HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL OF YOU

And remember, if you haven't yet reached your target

Much Love

Ian J

XX

How was it for you?

So, we've all run the Christmas gauntlet.

The distractions and temptations were immense, but we managed to come out the other side with our integrity still intact, and we are still in control of our waistlines.

On a personal note, I managed to come out the other side of the festivities without putting on too much weight.

I REALLY should have, because I was sure that my intake of unrighteous things was on a biblical level. I felt like I had stuffed myself so full of chocolates and cake, however, after I checked with some friends and family, I actually wasn't too greedy, and I managed to only gain a pound or two.

Perhaps my body has actually taught itself what it is like when it gets used to taking in less nutrients.

I hope that the same thing happened for you.

Now all that we need to is get through the new year.

I have a question..........I'm not the first person to ask this, but why is it that all the things that we like are bad for us? Its one of life's little jokes.

Why is alcohol fattening?

Why do chocolate and cake contain so many calories?

If I were cynical, I would suspect that Christmas and New-Year's Eve was invented by diet companies so that they could sign up millions of guilt-ridden fatties during their annual, January marketing drive.

Don't fall into their trap. I have tried those diets. I will tell you again THEY DON'T WORK.

Please don't fall for their glossy, glamorous adverts on the Television. The food that you cook will look NOTHING like it does in the ads. The Actors that they use in those ads have NEVER been fat.

The other Adverts that we are bombarded by are the holiday adverts.

The annual vacation is another time of year that we are all told to be really thin and healthy, it's sickening.

The only thing is, I am getting to the point where I can't wait to get away for a week or so, and if I'm honest, I don't really care what I look like on a sun-lounger on the beach. Ironically, I will probably look better at the sea-side next year, than I have in the last 25 years, and the reason for this is this change of lifestyle on which I have embarked.

My plans for the summer of 2016 involve going back to my favourite place in Spain. A little old fishing town in the South which is called Nerja.

http://mynerja.com/

I first went there in my early life,

when all I was interested in was throwing a ball about. 

Then I went there in my teens, when all I was interested in was looking sharp and meeting girls.

Then I went there in my twenties, when all I was interested in was drinking and meeting girls.

Then I went there in my thirties, when all I was interested in was eating good food. And meeting Girls

I will now be going there in my forties, all I'm interested in is relaxing. At least, it doesn't matter what I look like when I'm doing that!

I am hoping that you all have a fantastic new Year and I will speak to you in January.

TTFN

IJx

New Year's Fruity Monster

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons ice cream

1 cup frozen apple juice concentrate

1 cup strawberry

1 banana

2 tablespoons pineapple

¹⁄₂ teaspoon protein powder

¹⁄₂ teaspoon flax seed oil

Ho Ho Ho

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL OF YOU 

From The Smoothie Monster. Xxx

'Tis the season to be Bloated

Its That time of year. So this will be a fairly short blog, as there is a large slug of Famous Grouse in the other room with my name written all over it.

Errrr I mean, a delicious nutritious smoothie.

'Tis the season to be Bloated......... and ever since I started my Smoothie adventure in November I have managed to get myself to a point where I feel great and have the added benefit of having lost over 14 lbs in weight, and whilst I haven't met my ideal weight yet, I am very happy with what I have achieved. I have even noticed that my gums have stopped bleeding when I clean them, I am wondering "was that a sign that I had scurvy?"

That reminds me of something funny- I used to be much lighter than I am now, I used to weigh 9lbs. Admittedly that WAS a few years ago.

There is a danger, fellow health enthusiasts, that this time of year can be kryptonite for a smoothie Monster, with the gravitational force of all those mince pies, Turkey meals and Christmas puddings pulling us into the black hole of complex carbohydrates.

Lets face it, in the past we have all asked if the only seasonal joy for the health conscious at this time of the year is on Christmas Eve when we can be the lucky bugger that bites off half the carrot that is left out for the bloody reindeer at the bottom of the chimney

Then the day after, the only thing that those of us who are vegetarian can look forward to is a Nut loaf and overcooked sprouts.

I am here to tell you that you CAN have a great yuletide by using a little self control and cut back on the fattening things and just make yourself a lovely smoothies like the one I will post at the end of this post.

