In my last post, I talk all about
your body’s need for nutrients – and how most food is actually food products, completely devoid of
nutrients. It’s so silly – why are we
stuffing our faces with useless fuel? I
can’t imagine stuffing our cars with gas-less liquid and then expecting them to
run well. *Sigh* Ay yay yay. (If you want to check out that last post to see what I'm talking about, here it is: http://waterwithlyme.blogspot.com/2012/02/food-glorious-food.html).
I talked about eating a more
alkaline diet to help with pain when you have Lyme Disease and how veggies and
fish is just the ticket. But, and I know
firsthand, that cooking isn’t always easy when you’re sick. Even going grocery-shopping is a huge drain,
and sometimes the only thing you can do that day. So cooking on top of everything else you’re
doing or trying to do can be very difficult, especially when it’s a whole new
way of doing it. But at the same time,
you’ve got to prepare something to
eat, so as much as you can, prepare something good, that will actually reduce pain. My doctor actually wrote on my wellness plan,
that on my good days, I need to plan for ‘Veggie Success’ – use that good day
to plan ahead what good greens I can eat on my bad days. (Then I laughed and said that ‘Veggie Success’
sounds like it should be a band name).
On days when it is impossible to
cook and eat good veggies, there are two great shortcuts I know of to get the
nutrients your body needs to heal (and do all the other stuff it does).
1)
Juice. Juicing can be a laborious
process, but remember that you only have to do it once every few days, not
multiple times per day like with cooking.
(*Juice is at its optimal nutrient level if you drink it right away, and
that’s something to do later, but for now, since you’re sick, juicing a lot at
once and saving it for a few days is A-ok).
This might be a better option to execute on a good day, but still,
remember you only have to do it every few days, then you’ll have it available
to drink on your bad days. (What a
perfect way to plan ahead for Veggie Success!)
This is a great shortcut way to get all those nutrients out of the
veggies without having to cook and eat them. And when you juice, you juice A LOT of stuff,
more than you could eat. The recipe from
my LLND is: something red, orange, and yellow (example: tomatoes, strawberries,
bell peppers, oranges, carrots, golden delicious apples) + something green
(example: kale, swiss chard, celery, broccoli, spinach, red lettuce,
parsley). I picked up an older model
Jack LaLane juicer from craigslist (for $50!) and away I went. Just rinse and stick in the juicer. My husband even loves the stuff – you get to
a point where the juice smells great and you crave it. I guess the body knows where the goods are - and
does what it can to get you get them and put them in you.
2)
Greens powder supplement. The
other shortcut I know of is taking greens powders. This is the simplest, easiest thing to
do. All you do is open the canister,
scoop, and stir into your water. The
only catch is that it can be pricey.
There are about a million greens power supplements out there and many
are just terrible quality. Some good
brands that you can trust are New Chapter, MegaGreens, or Barlean’s. I found an excellent one that is organic AND
gluten-free (that was the toughy – not many of the greens powders out there are
gluten-free, a dietary trick very helpful for reducing pain and getting rid of
Lyme). The one I use is called
GreensFirst – and the taste is pretty good, it’s got almost a spearminty taste
to it. Greens powders give you
nutrients, make you more alkaline and reduce pain, and are very easy. And I think, well worth the investment.
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