Mindful Eats

Updated Green Juice Recipe and Juicer Cleaning Hack

Courtesy Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

I was delighted to wake up to an email from Today wishing me Happy National Green Juice Day. There's a day for everything! Let's celebrate vegetable juice since it's loaded with vitamin goodness. Starting your day with green juice drenches your body with goodness and gives you a head start in getting in your vegetables. Last year I found a brilliant juice hack that makes juicing TWICE as easy, so I dusted off my post on vegetable juicing (from 2009), and am updating it, along with my hack.

First - the hack. It took me 10 years to figure this out. It is so obvious that it's also possible that everyone but me has already been doing it. The thing about juicing is that it takes effort. You have to juice and clean up the juicer, which takes me 10 minutes when I'm being uber efficient. So last year, I started making TWO days of juice. That's right, twice as much juice with only half the cleaning. Now I can drink 4 days of juice with just two days juicing. So blindingly obvious - why did it take me so long to learn this?! The problem is that the nutrients start to degrade as soon as the juice starts oxidizing, but honestly, who cares? You're still getting great nutrition on the second day even if its less than the day before, and you're gaining extra juice days that you wouldn't have had. It's a win/win. If you're firing up the juicer, give yourself that extra day!

The updated post from May 2009 (it's actually a classic so there are minimal changes. I've become a little more hardcore since then, so I'm updating the recipe a little for less sugar). For another recipe, here is Martha Stewart's recipe from Today:

What to do - Juice Vegetables

1. Start off by buying fresh vegetable juice at health food stores or juice bars. Try different varieties, but make sure there is no added sugar or dairy. Just vegetables and maybe a little fruit. The easiest juices for people to start off with are cucumber and celery. However, the dark green vegetables like kale and collard greens have the most benefits.
2. Invest in a juicer. To get the maximum benefits of juice, it has to be fresh (not stored). It can save you money to buy a juicer and juice yourself, and you can juice whatever you feel like. I'm on my third Breville Juice Fountain in 11 years. There are lots of different types, so visit stores and ask questions or do your research online to find one that will work for you. Slow juicers may have more health benefits, but the Breville is convenient for my lifestyle. You have to go with what you are going to use.
   
3. Stock up on your juicing vegetables once a week. The darker greens like kale, mustard greens and collard greens have the most nutrients. You can juice anything though. We save the vegetable parts we don't cook like broccolli skin and asparagus stems to juice. Garlic is good for you. If you want to cut the "green" taste, add 1/2 lemon (you can throw the whole thing in, skin and all). To make it sweeter, add an apple, carrots or grapes. Oh, one thing NOT to juice is the top of leeks. We found out the hard way that they can make you sick.
4. Juice often. You can juice several times a week to several times a day. To increase the amount of juice per effort, you can make two days of juice at each go. Be aware that the nutrients do starts to degrade immediately, so if you're going to save some for tomorrow, fill a glass container up to the rim and put a lid on it so it doesn't oxidize.
5. Clean your juicer meticulously. Clean it as soon as you're done, and make sure the filter is scrubbed. Soak the filter in white vinegar every month or two to dissolve some of the food debris. If it gets really bad, soak the filter in bleach and then clean carefully.
6. Recycle the fiber. Some people add it to meals and eat it. It also makes great compost.
7. You don't need to juice only organic vegetables, though you may head in that direction.
   

MindfulEats Green Juice Recipe (for 2 days)

1. 10-15 leaves of kale
2. 2 stalks celery or 2/3 cucumber during the summer (the cucumber is much better!)
3. 2-4 carrots
4. 1.5" - 2" chunk of ginger
5. 1" - 2" chunk of tumeric
6. 1 whole lemon, rind and all
7. Veggie scraps from yesterday's meals
8. optional: 1 apple or pear if you are new to juicing
   

What I ate: 12 oz. water with Welleco Green Elixir, 16 oz latte, 2 oz assorted cheese, 1/2 cup nuts, 4 c. Pop Karma olive oil and cheddar popcorn, 1 orange, 23 clementines, 2 fruit rollups, 1 c. brown rice, 2 c. steamed broccoli + tofu + mushrooms, roasted seaweed, kimchi, 6 squares dark chocolate. 1 c. hot chocolate, 16 oz water

Exercise: 45 minutes spinning, 5 min stretch, 5 min core

New Year Resolutions: Bottle your favorite feeling

I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it. ~Thomas Jefferson

If you've been reading MindfulEats for a while, you know that the New Year is a favorite holiday - not for the parties, but for the fresh start and the chance to create resolutions that will make it the Best.Year.Ever.

