I'm in love.... with Banana Porridge!!

It's been a quite a while since my last post!  I have a great excuse, though!  My first born graduated a couple of weeks ago.  (I'm so proud of him!)  But end of the year... graduation... grad party.... take a lot of time and energy!  Thus... no post for a while.

I am happy to report, however, that I have not strayed from my QUEST!  My self-education continues and I'm feeling so empowered to take control of my health!
To date, I have shed 40 pounds!

As I continue to research a plant based diet, I've encountered Dr. Douglas Graham and his 80/10/10 philosophy.  He teaches that 80% of our diet should be carbs, primarily in the form of fruits and also some leafy greens.  NO MORE than 10% should be fat.  (By the way, on a 2000 calorie diet, 10% fat would be just 14 almonds!) NO MORE than 10% should be protein.  While we're constantly being told to eat more protein, our bodies only need a certain amount.  (About 6-7% of total calories, actually)  Beyond that, our bodies don't know how to process the excess protein or what to do with it.  This is a vegan, low fat, ALL RAW diet!  It's not too far off from what I've been doing the past few months - so I've decided to give it a try for the summer; Memorial Day  through Labor Day.  I'm looking for some very specific changes/improvements to my health.  I'll be sure to report the results and I continue through the summer!

BANANA PORRIDGE is an 80/10/10 recipe that I stumbled upon recently.  It is so delicious and easy - and my family loves it too!

You'll need to make banana milk!
2 frozen bananas
1 cup of water (or so... add more to get a think milk consistency)
4-6 dates (soaked for 20 min first)
cinnamon to taste

Put all of these ingredients in a high speed blender and let it zip along until you have a thick, creamy milk consistency.  The dates are optional - but I always have dates in my house, so I use them for extra sweetness!

Next...

Chop up bananas into small pieces (I used about 6 bananas to feed three people today)
Chop up any other fruit that you have.  Today, I used fresh Michigan strawberries (because I bought 2 flats yesterday!), and some organic apricots that I needed to use up.
Mix all in a bowl and pour "milk" over it.  Eat with a spoon like cereal.  YUMMMMMMMY!!!

And now... I'm off to the beach with my kids!  I'm taking Friday's off this summer and have declared every Friday  BEACH FRIDAY!  As a super exciting side note... my bathing suit from last year is HUGE!  So, my 15 year old daughter gave me her bathing suit top from last year.  She is a tiny, athletic little thing, so I'm feeling awesome that I can comfortably wear her top!  Her bottoms will NEVER fit me! lol  So for the time being, I've pinned mine.