food and mood- best pals or rivals for life?

here at the newly appointed headquarters for starting from scratch- again, i have decided to chart my food/mood correlations and then have a looksie later on in blog-land as the connections begin to unfold.

i have between 24-48 oz. of water in the morning before eating- to flush out and re-hydrate from the evening before. then i usually have a greens and fruit smoothie, or a breakfast salad or whatever. it's not easy for me to be on a strict dietary regime like some are. i do not enjoy the planning or rigid scheduling. or the predictability. some days i must have olives for breakfast, and if the calendar says cauliflower bisque... too bad.

this morning for breakies, i had some luscious watermelon slices.
from yumyum farms.
seriously.
how awesome is that?
if i had a farm, calling it yumyum would totally be on the top 5 choices for the name.

anyway, i noticed, after eating this gorgeous fruit, post- admiring it's color and juiceyness, that i felt calmly alert and happy. still do.
parsley is another one that effects me positively.
basil too- but less so.
cucumbers?

i am not talking about what foods make me happy while eating them- i am talking about the foods that leave me feeling well and whole and pleasant and happy after eating and digesting them, and hopefully for some time following as well.

so i think it's experiment time. strawberries and mangoes are two trusted favorites, but let's see how they fare the isolated eating/meal test.

i used to love the traditional, famous waldorf salad. but it's mayo-ness is on the "give me a break" list, so i whipped up, literally , a new recipe for my dining pleasure. if anyone out there in cyberland tries this, let me know how it goes.

it's WALDORF recipe time:

dressing-
in food processor, blend up @ 1/2 cup of sunflower seeds, and 1/4 cup pignoli's with juice of 1/2 of a lemon until it's finely ground and turns very light in color.
to it, add a couple splashes of bragg's apple cider vinegar, a couple to a few TBS virginal coconut oil, sea salt, cracked pepper, a pinch or three of dill, a tad of sass and attitude, [i add a shake of this yummy non-salt herbal blend powder from the natural foods store as well,] and as much ice-cold water as it needs to make the dressing thin enough to pour- blending as i add the water thru the chute.

salad base-
soft lettuce greens- like red/green leaf, bibb, &/or boston lettuce[s.]
a generous amount of sliced celery and golden delish apple chunks.
toss some dressing over the lettuce/celery/apple melange while singing a little tune. it always makes it taste better.

garnish-
with avocado, chopped walnuts and purple onion slices.

eat and enjoy!