Whole Food Smoothies

Whole Food Nutrition

About two years ago I made a commitment to myself to eat better.

At the time I wouldn’t say that I had the worst diet in the world.  In fact, compared with a lot of other people I was doing a lot of good things from a nutrition standpoint.  For example, I avoid eating junk food and get good levels of veggies and lean protein on a daily basis.

My biggest weakness would have to be pizza. Since we have no end of wonderful pizza places in Connecticut I have to exercise a lot of will power!

Anyway, about a year and a half ago I started making smoothies for breakfast.

I wasn’t much of an eater in the morning. Often times I would grab a cup of coffee and a bagel at the local Dunkin Donuts on the way to work.

Inevitably I would have a mid morning crash that would require another cup of coffee just so I could make it to lunch! Not a good situation at all and quite frankly not a good example to my patients.

When you get a chance, why not check out my Connecticut acupuncture and nutrition practice website…

I didn’t want to end up with Diabetes and knew I had to eat better. Since I didn’t like to eat in the morning I thought a power shake might be just the thing.

So I started doing the smoothie thing in the morning.

My favorite recipe is 12 ounces of rice milk and a couple of scoops of organic rice protein powder to which I add two big scoops of frozen black berries, raspberries and blue berries and a banana or a peach. I then open my Juice Plus capsules and fortify my concoction with the nutrition of 17 fruits and veggies. I blend that up and I am good to go!

Here is the problem: no matter how tasty something is, if you eat it everyday it starts to get a little dull.

I needed to expand my smoothie “repertoire” as it were.

Also, I am intrigued with making raw food smoothies. My friend Glen Coello at Catch a Healthy Habit Café makes the most amazing raw food smoothies, but his cafe is 25 miles away.  Ouch!

I was going to have to take matters into my own hands.  And after seeing the difference my basic smoothie was making in my overall health, I wanted to start integrating more fresh fruits and veggies.

My goal this year is to be eating 50% raw food diet.

The problem?  Well, your typical blender just doesn’t have enough power to get the job done. Grinding ice and frozen fruits or even liquefying fresh veggies will kill a cheap blender in short order.

In the words of the immortal Roy Scheider in “Jaws”… “We’re gonna need a bigger boat!” Enter the “bigger boat” the Vita Mix 5200.

In short the Vita Mix is an essential tool for anyone who wants to eat more whole foods. It can do amazing things in the kitchen but don’t take my word for it. Check out their website…

Feel free to drop me a line here or on my website.  It’s super easy to leave a comment, and I will take the time to read it, and respond.

And I’ll keep you posted about the cool new smoothies I whip up…