“Uniqueness” of the Day: This is my hardest day. My head isn’t in doing this that much after last night’s horrible smoothie. Most of today is smoothies and tomorrow are soups; knowing makes it even tougher. And what makes it the hardest is I’ve gotten the worst shooting pains today from my AS (getting in & out of bed is like getting out of a bed of nails) I’ve had in weeks. I got an encouraging phone call today from Jamie and got some fantastic recommendations from her new doctor – Dr. Furhman. I learned that I need to really amp up my Vitamin d3 intake (more than the sun) + you can do up to 300 billion Probiotics per day (currently doing 10 billion) in smaller doses. Basically, you can’t have enough of those since my gut has a lot of work to do in repairing.
Waking Up: Went to bed at 11:30 and got up at 4:45am, got water & stretched until 5am, went back to bed & got up at 7:15am. Stiffness in mid-lower back & left hip sends pain when I twist too much (it’s not much though). Right hip, behind the right leg & right buttocks area are inflamed + I’m getting the worst shooting pains I’ve had in over a week.
Breakfast: Green Smoothie
- 2 bananas, peeled (subbed 1 banana, 1 kiwi)
- 1 cup pineapple, cubed
- 1 cup papaya, cubed (papaya not ready, subbed 1 mango)
- 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
- 1 tablespoon of dulse flakes
- 1 tablespoon bee pollen
- 1 small slice of turmeric (look at #11) & ginger root – both reduce pain & inflammation
- 6 to 8 ounces filtered water
Directions: Blend together water, bananas and papaya / mango. Then add romaine lettuce and pineapple. Bend for 30 seconds or until smooth.
Synopsis of Breakfast: Tastes fine & much less thicker than yesterday dinner’s smoothie. Also a little ginger & tumeric goes a long way. So don’t cut too big of a piece when you start out. Also some smoothies will mask it better than others. Makes around 30 fl. oz. or 2 glassfuls. Lastly, I’ve noticed my stomach making lots of noises. Maybe it’s due to the turmeric / ginger root?
Lunch Menu: Green Smoothie
- 3 bananas, peeled (subbed 1 banana, 1 mango, and 1 kiwi)
- 3 cups pineapple, cubed
- ½ avocado, peeled and pitted
- 4 stalks celery, chopped
- 3 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
- 3 cups kale, chopped
- 6 to 8 ounces filtered water
NOTE: If this smoothie is to big for you to drink all at once, drink half
for lunch and the other half mid afternoon. I decided to make a 1/2 smoothie for lunch & half for the afternoon. I cut the recipe in 1/2 and made one batch during lunch & one in the afternoon.
Directions: Blend together the water, bananas and avocado. Then add remaining ingredients and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.
Synopsis of Lunch & Afternoon Meal: The pineapple makes this too acid-like (especially since I had some in the morning). The taste is fine overall, but doing 1/2 now & 1/2 later worked out well.
Dinner Menu: Fruit Salad
Directions: Slice bananas and mangoes. Add blueberries. Squeeze juice from orange over salad. Add remaining pulp.
Synopsis of Dinner: This one was simple and a welcome change. I ate the rest of the filling from the collard green wraps from yesterday along with some blueberries & strawberries. The Day 19 filling had a bit too much cayenne pepper, so the berries offset the taste allowing a savory / sweet taste while making the meal neutral each time I had the berries.
Evening inflammation check: Fought inflammation and shooting pains all day long. If this continues tomorrow, I’m taking my Enbrel as it’s been exactly two weeks since my last shot (Day 7).
Gas / Bloating Check: Had a few BMs today but gas & bloating was manageable. As with a few days this week, the amount of food can make my stomach / intestines feel stuck or backed up. This is due to all the food I’m eating.