The Way We Start Leads To How We Finish

Maybe I should start with how I USED to start my mornings, food wise speaking. I used to start my mornings off with a BIG bowl of sweetened, chemical laden cereal and enough full fat cow milk to make my cereal soggy and provide a sugary drink afterwards. Well, this was almost ten years ago now. How did I feel after I consumed that BIG bowl of sugary stuff? Would you like me to make a list or should I just name the symptoms out for you? Here goes – fat, tooth ache, heavy, bloated, stomach ache to the max, stuffy nose, headache, and did I say heavy? It is a WONDER that I kept having the same thing every morning. Some mornings it would be heavily processed all in one boxed pancakes, or eggs or French toast. I still enjoy some of my childhood favorites but I have more healthier ways of making them now. I was doing myself no favors in lazily pouring my bowl of cereal or stacking up my quick-to-make pancakes. I was not setting my day up right and I would pay for it all day as my stomach aches would linger on into the evening.

These days I am beginning my day much differently. Warm water and lemon. That’s it. That’s the huge life change for me. It slows me down and helps me to make better choices. As on sip on hat half a lemon squeezed into my tall glass of warm water. It provides me with a substantial amount of my vitamin c requirements for the day while at the same time aiding my body in its cleansing mode from the night. When I get hungry I then have a green smoothie, usually made with some kale, pears, apples, bananas, carrots, a little lemon and sometimes celery and strawberries. I am always changing the ingredients to what I have available or can find organic (If there is a choice, so that I am not putting unnecessary toxins into me and my family’s body). Drinking this smoothie provides more fruits and vegetables than most people get in a day, or maybe even a whole week! What is also beneficial is, all of those fresh fruits and vegetables are providing my skin and organs with an incredible amount of nutrients and protein and fiber to start my morning energized and feeling beautiful. Drinking this smoothie broken down reserves my body energy. If I am in a hurry, and I do not have a smoothie already backed up in my fridge, as I sometimes do from the previous day, then I snack on fresh fruits all morning. By consuming raw fruits and/or vegetables in the morning, we are promoting the ongoing cleanse our body has already been in throughout our sleep. It is said that our body’s cleansing and rebuilding time is at its peak until noon. If you can make it until noon on just fruits and lots of water, you have made an incredible jump towards health and weightloss and I have no doubt that you will see results from it very quickly. If you can’t, that is okay too. Follow your water and green smoothie (or two!) with some oats. What I do is, drink about two regular sized mason jars full of smoothie, put the remaining into mason jars into the fridge for tomorrow so if I am running late it is already made for me (just make sure to stir before drinking as all the fiber would have settled to the top but it tastes like you just made it nonetheless) and if I feel like I really need something else (usually happens when I am putting a lot of effort into my when I feel my body is needing food (we must practice listening to our body) I will then make a small portion of oatmeal, made with water, a bit of honey or maple syrup and cinnamon (can add berries too, yum!). Another important note on consuming a smoothie and/or sticking to only fresh fruits and vegetables in the morning is it promotes the body’s ability to pass that first bowel movement in the morning, creating regularity and cleansing the system further before introducing more foods, specifically cooked foods, on top of what you ate yesterday! So if you haven’t um…gone yet, keep drinking your smoothie and water until you do, then you can feel free to eat cooked food after.

So why does it all start with lemon water? Maybe it’s a mental thing. Eating this way SETS my day up right. It prepares me (mentally) to want to continue choosing the right foods throughout the day. I have never felt better eating this way first thing in the morning. I can’t say enough as to how this one small change has helped me feel and look. I encourage you, if there is any change you are willing to make, try this one and you will not be disappointed! The most wonderful part is, tomorrow is a new day where we can always start again, start new, start fresh, with some lemon water.

On this journey together,

Kari