Rainbow Salad

( For 1 person)
This is a basic salad recipe that is a complete vegetarian meal.  Yes, it's BIG, but not really if you consider the fact that the quantity of veggies that we need to stay healthy and provide us with the necessary nutrients is 6 - 8 cups a day. This salad and the green smoothies helped me significantly bring down my blood sugar numbers within a week.  Just breakfast and lunch provided me with all the veggies I needed each day.  8 cups of greens a day. I'm pretty sure that's what did it.  This salad contains all the colors, so feeds all the energy centers of the body - the Endocrine System.  So this salad is incredibly healthy, looks stunning and tastes fantastic.  you can't see all the colors in this picture because they are layered. The flowers are Nasturtiums (edible) that grew abundantly in our yard.  All my salads are opportunities for me to create a beautiful and delicious food mandala.  



INGREDIENTS

6 cups of greens (That’s not a typo!!!  See note below on greens)

Dice 1 tomato,  ½ cucumber and/or zucchini, 1 Red /yellow/orange Bell pepper

1 handful nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, Pecans )

1 handful seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, hemp)

2 handfuls sprouts (alfalfa, lentil, fenugreek, broccoli) (optional)

2 handfuls  fresh berries or dried fruit  

½ - 1 Avocado cubed

Sea Salt or Himalayan Salt to taste

Pepper to taste

Fresh Herbs: Basil, Oregano, Parsley, Cilantro  (Dhania)  chopped

1 Tablespoon Olive oil

1 Tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar and /or Lemon

(You can pretty much add any raw veggie to this salad and it'll work, so I encourage you to experiment.)   

DIRECTIONS
Toss ingredients lightly together and enjoy.

NOTES
Greens should be considered a food group by itself because they have such a significant affect on our health.
Green is the color that is related to the Heart Chakra, and is essential for healing the heart.  Because of the photosynthesis that occurs in leaves, eating greens is like eating sunshine.  They have everything our bodies need to be healthy.  Think about what the big primates eat - mostly leaves, (a wide variety - not just spinach) berries, fruits, nuts and seeds, and occasionally roots and bugs.  And we know that Chimps are not wimps.  Neither are Gorillas, and this is what they eat.  Well, we are primates.  We're only 1% different from Chimps.  And these are the foods that are best suited to nourishing our bodies.  OK...so because we discovered fire, we get to cook our food - but not too much.  If we want the full benefits of the enzymes and nutrients in veggies, and/or we want to detoxify our bodies, then eat about 75% raw, organic & as much as possible local.  I'm not a nutritionist - but this is what I learned from Anita Capizzi, my nutrition guru, and from researching and experiencing the effects of eating raw greens on my health.  I know that this definitely worked for me, and I'm so grateful - and that's why I'm sharing this info.  But, as the Buddha advised, don't believe what anyone tells you - not even me. Trust your experience - which of course means that you need to experience new things.  And as someone else said (don't know who) if you do what you've always done, you'll be who you've always been - or something to that effect.  So this is my life recipe tacked on with love to my salad recipe.  Same thing!!! : )      

---