clean eating : kale + chickpea pick-me-up salad

 

Hello dear friends. January is almost over… my posts have been sporadic – for a while – a complete no-show. (sorry). I know it’s not the best way to introduce the new year on a wellness mission with me myself not stepping up to be there for you.

There’s a reason. There’s always a reason. Times are busy ~ very busy with work and life. It’s a huge crunch time every year around this time because of the tradeshow season. Things are piling up and consuming so much of my time. Hence, blogging takes a back seat while I’m in the driver’s seat and getting things done! ;)

Busy is good, right? In fact, it’s too-good-to-be-true good ;)

One thing you may or may not know about me is that I’m a very dedicated person to whatever I set myself to do. (ahem, let’s brush this blog aside for a minute and forget about my absence for a week, ok? ;))

When I make commitments, I keep to my commitments and put in 100%! I don’t do mediocre (in fact I had to look up how to spell mediocre – that’s how badly I don’t do “it”! ;) ha

With commitments and dedication there’s work. When there’s work, there’s drainage. Drainage is intense concentration with strains of stress pulling us in different directions. With drainage come distractions and distractions make us loose focus. Poor focus leads to bad decisions. (hang in there…. I’m getting to my point soon… ;)) Bad decisions contribute to bad food choices. (am I right?)

It’s a complete spiralling effect… you see yourself going down but you just can’t help it… you overlook the veggies, fill up on sadder food choices! Perhaps you skip breakfast or another meal… your energy gets drained. You crave more sugar, you grab a cookie and before you know it you’re on the 6th! Junk food starts to take you down…. You’re toast! You’re a burned sad toast!

You need to be bright and vibrant and colourful again. You need to eat happy again. Happiness, energy and awesomeness are found right here… in this Pick-Me-Up Salad!

 

Our emotions, stress influence how we eat. And sometimes you can’t trust your own self! Do you know what I mean? Did you ever surprise yourself with a difficult to control craving for sugar or *crap* food?

We’ve all been there. Excuses will not cut it. You’re only doing this to yourself.

What needs to happen is you need some love from good nutrition. This Kale + Chickpea Salad is a healthy recipe that has the amazing nutrition from kale, protein from the chickpeas, organic tomatoes, avocado and homemade dressing with mustard seeds.

Kale + Chickpea Pick-Me-Up Salad

(vegan, gluten-free, organic, unprocessed, all natural)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

handful of kale

handful of spinach or romain lettuce

can of organic chickpeas, rinsed and drained

1 organic tomato, chopped

1 avocado, peeled and sliced

a few slices of red onion

fresh basil leaves (optional)

Dressing :

4 Tbsp. olive oil, 2 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar, a sprinkle of dried basil or oregano, fresh cracked black pepper, sprinkle of himalayan salt + sprinkle of mustard seeds

 Directions: 

Toss everything together onto two plates. Drizzle over with dressing.

Enjoy the pick-me-up!

 

So there you go. My secret to bouncing right back up! I eat a big salad!

It works, trust me ;)

I was thinking before writing this post that… why would I post “just a salad” here. But then I realized that it’s simple inspirations like this that could encourage someone to fix themselves a big salad also. So for even one person who feels the crunch of high stress or is feeling the lure of bad health choices – this is how you can bounce back!

Make and serve immediately. Repeat daily. Variations on the ingredients are open! ;)

Sending big hugs to everyone! I do miss contributing more regularly here but I do my best. This is my best. The crazy times are almost over ~ see you around ;)

 ♥ Ella

 ps. Please do share what works for you… How do you pick yourself up?