You may roll your eyes at resolutions, but it's fun to get inspired. It's all about making resolutions that you have a chance to follow through on. You might have standard resolutions that you tweak every year, but here is a fun new way to create some for 2022 that will help you live a better year.

First, grab a piece of paper or open a new document, and think of your favorite memories from 2021. Write them down.

That was fun! Now sort through those memories, and pick the top one or two -- when you felt on top of the world and unstoppable. Circle them. Wouldn't it be great to bottle that memory and those feelings? It's not about recreating the memories, but creating NEW experiences in 2022 that generate the same awesome feelings.

So, think about that favorite memory again.

• What did you do to get you there?
• What plans did you make?
• Who got you there?
• What work did you put into it?
• Which skills did you draw on to make it happen?
• What luck did you have to make it happen?

Write it all down. Pick the five actions that have the greatest impact. Those are your 2022 resolutions, and they will guarantee great results. Now go get 2022, tiger!

 

Exceptional Eggs: Blue Speckled Legbar and Copper Maran

I was at the Mariano's in Chicago, and was over the moon to discover these gorgeous blue and brown heritage eggs. We love eggs at MindfulEats, and these are exceptional. It's not the hens that are exceptional, but the way the hens are treated. You can tell a high-quality, well-raised quality egg from its deep colored yolk and heavier weight. When you crack them open, the yolks "stand up" high if they are fresh. Eggs provide the highest-quality protein, and when they are from healthy hens they are actually more nutritious and delicious! Learn all about eggs and their benefits. Look at these beauties from the Happy Egg Co:

Check out this beautiful colored and striated shell of this Copper Maran egg!

And this yolk! Free-range hens that are healthy and able to move about and grub naturally will have more nutritious, orangey yolks. At MindfulEats we aren't looking for greater technology in our food -- we want natural, old ways of growing our food with plenty of time, space, nutrients, and happy animals. Yum, these eggs are delicious!

Golden Turmeric Milk

“Each spice has a special day to it. For turmeric it is Sunday, when light drips fat and butter-colored into the bins to be soaked up glowing, when you pray to the nine planets for love and luck.” ― Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni, The Mistress of Spices

We promised you the recipe for Golden Milk or Turmeric Milk in the last post. This luscious drink is great before bed and loaded with superfoods. Originally from India, it includes lots of spices that are especially lovely when it is cold out. Golden Milk is a good way to add turmeric to your diet (which is what turns milk golden). However, if you are trying to get a health benefit, remember that eating something once does not do you any good. Like exercise, you can't do it once -- taking just one yoga class or drinking one green juice is not going to improve your health. To truly gain a benefit, you need to do something regularly a few times a week and make it a habit. It's all about increasing your batting average! My neighbor loves turmeric and puts it in everything -- she jokes that her kids ask her why all their food is yellow.

Why are people so crazy about turmeric? The curcumin in turmeric is anti-inflammatory and boosts your body's antioxidant capacity. It is touted to help brain function, depression, cancer, and heart disease. A cup of Golden Milk after dinner is supposed to ease digestion too. Enough talk - here's the recipe:

Golden Milk / Turmeric Milk Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of dairy or plant milk of your choice (I prefer dairy because it isn't uber-processed like plant milk, but if I had to choose a plant milk, oat milk is very creamy)
• 1 inch of fresh grated turmeric or 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder
• 1 small piece of fresh grated ginger or 1/2 teaspoon of ginger powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon or small part of a stick
• pinch of black pepper or a few pepper corns
• honey or maple syrup to taste (optional)

Steps:

1. Pour milk in a sauce pan. Grate the turmeric and ginger into the pan. Add the rest of the ingredients, unless you are using cinnamon powder. I prefer to use fresh ingredients, but they aren't always available and dried spices are much more convenient, so use what you have. Personally, I don't use any sweeteners because sugar is evil.
2. Heat sauce pan over low heat until it reaches a slow, barely boiling point.
3. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until it is fragrant.
4. Strain the milk into a mug if you used fresh ingredients and/or peppercorns.
5. Sprinkle cinnamon on top.
6. Enjoy! You can also make a larger batch and keep it in the refrigerator for a few days. Just heat it up in the microwave or on the stove.

 

 

Plant milk vs Dairy milk

Almond and macadamia plant milks

"Eat less from a box and more from earth." 

Plant "milks" are all the rage - oat milk seems to have taken over coffee shops, and there are a plethora of other plant milks to choose from at the store: soy, rice, almond, cashew, macadamia, sesame, pistachio, et al. There can be a halo effect for plant milks since they are vegan, but are they really healthier than good old dairy milks? Let's investigate.

