravings for chocolate might be magnesium deficiency and carbohydrate cravings is funnily enough  protein deficiency!  I've been thinking for a while to buy raw, vegan protein powder to add to my smoothies, so I guess I have even more reason for this now.

My favourite green smoothies at the moment:

Pine-kale

1/2 pineapple
1 banana
handful of kale
200-300 ml of ice cold water (or add some ice)

Calcium blast

100-150 ml raspberries (can also be frozen)
1 banana
1 head of pok choi
200-300 ml water (and ice if desired)

Blueberry pudding

100-150 ml blueberries
1 banana
large handful of spinach
200-300 ml water (and ice if desired)

Happy smoothie making!

Now, need to order some organic shampoo from So Organic.