Day 2: Vegan Kickstart

It's not too late to jump on board with PMRC's Vegan Kickstart. It's only Day 2. In the spotlight today: NBA basketball player John Salley. Even if you haven't committed to following the meal plans they outline, they have really good tips for healthy eating. Today's tip from Susan:

Cooking greens is easy, and the nutrients are abundant. Some greens have tougher stems- collards, kale, and chard-and it may be preferable to remove them before cooking. Others have stems that cook tender: spinach, watercress, and turnip greens. Adding a little lemon juice or vinegar to your cooked greens makes some of the nutrients even more bioavailable.

Buy some greens on your next shopping trip and add some lemon. If you're still eating meat, steam some greens and put chicken breast on top of it. Try it as a side. Start small, about a scoop full. Let us know about your experience.

Green Smoothies

I didn't post last week. Sorry! I have been working on other projects, but, in the meantime, my enthusiasm has not waned for the smoothie. In fact, it has only increased. Breakfast is the perfect and probably best meal to put all of your efforts into. You probably reap the most rewards from this meal. Your body is just gearing back up into full swing from "rest" mode and you need calories -- and nutrients that count. I keep hearing experts talk about making breakfast that big meal, not dinner. The smoothie is the best way I've discovered so far to get those calories in, but I'm talking about valuable calories -- calories that pack a punch.

I've discovered a really great addition for the smoothie, which I heard about multiple times but never came across any in the stores around my area. I finally happened upon a "green" product for smoothies at Trader Joe's. Love them! They have their own brand, called "Trader Joe's Super Green Drink" powder, and there's two flavors. I chose berry. This honestly tastes like chalk when  mixed with Almond Milk (vanilla flavored Almond Milk, no less). I didn't care, though. I have been faithfully putting a schoop of green drink powder in my morning smoothie. Everything else that I put into the smoothie masks this unpleasant taste. The "pièce de résistance": it provides 8000 units of Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) per scoop. Now, the label says that if I were to eat 3.5 oz of cherries, I would get 670 ORAC units. Broccoli is 900 ORAC. I was impressed the moment I read the label. But what was this ORAC?  (This cool site lists lots of of ORAC foods values.

ORAC is basically a term that describes the power that antioxidents have. Remember I was putting a few handfuls of spinach or kale in my smoothie? Well, this by far replaces that!

Now, you may think I'm a hypocrite for endorsing a powder product. "Whole Food" appears in the title of the blog, so how can  I recommend this? Well, it's called reality I guess. I'm sure there's purists out there who are aghast at what I just said. However, I'm a realist. We take baby steps here that we hope will lead to lifelong lifestyle changes.
Another check in the "plus" column for green powder is that the entire canister was $20.00 for a month's worth of servings. I figured that cost less than buying spinach or kale (in the same quantities)  for the month. Never mind the care to keep the kale fresh, or to cook it, bag it, etc. This seems like a no brainer for busy moms, students, people who work, or people who are currently alive on this planet. (Once the spring and summer harvest hit, though, I'll have to go back to fresh greens.)
Think about it. If I could one day (insert evil laugh here) sneak this into my children's smoothies, I'll have hit the jackpot. Of course, the "green" color of the powder completely takes over the smoothie, unless I include berries, and the girls will spot the intruder within a nanosecond of me handing them the smoothie. That is, if I can even get Lourdes to eat a smoothie! She's still a work in progress in the smoothie department. I'm thinking about sitting them down and just talking to them about veggies and what this powder does. I'm already brainstorming ideas for how to present these powerhouse ORACs. I have to get creative. Pull out all the stops. Put my dignity and respect on  hold. Truly, I'm thinking this might go the same way that flaxseed did. They tasted a pinhead's amount of ground flaxseed; their highly sophisticated, highly trained tastebuds detected no offending flavors. I'm now allowed to sprinkle flaxseed, in small amounts -- not nearly the heaping 1 teaspoon that I use, on sandwiches and so forth.
If I start small, maybe they'll let me sprinkle some green powder in a smoothie or even on peanut butter. I can tell you that I feel great getting two servings of veggies (AND 6000 ORACs) along with 3 servings of fruit in my breakfast alone. Top that with flaxseed and I'm already ahead of the game on my omega 3s for the day. Almond milk provides healthy fats and peanut butter some good protein. I drink this around 7:30am and I'm honestly full until about 11:00am, when I usually have another snack.
I'll keep you posted on "the talk." For now, let me know what kind of smoothies you're trying at home. Are you  "green" yet?

Leafy Greens...You Know You Want to Read This Post!

If you watch TV, read the news or access information from the internet in any fashion, then you've probably heard about the benefits of leafy greens. This sounds interesting, but what exactly are leafy greens? Do you currently eat any? Spinach counts. But you might think leafy greens is part of the lettuce family.

Not exactly, although eating different lettuces is a good thing. Leafy greens include things like Swiss Chard, Spinach Beet, Collard Greens, Kale and Bok Choy. What? Don't be intimidated by these names. They don't quite capture the heart like the names of some desserts, do they? My personal favorite: Sweet Chocolate Bread Pudding. Ahhh. They are worth getting to know, however.

Why is that? Well, leafy greens contain valuable phytochemicals that are like cancer-fighting ninjas. They play "a crucial role in fighting disease by stimulating the body's enzymes defenses against cancer-inducing substances" (The Cook's Guide to Healthy Whole Foods).  It's believed that a diet high in leafy greens (as well as cruciferous veggies) may halve the risks of certain cancers. Meet your new best friends.

Tonight, as I write this blog post, I am steaming Collard Greens. I bought a bag of them at the store; it comes one size: 32 oz of Collard Greens! This doesn't intimidate me. I'm going to walk you through my process of preparing and storing Collard Greens. Maybe you'll be brave enough to try it.






 



First, I steam the greens in about four batches, due to the size of my pan.









Then, I let them cool in the sink in a collander. My bag of greens was already chopped up, but I still have to pick through them after they are cooked and rip out the "rib" that is the middle of the leaf.  You can safely eat this part, but it is very tough and probably isn't a wise choice for newbies -- or kids.

The leftover water at the bottom of my steaming pot will be used to water plants, after it cools off of course. They will love the nutrient rich liquid. It's their only treat from me, really, as I forget to water them on a regular basis. 

Then, I put the greens in ziploc snack baggies, freeze most and put a few baggies in the fridge. I now have steamed greens that I can add to any soup or sandwich, and I won't have to steam greens again for a while. I often have a baked sweet potato, with greens and beans on top. It's actually really good. I swear!

All the while, I am smelling the aroma of this really wonderful chili cooking in my big soup pot. I'll freeze at least half of this. First time making this recipe; I didn't know it would make so much. Who would complain about having extra chili? My husband will eat this all week long. The kids will probably complain about the food being mixed together, but we'll trudge through. (Recipe from The Engine 2 Diet book.)





I wanted to give you an idea, also, of the portion sizes I give our daughters. Whole Foods are very filling, especially beans and whole grains. Here's a pic of their two bowls:

This is one ladle full. We'll also eat a fresh, whole grain bread from the infamous breadmaker with this. One of the benefits of a whole foods diet is that you are consuming calories that count. They are not empty calories, like chips for example, that are extremely palatable but don't fill you up or provide any valuable nutrients. If the girls like it, they might eat more, but this should hold them until the bedtime snack.

I'm awaiting stories of how you incorporate leafy greens into your diet. No step is too small. Don't despise small beginnings. That's my motto lately.