Small aside: why are they called plant milks anyway? When I liquify a plant of any type - apple, carrot, beets - to drink, I call it a juice. Isn't milk from a breast? Do they call it milk because you are only supposed to use these plant milks as a dairy milk substitute? In Taiwan there is a history of drinking soy milk but not dairy milk, so it's not called a milk or used as a substitute but as a drink of its own. Anyhow, I digress.

Like Impossible Burgers or other plant-based meats, commercial plant milks are much more processed than the original dairy milk. Let's look at some ingredients lists:

Sheltering in Place? Great! Tips for Getting Healthier

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Photo by Maximiliano Carrizo from Pexels

Have you ever wished you could get healthier - improve your diet and exercise more - but life just seems to get in the way? You know, work gets crazy so there is no time to work out OR you have to go out to lunch with colleagues OR there is free food sitting out by the printer OR you have to go out to dinner with clients OR you are traveling and can't control the food you get OR you can't figure out how to get ready for work at the gym?

Look, this coronavirus pandemic is horrible so you might as well squeeze some lemonade out of it. For those of us that are "sheltering in place" or spending an extended amount of time at home, it's the perfect time (even better than the start of the new year) to kick start your habits and come up with the sparkly new improved you. Sure, you're catching up on your favorite shows, doing puzzles and becoming the social media queen, but why don't you invest the commuting time you are saving into the habits you have wanted to make a regular part of your life? It can be the foundation for a better future than you imagined.

Things to do with a few weeks at home:

The Best Weight Loss Tools: Food Logs and a Lose It! Review

"What's measured improves." ~Peter Drucker

As you look at your goals for the year, is losing weight or eating more mindfully on your list? Well, one of the most powerful tools to help you succeed is a FOOD LOG. Ugh, boring, old-fashioned you say? Well, they WORK. You must have a baseline of what you eat and how much you exercise before you can improve on it. You might think you already know your habits, but you don't really until you keep track of it. I promise you will learn a lot by keeping a food diary for a week.

You can keep track of your eating on a piece of paper or use a digital food log. Here is a step-by-step guide on how to keep a food log, and why you should know your baseline (along with a printout for a paper food log). I always kept food logs on paper since I like to look at what I eat on a broader weekly view, but I recently tried a digital log (the Lose It! app), which worked like a charm. Review below.

After gaining some weight, I decided I needed to lose a few pounds. I tightened up my diet and focused on whole unprocessed foods, and ate more moderate portions. This always works. Then my husband started using Lose It! and I tagged along. It was easy, and it supercharged my weight loss so I lost twice the amount of weight in the same amount of time. I am a big believer in food logs, but even I was surprised by the results.

Why did I love Lose It!?

Healthy Poor People Meals - How to Eat Healthy on the Cheap

Everything you need for rice and beans - feel free to adjust according to taste and ingredients

"Much ingenuity with a little money is vastly more profitable and amusing than much money without ingenuity." ~Arnold Bennett

MarketWatch recently wrote about a 29-year old woman who lost her job recently asked for cheap healthy meals in a Reddit post. She got hundreds of great tips and ideas. You can find her post here.

How can you be mindful on the cheap? You have to buy things on the cheap and use them all (zero food waste is ideal). To do so, start with a weekly menu plan. If there is produce on sale in the grocery store, it means that it is in season. Load up. Dried and canned beans, frozen vegetables, brown rice, canned tomatoes and fish - these are the cornerstones of affordable, healthy meals. If you find them on sale, buy in bulk as these can all go straight in the pantry and last. Vegetarian meals are cheaper than meat, but be mindful of getting protein through cheap sources like beans, legumes and eggs.

When you make meals, feel free to make extra portions that you can refrigerate and eat throughout the day, or freeze them for even more longevity. Use produce that won't spoil quickly - cabbage, collard greens, kale, squash, carrots, turnips (any root vegetables).

What to do - 3 Easy Steps to Eating Cheap and Healthy

1. Get inspired and find some meals that you would like to cook. You can look at the Reddit post, review our Mindful recipes, or do your own search.
2. Create your weekly menu plan that allows you to use all your food. You will be less likely to buy expensive last minute food if you have all your meals planned out as well. This is very important!
3. Take your menu plan and do your weekly grocery shopping. Voila! You've maximized your wallet and your health. Pat yourself on the back!

