Here is another fantastic variation of the mean green recipe. All the same ingredients except substituting a full broccoli spear for a cucumber. You may need to add an extra small apple to make up for some juice. This has a bit of bite in your throat when you drink it, but it is a great version if your out of cucumbers. Enjoy!
4 Celery Stalks
2 Large Apples (preferably sweet red)
1/2 Large Lemon peeled
1 Large Broccoli Spear
1/2 Inch of Fresh Ginger
4-6 Kale Leafs
This drink thick like a smoothie, but made from juicing all the items. I found when I put mangos through my juicer it comes out almost like gelatin. After juicing the rest of the items and mixing it together it had a wonderful consistency similar to a smoothie. It is very tropical, and a bit sweet. Very refreshing overall. Enjoy!
3 mangos
2 cups red grapes
2 green apples
1/2″ ginger
1 large peeled lemons
Add water to consistency
This is a concoction I came up with when I added chia seeds to my nutrition. For those who don’t know about chia seeds they are truly remarkable food. It’s a simple recipe that needs some over night help. You can add more sweetness with more honey or agave syrup.
16oz water
2 tablespoons of chia seeds
1/2 peeled and juiced lemon
1 tablespoon agave syrup or honey (to taste)
Mix the chia seeds in the water and refrigerate overnight.
Add lemon juice and sweetener to taste.
Enjoy!
I can’t speak about what you have done, but here is what I have been doing!
I did not take any pictures when I started, mainly because I didn’t have the faith that I would lose so much so quick. The photo I am posting was back in late February vs now. The shirt I am wearing in both pictures is the same, and back then it was tight and form fitting. Today you can see how much larger it is on me!!
Healthy Gnocchi Twist
1 Package of Gnocchi
3 Garlic Cloves finely chopped
1/2 Package of Portobello Mushrooms finely chopped
1/2 White Onion finely chopped
1 14.5oz Can Stewed Tomatoes
1 8oz Can Tomato Sauce
1 Tablespoon Ground Black Pepper
1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin
1 Tablespoon Ground Cayenne Pepper
1 Tablespoon Basil
1/8 teaspoon Rosemary
1 Cup Fresh Spinach
1 Green Pepper finely chopped
The goal with this meal is to take an easy dish, that is often made into a fatting one, and keep it healthy and natural. The Gnocchi is the most natural one I could find, it has no ingredients that I can’t pronounce and is limited to just a few ingredients. The canned goods are the same way, a simple pronounceable ingredient list. After that get your knife and cutting board ready!
Start out by cutting the portobello mushrooms into small pieces. Finely chop the onion and garlic. In a large sauce pan heat up a tablespoon of good olive oil and place mushrooms, garlic, and onion in pan to cook. Stir and let cook for 8-10 minutes on medium heat or until cooked to desired doneness.
Put a pot of water, and bring to a boil.
Add in sewed tomatoes and tomato sauce, stir until fully incorporated. Add in black pepper, cumin, cayenne pepper, basil, and rosemary, stir till fully incorporated. Let simmer for 10-12 minutes on medium-low heat stirring occasionally.
Chop green pepper into small pieces and set aside.
Cook gnocchi for 10 minutes in boiling water. until cooked through and is slightly mushy. Drain gnocchi’s and add to pan with sauce. Let simmer stirring occasionally for another 10 minutes.
When you are ready to serve, place a small handful of spinach into a dry heated pan and flash cook for a minutes, flipping the spinach around to lightly warm leaves.
Serve the green pepper raw with the meal and place spinach a top the gnocchi. I served with some fresh cut pineapple and Pine-Apple Express juice. Enjoy!
This wonderful concaction came from running out of my most commonly used ingredients. I had to ome up with a drink from what we had leftover in the house, and we were pleasantly surprised. The grape is the prevailing flavor in this, the kale and celery are covered well by the grapes tartness. Enjoy!
2 Cucumbers
2 Small Lemons
4 Celery Stalks
6 Kale Leaves
3 Cups of Green Grapes
We had a friend over for dinner last night and I wanted to make a post workout drink for her and Heather. They were at the gym while I was at home cooking dinner. This drink was just an off the top of my head, which I do a lot, but we all liked it very much and decided to keep it. The pineapple comes through very nicely, you can taste the apple and the lemon sneaks in on you. The spinach and kale are hidden so well you wouldn’t think that this is really a good green drink. Very refreshing over-all and would be good anytime of day. Enjoy!
1/4 fresh pineapple
2 small green apples
3 small red apples
1 small lemon whole
2 handfulls of spinach
6 kale leafs
Here is one of my absolute favorite new recipes. I have made these for some of my friends and the family, so far everyone has loved them. This recipe will have a little bit longer prep time if you don’t have a food processor, which I don’t but I’ll take one if you are giving, since you’ll have to finely chop all the veggies. The lentils can be red or green, I use a combination of both in our burgers. The key I have found is to mash the lentils so they hold together better.
