My Smoothies

I've been into making smoothies for many years. But I have to admit it's been an "on & off thing". I'll get into the habit of making smoothies every day, or nearly every day. Then for some reason or another (life gets stressful), I'll get off track. Then eventually, I get back on the bandwagon again of making smoothies. I think I've always done mainly Frozen Blueberries/Frozen Banana. Years ago and even now. And gotta have some Green, so it's usually Spinach. Many years ago when I first started making smoothies, it was Blueberry, Banana, & Spinach with water/ice. At one time, I used almond milk instead of water.

But now I add more things to it. I add Amla powder, mushroom powder, cacao powder & wheatgrass powder. Yes, a lot of powders! And many times, I add 1 cup of Aloe vera juice along with 1 quart of cold water. No milk. I also use chia seeds. 2-3 TBSP. And some frozen mango with the frozen blueberries, and frozen banana.

A few years back, I used to add coconut meat to my smoothies. Which do make it yummy, but I think that may have contributed to my high cholesterol problem, so I stopped the coconut. By the way, sometimes I'll use frozen cherries instead of blueberries.

Several months ago, I was using a lot of kale in my smoothies instead of using spinach all the time. But raw kale was bad for my thyroid. When my TSH went up to a level of 12, I knew it was the kale causing it. I was actually trying to do Dr. Brooke Goldner's smoothie protocol with 3/4 blender of Greens. https://www.goodbyelupus.com After doing the smoothies for a few weeks, I was feeling good and actually starting to feel too much energy. I thought I was going hyperthyroid, like maybe I needed to decrease my thyroid medicine. I became very nervous/hyper, and didn't feel right. But then when I got my blood test and it showed TSH 12, I was shocked! They said I needed my medicine increased and I said "No, I do Not want it increased! Give me a chance to make some changes first." So they gave me 6 weeks, then have it re-tested. So after stopping the kale (raw cruciferous), my thyroid level came back to normal. I still eat kale sometimes, but I cook it and eat as a soup with beans & onions, spices.

By the way, I do not have Lupus, which is in the link above. Dr. Brooke Goldner's protocol is for any auto-immune disease for that matter. I have Hypothyroidism/ Hashimotos. I really wanted to heal my thyroid and not need medication, or at least decrease it, but it back-fired for me when I tried. All because of the raw kale, which has a bad effect on a Hypothyroid. From what I've been reading, I probably have an iodine deficiency. So when you are Hypothyroid with an iodine deficiency, you should not eat raw cruciferous veggies, such as Kale, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Brussel sprouts, etc. They are very healthy vegetables, but when you have a thyroid problem like myself, they need to be cooked.

If I had the extra money, I would hire Dr. Brooke Goldner & do her 6 week Hyper-nourishment program, but it's very expensive. Because of my thyroid issue, I feel like I need the medical supervision if I do her protocol again. She says in her You-tube video that 3/4 tsp. of iodized salt a day should take care of the problem, but I'm not consistent with using that much iodized salt per day. So for now, I'm a little scared of using kale in my smoothies. I use spinach off and on, but you can overdo it with spinach (has a lot of oxalates). You should use a different variety of greens, not just one. Sometimes I even use romaine lettuce in my smoothie, but supposedly, that's not a "super" green like spinach, kale, & chard. Sometimes I'll also use a handful of sunflower or broccoli Microgreens.

Okay, that's it for today. One of these days, I'm going to get my youngest kid (my teen-age son) to help me make a You-tube video of my typical smoothie!

My favorite Smoothie

1/2 - 3/4 Cup greens

2-3 TBSP chia seeds

1 tsp. Amla powder

1 scoop Wheatgrass powder

1 scoop of mushroom powder

2 TBSP cacao powder

1 cup frozen wild Blueberries

1 or 2 frozen Bananas

1/2- 1 cup frozen Mango

1 cup Aloe vera juice

1 quart cold water

Blend everything in a blender, preferably a Vitamix !