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One of the things I’ve come to love since working from home is preparing a home cooked meal. I cooked dinner every night when I was working in Corporate America, so cooking isn’t a newfound love, but its taken on a new meaning as my schedule has allowed me to try new recipes and not be rushed to get a meal on the table.

Having a full time job that required me to leave the house by 6:30 a.m. every morning and not return home until 5 p.m. would leave me with little time to experiment with recipes. Factor in a child who was a very picky eater for much of his grammar school years (he’s a high schooler now) and that meant rushing to get dinner on the table because he’d refuse  school/bagged lunches.

I’m sure most of you have fond memories surrounding food in your home as a child. So I was quite thankful that my new schedule allowed me to create some of these memories for my son.

In 2008, I changed my diet drastically. I swore off fast foods, unless in an absolute pinch and even then I’ll choose the healthiest choice on the menu. I’ve cut out the processed foods that I’d eaten since childhood once I learned the adverse affects some of these foods were having or would have on my future health. With changing my diet, it practically required me to learn to cook all over again. I no longer prepare deep-fried foods or consume box or frozen prepared meals. I no longer eat white flour, rice, bread, etc. Junk foods like Doritos, Chips-A-Hoy and carbonated drinks haven’t seen the inside of my pantry in years. I’ve substituted processed foods with whole foods and I incorporate vegetables and/or fruits at every meal.

This change required me to peruse YouTube and my favorite recipe site AllRecipes.com for substitutes for my tried and true recipe staples and develop a new palette for foods I’d never eaten before. You can only imagine that these new foods and recipes had to be tasty because I completely shook up my son’s world by changing our diet so abruptly.

So this week, I want to introduce you to my recipe for the green smoothie I have every morning to start my day. This smoothie provides me with energy for hitting the gym and can include any fruit and juice of your choice, spirulina, and coconut oil. For it to be so healthy, it is quite yummy. The coconut oil is beautifying for the skin and is immune enhancing.

There are a lot of nutritional benefits of spirulina. Spirulina is a superfood that increases energy, lowers cholesterol, and increases immune function. Its packed with protein, vitamins, trace minerals, chlorophyll (blood cleanser), and nucleic acids. Hopefully, I’ve sold you on this smoothie. If not, once you see how easy it is to prepare you’ll be sold.

Have you changed your diet recently? How do you handle working and cooking for your family? Please share in the comment section below.

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Stefanie Newell

Writer at Write One Publications, Inc.

Stefanie Newell is an Atlanta-based writer and author of The Buzz: When celebrity gossip goes wrong….You can check out her musings on all things entertainment at TheMusicHotSpot.com and her The Life Of A Writer series on YouTube. http://youtube.com/TheLifeOfAWriter

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