It’s the start of a new year, which means it’s time to tackle those resolutions. Some of the most common resolutions among people include eating better, becoming healthier and exercising more. While they are all great goals, often these healthy aspirations can become overwhelming if they are unrealistic or unsustainable. To help you achieve these goals, holistic nutritionist and Glitter Guide contributor, Kara Stout, is here to provide some helpful tips on starting the year off on a healthy note. She shares more thoughts on this and her philosophy on a genuinely healthy lifestyle in the post she wrote, What Healthy Eating Really Is, and today, she’s here to share a five-day green smoothie and juice challenge that is sure to jump-start your health plan for the year.
If you’re making health, wellness and fitness goals for 2018, make sure you prioritize enjoying the journey, because if you don’t enjoy it, you may quickly feel tempted to give up. And truly it’s incredible to see your health improve step by step, one decision after another, building on accomplishment after accomplishment.
When working with nutrition clients, I always begin the program with making over their morning and also increasing those green leafy veggies—always a great place to start! Typically, when we make good decisions in the morning it can affect the rest of our decisions throughout the day. Have you heard how the simple act of making our beds each morning can help us right away feel accomplished and can potentially help us be more productive in the day? Well, I like to think the same thing for a healthy breakfast! This can make us feel more accomplished in the healthy eating department when we start actually eating breakfast and making the meal a great one filled with nutrients and all kinds of goodness.
With this, I thought it would be fun to put together a 5-Day Green Smoothie & Juice Challenge you can participate in to help consume more greens and encourage getting into a healthy breakfast routine for 2018. The goal is to try for five days to drink one of these each morning, and if one is not a flavor you would enjoy, you can replace with another healthy green drink option you know you already like. Again, I want this to be your challenge and it needs to be enjoyed!
If you find you need to add a bit of fruit, you certainly can, however, I would suggest trying them first as they are and then adjusting if need be. I also include a list of additional ingredients you can add to any of your smoothies to add in extra protein, fiber and superfoods. Lastly, the smoothies and juices are not listed in any particular order. I would plan out which ones you want to try on which days, but make sure and try to be consistent with drinking one each day for five consecutive days. Let’s do this! Cheers!
This is Your Year to Go Green
Ingredients:
- 1 organic English cucumber
- 1 peeled lemon
- 2 handfuls organic baby spinach or baby kale
- 1 handful organic microgreens
- 6-7 sprigs parsley
- ¼ – ½ inch fresh ginger
Directions:
Add all ingredients to your juicer and juice. Sprinkle pink Himalayan sea salt on top. Enjoy!
Embrace Your Roots
Ingredients:
- ¾ peeled sweet potato
- ½ organic English cucumber
- 9-10 colorful Les Petites Carrots from Trader Joe’s (you can use any carrots though!)
- 3 handfuls organic baby spinach
- 1 handful organic microgreens
Directions:
Add all ingredients to your juicer and juice. Enjoy!
So Fresh & So Green
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk or non-dairy milk of choice
- 1/3 frozen banana (use liquid Stevia if you don’t want to add banana)
- 1-2 large handfuls organic baby spinach
- 1 large handful organic microgreens
- 4-5 fresh mint leaves
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- optional: 1 scoop collagen peptides
Directions:
Add all ingredients to your blender and blend well. Enjoy!
Matcha Matcha (Wo)man
(Recognize the play off of an old song right here?)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk or non-dairy milk of choice
- 1 teaspoon matcha
- 1 large handful organic baby spinach
- ½ teaspoon maca powder
- 3-5 drops liquid Stevia (or to taste)
- optional: add a dash of rose water
Directions:
Add all ingredients to your blender and blend well. Enjoy!
The Perfect Pear
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk or non-dairy milk of choice
- ½ pear
- 1 large handful organic baby spinach or baby kale
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 1 tablespoon flaxseed
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- optional: 1 scoop collagen peptides
Directions:
Add all ingredients to your blender and blend well. Enjoy!
Feel free to add in some of these extra-healthy powerhouses to your smoothies as well:
- Hemp seeds
- MCT oil
- Cacao powder (could be fun added with the So Fresh & So Green mint smoothie!)
- Coconut oil
- Spirulina
- Nut butters
- Acai powder
- Pomegranate powder
