Vegan day 5: Spinach salad
WOW it’s day 5 and I haven’t even made a salad— so many meals to eat and so little time!! hahaha I mean I have had veggies– in juices, wraps and sides.. but this is my first salad and a yummy one at that. I make killer salads– lol; and really it’s just because I add fruits and nuts! Sounds simple right? Yet you can go into over 50% of NYC restaurants and be VEGAN.. and not even get a salad with more than green lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers! Quite a bummer for the vegans who want to go out to eat with their friends. Speaking of eating out in restaurants… most places will have a vegetarian dish but not a vegan dish. The vegetarian dish will 8 times out of 10 not be healthatarian– meaning it’s WHITE PASTA OR WHITE RICE! ok but we will get more into dining another day.
Back to salads, most people add CHEESE– people and/ or restaurants. I love CHEESE almost as much as pasta but the bottom line is– it doesn’t make my cut for healthy food. First it’s from animals and mostly not those free from antibiotics and hormones. Second it’s processed– the harder the cheese the more processed.. for the most part! Third: it’s FATTENING! I’ll quote from my favorite book now– a life altering book lol
SKINNY BITCH
by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin
Milk= FAT
Butter= FAT
Cheese= FAT
lol
Think about it!
If you are interested in gaining weight all around– keep eating cheese everyday!
Personally, I will just go to the new flagship UNIQGLO store on fifth avenue and buy me some heat tech undershirts and tights to stay warm! lol
In other words… skip the cheese! There are so many other fun things to add to a salad: sliced apples, pears, baby clementine pieces, sun dried tomatoes, any and all raw vegetables, all kinds of seeds and nuts, healthy grains, tofu– raw or cooked and tempeh raw or cooked… and beans.. and avocado– OMG the list is endless!!!!! All the add ons are FUN– don’t forget the greens though. lol.. that’s the most important part! Mix them up from time to time: I enjoy kale, spinach, arugula, dandelion, swiss chard and collards!
Todays meal is a wonderful salad:
Spinach greens
Tomatoes
Orange bell pepper
Yellow bell pepper
Sliced pear
Almond slices
Sunflower seeds
Flax seed oil
Extra virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
A few more notes:
*I believe it’s best to buy organic especially with raw vegetables. PEPPERS are one of the most highly sprayed vegetables. Don’t wait for a pesticide plane to fly over your head to fully understand the concept of how much pesticides are in our crops– forcing our LIVERs to work double time. Save your liver for alcohol detoxification! lol j/k
*On Dr. Oz this week (lol) I love him!– Montel and Dr. Oz spoke about “Safslim” – a new product to help you lose belly fat. This is based on safflower oil and it’s omega 6 properties. We will get into omega’s more another time. If you don’t eat healthy– and want to start– YOU CAN START BY REPLACING SATURATED AND TRANS FATS with omega 6’s! That’s what this was really about in my opinion. If you already eat healthy then be careful of your balance– It’s really the OMEGA 3’s that you want!!!! Americans are not short on OMEGA 6’s for the most part.
But hey– it could work– so add 2 teaspoons of sunflower seeds to your salads!!!!!!!!!!!!! Let me know if it does the trick!!!!! You can’t go wrong with sunflower seeds– they are a powerful food loaded with nutrients!
*Flaxseed oil is a source of OMEGA 3! The one I have is 7g per tablespoon.
*Oils in general: BE CAREFUL– if you are trying to eat healthy or trying to trying to lose weight– you may ruin it all with 1000 calories of dressing!!!!!!! Skip the dressings everywhere— go with OLIVE OIL and vinegar! Olive oil as amazing healing and heath benefits. It’s a monounsaturated fat. WHATEVER you choose– watch the measurements and calories!!!!
* It’s not just what you eat– but how you eat it! I use chop stix while eating salads. It slows me down and forces me to savor each bite. It also allows for the salivary glands to get started on digestion. The more you chew too- the better the digestion and assimilation of nutrients.
