Green smoothie

I just had my first green smoothie, and I’m hooked. So simple to make, so tasty, and so filling. I got me a blender which arrived yesterday, read a few things about blending, went shopping last night and today I had a play.

Based on a few recipes I’d come across in my reading, this is my method…

1. Chopped about half a small pineapple into small chunks and blended it until juice-like.
2. Skinned an average-sized mango, added to the pineapple juice and blended that for a bit.
3. Washed 5 handfuls of spinach and added it to the blender a handful at a time, blending between each one. Used the masher thingy.
4. Tasted it. Tasted good, but missing something.
5. Added the flesh of a quarter of a small lime. Blended for a bit.
6. Tasted again. Tasted better. Blended for a bit longer.
7. Poured into a half-pint glass. It was a bit thick, but drinkable.
8. Drank.
9. Liked it a lot, so poured more.
10. Drank.
11. There was more left, so poured that out.
12. Drank.
13. Realised I’d drunk too much, felt a bit like I’d eaten a whole pizza.

So that lot made about a pint and a half which was more than enough for a single meal. More experimentation is needed with different flavours. Got me a fridge full of fruit and veg to play with, and a few other bits like root ginger and nuts. Oh, and a weekly farmers market which I will visit for the first time this week!

I’m doing this because I’ve been feeling really crappy lately, sleeping a lot and having little to no energy. In fact I’d say I’m feeling a lot like I did about 18 months ago, probably worse, and I want to go back to feeling as good as I did this time last year. I got distracted last year, and while the distractions were some of the best things that have ever happened to me, they came at a pretty high price. It seems I wasn’t ready to maintain my new healthy lifestyle while also having other major new experiences. My deteriorating health was not the reason I’ve stopped doing those new things, but now I’ve had some time to take stock I’ve seen where my priorities need to be.

I’ve resumed the healthy lifestyle, and introduced a few new elements that should aid in maintaining it. Now that I primarily work from home I have a little more freedom in terms of what I eat and where I get it from, and I intend to use that freedom to play with my diet a bit.