Its really important that we allow ourselves a little bit of a treat. We have earned one.

Alternatively you could do what I intend to do and SUSPEND THE DIET FOR TWO DAYS and have a massive detox afterwards.

I'd like to wish you all a very merry Christmas holiday time and thank you all for reading my blog over the last month. (I realise that not all of you celebrate Christmas. To you I would like to say Wherever you are, please bear with the rest of us while we argue with our families for a couple of days following those first two or three hours on the 25th when we are actually nice to eachother)

Yuletide Gingerbread Monster

serves 1

• 1 frozen banana
• 1 cup unsweetened organic vanilla almond milk (or other non-dairy milk)
• 1 tablespoon unsulphured blackstrap molasses
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon flax-seed meal (or ground chia seeds)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (grated fresh ginger would be extra nice)
• pinch of ground nutmeg
• pinch of ground cloves
• dash of all spice
• 1 small handful of ice
  *additional sweetener, I would add a little honey if needed

Add all of the ingredients to the blender and process until smooth and creamy.  Pour into your glass, top with a little freshly grated nutmeg (or regular old ground nutmeg will work too). Serve immediately.

The Birth of the Monster

Before I start, I'd like to say that I would welcome and appreciate any comments that you wish to leave at the bottom of my blog. 

When I sit down and try to think what to write to keep these blogs informative and entertaining, I usually start to think of how to extoll the virtues of smoothies and health and how the two mix. Then, once I start writing, all of those good intentions go down hill and I start waffling like a babbling fool. You see,  It's really difficult for a non-trained hack, like myself, to come up with fresh Ideas.

Well, I cant remember what I wanted to write about when I switched on my PC, so I am happy to report that this blog will be no different. Who am I to change a tried and trusted formula?

I want to tell you about my 20s.

There are vast tracts of that decade that only barely twinkle in my memory. However enough of those years' culinary remembrances remain to be able to tell you a little about the initial steps towards this Saga.

The main constituents of my diet during my 20's were..........

Curry and Beer

And that's pretty much all.

If you are to understand why, you need to understand a little bit about my home-town.

I come from Birmingham, England.

Birmingham is famous for a few things.

Black Sabbath

Some of the most disgusting cars in history

Having more miles of Canals filled with shopping trollies than Venice.

UB40

ELO

DURAN

But probably the most delicious contribution to the British Zeitgeist must be the BALTI.

Birmingham is a great city. Forget what the papers say about it being a disgusting, Dirty, grey and uncultured industrial place.
Just look at this BBC film with Telly Savalas getting all of a twitter about it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00j976x

If its good enough for Kojak, Its good enough for anyone!

It IS all of those nasty things that people say about it.

Which big city isn't?

The main thing that Birmingham has, is a myriad of cultures all living together and sharing their cultures, so that the city has now become a delightful and glittering Gestalt.

Is it a Bunny? Is it a duck?

Well..............Almost delightful and glittering.

One of the cultures that has made it's mark since the 1950s, is the Indian culture.
Punjabi, Kashmiri and Goan restaurants soon appeared all over the city, but there is a region of the city called Sparkhill that has a Huge number of restaurants and cafes. This area was the centre for the development of a type of curry, sort of a melange of different types of curry styles which became known as BALTI.

There are a few facts that you need to know about Balti.

First it is BLOODY DELICIOUS. It is the Goldilocks of curry.....Not too spicy, not too weak, Just Right.

Second, as you see from the photo, above, Balti is served with the biggest bread you have ever seen.

Unless you are these people..........

Third, it is incredibly cheap.

The one thing that is not so good, is that Indian food is made with a special type of butter called Ghee. Which is a clarified butter.

We have always been told that Ghee is the product of a marriage between a cow and the devil.

You can imagine my delight when I saw this....

http://www.naturalnews.com/034182_ghee_clarified_butter.html 

So Butter now is not bad for you.

Except when you eat a lot of it every night.

With Beer........

lots

of

Beer

I hope now that you have some sort of idea why I got to the state that I was in when I started my blog.

I would like to dedicate this blog to my partners in crime at the time.

