We all want to eat more vegetables. Or at least we want to want to eat more vegetables, because we know it is so stinking good for us.
Having a salad as a meal is a smart and really easy way to cram in loads of fresh veggies- especially super healthy greens- and when you make it with love, it is always sooooo delicious. You can customize your salad to your liking, and then it is true salad-bliss. And you don't have to unbutton your pants after dinner!!
Tonight I made a salad-meal for my family, right about to dig in, my husband stops and asks me where the camera is. Excuuuuse me?? Why? The salad really looked so good he wanted to take a picture! And I had an idea....to do a blog to chronicle my efforts to get myself and my family to eat more greens and more vegetables, also more fruit and just generally all fresh, healthy food.
I would like to eat a salad every day for a year. That is catchy and a claim I can really be held accountable for. But I am not one for strict rules or labels and such. So while I will aim to eat a salad meal most everyday, the main goal is to eat more greens, veggies, and fruit so "salad" may be used loosely on some days. I should go ahead and warn you that I am one of those people who is uninhibited about my love and adoration for The Smoothy. It's about the only thing easier than a salad as far as getting those fruits and veggies crammed into one meal. Of course, for me at least, smoothies are a fruity affair- though I have been known to toss in a handful of greens more than occasionally. So smoothies can be super healthy, most especially if they are green. Really I just want to get up close and personal with my eating habits, beyond the idealized fantasy diet I follow in my head.
I figure if I shoot for a couple servings of greens every day, a few servings of other vegetables, and few servings of fruit, the rest will follow naturally.
I have been trying to follow what I dubbed a "Neo-Paleo" diet for a year or so now. Ideally, it is primarily vegetables and fruit based diet with a moderate amount of meat, but (this is where it strays from straight Paleo) we also consume 3 gallons of Raw, Cream-Top Whole Milk and 1/2 gallon of Raw Cream per week- often cultured into yogurt; and we also love our Raw Jersey milk cheese from Homestead Creamery near Jamesport (over a pound a week); and we slather on Organic, Grass Fed Butter at any opportunity. Also I allow a small amount of grains provided they are properly prepared: soaked and/or sprouted. By small amount I generally mean one serving per day, maybe less, maybe more. By replacing grains, the nutritional light-weights, with nutritionally dense vegetables and healthy raw dairy products or fruit, I can tell a huge difference in how I feel all over. My tummy feels flatter, too. Our diet is full of healthy fats- good old fashioned animal fats and Organic EV Olive Oil and Coconut Oil. Sugar should be minimal in this diet- we try to stick to Honey, Maple Syrup, and Sorghum Molasses besides the bevy of sugar in most fruit. This is one we are really working on! We have made a LOT of progress, but still indulge in our sweet tooth (though it is always natural and organic) more than we should. I am hoping eating more salad will really help curb this!!
If you like, please take this journey with my family. We can certainly share along the way to eating healthier and feeling healthier.
