Adventures in GREEN SMOOTHIES - Jan/Feb 2008

This is my husband, Wallace. Isn't he cute? (This is how he poses for most pictures - what a turkey!) Here's some of the smoothies my son and I tried. Yes, not all the ingredients are raw, but we are working with a limited budget and using up stuff that people gave us. My #1 goal is to increase my consumption of leafy greens.

Th. 1/3, Fr. 1/4

1/2 bunch kale

2 yellow apples (tried green apples the next day)

1 orange

1 avocado

2 c water

Joseph and I like it, but it gives me horrible gas/diahreah. Won't blend small enough for a bottle. Joseph ate some on Triscuits.

Sun. 1/6

1/2 bunch kale

Apple juice - "baby" stuff that Joseph wouldn't drink plain. Pasteurized.

1 peeled cucumber

1 lemon

Use less lemon next time, but good! This is my third day of eating leafy greens, and it was a "Fast Sunday" at church, which means you don't have anything until after lunch. With being diabetic, I couldn't do that, but decided to see what would happen if I just drank this smoothie before the 3-hour service. Would you believe I actually made it all the way until 1pm WITHOUT needing to eat, and WITHOUT my blood sugar crashing?! This is HUGE for me. I was actually able to pay attention, and although I was a bit hungry, it was a genuine hunger for healthy foods, not that crack-y shakey hunger that gives you a headache and weak, clumsy movements.

Mon. 1/7

2c Strawberries

2 bananas

6-7 kale leaves, no stems

YUM! Joseph ate a coffee cup-full by the spoon!

2c mangoes

kale - 1/2 bunch

2c water

peeled cucumber

YUM! Joseph didn't like.

Tu. 1/8

All leaves from a bunch of bok choy

2c mangoes

1 cucumber (peel next time!)

2 c water

Not very tasty, but tolerable. Joseph didn't like. I don't think he likes mangoes. Improved with pasteurized grape juice but not much.

Wed. 1/9

6 leaves kale

2-3c strawberries

1c mangoes

1 peeled cucumber

You can hardly taste the mangoes - not sure if that's worth it to put 'em in. Good! Joseph drank 6 oz. too.

Th. 1/10

Morning:

Kale

Strawberry

Evening:

turnip greens

1 apple

1 orange

1 cucumber (unpeeled)

Tasted ok but gave me a fasting blood sugar of 102 and the runs. Joseph didn't like.

Fr. 1/11

1 bunch Romaine

1 12-0z bag frozen Raspberries

1 avocado

1 banana

Sa. 1/12

1 bunch Romaine

1 12-oz. bag frozen Blueberries

1 avocado

1 banana

Agreed with me, but I was hoping the taste would be better. Surprisingly, romaine is more bitter than kale. Joseph didn't like either of the romaine smoothies either.

Sa. 1/12 with my MIL who is also diabetic:

Handfull kale

1 avocado

Juice of 1 lemon

1 apple

1 banana

Chives

Water

Good! Thin, and easy down. Joseph ate a little - not really interested - too "chivey," I think, for him. My MIL's ten year-old and 14-year old love green smoothies now too.

Sun. 1/13

1 bunch Turnip greens

1 pear

1/2 green apple

avocado

Not bad for turnip greens, but it has a Wasabi-like spiciness that is undesireable.

WALLACE'S CREATION!

1/2 c water

12-16oz. "Berry Medley" frozen bag (straw-, rasp-, blue-, and blackberries) Great Value brand from Wal-Mart - but any brand will do!

1 banana

DELICIOUS!

ANOTHER WALLACE CREATION!

1/2 c water

12 oz. blueberries, frozen

1 banana

AWESOME! Go easy on the water for the fullest flavor.

WALLACE CREATION #3

Blend 1 honeydew melon.

I asked him how small you had to cut it up, and he said "normal" slices - more like scooped out of the melon and into the blender. Add no water. I thought this creation was SO good. It was like nectar from the Gods. I HATE melons, something about the crunchy/juicy texture together is gross to me, but blended it is creamy like milk and tastes delicious.

Mo. 1/14

3 kiwis

3 celery sticks

1 banana

2c water

Interesting! Thin! Seems a bit garlicky. The taste is immediately very good, but gets overwhelming after 1 tall glass. Had to split it up into 2-3 servings throughout the day - then it is delicious! Especially chilled!

Tu. 1/15

1 ripe pear

1 ripe banana

1/2 head romaine

1 avocado

VERY good! Especially cold!

BABY FOOD - How to try three different smoothies on your baby at once.

Start with:

1 Bag Frozen Strawberries
1 Bag Frozen Blueberries
Bunch of bananas
Bunch of Kale
8 "Munchkin" brand cups with lids - 1c serving size, or other Tupperware type of storage system for homemade baby food.

