Have the New Year's Resolutions survived the one-week mark? I'm happy to report that our good-gut-promoting food resolutions are hanging in there. To review, in order to keep the zillions of healthful bacteria in our guts fed and happy, we proposed:
- Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables.
- Ditch the refined flours.
- Reduce the meat a little.
To up the fruit intake and the probiotics in the mornings, I've added a homemade smoothie. I see why the things are so danged expensive, but I'm betting the ingredients I put in at home are better than the ones in the mass-marketed products, and because the portion size at home is reasonable, the kids aren't getting super-sized sugar.
Bit o' Berry Smoothie
About 1 cup of whole-milk plain yogurt
a few sections of mandarin orange
about 1 cup of frozen mixed berries
a big slosh of vanilla-flavored almond milk (you could use any kind of milk you like, but if it's unsweetened, add a little vanilla and honey/sugar yourself)
a tbsp of ground flaxseed
Whirl in ye olde blender and serve.
We've been eating a lot of spinach salad in the evenings: spinach, pomegranate seeds, toasted almonds, feta cheese, and a balsamic vinaigrette. But whenever we run out of salad fixings, we switch to a mini crudite platter of carrots, celery, and cucumber, which I served last night, accompanied by my favorite Deborah-Madison-dip that conveniently features probiotics.
Yogurt Sauce with Cayenne and Dill
1/2 cup whole milk yogurt
1/4 cup cultured sour cream
1 small garlic clove, pulverized with 1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp dill
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Mix and refrigerate.
Since we always kick off the New Year with "Sugar-Free January," cutting extra sugar and most of the refined flours that made up all those Christmas desserts was a freebie. I think we go through as many bags of white flour and sugar in November and December as we do in the other ten months combined...
The meat resolution still poses a challenge, and I do wish the gut book had mentioned how much meat is too much. We eat about 1/5 of a lb each, 5-6 days a week, which I'd be inclined to say wasn't excessive, but what do I know? Stay tuned.
