I have a confession to make. OK, I think maybe I’ve already made this one: I am not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions. Mainly because they feel like a set up. You gear up and gather together all your best intentions and declare to the world “I am going to CHANGE in 60 days or less!” and then you fall off the wagon somewhere around Day 12 and feel like you should hide under a rock to avoid the shame. Nope. Not for me.

That is not to say that I don’t believe in change. I do. Just gentle change. Lasting change. Keep-quiet-till-it-sticks change.

So, I’ve been making some changes.

If you follow my food posts, you’ll know by now that I have gone gluten-free in recent months. What I may not have shared is that the lead-up to this decision was a quiet 60 days of a rather strict anti-inflammatory diet. The basics of this diet included: no gluten, no dairy, no caffeine, no wine {and I tried not to whine about it} and staying off a list of other inflammatory foods like nightshades in an attempt to help my body heal. It. Was. Hard.

Gratefully, the 60 days ended just before Christmas so that I could reintroduce things like BUTTER. Man, I missed butter. And dairy in general. And my classic, daily breakfast of fat-free greek yoghurt, maple syrup and blackberries.

{photo – gabriela hansen}

This was {and still is for others} a happy, healthy breakfast and one that I looked forward to every morning. The thing is, I found that my body wasn’t happy returning to that much daily consumption of dairy. I can take it in small doses {the occassional yoghurt based sauce, some butter in cooking or baking, the rare bit of cheese} but not that much every single day.

So, what’s a breakfast-loving girl to do?

I had tried juicing my breakfast before. I had gathered together my best intentions and – resolution style – had tried to follow the classic “head of romaine, whole lemon, inch of ginger and a few drops of Stevia” green breakfast that skinny New Yorker’s swear by. But my taste buds fought me and won. I just couldn’t stick with it. Why? I think I realized it was missing three things: creaminess, a gentleness on the palate and some good fat.

So, I decided to get creative, and I’m very excited to share my new breakfast routine with you. If you’ve wanted {and struggled} to adopt a green smoothie start to your day, maybe this will be the one for you!

Juice of 3 large collard green leaves

Juice of 1/4 lemon

Juice of 2 baby cucumbers {or 1/2 an English cucumber}

Juice of 1 large apple

Once all of this is juiced, I transfer it to the blender and add the MAGIC. I seriously think these last 2 ingredients are what have transformed my green-smoothie-dreams into reality.

1/2 an avocado

2 Tbsp NutraVege Omega-3 {a vegetarian Omega-3 oil with more DHA than flax}

Liquify the avocado and oil into the juiced veggies/apple in your blender and voila! Breakfast.

The NutraVege has a remarkably gentle and slightly sweet, citrusy flavour that softens the overall taste of the smoothie. And because it’s a vegetarian source, there isn’t even a hint of fishy aftertaste. The avocado adds more healthy fats AND that creaminess that I was missing from the other green juices and smoothies I’d tried. I’m getting loads of vitamins and nutrients from the collard greens, lots of anti-inflammatory goodness from the cucumber, cleansing benefits from the lemon, and you know what they say about an apple a day! I’m so happy to say that I’ve found a breakfast I love that is brimming with health benefits and leaves me satisfied and energized for the morning. It is genuinely delicious and I hope you’ll try it!