It's Green Smoothie Time!

I must confess, I spoil my husband and daughter by getting up early and making their lunches and doling out their vitamin supplements. And since it is still fairly early and I haven't eaten yet, I don't take mine at that time. Each day would end without me taking my vitamins and supplements and I would think, "I make sure everyone has their vitamins but I don't take my own." I knew I should take as good care of myself as I do others so why wasn't I? I think that's just how we mamas do sometimes, putting everyone's needs before our own, ultimately at everyone's expense.

Well, this past Monday, while at my dentist appointment, I learned that I have significant bone loss and receding gums. I knew about the gums, as my previous hygienist told me I was brushing too hard, causing the gums to recede. But this bone thing was a big wake up call. After wearing braces for over a year recently, my orthodontist place permanent wire retainers on my top and bottom front teeth since my teeth wanted to continue to shift and not stay in the place the braces were supposed to have trained them to. Could the fact that I have the bone loss and receding gums be the reason my teeth wouldn't stay in place? Because they were loose? Aaagghhhh!

I went right home and began to research everything I could to help arrest and reverse this condition if possible. After reading many articles, I came away with the most often repeated advice: floss every day at least once a day, don't brush with toothpaste too often (twice a day is good), swish and rinse with water after each snack or meal during the day, take my calcium, magnesium, vitamin D, omega 3's (can be gotten from fish oil) and vitamin C. I also read that tea tree oil, mint oils and sesame oil was good to swish around in your mouth to help keep any infections at bay.

I began immediately following all of that advice and in addition, I started "oil pulling" again and making and drinking a green smoothie each morning. I'm also sure to eat more veggies throughout the day. All this in hopes of boosting my immune system to help my body and mouth heal.

Why do we sometimes wait until we get "that wake up call" from our health care providers before we start taking excellent care of ourselves? I have always tried, half heartedly, to eat healthily but still the siren call of the junk food always lures me in.

Let's all raise our (green smoothie) glasses and toast to our GREAT health!

Today's green smoothie contains: frozen banana, frozen grapes, frozen cranberry (sauce that I had in the freezer), frozen mandarin oranges, frozen strawberries, cucumber, baby carrots, kale (from my kitchen container garden), spinach, wulong tea, bee pollen and ground flax seed. YUM.
*I like my smoothies to have a frozen slushy texture and more sweetness than not. I do plan on trying to wean myself of so much fruit and weighing heavier on the veggie side. I also try to buy as many organic fruits & veggies as are available. When I can't obtain organics, for whatever reason, I soak my fruits & veggies in a vinegar & water bath and then rinse.