Re-Balancing After An Indulgent Weekend with Veggie Water!

You know those Monday mornings.  The ones when your alarm goes off and you can't believe it's morning already.  An event-filled, schedule-packed, food-indulgent weekend that now hits you hard in every sense of the word.  Well, that's how this Monday morning hit me.  Family and friend get togethers, cooking and eating of holiday meals and the kids being off from school for most of last week has finally caught up to me.  You know it's bad when your 10 year old daughter is telling you to get up before she is late for school.  I got myself together and somehow got out the door with the kids in time.  I don't know how we do it :)

Hydration & Exercise- The Solution..... 

For Monday morning "hangovers" like this, the best thing to do is exactly what you don't feel like doing, working out.  Other than my big cup of hot coffee, what I needed to re-balance was a good long cardio workout and some deep stretching.  Done and done!

Veggie Water to the Rescue

The next thing I knew would make me feel better is some major hydration.  Plain water is great but even better is my "veggie water".  Not only is it more thirst quenching but it provides detoxifying and diuretic properties.  What's awesome is that "veggie water" can be made with whatever is fresh and on-hand at the moment.  I happened to have celery, cucumber, lemon and mint so that was my refreshing winning combination today.


Celery, cucumber, lemon and mint- so refreshing!

Wash and chop all your ingredients.  The size, shape, and uniformity of the ingredients doesn't matter.  Don't make it harder than it has to be!  Who has time for that?



Nothing has to be cut perfect- it's all good!

Add all of your ingredients to a pitcher and fill with filtered water.  Put it in the fridge and let the magic happen.  I always drink a glass right away but the longer you let it sit the more flavorful the water becomes.  Once you have polished off the water you can crunch on the cold wet veggies which are delicious!

I know what you are going to say, who has time to dress up a glass like this?  Actually you do!  It took an extra 30 seconds to put it into a fun nostalgic glass, stick a piece of already cut and washed celery into it and slit the middle of an already cut cucumber and lemon slice down the middle to hang on the glass.  Thirty seconds people!!!!!!!!

How often do we cut corners when it comes to ourselves?  Most parents and caregivers spend hours a week shopping, planning, prepping and cooking for the people we love.  Don't we deserve to take a few extra minutes a day to provide something nice for ourselves.  If we can get into the habit of giving ourselves these little gifts throughout the day it will make us feel like we matter and we deserve the time.  These little acts of self-kindness helps us to ultimately re-balance.  I know everyone can do this- try it this week and feel the love :)

Veggie Water:

Ingredients:

4 stalks of celery
1 large cucumber
1 large lemon
1 handful of fresh mint (basil is also delicious)

Directions:

Clean all vegetables well and cut into large chunks.  Add all to a large pitcher, fill with filtered water and refrigerate.  Veggie water can be enjoyed as soon as it is made although the longer it sits the more flavorful the water will be.  After about 24 hours the veggies will be soggy and you will want to make a fresh batch, although that won't be an issue since all of the water will already be gone!