12 Step Program Blog

So, my DH has experienced some “cleansing” from the smoothies, as well as the kids-I, on the other hand, haven’t really-like, at all.  I mean, I’m actually a little backed up?  Anyway, I’m trying to increase water, I’m wondering though, how much is too much, when it comes to green smoothies-like, I’m doing them in the morning w/DH, and then this morning I had left overs from what i made the kids when they got up, and then this afternoon i was craving another one!!  I know ‘moderation in all things’, but how much smoothie can i drink and not be in the bathroom all day long or something?

note-as of right now, our recipe is:

about 3 c. baby spinach, 5-7 strawberries, 1/4 c. frozen pineapple and 1 banana, with a little rice milk to thin it out (BTW thanks for the banana tip-it totally does sweeten it up!)

I drink half the blender and DH drinks the other half.  Tips anyone?  Also, I do find myself craving sweets in the afternoon-i mean, today i thought about making a smoothie, but i was at dang WalMart and bought a loaf of french bread instead :|  I didn’t eat the whole thing, lol but man i felt like junk after i made it home, and i was still hungry!  Anyone else have this problem?

Green smoothies are catching on fast here, we have been drinking them over a month now. My husband will now drink 1/2 pint at night before dinner with his eyes closed. He, he. My 17 and 20yro sons are drinking me out of house and home. I drink my fair share too. I started out using quart jars but they are too bulky so I bought pint mason jars and found packages of plastic lids. I make about 12 pints at a time and they last about one and a half days. I get so thrilled to see my 17yro son get one out and drink it while he watches a movie or plays xbox. He is drinking 2-3 pints a day. My 20yro son is a health freak anyhow so he drinks even more. He will even drink the greens straight with no fruit and complains I put too much fruit in. I am drinking at least 3 pints a day and loving it. My mom makes them and drinks them daily too.

I am seeing improvements. I swear my gums are getting better, I have bad teeth and gums. Who would have thought some greens would cure what I pay thousands of $$ to fight. I too am sleeping better and feeling better in general. My cravins for sweets has diminshed to almost nothing.

I bought some plastic containers with screw on lids so I can take smoothies to work and send them with hubby for his lunch. Oh, and I love my Blendtec!

I got my Blend Tec blender this week and I LOVE it.  I have one child who consistently turned up his nose to my previous drinks.  He says my new blender is awesome and that the smoothies are perfect.  He is eating huge plates of salad now too.  So maybe he has had a change of heart.  One observation I have made about this child is this:  After long periods without meat, we go to a party.  They are serving hot dogs and hamburgers.  He eats one.  And within 10-15 minutes he vomits.  His body is obviously rejecting whatever is in that.  It happens every time! 

My hubby deployed this past week.  I was so nervous about how different we would be eating when he came back in 5 months.  It was really stressing me out.  Right before he left he found out that the hotel he was staying at doesn’t have personal room kitchens (although they do have a small refrigerator.)  The main place for food is Denny’s!  I cringed.  He wasn’t too keen on the idea either.  I half jokingly said, “You’ll have to buy a blender and make green smoothies to survive.”  Before he left he asked me a few times about recipes.  He has been there a week now.  And we have ordered another blender for him.  My jaw is hanging open!  I am thrilled. 

I am absolutely terrified about planting a garden.  I seem to kill everything.  However, with the help of my children we are planting spinach, lettuce, carrots, and beets.  This is as much as I feel that I can manage right now.  Wish me luck!

From my journal: noticable changes since drinking green smoothies and improving my diet since January 2008:  weight loss, stinky body odor gone, horrible case of psoriasis nearly gone, teeth easier to clean, clearer mind, sleep better, breath easier through my nose, there are probably others that I have missed too.

So I guess you could say that I am a believer in greensmoothies and the 12 steps to whole foods.  They seem to be working for me.

Camille

 Here’s kind of a funny story:  So I bought just a small jar of coconut oil (you’re right robyn, that price is way better than anywhere else!) and flax oil.  I’m in the kitchen this morning at about 530 (DH leaves at 6am) and I have this awesome idea to make a PB and Coconut oil sandwich.  Call me crazy,okay!  When I tasted it out of the jar yesterday?  Oh man, can I say that I am NUTS about coconut?  Anyway, I put it in the fridge for some reason and so I pulled it out-of course, it’s rock hard-so I set it in some hot water…

 it is taking TOO LONG…

(a side note, i got a little crazy with my straight razor last night and shaved off a little too much of my callouses on my feet, so they were a little raw this morning)

anyway, thinking that I can’t heat the oil because then it would be a soggy, PB and coconut “squishwich”, I decided that putting it in my hand might be faster-so I’m like, digging in this jar and it’s flaking off little white specks all over the counter and i’m scraping them up and rubbing them in my hands (which doesn’t make it soft BTW-it makes it OIL!)-I realize this a little too late, so I ditch the sandwich idea and not wanting to waste it–I decide to rub it all over my heels…. (mind you this all happened within a matter of like, 3 minutes)

DH is sitting at the table with his green smoothie, just watching me…..

