Food Friday: Funny thing, Not Funny Ha-Ha

Always interested in improving my health,  I started a new regimen which includes a protein shake for breakfast and lunch and a "sensible dinner".  Today is my fourth day.  Yesterday was halfway a disaster.

For the shakes, I prepare them both at once and put the second one in my trusty mason jar to put it in the refrigerator at the office.  The first two days this worked just fine.  Yesterday I decided to add blueberries to the shake, a perfectly acceptable thing to do, and a real boost in nutrition.

When it came time for lunch this is what I saw:

Half a jar of purple sludge.  I tried to eat it, telling myself it was pudding.  But.I.Just.Couldn't.  This was a bit of a problem since I was beginning to feel a little weak and wimpy.  So...what to do, what to do...Since I had to go pick up some items from the office and for Dear One, I also picked up some rice crackers, thinking they might get me through.  Plus I ate a basketful of carrots and celery sticks.

So, I guess I will go back to the plain protein shake for lunch.  Never mind the good blueberries.  The guy who sold me on the idea of this regimen said it was a pleasant-tasting shake.  This morning as I was drinking my shake I gave myself a LOT of positive self-talk:  "This is nice-tasting.  This is pleasant-tasting.  At least it is good for me. Or barring that, it is supposed to have a good effect on my health."  Did not really work that well so I just chugged it.

Food Friday: Purple Smoothie

When we went to Costco to get TurboTax software and medication, we happened to walk by the Vitamix demonstrator.  She had just made some Four Fruit Smoothie which I tasted and which was pretty good!  She asked if I had any questions and since I had recently had a problem with the attachment we chatted a bit.  She gave me some tips, one of which was that the cup needs to be securely screwed into the blade base, but not TOO tightly, in order for it to work.  I realized my problem had probably been not tightening enough.  Since she was so nice and asked if we had the 20-ounce cup to use with the extra base, we considered it.  When she told me the one cup was $23.00 I immediately picked one up!  When we had bought the Vitamix a year ago, to get the 20-ounce cup, we would have had to buy two, plus another seal adapter/blade assembly, which cost $100 which I could not justify.  Now, for $23.00, we could have the best of both worlds.

As soon as we got home Dear One walked over to Whole Foods Market, which he wanted to do anyway (to check out Amazon PickUp and Delivery), and where he bought a can of crushed pineapple so I could make my own version of the Four Fruit Smoothie.

This is my version.

In the 20-ounce cup place--

2 mandarin oranges/clementines that have been peeled and separated (the mandarins were not as sweet and juicy as the clementines we had purchased recently. Disappointing.)

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

1/3 cup crushed pineapple with the juice it came in

1/4 cup pomegranate juice

1/2 small banana, peeled and sliced

10 grams plant-based protein powder (which we had purchased when we bought the Vitamix Blend Scale last year)

Attach the blade unit to the cup, place on the Vitamix base, and blend for 45 seconds.  Any longer would warm it up.

Dear One thought this was pretty good.  I thought it was pretty much purple sludge, but would drink it in a pinch.

 For myself, when he had consumed his cup of smoothie I used the same cup to make my "green goo" that I have mentioned before.  It was what I ate for supper.  I noticed the calories on the two little packets of flavoring:  total calories 55.  Adding in a few raw almonds to the green goo (as I write this I remembered I did not put in the apple cider vinegar nor the flax seed meal. Oh, well. Next time). The almonds and the flax meal would take the calories up  higher, but not that many.  I went to bed more or less hungry, something I aspire to as often as I can.  Depending on the morning numbers (weight and blood glucose), I may make this much more regular.