I’ve been planning on doing a post about how since I switched to clean eating, just over a year or so ago, I hardly ever get sick. I’m pretty healthy and feel great 99% of the time. Not bad, right?! I’m telling you it’s a good way to live, and I attribute the majority of my healthiness to my eating habits. I don’t put a lot of garbage into my body, so it can focus on keeping me healthy and allowing me to operate at my best.
In the last year, I have been sick once. To give you some context, it was in January, which is right smack dab in the middle of my busiest time at work, so I was pretty stressed out and working long hours. We had been traveling a lot the month prior due to the holidays (three Christmas’s, three days, two states), and overall I was running on fumes.
I took a long weekend to fly to Portland with the Hubby to visit family, and while it was a really great and quick trip, our niece Simi was just starting to get sick (runny nose, coughing). We don’t get to see her very often and she’s only five, so we ignored the sickness and shared countless germs, I’m sure. She was totally worth it. On Monday, I hopped a plane solo (the Hubby got to stay longer) and flew home so I could get back to the office. And I was fine for a few days, until Friday night, when all of a sudden, my body just shut down, and I would bet money I had a pretty severe sinus infection. I’ve had them before so I know the feeling, and my face (read sinuses) was completely swollen.
I surrendered to my illness on Friday night and never left the house the entire weekend, not even to pick the Hubby up from the airport. I made him walk. Just kidding, his parents scooped him up Sunday night. I made it a point to do nothing all weekend, except take care of myself. I ate good healthy food even though I wasn’t even hungry, but because I knew it would help. I drank tons of fluids, took long steamy baths and slept and recovered all weekend long. I didn’t clean anything, I didn’t do any laundry. By Monday morning, I was fine and back to my normal self. Now, I’m not a doctor (otherward this site would be clean eats MD), but I think two days without any prescription medication (Sudafed was my BFF) for a sinus infection is a damn good recovery rate. And I’m not shocked I got sick either: I was stressed, overworked, hanging out with sick kids and flying in airplanes (another great source for germs).So imagine my surprise when I woke up Sunday morning, and my throat was on fire. I had a few headaches last week, which is unusual, so I doubled my water intake thinking I was dehydrated, I had a strange sporadic little cough that was more of a tickle than anything painful, and I’ve been pretty busy with life, both work and play. So, it’s possible my body was trying to tell me something, and it’s definitely possible no matter how cleanly you eat, sometimes shit just happens. Now depending on how I feel Monday morning when I wake up, a trip to the doctor might be in order along with a sick day from work. I’ll have to wait and see, but what I do know is, whatever this is, it will pass and likely very quickly. I know eating healthy means I will get sick less and when I do, I’ll recover quickly.
Prior to waking up with a throat of death on Sunday (too dramatic?), I had a great weekend. I drank my first ever kale smoothie, and I liked it. Believe me, I was petrified going in, but I got kale in my CSA this past week, and I have heard so much about how great it is for you, especially in a smoothie, so I decided to just go for it. I used the smallest kale leaves possible and almost doubled the amount of fruit the recipe calls for, and the end result was pretty good. I’m not entirely sure how to describe it since the predominant flavor was strawberries, but with each sip, I liked it more and more.
Although this smoothie wins no points in the presentation department; it could have been the ugliest thing I’ve ever drunk. I still have more kale leftover, and shockingly, I’m eager to try another smoothie this week. Seriously, I’m completely fascinated.
After mowing the lawn, I went to the Hubby’s softball game on Saturday. The team lost, but he went three for three, so he was happy. We also hit up the Clifton Arts Festival, which was one of the coolest art shows, since they had all kinds of crazy performance art going on. We saw a women dressed like a fairy, elf ears and all, dancing around. We saw human statues and men in biking tops riding bicycles with denim short shorts. It was a good look. There was also one guy creating sand art on the back of a truck.
Aside from the cool sights, I picked up a new fruit bowl with ventilation holes so the fruit stays fresher longer. Genius. And it’s a tad deeper and bigger than my old fruit bowl, so I couldn’t be happier with my purchase.
After the art show, I hit up the grocery store and then made some salsa just because. Do you ever really need a reason to make salsa. And this recipe couldn’t be any easier, since you just stick everything in the blender and hit Go or Start or whatever your blender says.
On Sunday, despite my sore throat, we had the in-laws over for Father’s Day lunch, and everything was fantastic. I wasn’t even the slightest bit hungry, but I forced myself to eat some food, and it was probably the best I felt all day. We had chips and salsa, and our first Caprese salad of the season. We got another big beautiful tomato in our CSA last week, and it was just begging to be made into a Caprese salad.
To make this, you just alternate slices of a beefsteak tomato with slices of mozzarella. Drizzle half a tablespoon of olive oil and half a tablespoon of good balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle the whole thing with some crushed salt and pepper (it really brings out the flavors of the tomato) and tuck some freshly picked and cleaned basil leaves into the layers. The most important thing to this dish is to use fresh tomatoes and the soft balls of mozzarella (not the shredded stuff).
We also had a scrumptous green salad. And let me tell you, this salad is so good, I’ve eaten it every day since Thursday. We got another bunch of lettuce in the CSA, so salads are reigning supreme in our household. I added some chopped green onions, red bell peppers, cucumbers, carrot shavings and Asiago cheese. A little crunch, a little sweet, a little salty; just a great flavor combo with a nice light dressing.
And for the main course, we served burgers (sadly I didn’t take any pictures of the meat) with some homemade parmesan potato chips. Another easy recipe and another grab from Pinterest. The Hubby actually made these completely solo, while I took care of the salads, so it gives you an idea of just how easy the recipe is (no offense Hubby).
Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes (http://www.plainchicken.com/2010/04/easy-oven-roasted-potatoes.html)
2 large potatoes, scrubbed
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning (I used my own herbs and spices similar to Italian)
1 tsp salt
4 Tbsp Parmesan cheese
Slice potatoes into very thin slices (1/4 inch). Toss potatoes with olive oil, Italian seasoning and salt in a bowl until well coated. Place the potatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with foil. Bake at 450 for 15 -20 minutes, until lightly brown. Top with Parmesan cheese and bake an additional 5 minutes.
We had a successful lunch and when everybody left, I crashed and took a three hour nap. Hopefully, and most likely, I’ll recover quickly. Wish me well.
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