…a jar of pb with a knife sticking out of it, a pyrex measuring cup overflowing with a jar of white stuff in it, coconut oil flakes all over the counter and me with my heel on the edge of the sink, oil running down my arm…. 

But my feet smell great!

When he left this morning I grinned and said “have a green day”!  He slapped me five and said “see ya later, veggie friend”

now THAT is love ;D

Sometimes I struggle with the OCD side of my personality–I’ve been reading so much info in the last week (including 12steps), info on goitrogens, purines, organic v. not organic, goats milk v. steroid free cow milk, totally raw or some cooked-my brain is a little overwhelmed, especially thinking about two little kids and a fairly reluctant husband, as well as “soaring food prices”.  I realize we don’t need to be perfect at the start but here are my dillemmas:  I can’t always afford organic produce-someone says you can just wash it, but some greens (and fruits) absorb pesticides and different “bad things” like oxylates and purines into them, and you can’t wash it out-any produce, washed and blended is better than none, or not enough-right?

Goats milk-I’m just not ready for that and yet I worry that I’m harming my kids by giving them other things-I guess I feel a little more pressure than is probably necessary to just go “all out” and toss our canned tomatoes/cheerios/baby carrots in the trash and start over.  Can someone reassure me I’m not starting too slowly? 

Also, soy-like, seeing all the products and biproducts that have soy in them, makes my head spin.  Being hypothyroid, this is obviously a big concern, yet I feel a little over my head trying to eliminate everything with any soy or biproducts-how essential is this step-i mean, since my condition is stable, can I just like-start eliminating the worst things?  If so, which are the worst?! 

I’m not trying to complain-I just feel a little discouraged, like it’s going to take us years to get to where we need to be!!  :P

So I was planning on waiting until the end of the month (and my budget) to start on the smoothies, but I found myself writing my grocery list thinking, let’s just get going already!  So we’re starting with Spinach, zucchini, yellow squash, pineapple and strawberries-I have no idea if it’s a good combo or not, but I always think frozen pineapple adds a lot of “zing” to anything, so we’ll find out!  I actually made smoothies last night with just the yellow squash, strawberries and lemon and it was really good-no sugar or anything! :)  I also got a case of Rice Dream-plain, organic-I’m assuming that’s an okay brand right??  It was kind of an impulse buy but I have to start somewhere!  Sooo, our activity for tomorrow night is to make a family shopping trip to Good Earth for Flax oil and coconut oil–okay, so I saw that Wal-Mart had coconut oil-LouAna brand, I didn’t buy it because I’m assuming it’s junk, but I’m wondering if (aside from online) there is a closer place to find them? 

A side note-MAN SOY IS IN EVERYTHING!!!! :(  I bought some Kashi cereal and was all excited-chock full of SOY NUGGETS :P  dang! I couldn’t believe I missed it!lol

Hi everyone,  I am hoping to buy a food processor and I was wondering if any fellow GSG bloggers have some advice for me.  I’ve been leaning toward the Cuisinart 14 cup model because it can knead dough.  If you have some experience with a food processor, I would so appreciate your feedback.  Thanks!

Robyn, I have a few more questions:  1.  I was making the Chocolate Beet Cake and I wanted to soak the flour but I am unsure of how to do that in a recipe that doesn’t call for water.  Can you elaborate on this?  2.  Could you possibly provide a good, better, best post about cheese?  3.  I made the yogurt and it was sooooo yummy.  My yogurt turned out runny even though I used a thick yogurt as a starter.  I was wondering how to get it to thicken up.  Thanks,Darlene  PS  I am working on cutting back on the “better sweeteners”.  I was noticing that I was diving into the agave nectar and honey too liberally.  I have come a long way already in dealing with my sweet tooth but the journey is far from over.  Anybody else having this issue? 

Would you please give us tips on preserving our garden produce?  I’m especially interested in how you do your beets and greens. 

Okay-spirulina–I’ve been reading up on it and I’m wondering if it’s a good thing for my family to start out with, or should I wait to add it to smoothies (powder)-I mean, it’s supposedly safe for anyone, and it’s got a lot of plant protein-since spinach is one of the milder flavored greens but one I should avoid because of hypothyroidism-is spirulina a good alternative, until we work up to Kale?  Which brings up my next question-what about purines and goitrogens?  I’m hypothyroid and it says I should avoid them except maybe twice a week-advice?  Also, is Horchata considered a milk, like almond mylk and other nut mylks-while it’s made from white rice, I’m guessing you could make it from brown rice, and my family loves it!  It’s easy to make too…(horchata is a traditional mexican rice drink with almonds, lime, cinnamon and sugar-YUM!!)  If we’re eliminating cow’s milk and switching to another (nutritious) type-what is the most recommended for kids?  (no offense, but i’m still not on the goats milk bandwagon-i pretty much despise feta cheese, lol)