Tricking yourself into eating healthy..

For those of you who know me, you know that I typically:

• enjoy exercising 
• love juicing on a regular basis
• try to keep the ingredients I can't pronounce out of my food (eat real food)

For those of you who really know me, you know that I used to live off of big macs, ramen noodles, cereal and toast. I started changing my eating habits when I started learning about what's really in our food, and how this affects our bodies.  Then I realized that I buy the groceries--thus I am responsible for what Ben fuels his body with, and one day I'll be responsible for what my children put in their bodies! That is a lot of pressure!! And thus, the juicing/cleaning my diet began.
Welllllllllll, let me just tell you that I was super pleased with my eating habits before I was pregnant--I was able to eat healthy and still eat yummy, flavorful food, and even still have sweets as long as I made them.  I felt amazing, energized, healthy, and clean.  And of course we believe in balance, so 'cheating' every now and then was certainly allowed.  Once I found out I was pregnant, I was confident that I would be nurturing my growing baby with only the best foods.......and. then. came. morning/afternoon/night sickness.
It has been crazy hard to eat healthy during this pregnancy. Grocery stores, the kitchen, my refrigerator, vegetables, healthy food...all of the above makes this pregnant lady run for the bathroom. 
So anyways.  If I want to eat healthy, I have to trick myself.  I probably won't be able to drink a healthy vegetable juice for a while....but I can still eat some veggies if I hide them in a delicious sandwich like the one above.
I was so nervous to try this amazing sandwich that I loved pre-pregnancy. But it turned out that the hummus-veggie sandwich was a success--and any time I need to trick myself into eating veggies, I can put one of these together and guiltlessly fill my tummy.
Yum!!

Hummus-Veggie Sandwich
Adapted from Coastal Living magazine

Ingredients

• 4 slices bread (we use Ezekiel sprouted bread)
• 2/3 cup hummus (easy recipe here)
• 1/2 orange, yellow, or red bell pepper, sliced
• 1/4 cup baby arugula
• 2 radishes thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup broccoli or alfalfa sprouts
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice

Cooking Directions

1. Spread hummus on 1 side of all 4 slices of bread.
2. On 2 slices, layer bell pepper and arugula.
3. On 2 remaining slices, layer radishes and sprouts.
4. Stir together lemon juice and olive oil, drizzle over vegetables.
5. Combine sandwich halves.