We were using our black Jack LaLanne juicer that we picked up from a liquidation warehouse for a while, but for some reason we just didn't keep up our juicing regimen. I am not sure what it is about juicing but I just couldn't keep it up. It might be the fact that our juicer wasn't the best, or the fact that there were so many parts or who knows what. The point is that for me, personally, I took to smoothies with greater ease. I still love fresh juice but for the time being I will be paying someone an exorbitant amount of money to do the juicing for me when I desire.
So back to this sunbeam. I was juicing before school started and just like everything else outside of school, work, daughter or husband, it fell to the wayside. That juicer along with the little $15 sunbeam blender were all alone on the kitchen counter until I could no longer ignore the pooch forming in my lower abdomen. The pooch that I got rid of 4 weeks after giving birth to my daughter. The pooch that I thought I wouldn't gain. And it was staring, taunting and saying all sorts of vile things. "Hahahaha, you'll never get rid of me" it jeered from the bathroom mirror one morning. "Dammit, how am I going to get rid of this thing?" I thought. "I don't have time to cook properly, let alone work out." Depressed yet? I certainly was. The only sweating I had done was from the eyeballs trying to conquer calculus and I certainly wasn't putting anything in front of the student loan debt that required me to pass all classes with a B or better to even begin to be worth the interest rate. But that is another story for another blog.
Anyway, I was on Instagram one morning and realized I was following a page called Simple Green Smoothies. I thought to myself I should try making smoothies to help me cut back on my calorie intake and improve my diet and wondered why I hadn't thought of it earlier. So I started making smoothies. I don't really follow a recipe but I do always use spinach or kale and try to use carrots in all of my smoothies too. I feel like the veggies are the really important part but it's hard to sneak too many veggies in there or the husband and daughter won't drink. As far a fruit goes I use mostly fresh but if I find frozen for a good price I purchase it too. Normally I use berries, mango, kiwi and/or apples. I want to get around to using broccoli, avocado and many more veggies but I have to work my way up to that.
For blending I try to follow a ratio of 1 part liquid, 1 part veggies, 2 parts fruits. I will be working my way up to more veggies as soon as I can get my family more acclimated. I think as long as you have a ratio that you like you'll be fine. You have to experiment to learn what flavor combos you like and only you can decide that.
What do you guys put in your smoothies? Do you have any suggestions? What kinds of liquids do you use? I've tried water, coconut water, juice, almond or coconut milk. I think I will try yogurt soon. Have you guys tried it? Do you have a favorite? Let me know.
Here are some options I use and some I look forward to using soon. As soon as I try them I'll let you know what I think.
Veggies
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Fruits
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Arugula
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Apples
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Avocado (technically a fruit)
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Bananas
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Bell Pepper
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Berries
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Broccoli
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Citrus fruits like oranges and grapefruit
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Cucumber (technically a fruit too)
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Grapes
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Herbs like Parsley
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Mangos
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Kale
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Peaches and Nectarines
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Spinach
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Plums
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| Spinach, Carrots, Strawberries, Blueberries, Banana, Apples, Mangos, |
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| Spinach, Peaches, Blackberries, Carrots, Mangos, Bananas, Raspberries |
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