Back in June I ran into a friend on the corner of 85th and Lexington. After some chatting she let me know she was going in for oral surgery, and for the three following weeks would be on a LIQUID ONLY diet!! My first thought was to get her a handsome supply of gift certificates to one of the gazillion juice places in NYC. My second thought!? Ask Abigail!!! (My soon to be professional nutritionist niece whom you may have read about here).
Within minutes Abigail sent her informative reply. Her soup idea!?? Genius. To doctor up the canned soups with further green enhancements? Also brilliant and so easy. All great suggestions to aid in a speedy recovery. My friend found this super helpful. The side bonus for me was a re-invigoration of my smoothie habit.
Thanks to Abigail’s answer to my friend, I now regularly buy all of her go to smoothie ingredients. I assemble the smoothie literally standing in front of the fridge stuffing my magic bullet with Abigail sanctioned goods (and add some Juice Plus Complete powder to keep my friend Tracey happy and further “juice” up my health benefits). It is the ultimate grab your ingredients and go snack/meal/or pick me up.
What follows is Abigail’s informative reply to my request for my friend, with some additional commentary from me. Take it away Abigail….! Note the opening pep talk – nice touch! 🙂
Alright here you go: First, this is likely not what you want to have to do for 3-4 weeks, but on a positive note, you can see it as the perfect opportunity to give your digestive system a little break, reset and optimal nutrition for healing!
My suggestions:
Canned soups will be a great resource I would go for organic and low-sodium brands. I like Amy’s soups. Also, if anything is too chunky or thick, you can always purée the soup in a blender before eating it. You’re going to want to be sure and add some fat/protein to your meals for soup you could blend in olive oil or avocado for fat and plain Greek yogurt for protein. It will be very important to continue to eat greens! I would blend a green of choice into soups or plain chicken broth – spinach, kale, arugula would be great and should taste delicious in any soup.
(My friend on the liquid diet would need to omit the chips!) But how good does this look? So good.
Another good thing for you will be smoothies! You can make them into serious nutritional powerhouses. Don’t worry if you don’t have a fancy blender – I use a $30 Magic Bullet and it works perfectly for me! You can buy them on Amazon.
A typical recipe format for a smoothie is 1 cup liquid (I like almond milk), 1/4 cup fruit or 1 serving (aka 1 small banana), 1-2 T fat (I like nut butters and avocado), and 1-2 cups of fresh greens (I like spinach) – optional add-ins would be an organic plant-based protein powder (I like the Garden of Life brand – https://www.gardenoflife.com/
content/protein/). I find frozen fruit works best in smoothies but fresh fruit works well, too. Another trick I like to use to add extra nutrition to smoothies is to mix in frozen cauliflower (about ¼-1/2 cup) – I promise it adds no flavor, but it ups the fiber and vitamins and helps make the smoothie thick and creamy. My go-to smoothie recipes is a classic Green Smoothie. You can find the recipe on my website here (https://www.
abigailtaftnutrition.com/ single-post/2018/08/27/THE-OG- GREEN-SMOOTHIE). I also have a delicious Turmeric Spice Immunity Smoothie recipe on my website. It’s packed with antioxidants and anti-inflammatory foods that will boost your immune system and aid in recovery. You can find the recipe here: https://www.
abigailtaftnutrition.com/ single-post/2018/06/18/ TURMERIC-SPICE-IMMUNITY- SMOOTHIE
Mashed potatoes will also be good – boil potatoes (I like white and sweet potatoes), and then put in blender with olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper.
If you like yogurt, Greek yogurt could be a great option because of the protein content and probiotics – to make it thinner, I would add it to a blender with some nut milk, cinnamon, and maybe even some nut butter and it would taste like a real treat! Greek yogurt would also be a good addition to smoothies – I like the Fage plain brand.
My last suggestion would be to take a probiotic because you’ll likely be on some medications/antibiotics and you’ll have a slightly limited diet, both of which can negatively affect gut health. A probiotic will help support the healthy bacteria in your gut and help with digestion! I like the Garden of Life brand for probiotics, too – they sell them at Whole Foods. LINK: https://www.gardenoflife.com/
content/probiotics/. The refrigerated women’s probiotic should work well for you. If you have any stomach issues/constipation from the meds and/or diet, I recommend drinking a magnesium drink at night or taking a magnesium citrate supplement – I like Naturally Calm Magnesium Powder. It comes in a lemon raspberry flavor and is a powder that you mix with water – I buy it on Amazon. LINK: http://naturalvitality.com/
natural-calm/ Magnesium can also have a soothing and relaxing effect which can aid with sleep! Two birds, one stone!
Maybe this post will re-invigorate your smoothie habit as well? Thank you Abigail, as always, for your thoughtful, informative and inspiring answers. Your suggestions almost makes me want to embrace a liquid diet. Almost.
For more recipes and general health boosting inspiration visit Abigail’s website or follow her on insta @spoonfulofabby.
