Smoothies, Buddha bowls, and building new habits

It's funny--the first question I get when I tell people I did a 40-day cleanse (eliminating meat, gluten, dairy, sugar, and alcohol) is, "What did you eat?" I still ate a lot but I changed the way I ate. I grabbed different snacks and made different recipes but there was always plenty to eat. Changing what and how you consume is a choice, be it food or clothes. I'm not saying it's easy to change our ways but it is possible. Maybe it's something you do slowly or maybe you go for it and eliminate what you want all at once. That's the thing though, it didn't end up feeling like I was depriving myself; it felt like I was adding good things to my life.

Every morning started out with warm lemon water and a big smoothie full of goodness. These smoothies had frozen berries, bananas, kale, spinach, Udo's oil, coconut oil or avocado, flax and hemp, cinnamon, Greens powder, coconut or almond milk, and sometimes yogurt, almond butter, and/or broccoli. The smoothies filled me up with all the nutrients I needed to start my day off right.

For supper I often made the Buddha bowl with Dragon Sauce. Dawn, a Montreal yoga teacher and friend of mine shared this sauce recipe. She was right--it's potentially addictive and hard to live without! I found the Buddha bowl recipe in Kris Carr's book but of course tweaked it as I went.

Buddha Bowl (for two or three people):

1-2 cups brown rice
1-2 cups broccoli
1 cup chickpeas
1/2 purple onion
1 carrot, grated
1/4 cup ground flax
1/4 cup hemp seeds
1 avocado
8-10 olives
Dash of cayenne

Cook the rice using a 1:2 ratio (one part rice to two parts water). Use above vegetables or any combination you have on hand. Lightly steam broccoli and onion. Stir chickpeas in with rice. Place rice/bean, broccoli/onion in bowls. Top with carrot, flax, hemp, olives, sliced avocado, cayenne, and Dragon Sauce.

Dragon Sauce:

1/2 cup olive oil or any good quality oil
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
1/4 cup Bragg's (or gluten-free tamari)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 garlic clove, chopped or minced
1" piece of ginger, finely chopped

Put all ingredients together and shake until combined. For more flavour make in advance and let sit.

Soooo good!

Enjoy.