End of Year Wrap Up

Gosh...it's been so long. Is anyone even still out there?



So, this blog didn't exactly take off the way I had imagined it would, but I hesitate to call this little adventure a failure. So many amazing things have happened since that first blog post over a year ago.



It's true, I got a little burnt out on the daily blogging and trying to come up with new smoothie recipes; I even missed several days this year in my smoothie challenge, but this blog and the green smoothies led me in places that I never dreamed imaginable. I started taking an active interest in my health and nutrition ~ two things I'd never given a thought to in my life.



I joined a gym, I started a weightloss journey and I started running. I love my green smoothies and they've helped me remake the connection between what I eat and how I feel. They've helped me start to heal my food addiction. I have a long road ahead of me, but I'm going to get there and it all started with a green smoothie.

Oh, and they've brought my blood pressure down to 92/70 BooYa!!! Happy 2011 everyone! My plan is to leave this blog here for the archives and to hopefully continue to inspire others to give green smoothies a shot. I may come back and update it periodically, but most of my posts will be over here. Please join me, if you haven't already.

Burn Out

It's the beginning of August and I've been in this challenge for 220 days. To be completely honest I had been feeling a little burnt out on green smoothies. I have missed a few days here and there, but I am absolutely as committed to my health as I've ever been in my life.

At the beginning of the year I had some serious delusions that by simply adding green smoothies to my day would somehow make me the picture of health. I didn't talk about it much but I really thought these smoothies would be the magic pill diet that I had completely sworn off in the past.

It's only been in the last few weeks that I've decided that a smoothie isn't a magic pill. I've also realized that I didn't need a magic pill, I needed an attitude adjustment. I don't know what sparked it, I don't know why it happened NOW ~ but I have to say that suddenly feeling like crap (I was feeling better with the smoothies, but still not GREAT) was no longer acceptable.

I had been mentioning around here (and on Facebook) other little changes I'd been making in my diet, but everything I wanted to say about my health, my diet, my weight & my exercise just didn't seem to fit here. This is a smoothie blog.

So, I went off and started another blog (is it possible to be addicted to blogging? LOL!) I will still be around and still blog here (although my FB is much more active than this blog), but I felt I needed somewhere else to get into all of the nitty gritty about totally and completely reclaiming my health. I hadn't mentioned it at first because I really wasn't sure I wanted to go 'public' with it just yet. I'm still not sure I want to, accountability? Nah, I'm accountable to myself and my family. Cheerleaders? Sure, they're nice but I'm doing this for me. So why am I going public now? I'm not sure. I just felt it was time.

Come visit and say hi at Healthy for 100.

PANIC!!

I opened the fridge yesterday to make a smoothie and what did I disocver? I was OUT OF SPINACH!!!!!! Aaahhhh. I went into a complete panic. Then I remembered I had some parsley & romaine in the crisper drawer. Phew!! Too bad less than five seconds later I completely forgot about the parsley. OOPS! Anyay, here is what I threw together:

• 3 bananas
• 2 c water
• 2 spears of fresh pineapple + a little of the juice that collected in the container
• handful of frozen strawberries
• 4-5 leaves of romaine

Crisp, refreshing and delicious!! Enjoy!!

And the Winner Is......

Yvonne! She said:


I'm Yvonne. Hello! I found your blog through the Green Smoothie Queen site.

My favorite smoothie, right now anyway:

1 honey dew or cantaloupe
1 handful of frozen red grapes
1 handful of spinach or lacitino kale
2 bananas
Chunk of fresh ginger
Water
Ice

Yummy!!!

Congrats Yvonne! Contact me (I'll leave my email address on your blog) and give your snail mail address and the straws are yours!!

Giveaway Time!

My Facebook Page now has 322 fans!! WooHoo!! I promised that once we reached 300 I'd do another giveaway! Here we go! I've had my eye on these little numbers for quite some time! I finally picked some up and have been using them for about a week now. I'm in love! My smoothie just doesn't

taste as good if it's not through a straw! Now I don't have to worry about plastics exposure or any enviornmental impact.

So....you know the drill. In order to be considered for this giveaway of four stainless steel drinking straws, leave a message on this post that includes your name, how you found my blog & your favorite smoothie recipe. If your email address isn't attached to your blogger profile, make sure you leave your email address as well so I have a way to get ahold of you if you win! Good Luck!

Getting my ass in gear

I joined a gym. It's scary and intimidating and exhilarating all at the same time. It's kicking my ass. I love it.

