I have been having a hard time with breakfast lately. I’m either finishing up my run and rushing to teach by 8am, or feeling groggy and not in the mood to eat. So, I decided that this week, I am going to make a little smoothie each morning. Smoothies make a great quick breakfast and are usually easy to stomach even if you aren’t super hungry. I found seven great smoothie ideas from “allrecipes.com”, which I modified to increase nutritional value. I posted the recipes below (each makes 2-3 servings), along with a little blurb on the health benefits of each. Enjoy!
Pumpkin Smoothie
Pumpkin is high in beta carotene, a powerful antioxidant!
Ingredients
1/2 cup canned pumpkin3/4 cup soy milk
1 banana½ tsp. pumpkin pie spice
4 ice cubes
Directions
Combine ingredients in blender and puree until smooth.
Pour the smoothies into small glasses (this drink is rich) and garnish each with a dollop of vanilla yogurt or whipped topping. For a fun touch, add a pinch of cinnamon or a few colored sprinkles. Serves 2 or 3.
Zucchini Banana Chocolate Peanut Smoothie
This smoothie gives you a serving of veggies at breakfast. Plus, it is high in protein, which will help keep you full until lunch!
Ingredients
1 cup grated zucchini, frozen
3 large ripe bananas, peeled and frozen
2 tablespoons chocolate whey protein powder
1/4 cup chopped peanuts
1 cup soy milk
Directions
1. Blend the zucchini, bananas, powder, peanuts, sugar, and milk in a food processor until smooth, thick, and creamy.
Peach Mango Smoothie
This smoothie is an immune booster with its healthy dose of vitamin C!
Ingredients
1 peach, sliced
1 mango, peeled and diced
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1/2 cup orange juice, or as needed
Directions
1. Place the peach, mango, soy milk, and orange juice into a blender. Cover, and puree until smooth. Pour into glasses to serve.
Banana Peach Filling Breakfast Smoothie
The oatmeal in this smoothie provides plenty of soluble fiber, which helps keep you full and is shown to reduce cholesterol levels!
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup vanilla yogurt
1 banana, broken into chunks
1 peach
1 packet instant oatmeal
2 packets granular no-calorie sucralose sweetener (such as Splenda®) (optional)
5 ice cubes
Directions
1. Place the milk, yogurt, banana, peach, instant oatmeal, sweetener, and ice cubes into a blender. Cover, and puree until smooth. Pour into glasses to serve.
Groovy Green Smoothie
This smoothie is full of iron-rich spinach, promoting blood health.
Ingredients
1 banana, cut in chunks
1 cup grapes
1 (6 ounce) tub vanilla yogurt
1/2 apple, cored and chopped
1 1/2 cups fresh spinach leaves
Directions
1. Place the banana, grapes, yogurt, apple and spinach into a blender. Cover, and blend until smooth, stopping frequently to push down anything stuck to the sides. Pour into glasses and serve.
Heavenly Blueberry Smoothie
Flax seed is high in omega 3 fatty acids, which help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and improve eye health.
Ingredients
1 frozen banana, thawed for 10 to 15 minutes
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1 cup vanilla fat-free yogurt
1 1/2 teaspoons flax seed meal
1 1/2 teaspoons honey
2/3 cup frozen blueberries
Directions
1. Cut banana into small pieces and place into the bowl of a blender. Add the soy milk, yogurt, flax seed meal, and honey. Blend on lowest speed until smooth, about 5 seconds. Gradually add the blueberries while continuing to blend on low. Once the blueberries have been incorporated, increase speed, and blend to desired consistency.
Avocado Smoothie
Avocados are full of monounsaturated fat, which has been shown to improve cholesterol levels and decrease risk of heart disease.
Ingredients
1 avocado - peeled, pitted, and cubed
5 cubes ice
3 tablespoons white sugar (or 3 packets Splenda or Stevia sweetener)
1 1/3 cups milk
1 teaspoon fresh lemon or lime juice
1 cup vanilla yogurt or frozen yogurt
Directions
1. Place avocado, ice, sugar, milk, lemon juice, and yogurt into a blender. Puree until smooth.
Apple Pie Smoothie
This smoothie tastes like dessert! Plus it is rich in antioxidants and potassium.
