High School Days.....

A friend of mine posted this picture on Facebook. I remember the night this was taken. It was my Senior year Sweetheart's Dance. I thought I was fat in highschool and I thought this dress made me look huge (I'm the one in red).

Day Forty Nine

The weather is here is gorgeous and sunny once again. Spring is on its way and with that so is nature's bounty. Fresh produce, farmer's markets, home gardens.......a smoothie addict's dream. And I can't wait! Today's smoothie:

• 2 bananas
• 7-8 HUGE fresh strawberries (stems intact)
• 3 GIGANTIC handfuls of spinach
• water
• approx tsp of organic, Grade B maple syrup
• ICE

Not sickeningly sweet, a little green tasting and exactly what I was craving this morning! Enjoy!

Day Forty Eight

Hello Green Smoothie Peeps! Today's a beautiful, sunshining day here in the Pacific Northwest, so as soon as I finish this smoothie and blog post, I'm taking my kids and heading to the park! Gotta soak up that Vitamin D around here whenever you can. You never know how long it might be before it comes back! Today's smoothie:

• 2 bananas
• 4 handfuls of spinach
• 2 handfuls frozen pineapple
• 1 handful frozen mango
• 2 cups water

Its pretty thick. If I were to make this again I'd probably add another cup of water. I like my smoothies a little less frothy and a little more liquidy. But that's just a personal preference. Enjoy!!

Day Forty Seven

Thank you so much for the support and feedback from yesterday's post. Its comforting to know that I'm not the only person out there struggling with my food relationship. Today's smoothie is more purple than green, but no worries, its still chock full of goodness!

• 3 c water
• 1 apple, cored & chopped
• 2 bananas
• 1 big handful frozen blackberries
• 1 big handful frozen strawberries
• 3 big handfuls spinach

I'm not a fan of seeds. In fact, I rarely use blackberries or raspberries because I find them so offensive. However, they pack quite beneficial punch. They offer a great source of fiber and they cling to, and rid our bodies of, some of the toxins trapped in the lower intestine and colon. So grab your straws and get ready for some detoxin'! Enjoy!

Day Forty Six

I found a big box of plums at Costco last week. I used to love eating plums all summer long as a child. Sweet, juicy, red plums....mmm. My oldest son, when he just less than a year old, once reached out of the grocery cart, grabbed a plum from the produce section and took a big bite out of it. Sadly, that was the last plum he ever ate. Until today, that is ; ) Today's smoothie:

• 4 small plums (I removed the pit, but left the skin)
• 2 small apples (cored & diced)
• 2 bananas
• 4 HUGE handfuls of spinach
• ICE
• water

Its delicious! I made a full blenderful this morning so I can have extra throughout the day. I'm off to the pool for a workout and I love smoothies as an after workout treat. Enjoy!

Day Forty Five

Hello All! I hope you had a fabulous Valentine's Day. My Valentine spent most of the day on airplanes making his way back home to me. But I got to spend the day with my kids and some good friends, so all in all today was a success! Knowing we were going to eat pizza and cookies for dinner, I went with an old standby to be sure my children would drink it. They both had two servings. I feel better about dinner : )

• 2 c OJ
• 3 big handfuls of frozen pineapple
• 2 bananas
• bunch o' spinach
• a few squirts of coconut oil*

I found coconut oil in a spray can (think PAM) at the health food store last week when I went in to pick up our raw milk. I'm finding its easier to incorporate into our smoothies in this form. And I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the health benefits counteract the carcinogens in the propellents. LOL! (I'm kidding.....sort of.)

Monday Musings....a little history

I've been toying with the idea of adding some new weekly posts to the blog. The first one is "Monday Musings". A time for me to muse about anything bouncing around in my head. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this idea.

I've been asked several times "what do you eat the rest of the day?" and "do you use the smoothies as a meal replacement?" "Are they a weight loss tool?", etc. I knew, when I started this blog, that these questions would inevitably come up. They didn't surprise me. What did surprise me, however, was how much I was struggling to answer these questions.


See, I have a very long and very complex relationship with food. Throughout my life, food has been partnered with positive emotion. Throughout my life, food has been partnered with negative emotion. I started this new habit, simply as a creative way to get more fruits and vegetables into my body and the bodies of my family. I was completely unprepared for the emotional roller coaster that this adventure would bring.


Its no secret; I'm over weight. Obese, actually. But its odd, because I don't feel obese. If you looked at my medical chart and my weight was covered up, you'd think I was an average, healthy 30-something woman. I have normal to low blood pressure, my cholesterol levels are normal, triglycerides - normal, glucose levels, eyesight, heart rate - normal, normal, normal. But I'm not naive. I recognize that my body could turn on me at any moment and my health could come crashing down on me. And my family. My grandmother battled high blood pressure, and now my father is as well. He's also on cholesterol medication. Diabetes runs in my mother's family & both of my paternal grandparents had heart attacks and later died of congestive heart failure. I've been lucky up to this point. That fact is not lost on me.


