FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Pretty Little Smoothies

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I’m on my fourth day of detoxing and it’s been much easier than I thought it would be.  I accredit the ease with two things: not working for the past four days and doing a modified detox/cleanse.

The detox supplement that I’m taking doesn’t require a special diet, so I decided to stick to mostly green smoothies during the detox to give my digestive system a maximum break after a few weeks of maximum gorging.  A typical day has been nursing 32-ish ounces of smoothie throughout the morning and early afternoon, snacking on bananas, cooked kale, or nuts when I feel the need to chew, and finishing the day with another smoothie.  Although I’ve rarely felt stuffed, I have yet to feel starving.

Detoxing has also become easier now that the new year is officially here and my friends are just as anxious as I was a few days ago to be nicer to their bodies.  Getting Val to come over for smoothie dinner and Pretty Little Liars was easy peasy.

Side note:  My taste in television is perhaps the least cool thing about me.  It’s been over a year since I cancelled DVR and the only channels I know by heart are ABC Family, CW, and MTV (and only because it’s been channel 66 since my babysitting days).

FoodFash Tropical “Green” Smoothie

yield: about 32 ounces

1/2 cup of aloe vera juice

1/2 pineapple, skin removed

2 inches of  ginger, skin removed

1/2 avocado

1 cup of water

1 cup of ice

Val and I downed our tropical smoothies (followed by berry carrot smoothies) while sitting in teeny-bopper suspense.  It only took one hundred or so self-timer pictures of us watching TV to get one where we actually looked “normal”.

What are your guilty pleasure TV shows?  If one of them is Pretty Little Liars, who do you think A is?!

Detox

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I recognize that most people wait until after the new year to get back into the swing of real life, but I just couldn’t wait.  I’ve been off of work since the 23rd and after seven days of acting like a college kid, I’m done.  I was getting lazier by the second, changing out of one pair of pajamas only to jump into another.  It was a problem, this laziness.

I went to Rollin’ Oats last night and stocked up on everything and anything that looked blend-able.  Yup, in pajamas.  Pajamas that I graciously disguised as yoga gear.

Let’s just be thankful that I made it out of the house.

FoodFash Jump Start Smoothie

yield: 32 ounces

2 kale stalks, de-stemmed

1/4 papaya, seeds removed

1/2 lemon, seeds removed

1-2 inches of ginger, skinned and sliced

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup of pure aloe vera juice

1 cup of water

1 cup of ice

I blended the aloe vera, honey, ginger, and lemon (with peels) first to make sure they were completely pulverized before adding the remaining ingredients.  The lemon was definitely potent, but it completely masked any signs of papaya – which is a good thing because I find papaya to be… SO gross.  This smoothie wasn’t delicious by any means, it was merely OK, but with the following health highlights there’s no complaining going on here!

Kale – Contains over 45 flavonoids.  Studies show that flavonoids that have anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial, and anti-cancer properties.

Papaya – Contains papain, which is an enzyme that helps digest proteins.  They are also a rich source of vitamin C, flavonoids, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium, magnesium, and fiber.

Lemon – Contains flavonoids that have antioxidant and anti-cancer properties.

Ginger – Has numerous therapeutic properties including antioxidant effects, an ability to inhibit the formation of inflammatory compounds, and direct anti-inflammatory effects.

Raw Honey – Contains phytonutrients that have been shown to posssess cancer-preventing and anti-tumor properties.

Aloe Vera Juice – Aids with digestion.

Source: WHFoods.com

Epsom Is Awesome

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Have you ever had a deep tissue massage?  Today was my first and I’ve come to the conclusion that they’re 25 percent awesome, 75 percent evil.  The masseuse hinted something along the lines of I may be sore later on because of fused muscles yada yada and suggested I take an epsom salt bath to help eliminate the toxins that were released during the massage.

Oh you better believe I stopped at the store on my way home to pick up a box. And then I fired up a Google search to fact check the legitness of epsom.

Heads up, it’s about to get nerdy.

Epsom salt, which isn’t even salt at all, is a pure mineral compound of magnesium and sulfate that has a laundry list of health benefits. And oddly enough, sitting in this mineral tub allows your body to absorb a ton more magnesium than if you were to ingest it.  And more magnesium means better regulation of enzymes, production of energy, and elimination of harmful toxins.

Wait, it gets better!  After getting out of the tub (which felt a lot like time out, I don’t like baths) my skin was uber soft, which initiated some additional Googling – epsom salt and beauty secrets.  Turns out mixing epsom with just about anything makes that anything better.

Here’s a list of ideas I stumbled upon:

  • Mix with facial cleanser to exfoliate skin (done!)
  • Mix 1:1 ratio with conditioner and microwave until epsom melts (not long) and use like a normal deep conditioner to add body
  • Dissolve with water in a spray bottle and spray on damp hair as a styling product to add texture
  • Mix 2 cups with a 1/4 cup of Vaseline to make a foot scrub