Ingredients
2 (6 ounce) containers vanilla yogurt
1/2 cup pumpkin
Tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 banana, broken into chunks
1 can frozen apple juice concentrate plus 1 cup water or 2 cups apple cider
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 dash ground nutmeg
Directions
1. Combine the yogurt, pumpkin pie filling, banana, apple juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a blender.
2. Blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Pour into glasses and serve.
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
"Just being"
When I about 6 years old, I was at a birthday party full of games and cake and ice cream and presents. In the middle of the party, I ran over to my mom, and said, "what are we doing tomorrow?". She laughed at me and said, "Laura, go enjoy the moment. We'll worry about tomorrow, tomorrow."
Mom was the perfect example of someone who could totally be present in her life at all times. When I'd call her and ask what she was up to, she'd always reply "just being" (usually after I had spit out about 5 paragraphs discussing my high stress level and complained about all the things I had to get done that week). That was Mom in a nutshell. The perfectly content, "zen" woman. She was a great listener and great advice giver. She was a wonderful mom and a wonderful wife and a wonderful teacher. She was loved and respected by her family, friends and colleauges alike.
I have always been a forward thinker. It is what keeps me motivated. It helps me meet deadlines and get my grading done at lighting speed. It got me through a PhD and a number of successful racing seasons. So in some ways, I am very thankful for this part of my personality.
But lately, I've been wishing I could "just be" like Mom. I have started to realize that goals (especially long term ones) can be paralyzing, preventing me from being present in my life and reflecting on and acting on what really matters.
I've started taking steps towards this way of thinking in my marathon training. I've shifted my focus to "one run at a time" and "running by feel" rather than the usual approach, which included mileage and time and pace goals. It has really helped me enjoy the marathon training process over the last 4 weeks. I've had some great hard runs where I've pushed myself to the limit, some fantastic social runs with good friends, and some nice rest days, in which I've treated my body well and let it recover from the hard sessions. And really, that's what it is all about!
I'm hoping that eventually, I can apply these principles to the rest of life. Maybe one day, I'll be able to chill out about passing back students' work the day after it is passed in. Maybe I'll be able to sit down and watch 3 hours of TV or sleep until 11am or just hang out with friends and family every once in a while without feeling anxious that I need to check something off on my list or get better at something. It is a strange and foreign concept to me, and will take time and patience to develop shift my current paradigm. But it is something I know I want to work on. It will help me reduce my constant anxiety and enjoy "living" a whole lot more.
So, try to keep things in perpective as you make goals for yourself and work towards them. Consistently reflect on whether they are helping you become a happier person or prevnting you from enjoying the here and now.
The ultimate goal is finding that balance between "What am I doing tomorrow?" and "Just being".
Mom was the perfect example of someone who could totally be present in her life at all times. When I'd call her and ask what she was up to, she'd always reply "just being" (usually after I had spit out about 5 paragraphs discussing my high stress level and complained about all the things I had to get done that week). That was Mom in a nutshell. The perfectly content, "zen" woman. She was a great listener and great advice giver. She was a wonderful mom and a wonderful wife and a wonderful teacher. She was loved and respected by her family, friends and colleauges alike.
I have always been a forward thinker. It is what keeps me motivated. It helps me meet deadlines and get my grading done at lighting speed. It got me through a PhD and a number of successful racing seasons. So in some ways, I am very thankful for this part of my personality.
But lately, I've been wishing I could "just be" like Mom. I have started to realize that goals (especially long term ones) can be paralyzing, preventing me from being present in my life and reflecting on and acting on what really matters.
I've started taking steps towards this way of thinking in my marathon training. I've shifted my focus to "one run at a time" and "running by feel" rather than the usual approach, which included mileage and time and pace goals. It has really helped me enjoy the marathon training process over the last 4 weeks. I've had some great hard runs where I've pushed myself to the limit, some fantastic social runs with good friends, and some nice rest days, in which I've treated my body well and let it recover from the hard sessions. And really, that's what it is all about!
I'm hoping that eventually, I can apply these principles to the rest of life. Maybe one day, I'll be able to chill out about passing back students' work the day after it is passed in. Maybe I'll be able to sit down and watch 3 hours of TV or sleep until 11am or just hang out with friends and family every once in a while without feeling anxious that I need to check something off on my list or get better at something. It is a strange and foreign concept to me, and will take time and patience to develop shift my current paradigm. But it is something I know I want to work on. It will help me reduce my constant anxiety and enjoy "living" a whole lot more.
