Breakups & finding saviour in kale…yes, kale.

There are several ways to deal and cope with a breakup. Some will cry, others will shut out the world and go into hiding, go temporarily insane, or lash out. Luckily, I’m friends with most of my ex’s and frequently go for brunch with one of them, however when a break up turns ugly, how do you deal with it?

It was a short 5 months and things came to a screeching hault with Mr.BFF and I. And while the relationship had clearly not been working for sometime, it had finally come to an end. Relieved that it was over, but sad at a loss of a friend, I had to move on despite the anger that persisted and the tongue-lashing that he whipped at my smartphone. I stood there with only two choices:

A)   I could respond, throw up my verbal dukes and fight back – hard. I could stomp my feet, retaliate and defend my honour. He would yell harder, it would get ugly and words would continually be used as gasoline to fuel the fire. This is what I call fighting yang with yang.

B)   I could stay quiet and hope that he would lose steam despite my phone lighting up like a Christmas tree from all the text messages. I could offer forgiveness for hurting him, keep it short and just wait until it was over. This is what I call fighting yang with yin.

So I chose (B) knowing that things in life don’t always go as planned and that maybe while best friends of 15 years was a great idea, it might not translate to lovers for the future. As I dealt with things, my appetite diminished as stress kept me full. With a small appetite, I savoured on thick smoothies and my favourite…kale chips.

Now while I have this recipe in a previous post, here is the twist – sour cream and onion.

Ohhh have mercy child…

SOUR CREAM & ONION KALE CHIPS

¼ cup cashews ground to a fine powder in a mini chopper

Water

Apple cider vinegar

½ tsp onion powder

1 tbsp hemp hearts

Handful roughly chopped cashews

2 tbsp agave nectar

Sea salt

Slowly add to chopper with cashew powder water until mixture becomes thick. Add 4 tbsp apple cider vinegar to mixture (to achieve a more sour flavor). Add in onion powder, agave nectar and sea salt and blend until smooth. Set aside.

Cut kale stems out and place on a food dehydrator tray or a baking sheet and pour cashew mixture over top and sprinkle with chopped cashews.

Follow instructions on drying out kale chips and enjoy.

If as a stress ball you crave salt, then you’ll love these. Not to mention, you won’t have to feel guilty about an expanding waistline.  Kale will build the blood, which according to Chinese Medicine is depleted when we’re stressed and the cashew cream will give us that creamy comfort we’re seeking.

As for breakups…

If you’re on the outside looking in, you’ll see that despite all the anger, there’s always two-sides to a story…so listen and look without judgment.

That the best thing about dating your best friend is knowing everything about them. The worst? Knowing everything about them.  And despite how things ended, we have to send out love and light no matter how volatile the situation can get. So just like any other life experience, learn from the lessons, take accountability, get back up and stop holding on…which you can’t do in the pits of anger. Anger after all, is rooted in hurt and while some would like to think the opposite of happiness is anger, I’d like to think it’s actually indifference.

Time to let go…