Tobacco Seminar! Surprisingly Positive!

Our local clinic is having a Tobacco Seminar held by two of the psychologists that work there. I decided to sign up and check it out because... why not! What is the worse they can do? Tell me not to smoke? Take my rolled cigarette away? Say "naughty naughty"? Tell me something I didn't know?

Instead, they were really positive and informative. I have a binder for all the information and I have homework too! They aren't telling us "You HAVE to quit smoking! It's bad for you!" They are saying, "We all know it's bad. Let's explore what triggers you to smoke." 

One of the most interesting things we did was go down a list of reason we LIKE to smoke and then went down a list of reasons we don't like to smoke. That actually surprised me. 

So this weekend I'll continue reading through the pages I have and documenting when I smoke, how I felt when I went to smoke, and what I was doing when I went to smoke.

So far, I see a few patterns. I smoke

• When I am around friends.
• When I am out of my house.
• When I get something done (a pat on the back of sorts)
• When I feel really stressed.

Why I smoke:

• When I started smoking, it was cool.
• I like the taste.
• It makes me feel better.

Reasons to Quit:

• The expense of smoking.
• The health risks.
• The smell.
• The added health care costs.
• I want to set a good example for my kids.
• Shortness of breath.
• My food will taste better.

While I can't post anything about the others in the class (confidential), I can post my experience and from my point of view. We meet every Tuesday, so I will update my personal experiences and personal point of view on Wednesday. 

Juice Recipe Review: Arthritis Soother

I've been dying to try this one but I just couldn't bring myself to drink something with asparagus juice in it. I finally got brave and made Arthritis Soother Juice. You can see the recipe here.

Arthritis Soother Ingredients

• Apple
• Asparagus (Actually, I like the taste of the juice!)
• Broccoli
• Carrots
• Celery
• Olive Oil
• Parsley

Don't run the olive oil through your juicer! Put the olive oil in a glass, run everything else through the juicer and pour it into the glass. Stir and Enjoy!

My Review of Arthritis Soother

4.5 stars!

Freaking weird! I like the flavor and it does taste good. But the taste is bizarre. It has a taste that I know but can't describe and leaves an aftertaste that occasionally tastes like butterscotch... but not always. It's sweet but sometimes has a bitter bite to it... but not always. 

I have a second batch to drink today along with Sweet Potato Pie Juice which is a wonderful complimenting juice. I'll post that recipe tomorrow.

Celery Juice Pain Reliever?

A couple years ago, I hurt my back while working as a Nurse Assistant in a nursing home. The pain was unbearable. It felt like my back labor pains from when I delivered my youngest son. 

At first, the doctors gave me nothing for pain. Then they tried Tramadol for the pain which gave me horrendous migraines (pain level 9.5). When I went to the Pain Clinic, they put me on Vicoprofen (hydrocodone/ ibuprofen) which I didn't want to take. I don't like taking narcotics. 

One day I was hurting so bad I couldn't see straight and started looking for natural pain relief when I found a site that said 3 stalks of celery juiced would help with pain. I can't find the site anymore, but I wrote the pain relief recipe down in a notebook and tried it. I was absolutely desperate for some pain relief.




Does celery juice help with pain?


Yes! It really does! I drink a cup of 3 to 5 stalks of celery when I am in a lot of pain and helps a lot! Don't get me wrong... you won't be pain-free and skipping through a field of daisies, but you will feel a lot better. 

It usually brings my back pain down from a 7 or an 8 to 1 or a 2. After being in so much pain, I almost feel pain free.

Found on Mai Thankful Heart.
Best pain scale I have ever seen!

Juice Recipes has a celery juice recipe that adds honey called Sleepy Time. Which is what got me thinking about celery juice again.

What if I don't like celery juice?

Add an apple or some honey to your celery juice to sweeten it.

Add some carrots to help with the flavor. 

Or add apple and carrot for a totally different flavor. You hardly taste the celery. Here is the recipe I follow as a guide. Click here to see the recipe. 

I usually add more carrot because I LOVE carrots! But I also like the recipe as it is because I don't taste a lot of celery, it's a little sweet but not sugar high sweet.

Have you tried celery juice for pain? Did it help you?

Miles' Creation: Blackberry Mango Juice!

After so much vegetable juice, Miles and I decided to try some fruit juices. I let him pick the fruits and he decided on blackberries and mango.

Blackberry Mango Juice Ingredients

The name gives it away. No suspense there at all! Hmmm, I think we need to think of a better name for this juice. 

• 1 container of blackberries
• 1 mango

The name gave it away, didn't it?

Run them all through the juicer. Remove the mango pit first though. Stir it together and enjoy!

My rating for Blackberry Mango juice?

This one is a KEEPER! I never really liked mango before but, juice it with blackberries and it is awesome! The Blackberry Mango Juice is thick, kind of like a smoothie. 

I thought my other juice had a kick... but this one has a punch to it! It makes you pucker for a second there and then it's like OH YEA! That's what I'm talking about!

Juicer Recipe Review: Rainbow Blitz

After my last juice recipe, I was feeling quite good! I actually had a lot of energy. I decided to go out of my comfort zone and try something different. The Rainbow Blitz juice recipe looked interesting. You can see it by clicking here. I had to alter it for my allergies.

Rainbow Blitz Ingredients

This is the list of fruits and veggies in Rainbow Blitz. The red ones are the ones I am allergic to and had to substitute or leave out.

• Apple
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Ginger
• Lemon
• Pear
• Spinach

My Rainbow Blitz Alternative Ingredients

• Apple
• Carrots
• Cucumber
• Lime
• Pear
• Kale

I was going to substitute garlic for ginger but I wasn't sure how well that would work. Instead, I just left it out.

Next I ran everything through my Black & Decker Juicer. There was a lot of juice! So much that I ended up putting it in my blender because it filled my 32 ounce mason jar all the way to the top and I couldn't stir it. Pouring it in the blender...

...allowed me to stir in together well and drink a cup of juice so I could pour it back into my mason jar.

My rating for Rainbow Blitz?

4.5 Stars!

I was oddly surprised that I really like the taste. I am more of a sweet-tooth kind of person. This juice has a bit of a tang to it with a little kick. Honestly, I really like this though! 

I wouldn't say 5 stars because I had to alter it and leave out one ingredient. But I will definitely be making this again!