Lipstick on a pig, that’s what that wine glass is.  That is one ugly smoothie.  I make one just like it nearly every morning though, and I love it like a mother should.  You’re just gonna have to trust me when I say it’s awesome.

Here’s what’s going on in that swirling abyss…

• a big handful of spinach
• a banana
• tablespoon of chia seeds
• handful of frozen blueberries
• handful of frozen strawberries
• about a half cup of coconut water
• about a cup of hemp milk

I promise you can’t taste the spinach, it just tastes like a creamy strawberry-banana milkshake.  No, I’m not trying to trick you into drinking something gross, it really is good!

Dark leafy green vegetables are some of the healthiest things you can put in your body, I just happen to despise them.  Blending spinach into a smoothie daily is a great way for me to get those nutrients into my body without having to chew through a bitter spinach salad.

It’s a great trick.  You should try it.  Really….just try it!

August 27, 2010 Alayna Discussion Comments Off on An ugly duckling?

Woke up with a headache today and really didn’t want to listen to a screaming blender to make a smoothie.  I’ve been making a kind of cold porridge for breakfast lately, I think it’s technically called a muesli.  I just mix together a bunch of stuff then pour on some almond milk and let it sit for awhile to soften up.

This dry mix is equal spoonfuls of:

• granola
• plain oats
• desiccated coconut
• chia seeds
• mixed dried fruit (golden raisins and goji berries)
• toasted and crushed almonds

But you could really make it out of just about anything, as long as some oats are involved.

And here it is after a few minutes of soaking in almond milk…

So good, so healthy, and no noisy blender involved. Exactly what I needed to feel better this morning.

August 23, 2010 Alayna Discussion Comments Off on Easy breakfast

Vegan?  Vegetarian?  Carnivore?  Flexitarian?  Raw-foodist?  Locavore?  Pescatarian?  Fruitarian?  Bee-gan?  Gluten-free?

At this moment, I’m not sure that any of those words could accurately describe my eating habits without someone writing me a rageful email about how I can’t really call myself “that” because I don’t follow it with religious integrity.

I enjoy vegetarian food, but I eat meat too.  I enjoy vegan food, but I eat cheese and honey.  I love raw food and I love cooked food.  I try to eat locally, but I sometimes buy out-of-season fruit from half-way across the globe.  I eat fish and tofu; kale chips and potato chips; green smoothies and milkshakes; veggie burgers and grass-fed beef burgers; cashew cheese and cheese from a cow and even things that might be better spelled “cheeze.”

It’s not correct to say that I eat everything and anything though.  My diet, more often than not, is in the pursuit of optimal health.  I will choose a snack of something like raw veggies and hummus 9 times out of ten above a cookie (or two.)  I’m eating way more fruits and vegetables than any other food groups, but I’m not subsisting on salad alone either.  I haven’t had any fast food in at least 3 years or even a glass of milk in 2 or 3, though I’m still using other dairy products infrequently.

I just try not to worry about it.  I make positive choices about what I put into my body most of the time and I dont’ dwell on it when I eat something “bad” or over-compensate with overly-obsessive eating afterwards.

My diet is still a work in progress though.  I’m still learning about all kinds of interesting new foods to try, and others to try to avoid.  How I eat today may differ completely from how I eat a year from now, and that’s ok.

So, I’m not really a vegetarian, not vegan, not shunning gluten or praising omega-3s.  I just try to eat healthy.  I don’t think there’s a word for that, but I guess I don’t need one.

August 21, 2010 Alayna Discussion Comments Off on So, what am I?