So, you are doing yoga and holding poses like Warrior so that the isometric pull of your muscles on your bones will force them to build mass, right?
All you need to do now is give your body the right nutrients.
OK, I know it’s not quite that simple, but a largely plant-based diet will help you keep an ideal pH balance in your body (too acidic and you harm your bones), plus eating lots of dark green leafy veggies gives you an extra boost on the calcium front.
I don’t know about you, but in the Winter months, I have a really hard time eating enough greens. I like them raw, not so much cooked, and when it’s cold outside I don’t want to eat a spinach salad. This year I’ve been rigourous about getting enough greens, and I’ve had my healthiest Melbourne Winter yet (it’s my fifth. I am hoping it will be the first one in which I don’t get ill. Everyone around me has been coughing up lungs, so those greens had better do their work!).
What I did was find a way to eat greens that I found appealing. Here are two of my favourites.
Green Soup
It’s from this recipe. Sometimes I blend it, and sometimes I don’t. Isn’t it just an insane shade of vert?
And then, there are the smoothies. I am obsessed with green smoothies. I crave them if I miss a day. This one is good until you get used to drinking something that is both green and fruity. It’s kind of a smoothie halfway house.
Green Smoothie
Throw the following into your blender & whizz until smooth. Makes 2 glasses. YUM!!!!
- 1 Banana
- Large handful of frozen (or fresh) berries
- Large handful of baby spinach leaves (put them at the bottom, otherwise they tend to float around at the top and not get properly blended)
- Splash of water
What are your favourite ways to get greens? I’d love to hear! Just please don’t suggest broccoli. Can’t abide the stuff. I know, I am such a failed hippie.
Moving from Stability: Understanding the Pelvis in Posture (Online workshop)
Light Up Your Life
Hi!
I’ve been quietly reading your lovely blog for a while, so I thought it was about time I said hello – hello!
I like this: Chop up a handful of rocket, spinach, and watercress; and mix in a tablespoon of houmous. Eat in a sandwich or as a side dish – very good I think (although I also think houmous goes with pretty much everything
Abix
Hi Abi! How nice to ‘meet’ you – also, what a yummy recipe. I could totally do that as a sandwich for weekday lunches. I love watercress…
what, no love for broccoli?! blasphemy!
i dig it. i get my greens in via big ass salads (yum!) and my daily green smoothie (holla, kale!).
Kale smoothies are definitely da bomb…I do admire you for doing the salads even in the cold months. I always want brown, orange, and red food when it’s cold
My housemate and I are soup freaks, so most nights we share something full of vegie goodness. She cooks, I cook, we get a vegie fix, it works.
My two fave wintry ways to get greens are:
1) This recipe (which, apparently *you* won’t like Nadine, but maybe your readers will…!!) http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/19786/broccoli+and+leek+soup –
to which I add a beautiful secret ingredient; 1/2 a teaspoon of ground clove, yes clove – right at the end, after cooking. Magic. Ah-mazing. I also like to substitute the potato with 1/2 tin of cannelini beans for less carb/more protein.
2) The other thing I love to do and in fact do almost every week is my Moorish silverbeet thing:
Sautee 2-3 cloves of garlic in a half-half mix of EVOO and butter, then throw in the chopped-up stems of a whole bunch of silverbeet (or rainbow chard) with some Maldon sea salt.
Sautee until stems start to soften then add the roughly chopped leafy bits of the silverbeet, lower the heat and cover. Stir around a bit and keep an eye on it until the leaf has softened and reduced down.
This takes a while so in the meantime, toast off a couple of tablespoons of pine nuts and soak 1-2 tablespoons of currants in hot water until plump, then drain. Add these to the silverbeet once it’s ready and toss.
You can add a sqeeze of lemon to this at the end (Vitamin C aids iron absorption + it tastes good) and if you’re feeling luxurious then crumble in some creamy-ass Meredith goat’s feta while the silverbeet is still warm – yeah mama!
This also works really well with a soft-boiled organic egg smooshed onto it for more protein.
CLOVE? Wowee…damn, you lot are going to force me to eat broccoli, instead of just buying it then letting it moulder in the fridge.
sorry, I know you said no broccoli Nadine, but my fav green soup to get me through winter is a nutty broccoli soup http://www.vegpeople.com/cgi-bin/gossamer/gforum.cgi?do=recipe_print;recipe=186828;guest=19779168
I love the fact it has almonds so the protein keeps me satisfied!
OK, Nat it actually sounds quite nice…might have to try it now.