GBOMBS!

I've been listening to old episodes of the No Meat Athlete podcast on my morning runs. I'm all caught up on the current episodes, but since there are nearly 200 episodes, it's taking me quite a while to work through the old ones. Late last week, I caught Episode 54: The Foods Worth Eating Every Single Day, and it may have changed my life. At least for now.

In that episode, hosts Matt and Doug discussed a few healthy foods they try to get in every day, and Matt mentioned GBOMBS, Dr. Fuhrman's list of the top six healthiest, cancer-fighting foods. GBOMBS stands for "Greens, Beans, Onions, Mushrooms, Berries, and Seeds." In a Fuhrman post on the topic, he says legumes also fall into the beans category, and nuts fall under seeds.

I don't typically buy into the whole Fuhrman "eat to live" hype because his no-oil, no-salt philosophy sounds like a real drag. But the GBOMBS, I can get down with! Since I listened to that episode on Friday, I've made a conscious effort to get these foods into my diet every day, and I plan to continue that effort. Here are a few ways I've been getting my GBOMBS in.

Yesterday morning, I got my greens, berries, and seeds in my post-run morning Berry Green Protein Smoothie! This had spinach, frozen berries, pumpkin seeds, acai powder, wheatgrass, almond milk, banana, and Vega One berry protein powder.

I got my mushrooms in at lunch with this Vegan Chicken Sandwich (topped with sauteed mushrooms, Daiya cheddar, lettuce, tomato, onion, and vegan mayo), plus a side of Grilled Corn. By the way, that chicken patty was the Sprouts brand vegan patty. Very good!! Totally covered in Daiya here, but it's there. Promise.

I snuck my beans/legumes into a few places over the course of yesterday. I had a half PB&J (with Earth Balance coconut peanut spread and strawberry chia jam) before my afternoon Body Pump class. I'm not sure if Fuhrman would count peanuts in the beans/legumes category, but I'm making my own rules here because peanuts ARE legumes. And they're awesome. Plus, I got more seeds in here with my homemade chia jam!

Since that was a small serving of peanuts, I worked in another small legume serving at dinner with some White Bean Hummus with Veggies.

Onions find their way into many meals I cook, but yesterday, by day's end, I realized I'd not eaten much onion (aside from a few rings on my sandwich at lunch), so I included some Pickled Garlic Cloves with my snacky dinner of hummus and cashew cheese. Any veggie in the allium family counts as Onions, so that includes leeks, garlic, chives, shallots, and scallions.

So there's one full day of GBOMBS! I've found, so far, that the hardest thing to work in are mushrooms. I love mushrooms, but I've not made a habit of eating them every day. So I'm working on that. For example, on Friday night, we grilled out at my friend Andy's house. And I'd purchased eggplant, squash, bell peppers, and zucchini for the grill. But then I realized I could throw some mushrooms in too! And onions!

I'm doing pretty good at getting greens into my smoothies, but on day's I don't have smoothies, I'm going with salads or sauteed greens or working them into other dishes, like Sunday morning's Ramen Bowl. I added some frozen spinach to GBOMB this up!

This morning, I worked in a bunch of GBOMBS at breakfast with this Mexican Protein Pizza Waffle. I made a FitQuick pizza protein waffle and topped it with sauteed black and pinto beans, spinach, red onion, mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, and salsa. This was delicious, packed 22 grams of protein, and contained greens, beans, mushrooms, and onions. WIN!

So far, I've managed to get my GBOMBS in daily since Friday. I've started writing the letters G-B-O-M-B-S on my dry erase board every morning, and I cross out each letter as I eat it. It's working! I think this is a great way for me to work in some healthy habits while still leaving plenty of room for whatever else I want to eat!