A day of wellness

10:54 AM Elvira 0 Comments

I woke up this morning feeling pretty terrible. I can hear my mother telling me that after the age of 35 you slowly begin to feel aches and pains you never knew existed. Well, being 35 I am beginning to see what she meant. In the last few years I have really taken a look at my own health and ways to improve it. Struggling with my weight my entire life has been both frustrating and draining. Yet, I still do what I can to live a life of good health and body acceptance. My current goal is to not only lose some weight to feel more physically fit, but it's also to nurture my body as I begin to age and do what I can to nourish it with whole foods and healthy options.

This morning I decided to start the day off with a green smoothie. There are so many varieties out there that one can choose from. I always feel like simplicity is key and I tend to lean toward recipes that have items that are often found in my refrigerator or easily accessible. Plus if this is something I want to make consistently in my home, then its gotta be easy.

In our Vitamix, I threw together enough ingredients for a smoothie for two. I know that a lot of recipes say you can add almond, hemp, or soy milk as your base but I find water to often be the easiest thing to digest so early in the morning. Though these smoothies often look incredibly unappealing the taste often can surprise you.
For this smoothie I added:

• 2 handfuls of organic kale 
• 1 fresh banana
• 1 frozen banana (this adds a great deal of creaminess)
• 1 fresh apple
• a few shakes of cinnamon
• 2 cups of filtered water.

My boyfriend and I shared this green heap of health. We both try to start the day off with something nutritious and filling. With the power of the Vitamix this smoothie will whip its self up in seconds. We also use a Nutribullett in our home, but when making two smoothies at once the Vitamix wins due to the volume it can hold.


Then Voila! There you have it. I served this up in two big wine glasses-we like to start the day off with some class around here. We both enjoy the taste of these and like the way it fills you up pretty quickly before a workout or I have found its even wonderful to sip on as I get ready for work.



Today though I had this before I jumped on my treadmill for a brief walk. We are lucky enough to have a treadmill in our home, but if you live in a state where you have more sunshine then we normally do, get outside and enjoy that sun on your face. And if you are telling yourself you don't have time for a walk-run-or quick work out I want to challenge your thinking around that. I too have said that and lived my life that way for a long time. And honesty I still have days where I make excuses. But what I have done over time to break that cycle is I start small. I have a resistance band which I will grab and do multiple arms exercise on. It may not seem like much but doing this everyday for 15 minutes does make a difference and with time you start to feel better and believe it or not you crave more. You may want to think about adding a few sit ups, or that walk, or lifting some weights. The options are endless, and as great as that is it also can be overwhelming, so like I said I encourage you to start SMALL! You got this! One day at a time...in life we are always trying to improve so take it slow and remain consistent. Your mind and body deserves this.

Tags: recipe, wellness