New Year Reboot

From Godiva page on the history of chocolate

A new year is a great time to rethink your diet and start cleaning out the debris of the holiday season.  There are two paleo principles that work really well.  One: SIMPLIFY.  Stick to a limited menu of options.  By removing choice, you remove temptation and veering off-course.  Two: Record.  Journaling your food and habits makes you far more likely to stick with them.  When I was losing lots of weight (getting into shape after having my daughter), I not only recorded my food, but would circle and highlight, in yellow, what I had consumed that wasn't great.  Yes, I actually emphasized my mistakes.  This made me much more aware and accountable.  January is a great time for some stringency, but remember, we are still in the cold season (unless you live in a Southern clime).  Therefore, you need to think about your food choices in relation to winter weather.  For fruits, citrus is great, especially grapefruit (BUT check if you are taking medications, grapefruit cannot be eaten for example if you take cholesterol lowering medication).  For vegetables, think root veggies and cooked veggies over raw.  Think about using cooked greens for your salad base, for example, if you are going to eat a salad.  Smoothies should be less cold and pumped up with warming spice.  Warm eggs are good, baked sweet potatoes, warm vegetable soups.   Remove as much sugar and starch (pastries, breads, rice, noodles) from your diet as possible for this month.  Stick with whole, cooked foods, and good quality proteins (eggs, meat, protein powder).  Keep dairy to a minimum.  Switch out your coffee with warming teas.  Below see a few smoothie recipes to get you started!

1. Chocolate Chai: Combine chocolate protein powder, nutmilk (I'm loving the low calorie unsweetened vanilla almond/coconut by Blue Diamond), a bit of stevia (I like English toffee liquid), and a teaspoon of garam masala (Indian spice blend), 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.  Blend--no ice or frozen fruit.  This keeps it "warmer", easier to digest and low in sugar.
2. Hot Chocolate: Combine chocolate protein powder, nutmilk, a bit of stevia, a teaspoon of cinnamon (make it real Ceylon cinnamon for the full health benefit, Frontier's is great), and a PINCH (just a wee pinch, trust me on this) of cayenne pepper.  
3. Vanilla Chai, same as the chocolate, but with vanilla protein powder.
4. Thai Peanut: Combine vanilla protein powder, nutmilk, bit of stevia, a tablespoon of natural peanut butter, and a quarter size slice of fresh ginger.

All of the above will be made even more nutritious with the addition of a teaspoon of potato starch added (good probiotics and insulin-resistant starch).  Bob's Red Mill makes a readily-available product and it will last a long, long time.

And, if you interested in going deeper into self-improvement, consider our January "Fresh Start" course, or the "Healing Traditions" course.  I will run the super-low NEW AGE PALEO prices through January 15th.  http://www.newagepaleo.com/store/c1/Featured_Products.html

Happy New Age Paleo New Year!