'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.