Paradigm Day 8

Saturday Dec 7 2013
MMNW: 176.6 lbs, 18.4% bodyfat
Preworkout: 1 banana
AM workout: run 3 miles
Breakfast: smoothie - apple, banana, spinach, frozen (peaches strawberries), water
AM snack: banana
Lunch: leftovers - chickpea burger, vegan chili, baked sweet potatoes
PM snack:
Dinner: a great vegan shepherd's pie recipe that Kelley found on pinterest
PM Workout:
Snack:

easy 3 mile run this morning just to knock the legs out, average 9 m/m pace.  My frozen fruit and liquid selection was quite limited today, so breakfast was a bit skimpy.  Also, I got asked about my smoothies today by a co-worker, so here goes the plan:

My smoothie recipe is really a formula. I start with fresh fruit, add a green, add frozen fruit, and add enough liquid to make it easier on the blender.  The key point is "whatever is on hand" there. At the end of seasons, we tend to go to the farmers market and buy in bulk whatever is being sold cheap just so the farmers don't have to dump their crops on the compost heap. Then we freeze it, and this works out very well for us. Last year we got blueberries, $20 for a flat of 8 huge containers that are now $12 each at the grocery store. Freeze them and we had blueberries in smoothies all year long. This year it was peaches. We got cases of peaches for $10 each, sliced and froze them, and now have bags of frozen peaches.  Typically we have fresh bananas, apples, and spinach. Sometimes we have fresh pineapple, berries, oranges, or anything else that we can find. After the fruit I throw a green in there. Spinach is usually fresh, but sometimes we have kale, bok choy, etc. Frozen spinach is ok too, but we don't usually have that. Sometimes as well I'll throw in some flax seed, chia seed, or cacao nibs as well.  My key for frozen stuff is to buy in bulk and freeze. Once the fresh berries start to turn, freeze them. Cantaloupe, watermelon, mango, pineapple, strawberries, any high water content fruit freezes well. I fill the blender with that stuff, then add liquids. Orange Juice is my typical liquid base, then I'll add water, ginger ale, muscle milk, etc to make it easier for the blender to chew everything up. We don't have a vitamix or anything fancy, just a couple of $15 Target blenders so we have to make it easy for them.

When we're not doing the Paradigm Diet, sometimes I'll use other smoothie addins like (instant oatmeal, milk, and water), a spoonful of peanut butter, chocolate chips, or anything else I can find laying around that might blend well. I've even been known to throw chocolate chip cookies in the blender and let it rip. One of my favorites is where I started with a bunch of chocolate stuff, then addins that pair well with chocolate like frozen cherries.

The pie Kelley made for dinner was great! Lentils, sweet potatoes, cabbage, some spices. It was quite tasty and we have lots of leftovers. All of these vegan recipes we've found serve 6 so there are always tons of leftovers. which is fantastic.