Nothin' but Fresh

I love summer and the bounty of fresh produce that comes along with it! The only frozen ingredients in today's smoothie was ICE! And I only added ice to make the smoothie cold.

• 1/2 of a fresh pineapple
• 2 big handfuls of fresh, ripe strawberries (green tops included)
• 2 bananas
• juice & pulp from one navel orange
• ICE

It's summer in a glass. YUM!

Eat to Workout or Workout to Eat?

The other day at the park I over heard a friend say, “Oh, these cookies are so good, it’s a good thing I’m working out later so I can work them off.” We all had a little chuckle and then went back to our conversations. As I was buckling my kids into the van and contemplating the fact that I, personally, hadn’t been to the pool to workout in over a week, I started thinking. Weight loss and nutrition do not always go hand in hand. Sure, weight loss, in its simplest form, is nothing more than calories in must be smaller than calories out. But let’s think about this for a moment, shall we? Does my friend work out simply so she can eat a few extra cookies? Do we workout so we can eat (anything we want)? Or do we eat so that we can workout?

Calories in/calories out is great. But you have to consider what is in those calories. I love my workouts. I get cranky when I don’t get to go to the pool as often as I’d like, but do you know what really pisses me off? When I finally do make it to the pool and I have a crappy workout because of the food I’ve eaten. Our bodies simply cannot turn junk food into quality fuel for our bodies. Junk food = junk fuel. Quality food = quality fuel. It doesn’t get any simpler than that.

I always have a protein shake before my workout and I always have a green smoothie afterwards. About an hour later I’m usually starving so I’ll have a deviled egg (or some other high quality protein) with a big salad. When I workout I crave nutritious, usually high raw, quality foods. I get a high from working out and the quickest way to kill my buzz is to eat some “passes as food” processed crap that makes me feel ill.

What are some of your favorite pre & post workout foods?

Fresh from the Farmer's Market

Today's smoothie was amazing! The best part? Its main ingredient was still in the ground soaking up nutrients less than 12 hours before I threw it in my blender!! WooHoo!

• 1 whole beet (greens, beet & root) fresh from the farm
• 2 c water
• 2 bananas
• handful of frozen red grapes
• handful of frozen strawberries

It was delish! YUM!!

My very first bloggy award

Although this blog is only several months old, I've been at this blog thing for over two years now. My other blog is dedicated mostly to quilting and the randomness that is my life. I'll admit I haven't been a very active blogger over there. Oh, there are so many reasons why. Not the least of which is the mess my life has become. In other words, that blog doesn't have many readers, but that's ok. I'm not very interesting! I've never received a bloggy award before...until now!

WooHoo! My friend Maura awarded me this Bloggy this morning and I'm honored that she thought of me. I've known Maura for almost 17 years (OMG, really?!? That makes me feel so old!). We'd lost touch over the years, but through the miracle of Facebook, we've found each other again. She is also the mother of two small boys and oh the stories she tells! There is never a dull moment in that woman's life and now you can all follow along on her adventures as well, because she had a new blog going, 36x37. She wants to do 36 new to her things by her 37th birthday. See? That's just how this woman's brain works. She is the definition of cool. I heart her. I really do.

Alright, I'm done making out with Maura now, let's move on to this cool award. Pretty hip, eh?

The rules:

~ Acknowledge and link to the blogger who presented you with the award.
~ Give the award to at least 3 of your favorite mom bloggers

Drumroll, please!

Kris ~ Kris is an amazing woman blogging over at Eclipsed. Escaping the Shadow of Obesity. She is a fellow homeschooling mom and she's a Twilight Fanatic. I know, we could be twins, right? Kris has not only lost almost 55 pounds since Thanksgiving, but she's done so with so much grace and style. I find so much inspiration in her words.

Green Smoothie Queen ~ The Queen has been one of my biggest cheerleaders since day one. She's a huge source of inspiration to so many out in blogworld. I offer this award as a small token of thanks for all of the support and encouragement you've given me through this crazy adventure!

Ann ~ I've saved the best for last. Ann & I met on the internet a few years ago on a site that has absolutely nothing to do with food, smoothies, health or weightloss. We met on a board about living a frugal life. Off the board, and through our blogs, we've discovered that pinching pennies is not the only thing we have in common and I consider her to be a dear dear friend. We've never actually met in person, but we do hope to change that someday SOON (don't we, Ann?). I am so proud of everything that she has accomplished over the last few years, both in her physical health and her spiritual health. I'm honored to call her a friend. I love you girl, from the bottom of my heart!