In a Vita-Mix blender, add:

2c water (do the softest things first, do the frozen stuff last)
2 avocados
2 bananas
25 strawberries

Blend. Take out two cups of the mixture and put into storage containers. Add:

1c water
1c blueberries

Blend. Take out two cups of the mixture and put into storage containers. Add:

1c water
3 kale leaves

Blend. Fill the remaining four storage containers.

RECIPIE CENTRAL - FEBRUARY 2008 DISCOVERIES

Green Smoothie of the Month: SPINACH APRICOT

It's not 100% raw, but the idea here is to get 1-2 bunches of leafy greens into my diet each day, however that is accomplished.

1 15-oz can of low- (or no- if you can find it) sugar apricots
Baby Spinach (the kind found pre-bagged), to the top of the 2-Liter Vita-Mix container

Blend!

Delicious!

Joseph's (10 mo. old) Smoothie of the Month: MIXED BERRY

1 12-oz bag "Mixed Berry" from frozen fruit section of the store
1 banana
1 avocado (optional)
water, to cover blades

Blend!

Other options:
1 12-oz bag blueberries
1 12-oz bag blackberries
1 12-oz bag cherries

Also, can successfully add GREENS! They didn't appeal to us real heavily this month, but nonetheless I at least threw in 1-2 handfulls of spinach.

We have eaten a LOT of mixed berry smoothies this month. Blackberries are by far the cheapest - $1.99, followed by blue- and raspberries - $2.89-$3.89. Mixed berry was the most expensive - $3.49.

You can get good deals on frozen berries at Wal-Mart, Grocery Outlet (Rainbow Grocery), and sales at normal stores.

Good news to report! Since drinking green smoothies of any type each day for one month... month ending with my period, I have to say there has been a positive change! Only one day did I need to take an Ibuprofin, and that was only 3 doses. Many months I have been crippled with pain to the point of having to stay in bed for 2-3 days, missing work or school, and not being able to do much of anything.

Back on the Sugar Train.... and back off

I observed something interesting about myself.

I got a new job three weeks ago. It's not glamerous, but it's at a convenience store called "Zip Trip" - the big draw is that it's just 5 miles from our home in the country and has set hours - four 10-hr. graveyard shifts - which works perfectly with dh's swing shifts.

But anyhooters.... it all started with needing several cups of coffee to make the transition from day working to night working. Then it became coffee with a bit of creamer to stop that dry, hunger-like coffee belly feeling. Then it became some hot chocolate mixed in. Then it became a candy bar dipped in the toasty warm coffee with hot chocolate. Which then became a king-sized. And all of a sudden I discovered I was feeling super-intense sugar CRAVINGS again, after nearly a month of feeling NONE for the first time in my life since drinking 2 L of green smoothies a day.

How did this happen?! Just the small allowance of that daily sugar turned into a big allowance and then a craving. Mix that with a horrible batch of kale and all of a sudden I've missed greens in my smoothies for five days while I wait for my paycheck to buy more kale.

It's amazing how a lack of greens can lead to all sorts of cravings. Because as soon as I started doing my greens again, the sugar craviongs went completely away.

Our Physical Body is Never Older than Seven Years

Our physical body is never older than seven years! This is due to the fact that the body recreates itself constantly.

Tissue cells die and are replaced by new ones. Every second we lose about three-and-a-half million red blood cells. There is nothing to worry about though, for another three-and-a-half million are born to replace the old ones. Ninety-eight percent of the atoms present in our body today will be gone within one year and replaced by new ones. The body is more like a river of constantly renewed tissues rather than a frozen sculpture of decaying matter.

Skin cells live for seven days

Heart cells live for ninety days

Bone cells have a thirty-six month life span.

There is a different life expectancy for every type of tissue cell depending on its function and location in the body. Life energy, the creative force, is constantly at work recreating our tissues and organs. Life energy or "human electricity" travels via the nerve system to reach every single tissue cell in the body... The question we must all ask ourselves is, what kind of body are we going to have next year? Is it going to be a healthier one or a sicker one? Is it going to replace itself normally or abnormally? Is it going to express more ease or dis-ease?

Autism

I am facinated by autism. I don't know what it is.... but something tells me to PAY ATTENTION and learn all I can about this devastating condition. This is my collection of information on autism.

http://www.generationrescue.org/ A site about overvaccination, the chemicals in vaccines (antifreeze, ether, mercury, aluminum), the alternative (DAN! - Defeat Autism Now!) vaccination schedule and motivational posters to get people to THINK and QUESTION the powers-that-be regarding the safety of our vaccines.
http://www.autismbites.com/ A site about a family who has SIX autistic children (six!) and their struggles to be understood and their fight for autism awareness. They sell t-shirts for autistic children to wear in public that explains their sometimes odd behavior with humor.

