Ultimate Green Smoothie Ingredients
My Favorite Kitchen Machine - Vitamix
I’ve been getting a lot of questions from friends and colleagues about nutrition, diet, etc. I’m no expert. But, I have been reading and learning a lot. My nutrition evolution looks a little something like this …
Abs Diet
1) Almonds and Other Nuts eaten with skins intact.
2) Beans and Other Legumes
3) Spinach and Other Green Vegetables
4) Dairy: Fat-free or low-fat milk, yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese
5) Instant Oatmeal: Unsweetened, unflavored
6) Eggs
7) Turkey and other lean meats. Lean steak, chicken, fish
8) Peanut Butter – All-natural, sugar-free.
9) Olive Oil
10) Whole-Grain Breads and Cereals
11) Extra-Protein (Whey) Powder
12) Raspberries and Other Berries
Vitamix fruit/dairy smoothies for lunch with whey powder, etc.
A good start for weight loss … but really incomplete as it doesn’t address the dangers of eating too much animal-based foods.
Food Inc.
Meat warehouses & factories
Washing meat in bleach to reduce e-coli
Disappearance of ‘farms.’
Fast Food Nation & Obesity
Poorest = Fattest Pardox
In Defense of Food
Western Diet … Food-like substances replace real food. Fascination with nutrients instead of real food. “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
The China Study
The typical western diet quantity of animal-based food is the primary factor in the prevalence of cancer/heart disease/diabetes/obesity/etc. in the US. I’m only 1/2 of the way through but I wish everyone I know would read it. It produces in me equal parts: education, motivation, and anger (maybe too harsh a word but used for effect).
The Evolution
At first, my interest was strictly weight-loss related. (I’ve lost 35 lbs. over the last couple years.) Then, as I got more serious about training for triathlons, I saw the real food as fuel that would help me get lean and fast (still have a ways to go on both :). Now … what’s become most important to me is the real WHY behind eating right … the direct connection to our health (not just short-term ‘I feel healthy’ health but long-range avoid disease type health). Having lost dad to cancer makes this hit home and helps me avoid the ‘it couldn’t happen to me’ thought.
All of these studies, books, movies point to the inspiration of the Word of Wisdom. At the time it was given, people didn’t understand why fruits, herbs, vegetables, grains should be eaten and meat only sparingly. People certainly didn’t know the tobacco-lung cancer connection back then. It should be no surprise then, that the word of wisdom (100+ years before any studies or research was done) includes the promise that those who live it, both the proscriptive (plant-based diet, meat sparingly) & restrictive (tobacco, alcohol, coffee, tea, drugs) shall …
“…receive health in their navel and marrow to their bones; And shall find wisdom and great treasures of knowledge, even hidden treasures; And shall run and not be weary, and shall walk and not faint.”
Check out the section about it on mormon.org
I’m not a vegetarian. I will never become one. But, we have made changes in our diet/lifestyle to eat mostly real fruits, vegetables, grains (complex carbs), and significantly reduce our meat consumption. And, I’ve never felt better. I’ll still share a godiva chocolate cheesecake with Jess on occasion. I’ll still pound down a juicy steak on occasion. But, the key (for me) is to make what used to be a couple times a day more like a couple times a week. I strongly recommend The China Study to anyone looking for the motivation to make some changes along these lines.
I’m no expert. But, all the experts I’ve been reading (and referencing) are all pointing to the same thing to be fit now and be healthy for life.