 

 

What I ate: slice Ezekiel 4:9 bread +1.5 T cream cheese + avocado mash + hard boiled egg, 2T Welleco Elixir, Paleo popcorn, 2 Trader Joe dark chocolate mini peanut butter cups, 14 oz coffee + milk, slice cheese pizza, cookie, 5 grape leaves, Welleco vanilla protein drink, pear, Paleo popcorn, pistachios, raisin oatmeal cookie, Mariebelle hot chocolate, 40 oz water

Exercise: 60 min boot camp

 

 

You're never too old or young to exercise

“Who told you it was too late? And more importantly, why did you choose to believe them?” ― Richelle E. Goodrich

MindfulEaters, new research shows that if you have been a couch potato until you are 50, and THEN you start exercising, you will do just as well as the athlete that has been exercising since she was a teenager! A lot of research has gone into showing that regular exercise helps older adults maintain health and cognitive thinking - we've even covered it here. Now there is also a recent study that suggests physically fit young people have healthier white matter. So everyone get up and move! Get your kids, parents and grandparents on a regular exercise regimen to improve heart, mental, diabetes and overall health.

Starting exercise late in life? A study shows that if you begin intense exercise training in mid-life, you bank many of the same benefits as lifelong athletes. The study compared runners who had been racing for decades against runners that didn't start training and competing until after 50. Guess what? Both groups were similarly swift, lean and well-muscled. So if you're a masters athlete, you will be a paragon of "healthy aging" no matter how old you were when you first got off the couch and laced up your shoes.

HOWEVER, that doesn't mean you should wait until 50 to exercise.

Real vs. Organic, Non-GMO, Keto, Vegan, Plant-based Processed Foods

Beyond Meat Burger Ingredients

I went to the largest trade show for natural and organic products in the US this year - Natural Products Expo West. There are over 30,000 attendees and thousands of different food items. It's huge! There was a dazzling array of foods in packages. One of the most obvious trends this year was CBD, but the one thing that was abundantly clear was that Americans are confused about what to eat that is healthy! 

MindfulEaters, here's a secret: anything that comes out of a package is probably processed. You already know what real food looks like. Expo West was full of different kinds of food bars, plant burgers, and all kinds of convenience foods stuffed with supplements. All those things are processed foods! If there are lots of ingredients and it doesn't look like it's natural form, it's processed. It doesn't matter if it's organic, non-GMO, keto or stuffed with superfoods. A protein bar is still not a natural food item. Instead of eating the bar, have a hard boiled egg or two! You can boil lots of eggs at once, keep them in the refrigerator, then take them with you for a handy snack. Or have some chicken. You are going straight to the source for real natural protein instead of a funny bar shaped food.

You are better off eating non-processed or minimally processed unorganic real food than any kind of processed food. That's the simple truth.

Just because it's labeled organic, non-GMO, keto or vegan doesn't mean it's good for you. Organic macaroni & cheese in a box is still processed macaroni and cheese. Don't think you are eating something non-processed just because it's organic. You can eat it - just be conscious that you are consuming a processed food.

If you are eating plant "meat" to be healthier, be aware of what's in the ingredients list. A lot of things! (see above). You can grill a portobello mushroom just as easily. It's delicious and it's a real plant.

If you're snacking, remember a non-GMO quinoa chip is still a processed chip. Choose air-popped popcorn or roasted seaweed for snacks that are minimally processed. Or a banana, piece of fruit, carrot sticks or hard boiled eggs. Hummus and celery. You have so many options!

Why do you want to eat less processed foods? Because ultra-processed foods are bad for you.

What to do - Eat more fresh unprocessed food

1. Shop for real food. Organic or not, that's what is best for you and your family. Not protein bars, powdered supplements, chips or balls. Real food.
2. Create a food plan (your Mindful Battle Plan) for the week. Figure out your meals so you can take a list with you to the grocery store and spend less time making more satisfying meals!
3. Prepare most of your meals at home.The faster the better - and if you cook in large batches, you can take in lunch or have leftovers later in the week.
4. Figure out which ultra-processed foods are your weakness, and don't buy them! Do not let them in your house!! Here are some popular culprits: chips, diet soda, frozen pizza, candy, pre-packaged cakes, certain breads (do for the whole grain breads).
5. Snack well. Create a fruit bowl and keep it filled. This will be your go-to for snacks. Make a Mindful Mixfor your other snack needs.

 

What I ate today: steel cut oatmeal + strawberries + blueberries + blackberries, Prêt a Manger lobster roll, bowtie summer pasta, steamed broccoli, corn on the cob, pluot, green tea ice cream, Lesser Evil popcorn, coffee, water

Exercise: power yoga