John (who I hope will someday contribute to this blog)

Paul (the controller)

and Joe (wherever he is)

Today's recipe

The Gingersnap Monster

Correct indigestion with this ginger Blast, which contains pain-killing and anti-nausea compounds perfect for an upset stomach. It also contains pear, packed with fibre and calming cinnamon and nutmeg spices, which not only help ring in the holidays with festive flavours, but help calm and relax your stomach.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Butter Lettuce
• ½   Banana
• 1   Pear
• ½ Inch Ginger
• 1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• ½ Teaspoon Nutmeg
• 1 ½ Cups Water

How Do You Keep it inspiring?

I feel that I should repeat Some of The questions that I asked before I made my first smoothies.

"How do I keep myself interested in this diet?"

"Can there be much variety in mushed up fruit and veg?"

You see, my main problem was that I have never liked fruit very much. Many different fruits have a  taste  that I have never been able to take

Sourness.

I Hate sour things.

Every time I have been to the confectionery aisle at the supermarket in the last few years, I have seen Sour candies and "sweets".

I just don't understand how people can get pleasure out of  them.

Animals rarely eat sour things as nature usually dictates that if a fruit is sour, its not ready to be eaten. Fruit is there to entice animals in need of energy rich food so that a plant can spread it's seeds and most animals like sweet sugary things.

It's not natural to like sour things.

My problem has always been that I have a heightened sensitivity for sourness. So much so, that as I was growing up, my family would sit down for Strawberries and cream in the summertime and they would all be amazed at how sweet the strawberries were. I would then try one and I hated them. I'd  suck my cheeks in so much that I'd look like I was trying to turn my face inside-out

I have also never really been keen on some vegetables. Things like Spinach have always been a bit too slimy once they have been steamed. I have also  often found greens to be a little bit plain and boring.

Don't get me wrong. I ate vegetables regularly. Maybe not the recommended 5-a-day, but regularly enough that I didn't have scurvy or rickets

So you may not be surprised to find out that I was worried that I was going to become uninspired fairly quickly. Where would I get that light bulb eureka moment from.

  

I think its wise for me to say that I never considered myself particularly unhealthy.......or particularly healthy for that matter.

Just average

I wasn't expecting to have an epiphany. I wasn't expecting to radically change my life on the run-up to Christmas this year, and I cant tell you the exact moment when the light bulb moment happened to me. I don't think that I am an "epiphany" type of person.

My introduction to the great big world of smoothies came to me courtesy of a certain fast food outlet that is not well known for its nutritional goodness.

All of these drinks were very sweet and sickly.

Now, I don't dislike sweet the same as I dislike sour. Quite the opposite. I love Sweet.....You could say that I have a sweet tooth, a sweet tongue, a sweet throat and a sweet nose.

I was getting sick of my belt being out on the last hole and catching my belly on the desk when sitting down at work.

I am not gargantuan. they're never going to take off the front of my house just to get me outside.

I like to say things like.......

I'm not fat, I'm Festively plump

The one thing that I don't have, however, is a sweet ass.

That is where the research started.

I quickly discovered that there is a myriad of fantastic flavours and tastes, and millions of combinations.

I never thought about putting spices into smoothies. Most of which are incredibly good for your heart, your circulation, your insomnia, and can even help with Cancer, certain types of diabetes and can even help with your brain chemistry.

Chief among these wondrous ingredients are Root Ginger, cinnamon, mint, cayenne pepper, Garlic and black pepper. I have even used Garam-masala in some of my spicy creations or, as I will call them, Bollywood specials.

So in closing, I guess there is a whole world of tastes that can go into a truly MONSTER smoothie.

TTFN

IJ

Today's offering

17 The red and Green Monster

This all-veggie Blast is a delicious option for those looking to avoid high-glycemic fruits; it's optimal for weight loss and the colourful ingredients are high in beta carotene, great for your eyes and bones and and known for their cancer-fighting properties. Plus a hint of heat with the cayenne

Ingredients

1 Cup Spinach
1   Tomato
1 Medium Carrot
¼ Cup Parsley
½ Small Beet
½ Stalk Celery
To Max Line Water

A pinch of cayenne pepper

There's Gotta be a downside, Right?

