Some 4th of July Fun

NOT a news flash, I adore food.  With this time of year I particularly enjoy making smoothies, creating all sorts of different flavors and colors.  There are some pretty amazing people out there making all kinds of artwork, using none other than some of my favorite things... FOOD!  And not just any food, but healthy, whole foods.  Foods that make me feel good, causing me to use ALL of the senses I've been blessed with, instead of taking them for granted.

For my latest food adventure I was prompted to create a layered smoothie. Okay, so the possibility of winning a new Vitamix helped.  Yes I already have one, but my thought was if I win a new one I can give my current one to my oldest, so she too can enjoy all the benefits Vitamix has to offer.   Geez, the things we do for our kids ;).  I really like making smoothies, but to be honest, I wasn't sure about this layering thing.  I thought, wow, they look really pretty, but do I want to be spending that much time creating totally different smoothies at once?  Isn't it a pain to keep cleaning out the blender?  How many ingredients is this going to be? Pretty much I was psyching myself out.  Finally I thought, my goodness don't be a baby, try it once, if you don't like then just stick to one from here on out.

I realize preparing foods isn't for everyone, but when I experiment with whole foods it's visually pleasing for me, you know, eye candy.  It gets my juices flowing (don't go dirty on me).  With greater appreciation, I find that seeing all the amazing natural colors makes me want to create something that will nourish me from the inside out.  My sense of vision gets activated first with all the colors.  Then I get to add my sense of touch by being mindful while I am preparing the food, noticing if it's cold, if it's textured, does it have seeds or pits? My senses start to do a sort of dance, moving sinuously from one to the other, and back again.  Now my sense of smell gets to join in as I peel, chop or dice up rainbows of joy.  Even my sense of sound is included as I pay attention to the sound of the peel, or the blend of perfection.  Of course, all of this has literally been setting my sense of taste up for the grand finale.  With my mouth already watering, I experience the satisfaction of my, I mean my blenders, hard work.  Once again, all of my senses swirling in synchronicity as each one is sent back into action by that first sip or bite of whatever I've created.  As I think about all of this I become eager to finally create a layered smoothie recipe, if nothing else, at least it will be pretty, I hoped.

As I decided on what my first attempt at a layered smoothie might be, there were some ground rules I set for myself.  One, make it simple, and two, tie in the upcoming holiday.  So this has led me to a 4th of July Smoothie concoction.

4th of July Layered Smoothie (serves 2)

Ingredients:

Red Layer -
1 cup unsweetened coconut water
1 1/4 cup frozen strawberries

White Layer - (coconut cream)
1 can coconut milk (full fat) placed in the fridge the night before
1 Tbsp. lucuma powder (or pure maple syrup if you want it sweeter)

Blue Layer -
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut water
1 packet Blue Majik
1 large frozen banana

Directions:
1.  Combine red layer ingredients, blend until smooth.
2.  Pour into bottom of two cups, rinse blender (don't bother washing or drying it).
3.  Open the coconut milk, pour out coconut water (save for later or use in next layer).
4.  Scrap the thick cream into blender, add lucuma or sweeter of choice, blend until smooth.
5.  Pour some onto red layer, you will have some left over, store in an airtight container in the fridge (use on pancakes, waffles, etc. or freeze to use later)
6.  DO NOT rinse blender this time, the little bit of cream will add a nice flavor to the blue layer.
7.  Place blue layer ingredients into blender, blend until smooth.
8.  Pour onto white layer, top with chopped strawberries, blueberries and coconut shreds.

This literally took me about 5 minutes to make.  I wasn't sure how long each layer would stay thick enough to hold the next layer put on top, so I put the cups back in the freezer between each layer.  I'll have to work on my layering skills, but my goodness this smoothie is rich, creamy, and most definitely satisfying! I hope you enjoy.

Is Circadian Rhythm A Real Thing?

I do not know why, but I woke up one morning last week and had a strong urge that I needed to rebalance my body somehow.  I eat fairly healthy, practice yoga and mediation, so what else was there?  Then the words circadian rhythm began to echo somewhere deep within the reserves of my brain.

Huh, circadian rhythm. I remember vaguely learning about circadian rhythm and reading articles about how it affects your sleep in the past, but what exactly is circadian rhythm, and how would it help me to feel the overall rebalance that I was looking for?

A little scientific refresher was in order.  Thanks to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, I was quickly reminded about the perfectly planned connections between the exquisite human body and our amazing natural world.  Beyond regulating sleep, I was surprised to find out how our circadian rhythm can affect us in other areas as well..."Abnormal circadian rhythms have also been associated with obesity, diabetes, depression, bipolar disorder and seasonal affective disorder -NIH".  This last part was interesting because I have experienced seasonal affective disorder before, particularly in the winter, so this was nice to learn.    

Now that I had my refresher, and knew how crucial circadian rhythm is to my health, I needed to conduct a personal experience.  When I say personal, I mean family (they are so lucky to have me ;)).  How would I go about this experiment in a way that made sense for our life today?  We don't live on a deserted island far from civilization, so becoming hermits was not an option.  We needed to continue interacting with the world, and I needed to continue running our family business.  

Talking with the kids, we decided this experiment would last four days, Monday through Thursday.  There would be limited electronics in the morning to allow for our experiment check in, social media check in, and business updates.  This would be on the computer, should last no more than about an hour, and there would be no phone use.  The remainder of the day there would be no electronics, and all day/night there would be no lights, only candlelight.  

Watching the girls interact with each other and nature during those four days was beautiful.  We had sincere interest in each other's words, played more games with each other, went outside more, read, colored, got some much needed cleaning accomplished, practiced yoga outside, meditated more, and the quality of sleep was incredible.  Every evening we would go outside and watch the brilliant show the fireflies put on.   While we may have enjoyed fireflies before, this experiment gave us a greater appreciation for their beauty.  We can't stand human created fireworks because of the environmental and health damage they cause (cue eye rolling from many of you, but that's how we feel).  Realizing fireflies truly are natures fireworks was amazing, there were 100's of them, and Gracie would name them as they landed on her (she is the cutest!).  

For us our circadian rhythm rebalance was fun, but more importantly it allowed us to reconnect with each other by taking our faces out of mind numbing technology, honoring the person in front of us instead of half listening. It provided time for self reflection, tuning in through silence and gratitude.  It allowed us to realize that circadian rhythm can help with other disorders beyond sleep, which is an important piece that can offer hope and healing to many.  

We decided we liked how this felt, and we will practice being more mindful to our interactions with each other, and use electronics less.  Sometimes pictures or videos just cannot do justice to the beauty that is the people and nature we are surrounded by, you have to go out, turn off the television, put down the phones, close the computers, and immerse yourself in it.