Daily Meal Organization

[Bananna]

Just a quick question....
I ...ok, wait....re; green smoothies...I do not have a vm, and eating my gs is a major turn off...just to clarify that first, lol. ...I know you guys are all psycho about your green smoothies around here.:D

Question is....I am finding myself having a really hard time waiting untill supper to have a salad. I don't know if it's the greens or the fats or the pinch of salt I am after. I try and just eat fruit all day, which is doable....but I am wondering, how you distribute your food? Do you have fruit/smoothies all day and salad at night. Or do you have two salads a day...I think I'm going to try that out. Do you ever start your day with a salad? Do you even have any rhyme or reason or routine at all?

I guess I am looking for some 'structure'....and am curious as to what you all do.
Thanks!

[Raw Yogini]

I'm not good w/ routines. I do have a GS every morning for breakfast and mid-morning snack. I don't think you should make yourself wait until supper for a salad. Have it anytime you want!

[Thick]

I sometimes eat salads all day long. I am much more likely to have a green smoothie in the afternoon and a salad in the morning.

Sometimes I just want salty, spicy, savory food and sometimes I want sweet light fruit and melons. I just go with the flow and make sure I have things available for any of my preferences=)

[Ilse W.]

I eat whatever, whenever. I hate to plan anything, because when the time comes I will most likely have changed my mind. I certainly have had salad for breakfast.

[Vaclare79]

I have had salad for breakfast many times.

[Eva]

Question -- what have you tried in the green smoothie?? I've tried a lot that I've thought were GROSS but had them anyways because I didn't want to waste. :rolleyes:

If you haven't done frozen sliced bananas in them yet... you haven't experienced the smoothie tasting stuff. And it's really, really good to start out with lots of fruit and just a touch of greens if you need to work up your taste buds. It's an acquired taste!

As for meal organization, I:
-Start out with a green smoothie
-Have fresh fruit around so I can eat whatever I desire when I'm hungry next
-Always have some premade hummus or other dip so I can have some easy, tasty veggie stuff
-Keep stuff like walnuts, red peppers, sunseeds, etc. stocked so I can easily make a pate. Sometimes, I have a pate on a salad for dinner. Sometimes, just a salad with OO and ACV, sometimes something fancier.
-I keep some dates, sundried tomatoes etc. around so I'm ready to make a tasty tomato sauce.

The key is to have different options around. You have 6 kids, yes? You are lucky enough that someone will want the stuff before it goes bad (I hope!)...

[bsqmurphy]

I've been focusing on Alissa's approach - eat as much as you want of whatever you want, as long as it's raw.

I tend to prefer fruit in the morning - often a green smoothie. (My favorite is 2 oranges, 1/2 banana, and 1+ cups spinach.) More fruit midmorning. By lunch I usually want something heavier & will either have salad with avocado or nori or cabbage rolls filled with a nut pate and whatever veggies/sprouts catch my attention. Same type of thing for dinner. Then late evening I usually have fruit, nuts, green smootie, or green juice - depending on what I feel like.

But that's just what I tend to do - it can vary a lot - just depends on what I feel like. I believe that the more I am able to listen to my body and responde to what it truly wants & needs in the moment, the better I will feel and live.

Bri.

[Bananna]

Wow! Ok...thanks ;)

as per gs, it's not the taste that is the problem, it is the texture of the cheap blender. the chunky fibrous pieces. I have, on occasion, gotten some smoothies fine enough to go through straws, but as a rule; meh.

Well I think I'm going to have to start having salads at lunch too.

This is all starting to come together....lol.

[Eva]

That's part of why I asked! When I use frozen bananas, I can keep my cheap blender moving for a lot longer (sometimes even 2 minutes) to just keep on waiting until the texture is good. I don't know why, but that just isn't the case with other fruit. So as long as I have even just 1-2 frozen bananas, it adds the creaminess and buys me extra time.

This was never a problem with the Vita Mix, but this is what I have, so it's what I've been doing. Also, starting with just a little water and adding more when needed helps. So does chopping the greens pretty well.

You've GOT to make them work! LOL! Green smoothie police here! :p

[Bananna]

So adding frozen bananas to a cheap blender, makes green smoothies, smoother? Weird!

