As I head back to work after an extended Vegas trip for softball, it’s time to get back in the habits of everyday life. It’s been a few weeks now since I first heard Dr. Rhonda Patrick on the Tim Ferriss show. If you’re not familiar with her, her bio on her website “Found My Fitness” describes her work as such:
She investigates the effects of micronutrient (vitamins and minerals) inadequacies on metabolism, inflammation, DNA damage, and aging and whether supplementation can reverse the damage. In addition, she is investigating the role of vitamin D in brain function, behavior, and other physiological functions.
Heady stuff. Among other things, what I took away from her conversation with Ferriss is the importance of fruits and vegetables – and how undernourished we all are. Revolutionary stuff I know.
The point is, most people (especially me) don’t like or just don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables. To combat that, I’ve started on the Dr. Rhonda smoothie a day play. By overloading on fruits and veggies to start the day, I’m increasing my energy and hopefully alleviating any nutritional deficits. I’m much better at chugging vegetables than I am at cooking and eating them, so this works really well for me. I’ve experimented with a few combinations and made some changes (took out avocado, just couldn’t do the texture). Here’s what I’m having this morning:
- One tomato
- A handful of spinach
- A handful of kale
- A handful of frozen blueberries
- 7 frozen strawberries
- Two carrots
- Half a cup of lemonade
- Enough filtered water to make it juicy
I use my Blendtec (you should get one – so worth it) and it comes out to about 32 ounces of smoothie. I start drinking with breakfast and try to finish by lunch. It could definitely be a breakfast replacement if I wasn’t in love with eggs + corned beef hash. It’s also easy to save half for after work in a blender bottle (I f’ing love these).
Are you getting enough fruits and vegetables? Give this a shot and let me know what you think in the comments or on Twitter.