"This is so hard!" they say.

Changing our habits is hard.  Changing our eating habits is especially hard, because the things around us stay the same.  We still pass the same fast food joints as we drive about, we push our carts in the grocery store past the same foods that call to us.  (Peanut M&M's shout the loudest to me!)  Our families usually are not ready to make any changes, and "demand" that the same types of meals continue as before.  Social gatherings offer the same foods, and not eating with everyone else at first can feel awkward.  The government (FDA and others) condones the Standard American Diet (SAD).  Sometimes family and friends who don't understand our motives can discourage us.

With all these things working against a person, the thought of changing can feel overwhelming.  So why change?  My answer to that is because bad health affects every aspect of our life.  We should put forth our best effort on this change, because when we feel good, we can do so much more with the time we have.  It has a rippling effect on the people around us, and everyone benefits.

My advise to anyone thinking about making the move is to start out with little changes.  As your will power increases and you get used to the new way of life, add a few more changes.  It will be amazing to see what improvements happen.

Peanut M&Ms are not allowed here.  I can say "no" as I walk past them in the store, but I can't say "no" over and over again in my home.  So, my husband is welcome to buy them and stash them in his car, or even in the house if I don't know about it.  He has been very supportive and I haven't seen a single M&M here since that request.

As I continue to study the effects of foods on the human body, my biggest regret is not learning about this earlier in my life.  But better late than never.  I will never go back.  If I could be assured that the headaches would not come back, no matter what I ate, I would still not go back.  Too many other benefits to enjoy.

"Forks Over Knives" is an encouraging show to watch.  Lots of information on why and what.  It is on Netflix and Amazon.  I highly recommend it.

Recipe - Almond milk

Since I cannot tolerate most commercially produced foods (think 2 - 4 day migraine!) I have searched for recipes that can be made from scratch in my own kitchen.

There are many recipes for almond milk, and here is one of them.  I think drinking non-dairy milk is an acquired taste, but I do love cooking with it.  If this recipe is being used for a non-sweet dish, I don't add the date.

Yum Universe has put together a wonderful article about non-dairy milks.  It is very informative and can be found here.

Almond Milk

INGREDIENTS

1	cup raw almonds
	water for soaking nuts
4	cups water
1	date
1/2	tsp vanilla
	pinch of salt

INSTRUCTIONS

1.	Soak the almonds in water overnight or for at least 8 hours.
2.	Drain the water from the almonds and discard. Blend the 4 cups of water, almonds, dates, vanilla and salt until smooth.
3.	Strain the blended almond mixture using a cheesecloth, nut bag, or other strainer.
4.	Homemade raw almond milk will keep well in the refrigerator for three or four days.

Green smoothie in the morning

The joke around our house is that we drink a salad for breakfast.  Here is a picture of what it looks like before it gets smoothie-ized.



The funny thing to me about that statement is that my late father would eat things like this in the morning.  Actually eat them.  We used to tease him for his choice of breakfast food, and he would say, "Don't knock it 'til you've tried it."  And now I am "eating-" rather drinking a salad for breakfast.

When we first started green smoothies, we had to ease into it.  One of our beginning favorites was a Grape Ape smoothie.
1/2 cup water
1 banana
1 cup grapes
a few leaves of something green - kale, spinach, lettuce, etc

Now, a green smoothie for 2 in the morning usually looks like this:
1 cup water
1 apple
1 stalk celery
1 large carrot
1 frozen banana (frozen in pieces)
1 or 2 leaves kale
handful of raw spinach
2 Tbls chia seeds (great source of omega-3 fatty acids)
3-5 dates
3/4 cups sprouts
1-2 cups ice       

I made one of these the other morning, and offered some to my adult daughter.  She is not used to green smoothies, and her comment after tasting it was: "It is a little too green for my taste."

Like I said, we had to ease into the amount of green.  Now that we are here, it goes down easily.  Nice start to the day.