[linda7276]

I usually have a gs with a variety of greens and fruits in the morning, oh and lots of supplements, like cocoa, maca, green powder, cinnamon, chia seeds...and then play the day by whatever strikes me, a salad, maybe just fruit, maybe nuts, or an avocado, etc...then a gs for dinner...oink oink...haha...gosh that sounds like a lot of food doesn't it, my latest fav is celery with almond butter and salt, yummm, and a cucumber sliced down the middle and salt. Salt seems to play a big part in my diet, I wonder why?

Anyway when I find myself feeling restricted I remind myself that this diet is all about freedom and I can eat whatever I want, whenever I want. I do not know how you manage with 6 kids...oh my, I grew up as 1 in 12...omg...and one bathroom, can you imagine the yelling that went on in that house...LOL.

[joyfulmama]

I think it is the creaminess you are after.. spinach tends to get smoother- and I had a cheap blender before the vitamix. I put in the spinach and a few cups of water- blend this up..then add fruit- frozen bananas, mangos, berries etc..
I have gs for breakfast and dinner and a huge salad and flax crackers for lunch.

[Emma-Liza]

Bananna--I agree you should eat the salads whenever you feel like it. I am still new to raw (5 weeks) and I still organize my meals in a traditional manner. On days I don't have green smoothie, it looks like this:

B--fruit, either whole or cut up, handful nuts if I'm really hungry. Can make this a fruit bowl with nuts on top.

L--greens-based salad, several kinds of vegetables, something "heavy" like avocado or nut pate or a tahini-based dressing that will stay with me awhile.

D--nongreens-based salad such as tabouli, marinated cucumbers, carrot slaw AND/OR dehydrated (an hour or so just to warm) veggies such as mushrooms filled with spinach pesto OR lettuce wraps OR one of the above AND a small greens-based salad with a different dressing/different greens than lunch.

For snacks or to fill in a little hungry place in meal, I keep flax and seed crackers on hand. I order these online, but I have also made them. I have some grab n go veggies and fruits like grapes, apples, bananas, carrots, celery, cherry tomatoes and I pack at least 1 snack of veggies/fruit and small container of seeds or nuts for work everyday.

Salt--sometimes I add a pinch of sea salt to whatever I'm eating, if I'm craving it, even a smoothie or some raw seeds/nuts.

For sweet tooth, I have larabars and raw crunch bars. You could also make fudge or truffles or any of Alissa's desserts. All the ones I've tried are good and most will keep a long time.

In other words, my daily food resembles a conventional diet very much. I don't food combine (much...yet) or nosh on fruit all day or mono meal or drink more than one smoothie per day. Ask me next month, I might change! ;) But I'm becoming measurably (http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/blogs/blog-17533/entry-12149/)healthier right now doing this.

Best to you!

[Bananna]

linda...yes, 6 kids leaves me Never bored....and adoring moments of complete quiet and stillness. 12 seems unfathomable to me, much like 6 does to normal 2 kid families I guess...
I seem to have a salt thing going on too ;)

I will rejuvinate me GS attempts you guys....thanks for all the tips.
It would be nice if I could get into them. Great way to get greens....

[annavon]

Bananna - Thanks for this thread. :) I've had the same sort of questions regarding meal organizing too!. I tend to do juice or GS in the a.m. and a BIG salad at lunch. I keep fruit and flax crackers around for between meal snacks. I generally eat very little in the evening; I usually nibble on some veggies if I am juicing for the next day or I have some veggie juice. My newest thing is to do some prep for my meals for the next day in the evening, so I get more variety in my meals.

[gingincal]

Glad you're going to revisit the GS! I know what you mean re: the texture. I tend to add ice to most of my GS concoctions (I don't have a VM, either) so they are thicker and have little ice chips mixed with the flecks of greens and blueberries or whatever. This works well for me.

Re: salads, don't torture yourself to wait until supper. If you want a salad, woman, eat one! :D

[Bananna]

I am glad for this thread too.. ;) I gave voice to my irrational fear of eating salad any old time....and now I will eat salad all I want....because I see just what silliness I was messing with myself with.

[bsqmurphy]

I like to use banana, mango, avocado, or fresh young/green coconut to help make the gs more smooth. This helped in my old traditional blender before the vita-mix days. I also like to use oranges because they are fully of juice - that way I need less water and it has more flavor.

Bri.

PS My son (17 months) LOVES gs too!