So, try to keep things in perpective as you make goals for yourself and work towards them. Consistently reflect on whether they are helping you become a happier person or prevnting you from enjoying the here and now.
The ultimate goal is finding that balance between "What am I doing tomorrow?" and "Just being".
Friday, December 4, 2009
My new snack
Since I've eliminated gluten (the protein found in wheat and many other grain products) from my diet, I've been struggling with finding enjoyable sources of starchy carbohydrate. Gluten-free bread and pasta just doesn't do it for me. So a couple weeks ago, as I started ramping up my running mileage, I started being a little creative with snacks of oats, rice, and potatoes. I quickly found a new favorite food: The incredible edible sweet potato!
A microwaved sweet potato has become my new pre-workout snack. It is a nice slow digesting carbohydrate and settles well in my stomach about an hour before working out. Plus, it's natural flavor is so delicious, all it needs is a little pepper (as opposed to my tasteless rice bread that needed at least 2 Tbsp. peanut butter and jelly to taste good). I think my coworkers think I'm a little weird walking through the hall with my sweet potato every afternoon, but I can handle the sideways glances :-) I am confident in my perfect little snack!
The sweet potato was recently ranked the #1 most nutritious vegetable by the Center for Science in the Public Interest:
"According to nutritionists at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the single most important dietary change for most people, including children, would be to replace fatty foods with foods rich in complex carbohydrates, such as sweet potatoes. CSPI ranked the sweet potato number one in nutrition of all vegetables." Source: http://www.foodreference.com/html/sweet-pot-nutrition.html
Calories 130
Fat 0.39 g
Protein 2.15 g
Net Carbs 31.56 g
Dietary Fiber 3.9 g
Calcium 28.6 mg
Sodium 16.9 mg
Potassium 265.2 mg
Folate 18.2 mcg
Vitamin C 29.51 mg
Vitamin A 26081.9 IU
Source: US Department of Agriculture
Next time you are at the grocery store, stock up on sweet potatoes! Try them as your starch instead of bread or pasta at lunch or dinner, or just eat one as an afternoon snack. At most grocery stores, you can find ready-to-microwave sweet potatoes in the produce aisle. They are prewashed and wrapped in plastic. You just microwave them for 5 minutes and you have a delicious, warm, and healthy snack!
A microwaved sweet potato has become my new pre-workout snack. It is a nice slow digesting carbohydrate and settles well in my stomach about an hour before working out. Plus, it's natural flavor is so delicious, all it needs is a little pepper (as opposed to my tasteless rice bread that needed at least 2 Tbsp. peanut butter and jelly to taste good). I think my coworkers think I'm a little weird walking through the hall with my sweet potato every afternoon, but I can handle the sideways glances :-) I am confident in my perfect little snack!
The sweet potato was recently ranked the #1 most nutritious vegetable by the Center for Science in the Public Interest:
"According to nutritionists at the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), the single most important dietary change for most people, including children, would be to replace fatty foods with foods rich in complex carbohydrates, such as sweet potatoes. CSPI ranked the sweet potato number one in nutrition of all vegetables." Source: http://www.foodreference.com/html/sweet-pot-nutrition.html
So, how did the sweet potato get to be #1?
- It has cholesterol lowering and fullness-promoting properties with it's high fiber content,
- It is a powerful cancer fighter, packing over 3X the daily recommended intake of beta carotene
- It is very low on the glycemic index scale, which promotes a slow rise in blood sugar rather than the "sugar spikes" and "sugar lows" caused by white bread and pasta and sugary cereals.
Calories 130
Fat 0.39 g
Protein 2.15 g
Net Carbs 31.56 g
Dietary Fiber 3.9 g
Calcium 28.6 mg
Sodium 16.9 mg
Potassium 265.2 mg
Folate 18.2 mcg
Vitamin C 29.51 mg
Vitamin A 26081.9 IU
Source: US Department of Agriculture
Next time you are at the grocery store, stock up on sweet potatoes! Try them as your starch instead of bread or pasta at lunch or dinner, or just eat one as an afternoon snack. At most grocery stores, you can find ready-to-microwave sweet potatoes in the produce aisle. They are prewashed and wrapped in plastic. You just microwave them for 5 minutes and you have a delicious, warm, and healthy snack!
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