Woop Woop! I’ve been MIA from my blog, but I’m back, and I have a new Mantra! Instead of just “Food is Medicine or Food is Poison”, I’ve expanded that to: “Moving Is Medicine, and Not Moving is Poison”, and “Good Thoughts are Medicine, and Bad Thoughts are Poison”.
The science behind each of those phrases is rock solid. Today, though, we’re just talking about food.
Look at my title, does it sound silly? It’s not. I’m amazed at how many people obsess over their weight/thighs/butt/stomach, when their health/ energy/ mood is dangerously poor; when they’re constantly sick, or sore; when they struggle to get out of bed in the morning.
Feeling good, feeling positive and stable and healthy, that’s the result of our daily lifestyle choices. Aging… jobs… difficult people.. those are excuses. Change your thoughts if you’ve been using them to justify your bad habits or poor health.
First thought to change: that food is about calories, and if I could just keep my calories low enough, I’d lose weight, feel great, and be happy.
Load. Of. Crap. Thinking.
Calories-Smalories. Food is medicine, or food is poison, and American’s eat a lot of poison. We feed it to our children thinking it can’t hurt them, but it does.
Following is a Recipe Index for Kitchen Sink Smoothies, which is pure Medicine Food.
Americans need more Medicine Food, and here’s why:
The American Institute for Cancer Research predicts a 55% rise in cancer by 2055. The CDC predicts that every single chronic disease will continue to increase through 2030 ( that’s as far out as they predict.). Depression has been rising since the 1980s and will continue to rise.
It’s not for lack of medications, because we take more medications THAN ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.
Hmmm. If medications make you healthy – which is the total reason for their existence – than why would all of our markers for health be decreasing instead of increasing?
The problem is NONE of us are “low in medicine“;…. we’re low in nutrients – which literally make every single part of our body. ( We also don’t move enough or control our thought life in the right direction. More later.)
Enter the “Kitchen Sink Smoothies”, so called because I throw in everything except the Kitchen Sink. These are Real Whole Food Bonanzas!
Most people begin their Smoothie path with Starter Smoothies, and they’re great! It’s like walking before you run.
Here’s an example of a Starter Smoothie Recipe:
Good Protein Powder (very few ingredients, NO artificial flavors or sweeteners, maybe even organic or grass fed whey – there’s plenty of good ones on the market.)
Berries & Banana
Spinach
Mix it all in a blender with a few ice cubes and go. Easy Peasy. Perfect for Busy Moms who also have to make breakfast for a pack of kids.
Unfortunately, it’s not going to keep you full very long, or at least this never kept me full very long. There’s no fat, and it’s too easily digested.
Pros: there’s some good nutrients, and it’s fast and easy
Cons: there’s limited nutrients, especially because we all tend to get in to food ruts, and eat the same foods over and over.
Kitchen Sink Smoothies are a great way to broaden your range of nutrients, and (honestly) use Medicine Food to fight: weight gain, Heart Disease, CANCER, depression, diabetes, auto-immune, bacterial/viral infections, aging skin, etc etc etc.
I’m going to give you a list of Greens, Fats, Herbs & Spices, and “Fun Add Ins”, and you should try to use at least one from each column to build your smoothie.
This list is by no means “complete”; these are a few options in a sea of more options.
Make accumulating these ingredients a gradual process; in other words, don’t buy all these this week. Accumulate them over time, and get in the habit of rotating the ingredients.
Mantra: My body needs a broad assortment of nutrients.
Greens (other than spinach): Beet Greens; Kale; Chard; Bok Choy; Cabbage; Dandelion Greens; Sprouts ( aka – sunflower sprouts, beet sprouts, kale sprouts, etc.)
TIP: Wash (if they’re not already), baggie asap, and then freeze. Greens become like glass in the freezer: very easy to crush and dispense into your blender. And this way they don’t decompose before you use them.
Fats: Coconut Oil; Flax Seed Oil ONLY IF YOU’RE NOT ESTROGEN DOMINANT; all Nuts, and all Seeds; Avocado Oil, Macadamia Nut Oil, Coconut Flakes, Avocado, Eggs/Raw ONLY IF YOU GET THEM FROM A FARMER/NOT A STORE, AND HAVE A GOOD IMMUNE SYSTEM, Real Cream; Real Yogurt; Real Keifer; ( Check out Rich Food Poor Food by the Caltons if you have no idea what I mean by “real”).
TIP: Don’t be afraid of using Fats. Fats make us: our hormones, our brain, our organs, our tissues, the membrane of every single cell in our body is made from fats. Fats also assist many nutrients into the cells to be used.
Herbs & Spices: Ginger ( real/powdered ); Cloves; Turmeric; Nutmeg; Cinnamon; Salt; Parsley, Cilantro; Lemon Balm.
Tip: Herbs & Spices are SERIOUS Medicine Food. Check out www.greenmedinfo.com and and match your body/health/conditions with different herbs. It’s a database of Pub Med Research articles.
More: Cherries; Cranberries; Mixed Berries; Black Berries; Blueberries; Raspberries; Oranges; Carrots; Beets.
Tip: Don’t get stuck in a rut with your berries, their nutrient content is very different, and we need them all.
What else do I throw in? Maca Root powder; Baking Soda, Greens Powders; L-Glutamine; Magnesium; Rose Hips; Collagen, and any leftover herbs from teas I made the day before.
You can really start your day off with a bang! Here’s my last tip, and actually, I got this from my daughter Macy over Easter Break: add more water, and make enough to have a breakfast smoothie and a lunch smoothie.
Whew. That was a lot. I hope you see how creative you can get with your smoothie. A breakfast of bagels, cereal, or toast is fast, and easy, and….. Poison.
Take the steps, make the plan, do the shopping and the chopping and the prepping, to eat Medicine Food all day, every day. What are some ingredients not on these lists that you use in your smoothies?