Green Smoothies

Today's realisations! I get them everyday as I’m sure you do. Do you record yours? Well, it’s well worth it. I advocate journaling and have done it for a few years now, on and off. I notice that at times of challenge I turn to it or resist it, but either way I finally get to it and it has amazing results.

I love the written word and in terms of journaling I love how very simply it can reflect back to you what you need to know. You just need to read between the lines so to speak. Your journals also become a wonderful resource and sometimes I contemplate the "general public" one day reading mine…now that would be fun, I feel an editing marathon coming on.

Anyway, back to the realisations of today. Ever since I was labelled with Type 1 Diabetes, 9 years ago, I have been searching for a way of balancing my blood sugar and feeling well! I’ve tried lots of different ways but it was in June 2007, at an Unleash The Power Within weekend with Tony Robbins that I first heard about alkalising the body. It was at that event that I made the decision not to eat meat and am very proud to say that I haven’t eaten any since. Have I missed it? “No”.

I now know what it does to my body and some of the processes, hormones and chemicals used in its production. To be honest giving up meat was easy, what has been more difficult has been changing my lifestyle to embrace alkalising. There is quite a bit of history to this, as a lot has changed for me since June 07 and I’ve tried lots of different ideas and processes. In summary, I no longer have any processed foods, diary, most fruits, alcohol, wheat or yeast products and very little fish. I can safely say there is quite a lot I do miss but I mainly miss fresh and dried fruit, especially the tropical fruits! My decision not to have these foods is based primarily on how they effect me physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually and also the research I have done into how the foods are processed and whether they are acid or alkaline in terms of how my body uses them.

The last alcohol I had was about two months ago. I had a glass of red wine and although I enjoyed the taste, it was divine. I didn't enjoy the feeling it gave me after the third sip. In fact I couldn't drink it all and haven't been drawn to wanting any since. In order to know what a massive turn around this is for me you need to know that I was a whisky drinker and could drink for England. I sometimes have to pinch myself to see if I'm real, and check in the mirror to see who I am. Although that doesn't help because I don't look like I used to! Changing your lifestyle and the food you ingest can have an effect on your whole physical make-up. I've lost a stone and a half since last Christmas! I laugh now when I think my goal was to be 10 stone! I now weigh 9 stone! I can't remember ever being 9 stone!

I have been living on raw live foods and using Dr Young’s, PH Miracle - Diabetes plan, to manage my blood sugars. I have had amazing results in that I’ve more than halved my insulin intake (day and night), which is fantastic when you know that the insulin "diabetics" use is a chemical that is only similar to the bodies own and therefore is a toxin.

So there’s a little of the background to where I am now.

The realisation I had today was after watching and reading more about green smoothies on the web and in a magazine I receive called Get Fresh from the Fresh Network. Victoria Boutenko’s demo and interview on You Tube, gave me some food for thought! I’ve known about raw smoothies for a while but what I didn’t know was what led her to put raw greens into a smoothie. She talked about her family eating raw for 7 years and reaching a plateau. Some of the symptoms she described I realised I could relate to. In particular, for me, it is mainly around fluctuating energy levels. So, I started thinking maybe I’m eating the right food but I need to play around with how my body is processing it, and the realisation that maybe I’m putting too much pressure on my digestion, by expecting it to digest the raw food I’m eating without blending it.

After all, it's not "You are what you eat" it's "You are what you digest"

So, I set to work straight away producing a green smoothie. The challenge for me is that I don’t eat fruit or very little. By following the Ph Miracle for Diabetes I can have grapefruit, lemon and lime, all other fruits have considerable amounts of sugar and therefore are detrimental to my blood sugar. I can tell you green smoothies would be a whole lot more palatable with an apple!

Anyway, I had mine with kale, water, half an avocado and the juice from a carrot and three very small beets for some sweetness. I tried it without the sweetness from the carrot and beets but it was just too bitter. After a good whizz in the blender I was pleasantly surprised, it looked a lovely pinky purple (my favourite) colour and tasted creamy, due to the avocado.

In terms of my blood sugars, they’ve been spot on all day and I’ve felt full. I had the smoothie as my lunch and for supper. The other indicators for me in terms of functioning, as I have become so sensitive to food and its effect on me since detoxing from acidic foods, have been that my concentration and clarity of thinking and focus has been spot on too. So it’s a thumbs up for the green smoothie.

If there’s one thing you can do to alkalise your body it’s this. Introduce a green smoothie to you and your families life and start the process of unlocking the potential for joy and happiness, literally straight from your cells. The chlorophyll from the greens is pure sunshine.

Please get in touch if you too have been given the label of "diabetic", I'd love to hear from you and share what I know and maybe pick up tips from you.

More realisations soon!