One of the most difficult times of day when it comes to will power and diet for many women is between 4 and 6 pm. Our sugar drops and we start to crave carbs and fat—the satiation from our protein-packed lunches long gone. I find that I will pick at my son Camden’s food since I’m feeding him before the rest of the family AND I will nibble as I prepare the later meal for the rest of the family.
Drinking this Mind over Munchies (MOM) smoothie has a host of benefits, especially pre-dinner.
An effective way to stop the dinner prep nibbling is to have a small, low-glycemic smoothie filled with low-prep, easily accessible veggies while you are preparing the meal for the rest of the family. Sipping this concoction helps in a lot of ways. 1) It prevents me from eating dinner before dinner 2) It acts as a starter course “salad.” Many studies have shown that those who eat a salad at the beginning of dinner consume less calories overall than those who forgo the salad. We are eating green, just blended. 3) It tides me over until dinner. 4) It adds significantly to my daily veggie and fiber quota. 5) It prevents me from wanting to drink wine while preparing dinner because a green smoothie and wine sipping together are just disgusting.
Here is an easy, tasty and low-sugar smoothie to test out next time you have the mad munchies while preparing dinner.
Mind over Munchies Smoothie
1 handful of spinach (the minced frozen version works as well as fresh)
1/4 cup frozen green peas thawed (I get that peas are a higher glycemic veggie, but we aren’t using that many and it is still lower in sugar than most other fruits. This will give the smoothie some thickness since we aren’t using a banana or yogurt). If you would like a less dense smoothie, sub the peas for half a seedless cucumber sliced thinly.
1 scoop of Green Super Food powder by Amazing Grass
1/2 cup UNSWEETENED vanilla almond milk (I like Trader Joe’s or Silk)
1/2 cup coconut water (use Taste Nirvana with pulp because it has a lower sugar content than most other coconut waters out there…this is important!)
Liquid Stevia: to taste
Then blend! Put in a nice glass and set on the counter with you while you are preparing dinner. – CC
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