Green Smoothie Magic

*** Spoiler alert*** This may be for females only...or males with strong constitutions. ***

Every so often I stop drinking Green Smoothies.  I think it's the pure stubborn, bull-headed nature I have.  You know when you know that something is good for you, and that is the exact reason you don't want to do it?  Or you know that something is bad for you, but that makes it only more appealing?  Or the way God puts it: "For if I know the law but still can't keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don't have what it takes. I can will it, but I can't do it. I decide to do good, but I don't really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don't result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time" (The Message, Romans 7:15-20)  I love this passage because it reminds me that there is a struggle going on...within me. Those old cartoons with the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other really weren't that far off.  I will always have an enemy that wants me to fail. I will always have an advocate, a coach, cheering me on.  Which voice will I choose to listen to?

Well, I have been off green smoothies for about a week.  I don't know how it happened, they just didn't appeal to me much and then I got used to not drinking them...and then I made one or two, but drank maybe a glass and threw the rest away, which made me feel guilty and...well, you get the picture. So, I've been noticing small things with my health and wondering if they were related.  My skin started to get drier and I got a pimple...maybe not a big deal, but huge if you haven't had one in a year! My hair got duller...weird. I started having problems sleeping again.  Of course...I'm not linking any of these to the green smoothies.  Part of me didn't want to admit that they were that incredible. 

Then, I couldn't deny it any longer. I got my period last night.  Now, let me give you a little background (if it's too much information, I apologize)...ever since I've gotten my period (age 11), I've had serious cramps.  When I say serious cramps, TWO gynecologists that I've seen have compared them to contractions.  As in, my abdominal muscles tighten up, along with my uterus.  Fun!  I was suspended from high school once for leaving to get medicine that they wouldn't give me in school.  While I was teaching I saw a doctor because I couldn't take off work every month, and he prescribed morphine.  Never took it...I was scared of it. So, I kept taking time off every month. Once it came upon me suddenly and my students found me lying in the fetal position and had to call the principal to my classroom.  Yeah, that's fun.  So...I never get to brag about this, but when I went raw....NO CRAMPS.  Whatsoever. Now for someone who has battled with severe pain...this was practically euphoric.  I went 100%raw at the beginning of October and by the end of the month when my cycle came...no pain.  No bloating. No discomfort.  Nada.  Woah.

Okay, fast forward to last night.  I'm lying in bed trying to sleep and I started getting slight cramps.  Now nothing even remotely close to what I've dealt with my entire life, but the first bout of cramps I've had in almost two years. My brain went directly to the lack of green smoothies for the past week.  I almost completely dismissed the idea, but thought, what the heck. So this morning I made a liter of smoothie (very yummy - spinach, apple, kiwi), and made sure I drank the whole thing.  I had cramps when I began, and after my first glass, they started to subside.  After my second, they were gone.  Six hours later, they are a distant memory.  Holy Moly  had no idea that Green Smoothies were that powerful.  The woman who turned me onto Green Smoothies, Victoria Boutenko, has a blog and about a month ago a woman mentioned that her menopause symptoms disappeared within minutes of drinking her green smoothie and I thought...well, that's just placebo-ish.  Your brain takes care of most of it, right?  Well...placebo or not, I have first-hand proof that they actually relieve pain.  Wow.

And onto an even more yummy topic...digestion! If you think you are regular now, you will be astounded at what your body eliminates once you provide it with nutrition it doesn't normally get. Well, and lots of fiber. ;)

Okay, that's enough for today, won't you say?  Needless to say, I'm buzzing over the fact that I didn't need pain-killers (nor would I have used them)....it seemed that my body simply needed some nutrition I hadn't been giving it. 

This week is exciting.  The first week of the new CSA I'm organizing starts this Thursday and I have several people starting next Thursday, so it's never too late to sign up!!! I can't wait to see what is in my basket of produce, and what inspirations will hit me with new creations in the kitchen! Then, on Saturday I hold my first Raw Pie Recipe Class.  I'll be making pies ahead of time to sample as well and I'm planning on making a flag pie...strawberries, blueberries...oh yeah, pictures will come. :)

I hope your week and weekend going swimmingly!!  What health issues, small or big, do you wish you could be free from?  What has your doctor said that you will have to live with for the rest of your life?  What do YOU wish were different?