Only Ripe Vegetables, Fresh Fruit, and Whole Wheat

There have been a few times in my life when I’ve weighed more than I liked. Once, I tried my aunt’s collagen drink, which was touted as an extremely healthy way to shed weight. I don’t know if it was or wasn’t but I can tell you that the product I tried was vile and I knew, if that’s what it was going to take to lose a little weight, I’d rather work out. So that’s what I did; I cut my calories and increased my exercise. There are a lot of “secrets” to dieting but burning more calories than you intake seems to be a no-brainer strategy and it’s always worked for me.

Brian and I have been trying to get back into the shape we were in a few years ago. With all the moving and stress (from Louisiana to Iowa to Connecticut to homeless in Wyoming to Montana in four years), we’ve let things fall by the wayside a bit. We’ve always tried to use fresh, healthy ingredients when cooking so there hasn’t been much of a change in what we’re using but rather a re-balancing of ratios.

We’ve also started to include smoothies. Last night we made a modified version of this kale smoothie. The flavor was amazing and for the first 1/3 of the glass the texture was tolerable. I even enjoyed the bits of kale that cut the sweetness of the berries. But! As I got closer to the bottom of the drink, the settling of the raspberry and blackberry seeds, along with the tiny bits of kale, made it rather unpleasant and I honestly worried that if I didn’t stop to chew it, I’d choke. I don’t want to chew my drinks.

Until I can find a way to mince the kale a little finer, I think I’ll stick with fruit smoothies (sans seedy berries) like the one pictured here. This was made with bananas, pineapples, strawberries, pomegranate juice, and water. Because Brian likes his smoothies a little thicker than I do, I’ve blended a large serving of the fruit and pomegranate juice mixture with a tiny bit of water, stored it in a large mason jar, and mix most of the water into individual pint servings so both of us can have the consistency we prefer.

It’s a great way to start the day and it saves me having to go through all the work of getting a bowl, pouring cereal, pouring milk, and grabbing a spoon. Obviously the increasing my exercise portion of this healthy kick is a little delayed.

Title From:
Be Healthy
by Dead Prez