I've always loved smoothies, and I've found they're a good way to help me change the diet lifestyle a little. I've been inspired by some healthy people who went vegan just because it gave them more energy. With my fibromyalgia, a doctor suggested I try to avoid dairy and gluten products. My lifestyle has been adjusted to my basic plan in my first post below; to switch it up and quit dairy and gluten would be too much for me to handle all at once. So instead of my normal lowfat cheesestick for a morning snack, I switched that to nuts and raisins. And instead of yogurt or cereal or eggs for breakfast, I'm doing smoothies. It's an easy substitute for me to get used to, and then I can move on to other substitues. My next goal is vegetable soup, and in general a lot more cheap soups that will last a long time and avoid dairy and processed, not-fresh food. Salad is too expensive right now and I'm trying to lay off meat a little more since it gives some people energy to see if it helps.
Verdict: OMG now that I'm trying not to have cheese I crave it all the time. I've had some personal feminine issues the last 2 months so I'm basically craving everything you do on PMS - like bread, chocolate, and the most unhealthy food you can think of; so I'm blaming most of it on that and trying to balance lol. Also since my energy has been low and my pain worse during this health issue, making a big smoothie in the morning and saving 1/2 lets me have a super easy snack or meal if I can't prepare anything else to eat to keep my metabolism going and not lose more energy.
I found this combo that is freaking delicious, has fiber so it helps my issues and makes me feel full, and so much good healthy stuff in it. By keeping everything 100% juice or natural or fresh I'm only taking in natural sugar. By keeping my portions small I'm not using up the ingredients (the powders are expensive) that fast and can make it last, as well as buying the cheapest versions of the frozen juice and fruit.
I use a cup of juice, a handful and 1/2 of fruit, a spoonful of the sprouted ground flax, a splash of the V8 to get a little bit of veggie in there (I'm not up to green spinach smoothies yet lol), and a spoonful of the Metamucil that has cholesterol-lowering stuff as well as the fiber. I was used to putting yogurt in smoothies, so since I'm avoiding dairy I put applesauce in there sometimes. I also love strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries as another combo. I haven't gotten the portions just right but my husband gets a couple gulps of whatever's leftover lol.
*For worriers - the Metamucil is such a fine powder and flavored orange that you can't taste it, and you can never taste ground flax (see my brownie recipe!). I also use a strainer to keep the seeds and pulp out - that's always been my biggest deterrent from eating fresh fruit or juices with pulp (I know it sounds stupid but I grew up on canned fruit and the texture drives me nuts).
My new experiment is trying fresh fruits that are cheap that I don't like to eat due to seeds or pulp. I'm excited for fresh kiwis and strawberries since that's always a famous combo and I've never tried it fresh. I'm also excited to try a fresh orange and banana. I love eating bananas regularly but have never cared for them mixed with anything else, even though strawberry and banana are another famous combo. I think mixing it with an orange sounds good. Then I'm move onto exotic things I found at the store that I never knew existed - like starfruit. Will keep you posted. : )
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