So, since I've felt so terrible for the past 10 days, I haven't bothered with making green smoothies. Last Monday, I made one that I thought was a favorite of mine (Berry Cold Fighter), and it wasn't quite up to par, but I think that the taste was affected by my allergies. I wish I could remember what I made after that, but it was horrible. Undrinkable. And then I tried one that I just knew I'd love (it had romaine lettuce, fresh mint, and cocoa powder), and it was nasty. So after that, I got discouraged, and that combined with feeling so crappy just made me say "forget it" to the whole green smoothie train.
Actually, yesterday I had planned to make a smoothie. I wanted to make Berry Tang again. I figured the kiwi, blueberries, and orange juice would be good for me and help me fight this infection. Unfortunately, we were out of OJ, so that didn't happen. Yeah, I could have just made a different recipe, but my brain was too fried from all the snot in my head (lol, sorry) to think of anything else.
Today, I decided I wanted a smoothie but not necessarily a green one. So I made my old stand-by: almond milk, banana, and peanut butter. It was delicious.
However, it has made my mucus situation so much worse. I read recently that milk is bad for mucus cause it makes it worse. I assumed that was just cow's milk, but now I think it means any type of milk. Almond milk included. Bummer. I'll have to remember tomorrow NOT to make this recipe! At least not until I am cleared up.
My two friends that have been doing this green smoothie challenge with me have kind of fallen off the bandwagon, too. So at least I'm not alone. Last week, I was really beating myself up about failing at this challenge. But then I realized that its a challenge, not a sentence. When I signed up for this challenge, my goal was just to start incorporating green smoothies into my normal diet, and maybe even be inspired to eat a little healthier. I wanted to feel better physically. I didn't think that I'd have to consume a smoothie every single day of my life. I also wanted to try new things, push my taste buds a little, if you will.
After the first week, when I was reaping all the benefits of green smoothies (I remember how awesome I felt that week!), I said I definitely had to have a green smoothie every single day, or else I wouldn't feel that good. That may be true. Its hard to say now, though, since I'm sick. Would green smoothies help me feel better this week? I'm not sure. But for sure, before I got sick, on days I didn't have a green smoothie I felt different - less energy, not quite up to par.
But you know what? I've realized that green smoothies don't have to be "do or die." I'm not gonna beat myself up if I don't have a smoothie every morning. And I'm not gonna push myself to try "weird" ingredients, either. I'm pretty proud of myself for trying the things I did. Heck, for even trying a GREEN smoothie! Who would have thought I'd like blended up spinach and kale?!
During this challenge, I tried 3 different types of greens - spinach, kale, and romaine. I made myself try mangoes again, even though in the past I didn't like them. I tried chia seeds. I tried combinations of ingredients that didn't sound quite so tasty to me. Some pleasantly surprised me, and some were so gross I couldn't stomach them. But I tried. That's the point. One of the points, at least.
Week 3 recipes were all about extra greens. Normally, the ratio for green smoothies is 60:40 (60 for fruit and 40 for greens), but that week, the ratio was flip-flopped. I may end up trying some of those recipes, but I'm not gonna stress about it. I'm not exactly keen on the idea of consuming quite so much greens like that daily - just a little bit goes a long way with me, I've found! I couldn't even tell you what types of recipes are on the list for this last week of the challenge. I just haven't felt well enough to really read the e-mail and think about it.
But what I've decided to do (when I start feeling better, and the thought of drinking a green smoothie doesn't make my stomach churn) is stick with the recipes that I really enjoyed earlier in the challenge. I may end up trying a few new ones here and there, but only if it really sounds like something I'll enjoy. And I'm not gonna be buying crazy ingredients anymore, either. For instance, last week I purchased almond butter for a recipe. I have yet to try that recipe since I got sick and discouraged about the smoothies. I tasted the almond butter, hoping that I'd love it and want to use it on toast and stuff (like peanut butter). I love almonds. But I am not crazy about almond butter. I'm gonna try that smoothie that calls for it because it sounds good to me, and if I don't like it, that jar of almond butter will probably be donated to my friend, lol. From here on out, I'm gonna stick with things I know for sure I like. I can still see plenty of benefits from green smoothies without going crazy and trying new recipes every single day.
So hopefully in the next few days, I'll get back into making and drinking green smoothies, at least a few times a week. I'm really glad I accepted this challenge because I have learned a lot. Its also brought me a little closer to two of my good friends. We've been doing almost daily e-mails talking about our smoothies every day. So that's been nice. ( :
Let me just say, though, that I am so glad I didn't go out and buy a super expensive fancy blender like I had contemplated! I don't see myself continuing to consume green smoothies daily, so I don't think it would get enough use to justify the purchase. That being said, if my el-cheapo blender blows up, I will probably get a more expensive one. My friend just got a Ninja Pro and she loves it. I'll admit, it looks pretty cool. And who knows? Maybe I'll surprise myself and end up doing green smoothies every day like a health food freak! ( ;
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