the Marty Nickel don’t-laugh-it’s-working diet

My Mom is the original health nut.  In fact, I think I’ll update the Wikipedia article on “health nut” to include her picture.

And it’s working for her.  She’s 72 and in great health.  For years she was a strict vegetarian.  She lived mostly on “blended salads” – vegetables and fruit pureed in a blender and consumed as a liquid (Google “blended salad” for some example recipes).  She decided a year or so ago to include some non-vegetable foods because she was having a hard time keeping weight on.

That was the part that got my attention “having a hard time keeping weight on”.  It was a problem I wanted to acquire.

So I started on blended salads.  They’re really pretty good!  I’ve never been much of a dieter, but I’ve noticed something interesting about my blender concoctions.  I crave them!  I know you think I’m kidding, but I’m completely serious.  They’re kind of addictive.  My theory is that they meet so many of my body’s vitamin and mineral needs that they give me a little “rush”.

I can almost live on them too – I only need a bit more food mass and a few more calories to support my daily activity level.   So in addition I’m eating an egg most days, some sprouted brown rice every couple days, and some fish about once a week.  I’m planning to add yogurt to the mix too, maybe just to replace some of the water in the “salad”.

When I worked out the nutritional values at nutritiondata.com, it looks like I’m getting almost 100% of the stuff a body needs.  And almost 0% of the junk inherent in most American processed-food diets.

I’m not being weird about it.  When I’m out with friends I eat anything I want to within reason.  Since I’m charting my weight daily, I’m pretty conscious of what I’m eating and the quantity though.  Eating with friends is the only time I’m eating processed foods – most of the rest is fresh and raw.

So here’s what I do for a daily vege-shake.  This sounds unusual, but it really doesn’t taste bad.  Banana and ginger are the strongest flavors, and the beet gives a nice redish-pink color.  The texture might be hard for some people to take but, like I said, I got used to eating some weird stuff growing up.  Part of the theory of a blended salad is that the blender breaks down plant cell walls that our digestive system can’t, allowing us to absorb more of the nutrients than if we simply chewed the individual salad items.

Marty’s Blended Salad

• 1 1/2 to 2 cups filtered water
• juice from one lime
• 1 or 2 organic carrots, cleaned and cut in thirds.
• 3 or 4 sticks organic celery, cleaned and cut in thirds
• 1/2 raw beet, cleaned and cut in half (2 quarters of a beet)
• fresh peeled ginger – a chunk about the size of my thumb
• 1 to 2 cups greens (spinach, beet greens, kale, turnip greens, whatever I have)
• 1 apple, quartered and cored
• 3 Tbl spoons organic flax seed oil
• 1 to 2 bananas (peeled and frozen ahead of time)
• maybe some cinnamon

If I haven’t had an egg that day sometimes I include a raw egg (organic, free-range).

Pre-clean all ingredients.  Put the water, lime juice, and optionally the egg in the blender and start it on high (with the lid on!).  Put in all the ingredients in roughly in the order listed, waiting for each one to chop up before adding the next one.

Makes one 6 cup / 1.35 L blender full.

Some days I drink this all at once and have rice or something else for a second meal that day.  Other days I drink half and put the rest in the fridge for later in the day.  I’s pretty good just as is, but even better after it’s chilled a couple hours.

Tags: blended salad, cravings, diet, minerals, vitamins