Tuesday's Thoughts

It seems all anyone is talking about today is the healthcare deal that President Obama signed into law this morning. No, I’m not bringing politics into the blog. If you are my Facebook friend, you know where I stand on the issue. But I thought this topic warranted a few musings.

My first thought is that it makes me weep that our country, our society, has come to the point where a health care crisis of this magnitude must even be dealt with. Our health costs are spiraling out of control in large part due to our overwhelming dependence on pharmaceuticals. Its somehow, somewhere become the normal school of thought that we can do what we please to our bodies, fuel them with whatever is handy, sit them sedentary for hours upon hours each day and then expect a miracle when we visit the doctor to have him prescribe us the latest, trendy miracle pill.

What would become of the healthcare debate if our President and First Lady challenged everyone to take charge of their own destiny? What if there was a nationwide call for everyone to put nutrition at the top of the debate instead of big pharma? Why don’t we focus on preventative measures instead of reactive treatments?

What if we chose to line the pockets of local farmers with our hard earned dollars instead of bankrolling the bottom line of the large corporations of big pharma and the insurance industry?

High blood pressure runs in my family, so does heart disease and diabetes. I’m choosing to reject that fate. I will not be a victim to my genes. I will not sit idly by and wait for my body to turn on me. I’m in control and it feels amazing. I’ve learned to trust my body. I know that as long as I give it the nutrition that it needs, it has the power to keep things running smoothly. Why would I settle for man made synthetic chemicals to make me “healthy” when everything designed to keep me running at optimal health is provided right here in nature? As God intended?

So, Mr. President, I offer you this challenge: rather than handing everyone a shiny new insurance card, why not start with handing everyone a blender, some beautiful leafy greens and the directions to their local farmer’s market? Let’s see what these beautiful bodies are really capable of!

***** By the Way, my blood pressure is 104/70 *****

***disclaimer: before I am publicly flogged, I realize that the healthcare debate is much more complicated than my simplistic approach above illustrates. I was simply trying to offer some lighthearted fun commentary on this otherwise toxic and explosive issue. I believe that some people do not need a magic pill, some people just need to change some habits. I also recognize that this is not true of everyone using pharmaceutical therapies***

Day Eighty One

...or alternately titled "The Monday with no Musings". I spent the better part of today at the doctor's office. My family has been sick for two months and I'm just sick of it! I've felt like crap off and on for over two weeks and after the week I had last week, I knew something had to be done. So now I'm on antibiotics. I'm not a big fan of the drug industry, but sometimes pharmaceutical intervention is a necessary evil. This is one of those times. So, I beg your forgiveness for not offering any Monday Musings today, but I will be sure to give you some Tuesday's Thoughts tomorrow.

I'd like to welcome all of the new followers that found their way here via No Time For Flashcards. Feel free to click around a bit, make yourself at home and let me know if you have any questions. I looooove comments and feedback. It makes me feel like I'm not out here in blogland talking to myself.

Today's smoothie was a bit sweet for me, but it had a higher than usual ratio of fruits. It was my day to be snack mom at preschool and I sent in a big bowl of fresh fruit, I took what was left and threw it in the blender with some bananas and spinach.

• 2 bananas
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• mixture of pineapple, strawberries, cantaloupe, honeydew & grapes.
• ICE

Its yummy, but sweet. My boys didn't care for it much.

Day Eighty (again)

Well, '80 was a good year, so let's do it all over again, right? So, I made a more palatable smoothie to take the place of that Gawd awful thing I made earlier. I went simple and stuck to tried and true ingredients. I'm not sure Mr. Smoothie will ever let me experiment again.

• handful of frozen pineapple
• handful of frozen mixed fruit (peaches, strawberries, grapes & pineapple)
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 2 bananas
• water ~ lots and lots of water

Aaaahhhh, much better!

Day Eighty

In an attempt to commemorate yesterday's junior high indulgence, I thought making a Bloody Mary. My one and only smoothie with Mustard Greens (inedible) was so peppery that I thought to myself "Hhhmm, that would make one kick @$$ Bloody Mary." Except here's the kicker: I'm not normally a big fan of Bloody Marys so I'm not so sure how, in my mind, this was a good idea. I've had one really really good Bloody Mary in my life. ONE. That was probably about 15 years ago or so. What in the name of Henry made me believe I could recreate it? So today I tried:

• 3 roma tomatoes
• 1 carrot
• 1 stalk celery
• 2 mustard greens leaves
• 1 handful of spinach
• 5 large strawberries
• 1 apple
• water
• ICE

It was bad. Like not just "oh, well that's not very good." More like, "Oh Holy mother of Greg, what the hell WAS that?" Just in case it was just me, I took a cup to my husband and said "here try this before I dump it out." He took one sip and made me swear on our marriage that I'd never do that to him again. I guess he didn't like it. In fact, he wouldn't even talk to me until I took the cup out of the room and brought him something to "wash that awful taste" out of his mouth. So, we're drinking the rest of yesterday's smoothie and I'll make up another one later tonight. Live and learn. : )

Its an honor....

