My 26th birthday is just around the corner and as I begin the all-to-short journey out of my mid-twenties I am determined to have time back on my side. I am too young for these light wrinkles in the corner of my eyes and too old for the zit I am currently sporting on my chin...thanks Mother Nature, as if my life wasn't already a living hell every 28 days, you must always have my skin regress to middle school too...
So in this effort to stop the clock, or at least slow the bastard down, I have decided to test drive being healthier. Don't get me wrong, I have never really been unhealthy, I exercise, I eat my fruits and veggies (though admittedly more fruits than veggies), and I drink my recommended amount of water (and fortuitously dislike soda). And thanks to good genes, my weight is on the low end for my height- thank you Nana!!! and But I will admit right off the bat that I love carbs and sugar. If a piece of bread or a sweet is within 40 miles of me, I will sniff it out and partake. Yum yum. Why is it all the yummy stuff is bad for you?
Starting today (I was going to start yesterday but I found a stash of holiday M&M's which, um, *cough, cough* magically disappeared) I will be cutting drastically back on my carb and processed sugar intake and increasing my supplements with things such as Chia (pronounced Chee-ah, like the clay pot with plants for hair, not the same thing but the same sounding name) and gelatinized Maca powder. Yum, who needs a chocolate chip cookie when you have gelatinized powder of some root cultivated in the Peruvian mountains?
So today, I got up bright and early (or at 8:45am, but who is keeping track? BTW- I love being out of school and being able to sleep in, it is soooo nice!) and trekked to the store to buy a blender. Yes folks, I didn't even have a blender to start this whole health craze off. After returning home, and proudly setting up my blender, I proceed to make a health drink recipe that was recommended to me ("It is so good you are going to love it!" they had said...Never trust a raw-diet/vegan for a good recipe, their idea of tasty is VERY different from the general population). I stuffed in kale, beets (with tops), lemon, cucumber, and a few ice cubes and blended that garden medley right up.
Not surprisingly, it smelled like, well, a garden. I took a taste test and fought back against the pronounced lump in my throat. Seeing how my goal was not to develop a bile inducing regimen, I added some apple, then some kiwi, then some orange juice, I even considered honey! But to no avail. No matter what I did to this drink it remained as crap-tastic as ever! Not to mention the beets turned your hands, tongue, and teeth bright red! I eventually gave up and opted for organic oatmeal without sugar and am now eating fresh green beans as I write this.
I may have lost the battle, but I am winning this war, gosh dang-it! I just need to find a recipe that masks that god awful- ahem, I mean, potent taste of kale and raw beets. If any of you have any recipes that are half way decent (by normal people standards) and doesn't included processed sugar, please, share with the class! :-)