Ingredients:
Burgers:
Uncooked Lentils Burgers
1. 1 1/2 cups lentils, sorted and washed
2. 1 small onion, finely chopped
3. 3 medium carrots, finely chopped
4. 2 garlic cloves, minced
5. 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
6. 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
7. 1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
8. 2 large eggs, lightly beaten or 2 flax eggs
9. 1 tablespoon kosher salt
10. 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
11. 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus
Sauce:
13. 1/4 cup coarsely chopped fresh parsley leaves
14. 1 clove garlic finely chopped
15. 1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
16. 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
17. 1/2 teaspoon dill
Directions:
1. In a large saucepan, cover the lentils with cold water by 2 inches and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to moderate and simmer the lentils until they are very tender, about 10 minutes.
2. Drain the lentils well. Mash lentils until they are almost all broken.
3. Prepare all the onions, carrots, and garlic.
4. In a medium skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Add the onion and cook over moderately high heat, stirring frequently, until golden, about 6 minutes. Add the carrots and two garlic cloves and cook until the carrots begin to soften, about 4 minutes. Stir in the cumin and cayenne and remove from the heat.
5. Mix in the bread crumbs, 3 tablespoons of the parsley, the eggs, salt and pepper to the lentil mix.
6. Mix the lentil mix and the veggie mix in a bowl until all ingredients are mixed well. Form 6 burger patties from the mix.
7. Heat a skillet or griddle on medium heat, and add a tablespoon of olive oil. Place the patties in the pan and cook for about 3 minutes per side until browned.
8. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix the yogurt with the lemon juice and the remaining garlic and 1 tablespoon of parsley, and dill. Serve the burgers hot, with the yogurt sauce on the side.
Serve with a whole wheat hamburger buns, lettuce, and tomatoes.
Well I know I have been having a hard time finding Kale lately. I’ve been playing with a few other leafy greens and want to share what those recipes are. It is good to rotate different fruits, vegetables, and leafy greens through your diet, so here’s what I’ve done.
1/2 inch fresh ginger
1/2 large lemon with yellow peel
1 large cucumber
2 large handfuls of spinach
10 turnip green leafs
2 small red apples
1 large green apple
I have been asked a lot about how I started out, well lets break it down into a few posts of my week to week. As a reminder you can read the “My Journey” page to see in detail what I have been doing, but lets go through the basics.
Motivation, I became motivated to do this for many reasons, and you need to find yours. Is it better health, lose a few extra pounds, special occasion, what ever it is you need it.
Focus and commitment, if you follow what I did you will need a lot of this. The way I chose to start is how I live my life, I’m a jumper, I do things on a whim and all out. This is the only way I can stay on track with what I am trying to do.
Support, who has your back when you want to cheat or don’t want to do things. I think this is one of the most important parts of the equation. If you have support that you’ll need, you will be successful.
Ok let’s get into it already right! Here is a list of things to stay the hell away from:
Fried foods ⭐
Pop(soda)(especially diet)⭐
Energy drinks⭐
Fast food⭐
Pasta
Bread
Dairy
Stuff in boxes or cans(for the most part)
Coffee if you put stuff in it
All refined sugar(yes no white sugar)⭐
High carb foods(potatoes, rice, chips…)
Alcohol or beer
Cut your meat intake by a third⭐
Now having some of these items once a week, in small portions is okay. Things with a star are the must stay away from items. These items will hinder your weight loss more than you can imagine. When you buy food, look at the labels. Does the ingredients list seem unreasonable? Is there way to many ingredients in it? Is high fructose corn syrup in it? If you answer yes to any of these, put it down and look for another brand or different food all together. Being more conscious about what your buying is essential. Remember your body is a temple, do you want to fill it full of shit, or do you want to repair it and make it beautiful?
As time goes on and weight come off you can incorporate some of these foods back in your diet, I’d still keep it to a minimum. When you become lean, fit, and strong, it will actually require more carbs to run itself. Compared to when you are trying to lose weight, you need to be on a low carb diet because our bodies convert carbs straight to fat. Even if you need to eat more carbs in your diet there are better ways to do that, same rules apply, stick to natural whole foods vs processed junk food.
My first week I stopped every thing in this list. I ate a lot of sushi when I was at work, drank water all day, and would try to eat a well as I could at home. Every now and then I had to have a cup of coffee to make my headaches go away, but I kept it to a small. My body hated me at first, but I knew I was making the right choices and it was just fighting me to give it the junk it was used to. I fought the sweet cravings with fruit, salty with nuts, and flat out didn’t indulge it with any junk food. I wasn’t juicing or working out yet, and neither do you.
The first month is going to be a test to your will to do this. Be strong and keep it up. Spend this week adjusting to the diet. Don’t worry about working out. Don’t worry about adding a bunch of food you are unfamiliar with to your diet. Just start understanding what you are eating, and start making the better choices you should with food. Next week will be easier, I promise.
Please leave me a comment below. If you have any questions, concerns, or want to chat. I will respond.
Dave's Health and Wellness 