I don't remember when I first started struggling with food. I was not a couch potato child. I played kick the can and kickball on our cul de sac every afternoon as soon as my homework was finished, I swam the summers away at our summer place with my friends. I lived in my bathing suit from May until Sept. Playing volleyball and wiffle ball in the grass. Manhunt in the evenings behind the campers until our parents made us go to bed. I never stopped moving. I played competitive volleyball from the age of 8 until my sophomore year in college. So, what happened? I'm not sure. The first time I remember eating in secret was when I was 14. About a month after my first weight watchers meeting. I remember baking cookies and eating the whole batch after my first "real" boyfriend broke up with me. I remember taking diet pills and skipping lunch in high school because my coach told me I was too slow and needed to move faster on the court. But I can't blame these experiences or these people. I'm an adult and I make my own choices and I've been making the wrong choices for years. There is no one to blame, but myself.


I've tried every diet in the book. I've counted carbs, I've counted points, I've counted calories, fat, fiber...you name it, I've counted it. I've eaten cabbage soup until I thought I might sprout one of those puffy cheeked dolls from the 80's and I've drank gallons of grapefruit juice in an effort to shed these extra pounds. And then I found a book. This book really opened my eyes and made me realize I could never "diet" again. I have an OCD personality. When I count things, I become obsessed. There are no words to describe how truly obsessed I become. I think about food all day. Everyday. I can't stop. I am continually counting and recounting and recalculating and replanning and recounting again. Such complete obsession, with anything, is not healthy. So, about 18 months ago I stopped caring about food. I no longer labeled things as "good" or "bad". I ate what I wanted, when I wanted. I didn't care what anyone thought (at least I tried not to) and it opened my eyes to a lot of things. I gained 24 lbs. Its funny. When I tried to listen to what my body needed and wanted, my brain wouldn't shut up. It kept screaming about what it wanted. My brain and my body hadn't spoken in years. But you know what, that's ok. I broke a vicious cycle. Slowly, my brain and my body became friends again. Food lost a lot of its appeal to me. It became simply food. A tool to sustain life. Nothing more. And the strangest thing happened. Once I was no longer focused on the food I was consuming, I was able to focus more on how that food made my body feel. I realized I didn't like feeling like crap. I didn't like being tired. I didn't like that stuffed, uncomfortable feeling. I didn't have to gorge myself on a "bad" food because I knew if I really truly wanted more tomorrow, I could have it. Throw away a birthday cake the day after the party? Let the brownies sit in the pan until they've gone so stale they're likely to break a tooth? That was UNHEARD of in my world. (I once remember making enchiladas during a freezer cooking session with friends. I had some extra mixture leftover, so I grabbed a tortilla and hid in the corner (and deluded myself that no one could see me) and wiped that bowl clean. I wasn't hungry. But I couldn't throw away something so yummy.) But things changed. I gave myself permission to listen to my body. And my body was PISSED!


Shortly after this revelation was when my friend introduced me to green smoothies. Because I had recently become so in tune with my body, I noticed an immediate difference in the way I felt. It was amazing. And I'll tell ya what. After feeling so great, my body got even MORE pissed when I when I missed a smoothie. Or several days of smoothies. I knew I had to make some changes. It was no longer about losing weight, it was about getting healthy. About nourishing my body, not starving it. About treating myself right and giving my body, and my soul, what it needs and what it desires.


.........To Be Continued.

Day Forty Four

Today's smoothie was fairly simple. I'm so ready for the summer and all of the fresh produce available. Farmer's markets here I come. But for now, I make due with frozen. *sigh*

• 2 cups water
• 3 big handfuls spinach
• 2 big handfuls frozen strawberries
• 1 big handful frozen pineapple
• 2 bananas

It was pretty good. Not a very strong flavor from any of the fruits, but they all blended nicely together. Enjoy!

Day Forty Three

Wow, I'm actually posting a smoothie on the day that I actually drank it! Ssshh, don't tell blogger or it might freeze up on me again! Both of my boys have strep throat and have had little to no appetites. I wanted to make a smoothie that would feel good on their sore throats and sustain them a little bit. Oh, and one that I knew they'd eat. So, no greens today, but still lots of yummy raw goodness.

• 2 c of whole, raw milk
• a squirt of agave
• 3 big handfuls of frozen whole strawberries
• splash of vanilla extract

It tasted like a strawberry milkshake and they both slurped it down happily. The raw milk is something fairly new to my family. I will elaborate a bit more soon. But I wanted something with some fat and protein to keep my kids strong to fight off these nasty bugs.

Day Forty Two

Blogger is still not cooperating with me. It keeps erasing my posts. Yesterday's smoothie was:

• 1 apple
• 2 huge handfuls spinach
• 2 bananas
• 1 10 oz bag frozen cherries
• water