Here's to trying...

With yesterday's post being about smoothies, I did want to introduce you to another member of the family... our Blendtec. You see, right after we adopted Charlotte (and saw how malnourished she was), we KNEW we needed to jump right in, and begin feeding her EVERYTHING her body had been craving/being starved of, for nearly 4 years of her life. I couldn't imagine living on rice cereal, sugar water, and handouts... but that's exactly what she lived off of. We wanted to "up" her vitamin intake (the most natural way we could), especially since she had a really low iron count, and there's nothing better than being able to enjoy a yummy smoothie, that has all the nutrients your body needs. Now, not every smoothie that we make (1 sweet a day, and 1 green a day) has fruits in it... in fact, too many fruits, is too much natural sugar... so, we have typically have one smoothie to "snack" on, which is our afternoon smoothie (what you saw on yesterday's post), and has a hodge podge of ingredients... and a green smoothie in the morning, that has more kale, spinach and a pear or banana, coconut oil, and something else. Each day, I blend differently, never the same day after day... it's a good rule of thumb.

Now, I don't use a regular average kitchen blender. When we did our research about juicing/blending/etc... we saw two huge names come up: Vita-mix and Blendtec. These are considered high end blenders that are 5 to 10 times more powerful than a typical kitchen blender. What does that mean? Well, these babies have awesome super sharp blades and motors that can chop the living daylights out of whatever you put in the canister. Such a powerful force that the fruit/veggie's cell walls literally explode, instantly releasing all the dense nutrients and flavors trapped inside. This is to help digestion... because our stomachs (especially after eating years and years of processed food) aren't cut up for that task of breaking everything down to the same level. Yes, you can blend up a green smoothie with your average kitchen blender, but there will ALWAYS be lumps/clumps that you'll have to chew and actually "swallow" (you won't enjoy the taste), when you should be able to drink this smoothie effortlessly, and able to absorb all the nutrients. Now, I'm not here to promote one or the other high-end blender brands, I'm simply here to tell you, that if you want to ENJOY your smoothies and have them be 100% rewarding to your body, you can't do it with your typical average kitchen blender. That motor would burn out WAY too quickly for starters (if you make as many smoothies as we make a week), and you'd be pulsing for over 1 hour in order to receive the same consistency that you would receive from 30 seconds on one of the high-end blenders. For a great read on the difference between the two brands and for some great input, check out this link.

Pineapple is an excellent source of manganese, which is an important mineral in energy production. Pineapple is recommended to promote good digestion... but did you know that most of the fiber lies in the core of the pineapple? The core is usually the part of the pineapple that everyone "scraps"... but with a high-end blender, that isn't the case. This is the part that you DEFINITELY include in your smoothies. I only tell you this, because usually pineapple is one of our main ingredients for our snack time smoothie. There are many websites where you can receive information on what fruits have the highest content of specific vitamins/nutrients... I certainly won't bore you with that information.

These blenders don't take up a lot of room in the kitchen... they can be easily tucked away in a cabinet... ours sits out, because we use it often. They wash out super easily, and are dishwasher safe as well. I urge you to do your research about what you're eating, and what is giving you the energy that your body needs in order to sustain "life"... that's what I've been doing the last few weeks... and it's becoming clearer and clearer all the "junk" that I need to start cutting out, and all the "good" that I need to start letting in. It's also way easier to say than it is to do, but here's to trying... and hoping for the best.