So I guess I really wasn’t shitting around when I said I’d be blogging less, right?!
For two weeks now I’ve been getting up at 7AM, running some errands (laundry, dishwasher, wheatgrass maintenance, prepping food supply for the day, doing homework), sprinting off to Yoga, get a quick shower and lunch, sprinting off to school (or the other way around), coming home, doing more of said errands (but add grocery shopping), catching my breath from time to time, and work some evenings, or surgically attach myself to my couch otherwise.
Lemme tell ya: I don’t remember the last time having such a mad schedule. Honestly. I am not the type to overpack her calender with a gazillion appointments and dinner dates every week. I need my ‘me-time’ and I like to underplan so I can always plan a spontaneous get together or yoga class or whatever I feel like in the moment. But what can I say? School is demanding a lot these days (and I’m caving, lol) and I still feel the desire to go to Bikram Yoga daily. So, I’m making it work.
The single most important thing that helps me keeping up this fast-paced schedule? Tons of energy. The Yoga itself is definitely giving me good energy, but it’s what I put in my body that gets me going in the long run. Without proper nutrition, doing 90 minutes of yoga every day and cycling ~45 minutes 4 days a week to and from school would only be draining me of energy.
This last weekend and yesterday were a perfect example of that, and really made me realize the most important constituens for my abundance of energy. On these days, I consumed far less greens than I normally do. Yesterday when I felt drained of energy and almost fell asleep on the couch, I peeled myself off, made myself a shot of wheatgrass, and continued to feel great! I am really thankful for figuring out how to get a lot of energy without having to resort to caffeine, raw cacao or -gasp- energy drinks, and I’d like to share my little ‘formula’, if you will.
Four major sources of greens
- Salad
- Green smoothie
- Green juice
- Wheatgrass juice
Every day, I make sure I get in at least two of the above sources of greens. But, the more the better and yes, I do feel best when I get in all four (frankly, when I do, I am just buzzing with energy!).
Also note that it’s sortof a point system. Whereas wheatgrass juice gets 4 points, for it is very potent, a salad gets only one. Why? The nutrients in whole greens (as opposed to juiced or blended) are much less available to our bodies because we can’t chew nor digest them fully. Also, because of this, they are a bit tougher on the digestive system (and remember, digestion takes up a lot of energy). Lastly, most of us need quite some oil or dressing and salt to make salads palatable. Nevertheless they are a source of greens and a vehicle for other yummy nutritious stuff (if you do salads right that is).
Even though one scores higher than the other, it’s important to realize the best source of greens is the one you can stick to consistently. A daily salad beats a random shot of wheatgrass once a week, mmkay?
It’s really very easy and simple once you get used to it. Making greens a big part of your daily diet takes some adjusting and some time but it’s really one of the best things you can do for your health, hands down. Just pick one or two sources of greens from the list above and start mixing and matching. If wheatgrass is not an option for you, no biggie. If you detest salads, just get a shot of green juice daily and you’lll be fine. Great even.
So how to get started with all of this?
- Prepare
- Always be prepared
To be a little more specific; plan/prep ahead if necessary, and always make sure you’re fully stocked on greens! I always have one, and sometimes two or even three shelves in my fridge fully devoted to greens. Dinosaur kale, Romaine (great for greens n00bs), spinach, chard, celery greens, salad mixes, a box of wheatgrass. Also, when I know I’ll be pressed for time tomorrow, I make a smoothie and a juice today, and put them in the fridge/freezer. It’s a great idea to invest in 2 portable flasks/stainless steel water bottles for this purpose. Last but not least, most of the time when I make a smoothie, I make it a double. Only a little more effort, and I have smoothie waiting for me in the fridge the day after.
Check out my recipe page for some tasty smoothie and salad recipes and my daily juice page for juice combos and refresh your memory here on why greens are so super duper healthy! I also highly recommend the book ‘Green for Life’ by Victoria Boutenko.
Two of my favorites:
Kale Superfood Smoothie
Serves one
* 3/4 – 1 cup water
* 3 handfuls shredded kale
* 1 T bee pollen
* 1 T maca
* optional: 1 T hemp seeds
* 1 banana
* 1 t vanilla extract
* 2 handfuls frozen cherries
Place all ingredients in this order in the blender, leave out the cherries, and blend well. Add cherries and blend again until smooth.
Spirulina Spritzer
Serves one
* 1 head Romaine lettuce OR 1/2 bunch of celery (including greens)
* 2 big oranges
* 1 T spirulina
Juice produce, add spirulina and mix well. Spirulina is a great source of protein, iron and chlorophyll!
What are your favorite greens and tips for consuming them? And your favorite salad/smoothie/juice?
Well what are you waiting for? Go green!
Love,
Sabine
Ps: I’ll try and reply to some comments & emails over the next few days!
Ik ga over twee weken ook weer studeren , maar wat betreft eten ga ik het dit keer anders aanpakken. Ben nu op zoek naar een thermosfles voor thee dat ik nog al vaak drink en een roestvrijstalen fles voor, ja, smoothies etc. Jij hebt toch ook zo’n Sigg fles? Hoe veel inhoud heeft ie? Twijfel daar een beetje over.
Ik zou geen Sigg fles nemen, die zijn niet bedoeld om dranken warm te houden! Bij de AH verkopen ze nu een mooie van 0,5L, en bij Hema e.d verkopen ze ze ook altijd.
I typically try to have a green smoothie for first meal and a salad for second meal. I love my greens!