The amazingly talented Allie of No Time For Flashcards fame is not only a blogger that I follow religiously, but a real life friend as well. We actually "met" online through our blogs and then through some of her pictures (newspapers, grocery bags, etc..) we realized we live in the same small town and we're now part of the same Moms group. What's funny is I run into her at the grocery store at least once a month, usually more! And its almost always in the produce section. She's been sneaking spinach into her little guy's smoothies since long before I came around, and I'm completely honored to be her Sunday Spotlight this week. Thank you, Allie.

Mr. Smoothie took the boys out today for breakfast and a guy's day. So I have an entire Sunday to the house by myself. I'm planning to use my time wisely and get a jump start on my Spring Cleaning since my grand plans for this week fell victim to a head full of snot. I'll start the day with the remainder of yesterday's smoothie, but I'll be back this afternoon to post a new one. I have an out of this world idea, but I need to head to the grocery store first. Maybe I'll run into Allie. : )

Day Seventy Nine

Tonight I drank my green smoothie and drooled over some teenaged werewolves and vampires. It was a great night. Hi, my name is Jessica and I'm a Twilight Mom. (ok, seriously, until I just googled that looking for a link, I had NO idea there were so many web pages out there dedicated to the phenomenon of 30 - 40 something women swooning over this masterpiece of literature. Its sad. Truly, truly sad.)

• 2 c pineapple
• 2 c watermelon
• 1 banana
• agave
• bunches o' spinach
• ICE

If I had been a little more creative, I would have made a blood red one to drink while indulging in inner giggly teenager. But I'm not creative like that.

Day Seventy Eight

Phew! This week sure was a dosey! I'm still not completely back to the land of the living, but I do feel tremendously better than I did on Monday. Now if only I get air through both nostrils. I'd be in business!!

• water
• 2 bananas
• 2 c watermelon
• 2 c pineapple
• spinach
• ICE

= YUM!!!

Day Seventy Six

What the hell happened to day Seventy Six? It was there, on the blog. I saw it with my own eyes. I went to shut down the computer and then it was gone. I think I'm losing it. Nah, its my computer. Yea, I'll blame it on my computer! Ok....yesterday's smoothie was:

• water
• 2 bananas
• fresh pineapple
• fresh spinach
• fresh strawberries
• Ice

Day Seventy Seven

Aaannd, here's today's post. Do you know what I did? Its so embarrassing. I can't believe it myself. It will just go to show how truly sick I was this week. I let spinach wilt and go bad. *hanging head in shame* Approximately 3 lbs of spinach must be thrown away. I stocked up for my cleanse and then I got so sick. I knew it was going bad and I just didn't care. It wasn't important enough for me to drag my sorry @$$ out of bed and bad it up and put it in the freezer. *snif snif*
Today's smoothie has the spinach that I was able to salvage in it, but it amounted to about one big handful. Maybe 1/3 of what I normally use. Let the public flogging begin.

• water
• banana
• watermelon (about 1 c)
• fresh blueberries (about 2 c)
• frozen peaches
• about 1 handful of spinach

Day Seventy Five

We were without power today for about 9 hours. Its typical, here in the Northwest. Today's outage was fairly minor. We've been out for days before. Oh, and Mr. Green Smoothie has never been in town for an outage lasting longer than a few hours. Typical. Anyway, I'm so glad I made my smoothie early this morning. But I had put it in the fridge and I don't open the fridge during outages because I want to keep the cold air in. Thankfully the power came back on and I was able to drink the rest of my daily quota. I was so afraid I might fail today. So, here we go:

• 1 apple, cored & chopped
• 3 c water
• 4 big handfuls of spinach
• frozen peaches
• frozen strawberries

Its delish! This afternoon I felt really really bad, but I think it was the stress of the power outage. I'm feeling much better right now. Not 100% yet, but still much better. Its probably why I'm wide awake and can't get to sleep.....