Whole Food Signatures

You are what you eat, so eat well.

A stupendous insight of civilizations past has now been confirmed by today's investigative, nutritional sciences. They have shown that what was once called 'The Doctor in of Signatures' was astoundingly correct. It now contends that every whole food has a pattern that resembles a body organ or physiological function and that this pattern acts as a signal or sign as to the benefit the food provides the eater.

Here is just a short list of examples of Whole Food Signatures.

A sliced Carrot looks like the human eye. The pupil, iris and radiating lines look just like the human eye...and science shows that carrots greatly enhance blood flow to and function of the eyes.

A Tomato has four chambers and is red. The heart is red and has four chambers. All of the research shows tomatoes are indeed pure heart and blood food. Grapes hang in a cluster that has the shape of the heart.

Each grape looks like a blood cell and all of the research today shows that grapes are also profound heart and blood vitalizing food.

A Walnut looks like a little brain, a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. Even the wrinkles or folds are on the nut just like the neo-cortex. We now know that walnuts help develop over 3 dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.

Kidney Beans actually heal and help maintain kidney function and yes, they look exactly like the human kidneys.

Celery, Bok Choy, Rhubarb and more look just like bones. These foods specifically target bone strength. Bones are 23% sodium and these foods are 23% sodium. If you don't have enough sodium in your diet the body pulls it from the bones, making them weak. These foods replenish the skeletal needs of the body.

Eggplant, Avocadoes and Pears target the health and function of the womb and cervix of the female - they look just like these organs. Today's research shows that when a woman eats 1 avocado a week, it balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. And how profound is this? .... It takes exactly 9 months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit. There are over 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in each one of these foods (modern science has only studied and named about 141 of them).

Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase the numbers of sperm as well to overcome e male sterility.

Sweet Potatoes look like the pancreas and actually balance the glycemic index of diabetics.

Olives assist the health and function of the ovaries.

Grapefruits, Oranges, and other citrus fruits look just like the mammary glands of the female and actually assist the health of the breasts and the movement of lymph in and out of the breasts.

Onions look like body cells. Today's research shows that onions help clear waste materials from all of the body cells They even produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.

RECIPIE CENTRAL - JANUARY 2008 DISCOVERIES

Here I'm going to list all my favorite recipies on my healing journey, and the dates I experimented with and incorporated them into my diet. Enjoy! And let me know what ones you liked!

Raw Recipies January 2008

Green Smoothie-of-the-Month: KALE-STRAWBERRY-BANANA

5-7 leaves of kale
2 cups, or 12 strawberries ( I use Frozsun brand, Wal-Mart)
2 bananas
1 avocado (but good without the avocado too)
2+ cups of water

Blend in a Vita-Mix blender.

Other variations are to add apple juice (can also add whole apples, but it gives it too much of a thick applesauce-y texture for my taste most of the time!) The best part of this recipie is that my 9-month old son LOVES it!

Joseph's (9 mo. old) Smoothie-of-the-Month:

4-5 cups, or 25 Strawberries
2 Avocados
1 Banana

Blend in a Vita-Mix blender.

He likes the above kale-strawberry-banana one above, but will eat this smoothie any time of the day. Another thing I should mention - he prefers it spooned rather than in a cup or bottle because it clogs so often, even with enlarging the holes. Other variations are adding applesauce or pears.

Transitional Recipies January 2008

Quinoa.

I had a hard time eating quinoa - I loved it's texture but it was so DRY! I wanted something that would be filling and moist. I had one of those "aha" moments and made it into salad!

To cook quinoa it takes about 3x as much water as grain, so I usually eye-it in a pot and then turn it on until it boils and then reduce heat, cover, and simmer about 15 min.

Adventures in Quinoa!

Quinoa
Half a cucumber
One whole tomato
Stir all together - YUM!

Quinoa
Half a cucumber
Salsa
(Vegans-don't-kill-me!) A bit of ground beef/turkey and the fat out of one pound of it that we had fried.

The story behind this is the salsa turned out to be "HOT" accidentally - no one knows where the stuff came from! (We always buy mild!) I can't stand eating hot stuff and I was SO mad I wasted the last cucumber and the last quinoa!!! So I poured some fat into the mix to cut the spice.
Yes, at this point beef is still a daily part of my diet. My 1 priorities, being still pre-diabetic, are eliminating breads, cereals, crackers, sugar in all it's refined forms, cooked whole grains (except the alkalizing ones like quinoa), and dairy. I don't do well with fish or any other supposedly "healthier" meats. Maybe someday I will be vegan but at this point that's not my goal. My goal is to greatly increase the ammount of vegetables, and some fruits into my diet, and cut out the stuff that personally gives me obnoxious health problems.

