Wednesday 24 April 2013

Spring is in the Air



After a very long, cold and hard Winter, Spring is beginning to show signs of life everywhere. People are coming back to life after being in slumber for what seems like an eternity. You might notice that you want to get off the couch in the evening and put on the jogging shoes or dust off the old, rusty bike at the weekend and get yourself out and about, or what about having that hair cut that you just couldn't get around to last year?? Are you singing up to courses that you have been wanting to attend, but just didn't have the energy or enthusiasm? Yes, that's Spring beginning to speak to each and every body in her own unique way. Bring it on!

If you haven't not already found yourself looking for more lighter foods like salads or fruit and less potatoes and heavy hot pot style dinners, you will. It is so natural for your body to want to graze on more nutritious, less fatty foods when Spring comes. While my own green smoothies became less and less interesting over the Winter months, and in some cases avoided all together, I can say with gusto that I am finding my love for the green stuff once again. It's like the rekindling of an old love affair...Yum.

I have also found myself planting my first herbs and edibles over the last few days, something I was not interested in doing since last year. Once again, I find myself only looking to grow plants that I can easily maintain and harvest effortlessly to become a part of my table. Pakchoy was my newest addition and was put in the ground only yesterday. It cost me €1.75 for 4 plants. Such a bargain if you consider that the fully grown ones are about €2.00 and are gone in a flash. These will keep growing until the season is finished. Talk about saving money! I will add these leaves to my smoothies with fruit or juice them on the mornings that I don't want o have too much fibre. Why don't you look for something similar to grow from your nearest garden centre too?  They're highly nutritious and are a great way of getting those all important enzymes into your diet. You can use parsley, mint, carrot tops...and the list goes on.

Tonight, I'm off to mindfulness in the Greystones Holistic Centre. Talk about a challenge. I want to go salsa  dancing, but the monkey brain also needs to attending to...choices, choices:-) I'm told it gets easier with practice. The proof of the pudding eh!

Here's to you knowing exactly what to eat...intuitively!

Ruth.