Blackberry Orange Green Smoothie

We had an amazing family get together yesterday morning to celebrate my dad's birthday and my uncle's. Coming from a German background I am sure you can imagine that there is always a lot of food involved not always of the healthiest kind, but we have lots of fun that's for sure!

Brunch picnic by the beach on a cool morning with the sound of the ocean in the background; I love family get togethers like that! Everyone sharing their Thermomix goodies, because, yes, all of us have a Thermomix in the meantime.

In the evening I wanted to give my body some much needed green goodness to balance the remainder of the day at least a little. I teamed up some frozen blackberries I still had in the freezer, an orange and spinach et voila: Saturday night green smoothie!

Ingredients

• 120g washed spinach
• 120g frozen blackberries
• 1 big orange peeled and quartered
• 100g water

Blend all ingredients on speed 10 for 1 minute and enjoy the goodness you are putting into your body!

Did you know that due to it's vitamin C content blackberries are great for eye health? Plus they are great for bone health due to it's vitamin K content!

Spinach Green Smoothie

Here in Perth it is quite cold in the morning now and I have been finding it a little harder than usual to drink green smoothies because I think my body just wants to warm up. However I have figured out that if I have the heater going and the house is quite nice and warm, I enjoy and love to have my green smoothies in the morning.

One of my beautiful friends has requested that I post some more green smoothie recipes so I decided to post this spinach green smoothie recipe. It tastes a little more green than others but you still get the flavour of the apple, the pear and a hint of lemon coming through. I really enjoy this green smoothie and it is one for those days where you might not want something overly sweet.

Ingredients

• 200g of washed spinach
• 1-2 celery sticks roughly chopped (I recommend starting off with only one so that you can see how you enjoy the celery and you can always increase the next time to two sticks)
• slice of lemon, peeled
• 300g of water
• 1 pear, roughly chopped
• 1 apple, roughly chopped

Add all the ingredients into your Thermomix bowl or your blender and blend on speed 10 for 1 minute.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! Please let me know if you would like more of any particular recipes or if there is a recipe that I can help you convert!

Green Lemon Drink

This morning I woke up and as I was making croissants for my dad's birthday, which we celebrated down at the park, I tried out a green lemon drink recipe in the Thermomix. It turned out awesome and I found it gave me heaps of energy.

Ingredients for this cool green drink are:

• bunch of parsley
• 1 lemon (peel and pith removed)
• 1-2 tablespoons of honey (you might need a bit more depending on your taste)
• a few ice cubes
• 500g water

Add all of the above ingredients and blend for 2 minutes on speed 9.

I had a glass of this green power drink and went on to do a rebounder workout for 20 minutes followed by some weights. After my workout I rewarded myself with another glass of my green drink. If I would have had time I also would have probably gone for a run because I felt I still had some energy but I will probably do that tonight.

How will this drink benefit your health?
Parsley has many health benefits and can expel worms, relieves gas and even freshens your breath. It can also stimulate normal activity of the digestive system and healsh the kidneys, bladder, liver, lung and stomach to stay healthy. Lemon is awesome because it eliminates toxins from the body and helps restores balance in the body.

What are your favourite parsley recipes?

This is a picture of my personal trainer who makes sure I stick with my workout and don't cheat:

  Lots of love!

Cantaloupe Green Smoothie Recipe

For today's green smoothie I still had half a cantaloupe melon so I made the following smoothie.

• 1/2 cantaloupe melon
• 1 cup berries
• 2 cups of spinach
• 1 cup of water 

It turned out super delicious! I love cantaloups and especially combined with the berries it tasted amazing!

Enjoy!

16 January 2012 - Today's Training and Nutrition

After the past week of my juice detox I am fired up and ready to step up my training and boost my nutrition for the New York Marathon later this year. This morning I first of all got up and did some yoga specifically designed for the upper body and core which is very very important for running and can make a huge difference especially when it comes to long distance running. In the afternoon I went to the gym and completed a faster 10 minute walk to warm up continued by 20 minutes in my MAP zone (for me this is currently 134-154) and finishing off with another 10 minute walk. I concluded the day with my basic bounce rebounder workout to support my whole system and strengthen lots of other muscles at the same time while having a lower impact on the joints.

In regards to nutrition I had the following today
- for breakfast I had a young coconut with a handful of spinach blended up in my Thermomix. However I felt like it was a little too filling for me and too rich. So tomorrow I will try something a little lighter a fruit green smoothie (I am currently thinking about apple juice, banana, chlorella and maybe a kiwifruit). I will let you know how this goes and whether I feel better using this.

- to drink throughout the day I had lots of water to stay hydrated and some peppermint tea when I went to visit my dad.

- for lunch I had a raw food soup using tomatoes, parsley and cucumber. It was so delicious and just perfect from the quantity and energizing.

- before and after my training I had a workout juice for which I juiced each 2 apples, 1/4 lemon, 1 celery stalk and 1/4 cucumber. This was amazing before the training it gave me a real boost and I felt ready to run. Also after the workout the juice gave me an overall well feeling.

- for dinner I had a sourdough bread roll and a multigrain breadroll spread with avocado and topped with lots of yummy veggies. I had cucumber, yellow capsicum. tomato and spinach. I found it very tasty and have to say that after the detox I appreciate the different tastes and food a lot more. I found myself consciously enjoying the food and enjoying every bit of it.

My plan is to continue the three workouts a day for six days a week and have one day a week off. I am also including as many fresh fruits and vegetables as possible to maximise my energy and decrease my recovery. Another important aspect I want to make sure of is that I get at the very least 7.5 hours of sleep every hour for this week as a trial to see whether this is enough for me. If it isn't I will be adjusting my schedule the next week.

After the detox I will continue to have my regular cup of tea at night; preferably fresh such as lemongrass, peppermint from my garden, fennel from the markets or a ginger & tumeric tea which can have an anti-inflammatory effect on the body.

Have a great evening and let me know about your training and schedule!

My Garden Green Smoothie

This afternoon after work I went for a "little excursion" in my cute little garden on a mission to find some nutritious greens that I could use for my green smoothie. I found some salad greens, some parsley, some mint as you can see below... in total it was about a good handfull.

Next I added one apple, one pear, 1.5 cups water and a frozen banana and blended everything in the Thermomix for a minute on speed 9.

Enjoy!

Green Smoothie 14 Day Challenge Update

So I am well over the 14 days I committed to consuming a green smoothie each day. I thought it would be well worth while to tell you that my energy levels have increased significantly and I love it that much that I still keep consuming a minimum of one smoothie or sometimes even two a day.

I did a bit of research to find out more as to why green smoothies over time give you more energy and this is why:

• Because the ingredients are blended up, the body can access the nutrients in the blended fruits and vegetables easier resulting in better health
• Green smoothies still contain fiber and therefore will keep you feeling fuller for longer
• Chlorophyll = Energy. Therefore the chlorophyll contained in the greens in the smoothies will give you more energy and ensure that you consume sufficient amounts of greens (if you have a minimum of 2-3 cups of green smoothie each day).

Today I had a Chocolate Green Smoothie
I found this recipe Jo's blog and love the raw cacao powder in it. If you are not used to the taste of green smoothies then this is perfect for you because you literally cannot taste the greens. You are drinking a thick and nutritious chocolate smoothie! Amazing recipe and so good for you; give it a shot and let me know what you think! Plus whenever I have it it keeps me going all morning it is so filling!