Blood Sugar/Green Smoothie Record - January 2008

Definition of Diabetes: Blood sugar of 200 or above any time of the day, regardless of when your last meal was eaten. Fasting glucose level of 126 or more ("fast" = 8 hrs. after you have eaten anything). GTT (glucose tolerance test) after fasting you are given 75g pure glucose to drink, then test after 2 hrs. If 200> you have diabetes.

Definition of Pre-Diabetes: Fasting glucose between 110-125. GTT between 140-199.

Putting my blood to the test!!!! Putting Green Smoothies to the Test!!!

A little bit of backround info first: I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes - this is the only traditional western healthcare I have had access to in the last 10 years and it was through my midwife. She wrote me a prescription for a glucometer and a year's worth of testing supplies. The doctors would not test me for regular diabetes after my son was born because they said that gestational diabetes does not turn into type 2 diabetes, and then my health insurance ended. Midwife had me test my FBS, before each meal, and 2 hours after each meal during my pregnancy. I have continued to do this off-and-on as resources and circumstances allowed me to eat healthy. (I didn't really want to know my blood sugar when I didn't have the $$ to eat right! Too depressing to know!!)

1/9/08

11:30 Drank 64 oz. green smoothie (kale, strawberry, banana)

1:30pm blood sugar is 78

Had 2 heaping servings of Hamburger Helper at 1:30.

3:30pm blood sugar is 85

6:30pm blood sugar is 82

Had two tortillas fried in butter, sprinkled in cinnamon at 6:30

8:30pm blood sugar is 106

Had insomnia all night - didn't do a morning FBS (fasting blood sugar) because I snacked all night, and didn't fast for 8 hrs.

1/10/08

6:00pm had Chilli and Cornbread

10:00pm Green smoothie (orange, apple, turnip greens, pasteurized OJ concentrate, cucumber, and a crushed-up vitamin pill) - also sipped a bit at 12am and 3am.

1/11/08

8:00am blood sugar is 102

9:30am quinoa w/butter and lemon pepper, 1c of the smoothie left over from last night

11:30 blood sugar is 96

Had a green smoothie with romaine, raspberries, pears, and banana at 11:30. Had 1c melon blended into a smoothie, and a salad made up of mostly cabbage and tomatoes and steak pieces.
I really wish I was better about checking my blood sugar, but we were busy with relatives and working so I often forgot about it at the critical times!! Or else snacked here and there, so there was never a 2 hr. time where I didn't eat after a meal so I could test!!

1/13/08

I woke up this morning shaky and took a blood sugar measurement, thinking it would be very low, but it was on the high side 103 at 7:30am. I often wake up feeling extremely hungry in the middle of the night. Especially when I am trying to "watch my diet" and eat low carb. It's unbearable to cut out carbs - I cannot sleep when I feel so HUNGRY! I have tried to beat it with willpower, and tried "toughing it out" I just end up miserable with this weird stomach growly feeling. I got up for a bit and used the computer and the feeling went away, as it often does... but it sure disrupts my sleep. If I EAT SOMETHING I can usually go RIGHT back to sleep, but if I don't eat it usually takes 2 hours and then sometimes I STILL have to eat to go back to sleep.

9:30 blood sugar is 83

Had a green smoothie (3 stalks celery, 3 kiwis, banana, water) at 9:30am. Then we had Subway for lunch at 11:30am (footlong ham, with lots of veggies and mayo - no oil, salt, pepper, or cheese).

1:30pm blood sugar is 139 - gaa!!

Had 5 hard tacos with beef, lots of lettuce and LOTS of tomatoes and salsa at 6:00pm. SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT WITHOUT HAVING TO GET UP AND SNACK!!

1/14/08

7:30am FBS is 98

Had green smoothie at 7:30am (kale, strawberry, banana)

9:30am blood sugar is 79

Ate 1 green apple and 1 banana dipped in Skippy peanut butter at 10:30am.

12:30pm blood sugar is 93

Had more green smoothie - made 64 oz. (celery, kiwi, banana) at 12:30, then some Top Ramen with loads of chopped celery, celery greens, and onion. Went out for some exercise - haven't had a lot of chance to do that lately due to deep snow and lack of childcare - walked up and down hills through 1 1/2 foot snow in the mountains. Fun!! Hiked between 3:00-4:30, then had rest of smoothie made earlier.

6:00pm blood sugar is 84

Ate taco salad w/corn chips, ground beef/turkey, lots of romaine, kale, and tomatoes.

9:00pm blood sugar is 98

1/15/08

6:30am FBS is 95

Things are looking good so far! I am so thankful to have discovered green smoothies. Without them my blood sugar used to gradually creep up throughout the day, and I felt miserable, unable to function without coffee or energy drinks. Green smoothies have completely eliminated my desire for sweets. I couldn't go more than 3 days without some form of sugar in the past.
Something about green smoothies satisfies a deep need in my body.