I’ve been loving your blog because it’s so honest and so real and I can see the journey that you’re taking. So I am NEW to all of this. Probably just in the past 4 weeks began jucing, glowing green smoothie, food combining, vegan, oh my! The last 2, I haven’t really done, but am trying to understand it more.
Here’s MY dilemma: my just 3 yr old daughter. She’s always been mainly vegetarian but is BIG on her cheese and dairy. I had switched her to soy milk at prob 20 months but now I’m reading about the problems w soy. UGH. So I’m trying out unsweetened almond milk w/ little success. Also, although she’s a big fruit eater, she’s not so much a veggie one. Soy products and brown rice are her dinner mainstay. As is pasta.
So what’s my point?
I guess I’m trying to see if you can help me pick my battles.
Which is more important? Proper food combination? Cooked veggies vs no veggies? Dairy vs Soy? She is adamant about her cereal in the morning but I’m trying to get her to drink a freshly made apple/carrot juice FIRST though she likes to sip it w/ her cereal or fresh fruit.
help… when you have time…
Hi Priscilla,
Try mixing vegies in a fruit smoothie, when you add carrot to a banana and apple smoothie it will still taste very sweet and the colour looks nice as well (like a milkshake). Add a little bit of vegies at a time untill she gets used to the taste and texture, then you can slowly increase the amount of vegies you put in.
Freezing the smoothie’s into iceblocks always works a treat
As for the soy milk issue, my 4 year old daughter is also a huge cereal fan and I do give her a little soy milk with her cereal. You could always mix this with a little almond milk if she likes the taste.
I find that little changes at a time work best as children just need some time to get used to new flavours and textures. Try not to worry too much as children will eat better when they are a little older.
They are a great example of listning to their bodies in what they need and how much.
It looks like you are already doing a great job of setting a good example with eating a healthy diet!
Good luck.
Hey Priscilla! For everyone, but especially with kids, the most important thing to focus on is simplicity. Things like buying all organic, food combining, soy vs dairy, is great for is you’re already pretty established in a healthy eating pattern and would like to upgrade even more. But especially in the beginning, or with young kids, don’t fret too much about it.
Cooked veggies are def more importartant than no veggies at all. and making ‘green’ smoothies with lots of fruit would probably help your daughter getting in greens, as the fruit would mask the taste (and even the color if you want).
I can’t give any bold statements about soy other than that I avoid it because soy is under so much scrutiny. honestly, i don’t think anyone can say with certainty yet whether soy is healthy, or harmful. personally, i choose to be safe rather than sorry. some soy won’t be a problem I rekon, but weening her onto other sources of calcium and protein might be a good idea. sweetened almon milk maybe? you could even sweeten it up yourself with a drop of stevia
. and like raquel said, small and gradual steps with kids tend to work better than radical changes.
hope this helps
Thank you both for replying. I think I was driving myself a little crazy and spazzing out over every thing and not knowing which was MORE important to follow. I do add a handful of spinach to her smoothies and began making apple/carrot juice for her most mornings.
She is still eating a lot of Morningstar brand foods (although, w/ GMOs…) I’m trying to switch her to Quorn.
I have been buying unsweetened Almond milk b/c I’m concerned about the sugar but I’ll have to try to sweeten it myself w/ stevia or xylitol. Play around w/ it since unsweetened almond milk is much blander than unsweetened soy.
It’s a process. I just want her to be healthy and not deal w/ all the allergy/ digestion problems that her mommy has.
Have been following you for a while and love how refreshingly open you are. I love my greens too and have even got my husband drinking green smoothies each morning. My two favourites are spinach combined with banana with some add-ins (maca, chia seeds, chlorella or barley grass powder) – smooth and creamy and filling, great before working out. The other is half a cucumber, two apples, some fresh ginger all juiced and then add a big spoonful of spirulina – really refreshing and zingy with the ginger. I am an ashtanga devotee, would love to give hot yoga a try but it isn’t available where I live.
that last one sounds really great and interesting, I’ll give it a try soon!
Ik ben gek op groene smoothies. Ook omdat dan mijn jongste zoontje zijn groente binnen krijgt. Hij miept altijd over alles met het avondeten. Moeilijke eter, maar hij is dol op groene smoothies. Jammie. xxx
super handige manier om zo toch wat groenten binnen te sneaken
I love spinach. I made spinach ice cream a few weeks ago and it was pretty good!
wow, interesting
!
Great ideas. I like your “two a day” framework.
Very interesting post!
[...] Spirulina Spritzer! [...]
Green is amazing meal for human. It help to have healthy body. Not only food to eat but give life to save mother earth. Private sector and agencies build organizations related on how to save mother earth. It has something to do with green.
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Quick question: ‘kale’ is the English word for ‘boerekool’, right? Or is it different?
yep! kale = boerenkool. curly kale to be exact, which is often just referred to as kale. there is also dinosaur kale which in holland we call ‘zwarte kool’ or cavolo nero’. try it!
Yes Sabine — you are one ‘Open’-Up girl. After looking at all your Delicious looking pictures — I am inspired and throwing in few smoothie in here and there in my day. Today I had one with Kale, Garlic, Avocado, Celery and Parsley. It was a bit too, too — (whatever we all hate-too healthy tasting) so I threw in a bananna and Instantly tasted better.
Walking for energy every day –hoping to fit in some yoga too. You Are an Inspiration girl!! Can’t say don’t work too hard — for you — ‘You Are Capitalizing on (and sharing) your Youthful energy and adding more to it with vegan smoothies and Yoga!! You Go Girl!!!