I'd like to start this edition of my Blog off with some information that I just want to get out there, because I think its really awesome and this Blog is all about MY personal journey, and if you feel that its self-indulgent or crass and unsavoury to you , well, DEAL WITH IT, frankly.

Since I have started the Smoothie monster diet, I have lost over 9 lbs (pounds) That's well over half a stone. (I cant be bothered to convert that to Kilograms, I'm sure you can Google it if its important to you)

Now, as I have said, I am not following any regimented diet, or any recipe book. I am just using common sense and a small amount of knowledge that I have picked up along the way in my life. Just stick to fresh ingredients (organic if you can afford it) and experiment with different tastes.

You can get some great results by adding different herbs and spices, most of which have incredible healing and health properties.

I've been taking my smoothies to work during the day, and a number of my colleagues have looked at me while I'm having lunch, as if I'm, well, out to lunch...

In Fact, some of them looked at me as if I were not in for a single meal. You see, up until a few weeks ago, I was going over the road and buying the sandwiches, rolls and warm meals from the local Café which are quick and easy, and sometimes quite tasty, but, as with all things from a roadside café in the heartlands of the U.K, they are not good for you in anyway shape or form. All the warm food is deep-fried and all the sandwich fillers are full fat, sugary and loaded with carbs. Even their salads have dressing on them that have more blubber in them than a deep fried whale sandwich.

I found myself getting many questions and comments like.

"what the hell is that? It looks like baby sick"

"that looks like something that dripped out of a sheep's nose"

or my personal favourite

"that looks like my Dog's green foamy poop after he had eaten some grass"

Now I'm not saying that ALL of my colleagues have such devastating repartee or rapier-like wit like this, but some of them did take an interest in what I was trying to accomplish.

One of the more interesting questions that I have been asked has been about the pros and cons of starting this lifestyle.

Have I had any bad bodily reactions from swapping my diet from a mainly solid diet to a predominantly liquidised diet?

BEFORE YOU READ ON......please see warning sign below

I thought about the question of side-effects and , in all honesty, the first few days of my smoothie diet DID present me with a few potentially unnerving and embarrassing symptoms.

There is no easy way of saying this......but I was inflicted with two main problems.

First of all the GREEN BABY SPLATTERS.

Although This was an issue, it was controllable and even predictable, however, this paled into insignificance when compared to the thunderous, non-stop, BIBLICAL flatulence, and the Race-horse levels of urination 

Dear Blog Reader, Please don't fret! these nasty symptoms are, I assume, a form of detox because they will soon disappear.

I can Honestly say that, even this early on in my journey, I have never felt so healthy.

For those of you who are reading this who are still in the thrall of youth, I need to tell you what nobody told me.

When you get past a certain age, you start to develop little niggles and twinges, like a little pulled muscle here....or a clicking joint there... and all of these add up....

You start living your life between bad backs and sore joints.  It's insidious and it just creeps up on you.....The Bastard.

I can tell you that 90% of those little niggles have now been banished. They have just gone.

I'm not sure, but I am Going to put it down to my change of diet..

I'm not saying that Ive gone all new-age and that I am Renewed like a phoenix

All I can tell you is that I feel good and I'm losing weight.

TTFN  Ij

Today's recipe

Chocolate Surprise

The unexpectedly rich chocolate flavour in this Blast will definitely be a welcome surprise – especially when you realise what healthy ingredients it has! Don’t be put off just yet! Give it a try. Cacao, high in antioxidant compounds like anthocyanidin and epicatechins, helps ward off diseases related to heart health and inflammation, while cauliflower provides a wealth of B vitamins and omega-3 fatty acids.

Nervous about trying a cauliflower Blast? Its flavor is masked by the cacao and honey, but feel free to work up to a larger helping of cauliflower a little at a time.

Ingredients

• 1 Cup Spinach
• 2 Tablespoons Cacao Powder
• 1 Tablespoon Cacao Nibs
• ½   Pears
• ½ Cup Cauliflower Florets
• 1 Oats
• 1 Tablespoon Honey, raw and organic
• 1 ½ Cups Almond Milk