Au Courant Workday Parfait.

Now that you are drinking your green juice, let's talk about what's for lunch...

Lately, I've been on a health kick. Don't get me wrong, Ah lurrrv my weekend pizza & wine night just as much as the next girl, but I try to use the week days to stick to mostly nutritious habits so that I know my body is getting what it needs {the majority of the time}.

I've gone a ton of different routes in terms of the workday lunch...I've brought sandwiches, nutritionally-void and sodium-laden frozen "healthy" {ha-ha} options, preservative-soaked meal-replacement bars & shakes {starving in ten minutes}, gone next door to pick something up to-go {literally..something, because I have no idea what's in it}...anything promising a quick, cheap meal. Afterall, there's NO TIME for anything else!!! I'm on the GO! Right??

WRONG! If I can sacrifice five precious morning minutes to prepare something, so can you. And yes, I've timed it.

Here is what I've created lately...It is a low-glycemic parfait packed with protein, calcium, fiber, heart healthy fat, lycopene, antioxidants, and much {much} more:

Ingredients:

1 Glasslock tupperware

Half cup lowfat cottage cheese

Half of an avocado

Half pint fresh berries

1 roma tomato

Handful of spinach

Sea salt & pepper to taste

Step1:

Step 2: 

Sea Salt & Pepper generously.

Step 3:

Final Step: 

Au Courant Parfait.

{Au Courant: fashionable, stylish, fully familiar, smart}

I challenge you to try this menu for a five-day workweek {and workweek could be anything...schoolweek, busy week at home with the kids, etc...} :

• Breakfast - two hard-boiled eggs {cage-free organic...because happy chickens = happy humans} with black coffee
• Snack - greek yogurt & string cheese
• Lunch - parfait & green tea
• Snack - green juice

Note: You are on your own for dinner! I usually go with a salad & protein + glass of wine ... or homemade air popped popcorn made with olive oil & sea salt...I'm not perfect, people!

Tell me if, by the end you do not feel utterly amazing and full of energy. You  might even be able to skip your 3pm daily drool & nap time at the computer!

Green Juice.

Over the past four years, I have discovered the fabulousness that is juicing.  I have been incorporating three-day cleanses via The Blueprint Cleanse into my life at least twice a year. Juicing has changed my life. Now that my body knows about green juice, I wake up craving it.

The thing with Blueprint is that it's shipped overnight from NYC {and it's raw & organic...so it's not CHEAP}. Only recently has the company expanded production and made their juices available {in a flash pasteurized version to extend shelf-life for a few days} in Whole Foods stores across the country. Of course, as soon as we moved from La Jolla, it came to that store!! Luckily, I found a great {cost effective at $3.75 a bottle at Safeway} substitute by Evolution. 

You might be thinking, "Why doesn't this crazy person get a juicer?"

Trust me, I've weighed that thought against both the pros and cons. I've decided that as long as I'm working {also said: as long as I have zero disposable time}, the convenience of grabbing the 2lbs-of-green-veggies-in-a-perfectly-chilled-little-bottle from the fridge outweighs the cost and process of gathering, juicing, storing and cleaning.

On our most recent trip to Kauai, our barefooted Wailua hiking guide {a local "Grandma" of five...who, by the way, looked younger than my own mother and had shiny salt & pepper hair down to the middle of her back} told me that cancer and disease cannot survive in an alkaline body. She brought a large mason jar of green juice with her where ever she went. She told me that green juice helps the body lower its acidity {brought on by things such as coffee, most fruits, and meat} and balance the pH back to alkaline.

OK, enough of this chemistry lesson. For a more practical real life example: Since drinking high pressure-processed natural green juice, I've had more energy and less random food cravings because I'm actually getting the vitamins I need. I never get sick {ruh roh, knock on wood}.  In juice form, the nutrients go directly into the bloodstream within minutes.  I can literally feel my skin and organs absorbing the vitamins, minerals and enzymes. I know, I'm a freak. But I love it. 

I don't care how poor I am...I will never give up my green juice.

**UPDATE: Blueprint juices are spreading like wildfire & are now available at most Whole Foods grocery stores, as well as several other locations all around the country! Click here to see if your location is included!