A Distorted Idea of Healthy

Some people think that being healthy is about losing weight and counting calories. But that is a skewed view of health. Yes you can eat a 300 calorie breakfast sandwich from a fast food restaurant, but does it have a shred of real food (fruits and veggies) in it.

Other people think that no matter how they lose weight, no matter what diet they choose, as long as they lose weight they are healthy. Honestly do you think juicing or some strange diet like a tea and nuts, us going to make you healthy. That's not good either. It's not a balanced diet. You can lose weight on a balanced diet! It's not at the end of the day about losing weight or eating less calories, it's about eating healthier overall and if it is less calories and you do lose weight that's good.

I hate the Dunkin Donuts commercial that shows someone in an office situation drinking a green smoothie which is about 400 calories versus his coworker who is eating a breakfast sandwich with the same amount of calories and tastes better. However, my question is how healthy is that sandwich really. Does it have any greens in it. Probably not. If it does it probably has little shreds of non-organic peppers in its eggs. Again, calories are one thing, but healthy calories are another. Just because it has less calories does not mean it is healthier.


Here is the original video in reference to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmG4ZjZFyag

So, in the quest of trying to lose a few pounds myself (and if you think I don't need to, then maybe you don't understand what healthy weight should look like or you haven't noticed my minor love handles) I have been trying to eat healthier. How have I done this? Replace one meal a day with a whole fruit and vegetable smoothie. For Christmas, I got a nutri-bullet. So eating healthy can taste good, maybe not like junk food (and if it claims to be healthy and does taste like junk food, then I would be skeptical of its claims), but it can taste like fruits and not veggies, even if veggies are in it.

I usually start with a piece of banana and some kind of juice like lemonade or Apple juice (organic if at all possible). This is the basis for all of my smoothies. I just change the juice to match the overall flavor I want to create. Then I add a combination of other fruits and veggies. I have started with carrots and plan to experiment with spinach later on. Because sometimes if you add spinach and don't do it with the right combos of fruit it CAN taste horrible. Maybe like that Dunkin Donuts guys grass smoothie, but nonetheless it is healthy either way.

Fruits I use in various combos (thus far):

Starfruit                Tamarind
Mango                 Orange
Pear                     Papaya
Carrot                 Apple
Lime                    Pear
Kiwi                    Strawberry
Cherry                 Blackberry
Blueberry           Sweet Potato
Banana              Cacao
Peach                Coffee
Elderberry         Grape
Cranberry

These smoothie ingredients may vary depending on what kind of blender you use. If you use a Ninja, Vitamix or Nutri-bullet you can pulverize most foods so you do not even know they are there. However, if you use a regular Hamilton-Beach or Oster, etc. blender, which I also have, you might have to experiment with what works best in those machines.

Then I add bee pollen for immunity and allergy support; lysine for immune support and superfood powder you can buy for the nutri-bullet which contains maca powder, cacao powder, goji powder and chia powder.

I get many of my fruits from the berries I have frozen that are excess from my gardens and foraging trips. The rest of the fruit I buy from any local grocery store, especially ones with good organic selections. I try to use as much organic produce as possible, but that's not always possible, so I then have to decide which fruits are best to eat organic. Apples are a prime example. Non-organic apples are so filled with pesticides, you might as well dump 8 oz of soda into your smoothie, because there's no real difference in health benefit. Apples are notorious for soaking up pesticides, because their skin is so porous. Also if I do not have frozen berries, I will not buy them, because I try to pick fruit that is currently in season and if possible grown in the US. Amazingly now is orange, papaya and starfruit season in Florida, so winter is a good time to get these fruits fresh and from the US.  Now as I mentioned previously I TRY to get organic, local and in season produce, but it can be hard, so sometimes at the end of the day I do not scold myself for not being perfect, I am just happy I ate some organic produce and ate healthier in general.


Start your day with  a FIVE A DAY smoothie and even if you screw up the rest of the day at least you know you've got your 5 in and had one super healthy meal already.

Real healthy, means eating food that is processed as little as possible. Fresh produce, fresh grains, etc. I know it can be hard, because even I fall far short of this goal. However, I realize the validity of this point and at least try to make a decent effort at it.