My Green Morning Blend

I am sharing my breakfast green smoothie recipe as requested by Janette since I tweet my blends each morning. A green smoothie is actually nothing more than veggies mixed with fruits. All you need is a blender, a small sieve, a salad spinner, and a ceramic knife.

First, throw in a handful of almonds and water in the blender. I prefer using fresh buko juice (coconut water).  Since I got into raw food, almond is my source of protein. It is rich in fiber, vitamin E, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, calcium, magnesium and zinc. However, it has an enzyme-inhibiting substance in the brown coating which is difficult to digest. The best way to remove this toxic inhibitor is by  soaking almonds overnight. By the way, eating 4-6 soaked almonds every morning helps enhance your memory.

Next, strain the blended mix in a small sieve. What will come out is a white mixture that looks like milk.  I've never tried dehydrating the strained almonds. But you can try and mix it in bread or make it into flour. Pour the almond milk back into the blender and start washing the greens and removing the stems.

The greens are leafy vegetables. As you know vegetables are nutritious and packed with amino acids, minerals, vitamins, fiber and chlorophyll.  I am amazed at how chlorophyll is touted today through wheat grass. Shots of wheat grass are now served in restaurants  and health stores sell packaged wheat grass powder mixes. According to Brighthub,  chlorophyll elevates our hemoglobin count "and as a result, circulation improves and we have more energy... helps increase heart function, improves the vascular system, cleanses the liver of heavy metals and chemical toxins, cleanses and improves the health of the intestines, uterus, and lungs. It is also a natural breath freshener and body deodorizer."

In the salad spinner (left photo), I have romaine, arugula and spinach. Take note of the Variety Rule - "don’t eat today what you ate yesterday"- because vegetables contain minute amounts of alkaloids. If consumed regularly, the alkaloids will accumulate in the body and may cause harmful poisonous reaction. 

I usually buy organic greens and rotate every two days.  I like  pechay, kale, cabbage and lettuce. There are three organic markets in Manila - Salcedo on Saturdays,  Legaspi on Sundays and Isip in Palm Village on Tuesdays or order fresh produce flow-in by Renee all the way from Bukidnon.

Next are the fruits. Unlike the greens, you don't have to rotate the fruits. My staple is the saba, our local plantain. One saba is apparently equal to six cavendish bananas. My rule is to keep it simple and mix up to three kinds of fruits. What I like to mix with saba is either mango or avocado. Both are best sources of live fat which we need to lubricate our eyes, our skin, hair and joints.

I also add a dash of flaxseeds which are high in Omega 3 oils. The benefits include constipation relief,  smooth skin, building muscle and burning fat.  Also,  depending on my condition - for instance, if I have colds or sore throat, I throw in ginger which is a natural decongestant and antihistamine; and if I have fever, I add half a red chili pepper.

Blend all greens and fruits together with the almond milk for 30-45 seconds. The proportion of greens and fruits depends on how green you want your smoothie to be.  Victoria Boutenko says "I recommend starting with more fruity green smoothies and slowly using more and more greens. As the body finds out the many benefits of greens, it becomes very excited and starts craving greener smoothies. Experiment with what amount of greens you find palatable and gradually add more greens so that you work up to the equivalent of one average-sized bunch of greens per day." 



There you have it, my green blends each morning. By the way, I don't chug my drink. I actually sip and chew my smoothie. Hope you try it and like me, get an energy boost each day! Cheers!

 

first yoga competition in the Philippines

Well, lots of first for me this year. My third 'first' is the first-ever yoga competition in the Philippines called the Philippine Yoga Asana Championship or PYAC (www.philippineyogachampionship.com). The competition was held last Monday at BDO Theater in Makati Avenue. Four bikram studios participated in the event - Tristan's Makati and QC, Joy's Eastwood and Al's Greenhills.
I was actually more into ashtanga before. When I had a rotator cuff problem that wouldn't go away (from Badminton), a friend recommended to do Bikram. She said that the heat will help heal the muscles. Well... since then I've been healed and hooked! i've been sweating out in the 'hot room' for 90-minutes, doing 26 poses twice for the last two years.. I agree with RJ though that the 'competition' is contrapuntal to the philosophy of yoga. i joined the competition to deepen my practice and it was fun training under Marc and Christina Mead.

We were 21 females and 3 men judged according to how well and graceful we executed the five compulsory asanas (or poses)- plus two advance within the timeframe of three minutes. The five compulsory asanas were Standing Head to Knee, Standing Bow, Bow, Rabbit, Stretching and my two optional asanas were- Head Stand and Upward Stretch (right photo).
I'm not surprised that Al, teacher and owner of Greenhills studio, won the male category. For the females, Lintal won! So both will be traveling to Los Angeles to represent the Philippines in Los Angeles. Woohoo!!! As for me, I didn't place, but I'm happy that i did all of the poses without falling and within the specified timeframe and hopefully, inspired peeps in the audience to practice yoga - - be it bikram, ashtanga, hatha, iyengar...