Category: Healthy Things

Food Trends In My Kitchen: Blue Algae

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So what’s healthier/weirder than having a spinach and protein smoothie for breakfast every morning? Having a spinach, protein, and blue-green algae smoothie for breakfast every morning…

blue-green algae

Now, when I say blue algae, I don’t mean that I’m putting anything that looks like algae in my smoothie. It actually comes in a powder form that is a deep greenish bluish color, and turns my smoothies a deeper green.

This addition was actually a tip that I got from my health coach Noel. Her initial intent was that I replace the spinach in my smoothie, because apparently raw spinach can be stressful on your digestive system. The blue-green algae would serve as an alternative vegetable, but I’m a little too attached to my spinach so I add both the spinach and the algae (who gets attached to spinach?).

My spinach smoothie without the algae, then with the algae
My spinach smoothie without the algae, then with the algae

Anywho, I’ve been dabbling with algae on and off for a couple months now. The label on the bottle says it will give me energy along with a laundry list of other benefits. I believe it’s considered a super food. I’m not quite sure if I’m experiencing any specific benefits that come directly from the algae yet because eat pretty healthy food in general, but I feel good about it!

Sadie’s Daily Breakfast Smoothie

  • 1 banana (brown spots=good)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp blue-green algae (I use this)
  • 1 scoop protein powder (I use this)
  • 3/4 cup almond milk
  • 2 handfuls raw spinach
  • 3-4 ice cubes
  1. If you have a strong blender you can just add the ingredients and blend until smooth.
  2. I you have a wimpier blender (like me), start with the banana, algae, cinnamon, protein, and almond milk. Blend for about 15 seconds.
  3. Add spinach one handful at a time and blend until smooth. Finally add the ice cubes and blend until smooth (about 30 seconds or so).

(for some reason the order that you add the ingredients seems to affect the texture, so this is the best order I’ve come up with for myself)

Food Trends in My Kitchen: Chia Seeds

Sadie2 Comments

As you may or may not know, I am a rather picky eater. That was just the understatement of the century. I’m the pickiest eater I know. I’ll own it, I know it’s obnoxious and annoying and within my control. There are always improvements to be made.

Anywho, that tangent was supposed to bring us to the idea that I’m not the most receptive eater when it comes to new ingredients. This month, however, in the spirit of the new year, I’ve tried to incorporate a couple new/different foods into my regular routine. One of my new faves: chia seeds.

chia seeds

I know, I’m late to get on this bandwagon, but better late than never! I’ve dabbled with them previously, but I’m definitely starting to eat them on the regular these days.

Chia seeds are a funny thing. I have thrown them into granola bar recipes in the past, and they came out quite well. I flipped on the TV while I was getting dressed for work the other day, and the first thing I saw was Dr. Oz telling me to put a tablespoon of chia seeds into water for a quick snack to satisfy hunger. I am always hungry so this intrigued me. Then later that same day, I saw a quick video on the internet about several super foods and their benefits, and chia seeds were first on the list because they help burn fat. Sign me up!

So that was a long way to say that I bought some chia seeds and have started adding them to my oatmeal, or putting them in water for a quick afternoon snack to hold me over to dinner. They get a slightly weird gelatinous texture when they are submerged in water, but they have no taste so you can add them to anything really. Since I’ve only started eating them regularly a couple weeks ago, so I can’t brag about any specific ways they have changed my life, but I’ll keep you posted!

Here’s the play by play of my oatmeal assembly:

Chia seeds on top, mixed in, then some almond butter and walnuts and it's a meal!
Chia seeds on top, mixed in, then some almond butter and walnuts and it’s a meal!

What new/different food has found it’s way into your pantry lately?

Goals for 2014

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Last year I had a laundry list of goals in several different categories, and I think I did a pretty good job of achieving a lot of them. This year, however, I’m going to make a little simpler, and have a shorter list. Here goes:

1. Replace my morning mocha with tea. My office has a Flavia machine (similar to a Keurig), that I typically use once or twice daily to make myself a mocha (on this machine it’s really 1/3 hot chocolate and 2/3 coffee). I like that this is a free beverage option (rather than making regular Starbucks runs as with previous jobs), but I think tea would be a better alternative. I’m not ruling out the occasional fancy coffee drink, but making it more occasional is the goal.

2. Reduce my sugar intake on a regular basis. I know, I know, this is very vague, but it basically means I’m going to make an effort to curb my sweet tooth. Nothing bothers me more than when someone says, “you know, I’m not much for dessert, I’ve never really had a sweet tooth.” No one asked you, go sit in the corner. I typically only want sweet food, so my goal here is to stick to a less sweet routine, because I think it will make me crave sweet less often. Just like the mocha thing, I’m trying to break some habits.

3. Follow the stock market regularly. I find the stock market pretty fascinating and intimidating, and I check various stocks from time to time. This year I pick a few stocks I’m interested in, and I’m trying to check them on Yahoo Finance everyday. I’ve been very interested in the athletic apparel recently because I think Lululemon is in the process of taking a big hit from more cost friendly competitors like Athleta (part of the Gap group) and Under Armour. I want to watch that play out, so I’m following all of them, plus Nike and Adidas (it’s a two for one since they own Reebok), and Pepsi for good measure. I never felt too comfortable with finance class in business school, but with all the case studies we did, I learned it’s kind of fun to follow a few companies and watch their progress. Speaking of which, can we talk about Lulu’s December:Lulu

4. Be Better, Faster, Stronger. No specific fitness goals this year in terms of races I want to run or times I was to get. I just want to continue to be committed to my regular workouts, and continue to improve. I was going through a slower running phase last fall, so I’m hoping to snap out of that and pick up the pace. Plus I think if I put a little more effort/consistency into my weight workouts I could up my weights a little, and get stronger. And Pilates as much as possible, because I love it! When you’re stressed for time it’s hard to push the envelope at the gym, so hopefully I can make some time for that.

5. Blog more regularly. I went from blogging very regularly when Carrie and I started the blog, to being very sporadic this year, so hopefully I will find a new rhythm in the 2014! (and maybe Carrie will too, wink, wink, nudge, nudge)

Are you sticking to the typical resolutions this year, or did you pick something that’s more out of the box?