Add This For A Little Extra Health :)

After celebrating Independence Day yesterday with a picnic filled with decadent treats, I ended the evening sick and in pain, since I'm not used to eating that way anymore. Realizing, at that point, that the Summer holds as many temptations for unhealthiness as the Fall/ Winter holidays, I renewed my commitment to actually ADDING IN healthy foods, not just cutting out some of the bad ones.

I'm usually not much for the "amazing food" claims, that tell you if you eat 4 cups of fresh Kale twice a day for three months, you can lower your cholesterol by 5%, or other such impractical advice. You can't possibly eat the large portions of foods that it would take to supposedly cure every single little thing, so I usually skip these types of articles in my reading material.

However, I did recently come across two very helpful and doable pieces of information from the "food can cure..." genre, that I thought other WonderMoms might appreciate. These both come from the latest edition of Woman's World magazine, and offer some hope for a minimal commitment...

Two easy ways to help lower your blood pressure - by drinking 2oz. daily of aloe vera juice ( you could add this to juice or a smoothie), and eating 1/3 cu. of onions a day (any variety, can be cooked or raw). Aloe vera reduces inflammation and onions contain a diuretic which flushes sodium and trapped fluids from your body.

Help prevent colon polyps, and ultimately colon cancer by eating 2 1/2 cups of fruit a day...just 2 1/2 cu. cuts your risk by 38% (see meal replacement smoothie below for an easy way to get 2/3 of your fruit in one delicious drink!)

                             Meal Replacement Smoothie

(Inspired by my friend, Kelly Braughler, and tweaked just a little to fit my daily calorie count)

Blend:

1/2 frozen banana

1 cu. frozen berries

1/2 scoop Spiru-Tein vanilla protein powder

8 oz. vanilla almond milk

calories: 250