Anyway, I gave blood and felt like a champ (especially after eating my Krispy Kreme doughnut). Until the next day at work that is. I felt sluggish, feverish, and had a scratchy throat. When I went to the cafeteria at work I walked around to see what my choices were and when I walked past the fruit bar I honestly don't think anything had been so appealing in a long time. It was delicious and wonderous. Yes I just made up a word.
That evening I stopped by the grocery store to pick up some oranges and a few other things jumped into my cart. Frozen strawberries, bananas, plain yogurt, spinach it just all sounded like things that would help me fight off the pending sickness.
I honestly don't even know where the idea came from, I've heard of green smoothies before but they always seemed weird and scary - way too hard core for me. I decided that it was time to put on my big girl pants and give it a shot. So this is the chronicle of the beginning of my green smoothie experiment.
I started out that night with milk, yogurt, spinach, strawberries and a banana. Of course dearest rushed upstairs at the sound of the blender to see what in the world was going on and why I was blending *anything* at 10 o'clock at night. Which means he got half, and he got to try it first (I'm such a weenie).
It wasn't bad, at all. Actually it was kinda tasty. Dearest liked it, and started to feel like I had given him a super hero drink. He started swinging his arms back and forth across his body and saying "yeah, yeah I feel good". Hah. I didn't feel any different. He's a trip.
So smoothie number 1, no side effects, no super powers (for me at least), but tasty.
The next morning I decided to make one for breakfast before work. I decided to be a bit adventurous so I added blueberries and a spoonful of raw honey to the mix. Tasty, pretty darn good actually - but it made a lot. It almost filled the 44 oz sheetz cup I put it in. I have a thirty minute commute to work and I didn't think I'd finish it. I did, sitting in the parking deck.
About thirty minutes later I got a horrendous headache, which is not terribly uncommon for me, but I had to wonder if there was any correlation to my green smoothie. So I hit the Googles. Apparently some people experience "detox symptoms" when first starting on green smoothies. Okay this really makes no sense to me. I could get it if I suddenly switched to eating nothing but raw foods, and yes I did incorporate a lot of fruits and greens quickly but I still had a turkey sandwich fo....r.... right well I guess that day I had a green smoothie before bed and another that morning.. so humm... *anyway*
Eventually my headache went away. I had a turkey sandwich and corn chips and an orange for lunch even though I wasn't terribly hungry. Come dinner time though I was starving. Dearest and I went to a local Mexican restaurant, I couldn't stand the wait at our usual place so we went to a different one. The food was.. okay but sad as it sounds I was disappointed with the serving size. It was normal. I ordered a dish with two burritos, and the waitress was concerned for me as if they would both be the size of my head. When they came out they were the size of enchiladas. It was a normal serving size. I was so sad, then guilty that I was sad. Dearest and I both inhaled our meals and then split a plate of rice and beans. The fun thing is the next morning, I had lost weight. I never lose weight after eating mexican food.
Smoothie number 2, headache, slight constipation, ravenous evening hunger.
The next morning I decided to get even more adventurous, so I added an apple too. I won't lie, it tasted fine but the texture was very mealy. By the time I finished it I had another horrific headache and was convinced that I was never going to be able to keep the smoothie down. I was concentrating very very hard on not being sick. I must have looked green because Dearest insisted on taking care of me. He's sweet, but not usually that sweet. He heated up a neck wrap and told me to go lay down. I wound up sleeping for a good four hours. Every now and then I'd wake up and feel like I was on a boat circling a drain. I've never had a migraine with vertigo before.. hum. After my four hour nap I woke up and felt much better. No nausea, no spinning, but still a twinge of a headache, although nothing near what it was. It's awful when you have a migraine with that level of nausea that you can't even dream of ingesting anything to help with the pain. At this point I still wasn't really hungry but decided I should eat something. I heated up some chicken noodle soup and fixed a turkey sandwich. Holy moly I never knew soup and a sandwich could taste so good! It was like every bite was a party in my mouth. Really strange.
Smoothie number 3, evil migraine with code red nausea and vertigo, increased taste sensations, low to no hunger all day, constipation.
This morning I decided to go back to the basics. We ran out of milk after I made a smoothie for dearest, so I made mine with yogurt and water (Tastes just fine without the milk and less calories). I went back to adding just strawberries and a banana, but I added a leaf of romaine lettuce in with my spinach. Taste-wise, I think this one is my favorite. I woke up with a headache this morning, so I can't gauge that, although it is starting to ebb. I'm still in process of drinking this one. It's very filling. I decided to slow down when I started getting nauseous I think yesterday I just was trying to consume way more than my stomach could hold in that time frame. Too much liquid.
You're probably wondering why I'm continuing to do this if I'm having these side effects. Well first off, I know that I need to increase my fruits and vegetables and this is a tasty and easy way to do that. Secondly, they're addictive. They taste really good, have I mentioned that? I also don't know for sure that my headaches are connected to the smoothies. I get headaches a lot. I've also lost 4 pounds in the last 4 days. It helps to control my hunger in the mornings, which is when I like to snack the most. They're easy and quick to make and clean up after, and are portable. So it's better than saying "I don't have time for breakfast this morning".
I plan to continue with my green smoothies, either replacing breakfast or an afternoon snack. We'll see how things pan out in the long run.
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