Green Vegetables

I began focusing on my gluten-free and refined sugar-free diet the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  I was pleasantly surprised by the quick results. Monday I returned to work after a two week vacation where I traveled to Europe and celebrated Thanksgiving with family. Normally, I would have felt like I was run over by a Mack truck, feeling fatigued and cranky but instead I was energetic and my mind was clear, no brain fog.  It is amazing that I can feel so great after omitting my food triggers for two days!  Very eye opening!

I met with my nutritionist this week and the topic was greens. I really enjoyed this session because it reminded me of the importance of eating green vegetables. I know we have always been told to eat our vegetables but I have completely overlooked their vital benefits. I don't dislike vegetables, broccoli is my fav, but I also don't crave them and never deemed them necessary to function. I rarely eat them, maybe once a week which is clearly not enough. So out of the list of benefits, blood purification stood out to me the most. I cringe thinking about damage done by having toxins in your blood. Another benefit that stood out to me was improved liver, gall bladder and kidney function and considering my issue of a congested liver, I see that I have not done my body good!  Of course cancer prevention is a huge benefit that we all should acknowledge.

My assignment is to have two green vegetables a day and to prepare 3 in a way that I've not done before.  I was initially intimidated by this challenge since I don't cook, I'm usually exhausted after work and I am lucky to have a veggie once a week.  Well this week was perfect, I'm not traveling and I'm able to work from home so it was perfect timing for me to get started right away.  Excited about already feeling great since I omitted gluten and refined-sugar and looking forward to feeling even better after receiving the nutrition from green vegetables, I ran to whole foods the next day and grabbed asparagus and broccoli rabe. That evening I decided to prepare the asparagus to go along with my leftover Thai food and a Whole Food green cold-pressed juice (Emerald River: kale, broccoli, celery, lemon, apple and ginger).  Even though I was starving and could have easily warmed up my Thai food in a minute and be satisfied, I stayed committed to my asparagus.  I decided to roast them by placing them on a baking sheet drizzled with olive oil, Himalayan pink sea salt and lemon juice. At about 450 degrees, it cooked up in 15 minutes. I admit it was very easy and quick to prepare.