My Life as the 8th Grain

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again… When you put a question out in the Universe, God always makes sure to get you an answer.

A few years ago, my husband’s parents gave us a juicer. Ryan and I were going to try Carrot juice. I couldn’t do it. We bought carrots for this purpose a few times, but couldn’t actually put the carrots into the juicer to make the carrot juice. It just seemed so wrong. Why would I want to eat carrot juice? Maybe if I were going blind and didn’t have teeth it would seem like a reasonable thing to do. The poor juicer went to storage when we moved like all the other unused appliances.

When I pulled out the Bread Maker a few weeks ago (another unused small kitchen appliance), I saw the juicer and giggled a bit. As I’ve been trying to make the move to a more “all natural” / organic nutritional lifestyle, I thought about that dusty ol’ juicer. That would be a much easier way to get the days worth of fruits and veggies in with out tearing up my stomach. It was just a few days after that when my cousin, Jim, suggested over Facebook that I try juicing carrots, a lemon, parsley and an apple for natural energy (I was whining about being so tired in the morning). I vowed to try it before my next blog.

Apparently I work best under pressure. I waited till this morning to try it. It wasn’t so bad! Really! Through out the day, I didn’t think that I felt much more energized, but looking back, I think it might have worked. I was sleepy, but not nearly as sluggish through out the day. It wasn’t an energy boost that I used to get from caffeine (Gave that up a long time ago… bad, bad caffeine… still can’t look at an Apria Healthcare Van with out getting nervous). It was a sustained energy lasting through out the day. It was as if my blood was happier to flow through my veins. You know how it is when you go to work on the day you’re supposed to find out how much your raise is going to be? You’re all happy, pleasant, and don’t mind going in? That’s what it was like. Pay day for all those billions of cells. You know what it’s like when you go to work expecting something great to happen (like, oh… I don’t know… being given the ability to start working from home) only to find out that there’s a problem and you no longer get to have that wonderful piece of work heaven? You’re cranky, bitter, and don’t really feel like doing your job. I’m starting to see that’s how my body has been reacting. It gets hope, only to have it smothered like gravy on a breakfast-biscuit.

Since I “juiced” for breakfast, I brought a mid morning snack. I picked up these Kashi TLC Pumpkin Spice Flax Granola bars. Immediately when my taste buds read the word “flax”, it replaces it with the words “poo flavored”. There really is no reason why I should think this way. I’ve only had one rough encounter with flax. Details not needed. It really can’t be called a granola bar. Granola bars are soft, chewy and chocolate-chippy. These were like pumice stone bars. Dinosaurs ate them to sharpen their teeth between bowls of Kashi Crunch. (Okay, not really…) The flavor was much better than I thought it would be. It satisfied my intense need to chew on something, and the pumpkin spice flavor totally made up for the flax (poo flavor. Stop it!!)

What I like best about the Kashi TLC bars was the name. I love the Kashi company because they think like me. Or, I should say they name things in a way that I would. It’s probably because of my brain-wave connection with those 7 silly grains on a mission. TLC wasn’t just a name. It was a real acronym. Tastey Little Crunchies. How could you NOT love that? Tastey Little Crunchies just begs to be eaten. Even if it did taste like flax (poo flavor), the name itself would totally make up for it.

So, have I given up on my 7 grain friends? No. They have been doing such a good job, I decided to let them sleep in. With juice in the morning, I’m taking cereal with me to work in a Stay Fit cereal container to enjoy as lunch. It’s a really neat little gadget. It keeps the milk burr-chilly cold, and the cereal contained. Even comes with a little foldable spoon that is more similar to a Bob The Builder Shovel than it is to a spoon.

In my last blog, I talked about trying Fish Oil. And I haven’t. Yet. In fact, please excuse me from this blog for a moment. I’m going to take one right now… All right, I lied. I thought we had a bottle of Fish Oil, but apparently that didn’t survive “The Move”. Will definitely make a trip to the health foods store tomorrow and purchase a bottle. I’m really a bit bummed out by this. I’ve been doing a lot of reading about Fish Oil, and apparently it has so many benefits for some of the issues I’ve been facing with my health. I’m most curious about the effects on the day to day pain that could be being made much worse by inflammation. There were also other benefits that surprised me. Fish Oil has also shown to enhance fertility, helps the exchange of oxygen and nutrients between mother and baby, and reduces the danger of premature birth (which is of utmost importance for me if God blesses me with another child). There is also the cancer prevention aspect to Fish Oil that can’t be overlooked.

The other benefits to Fish Oil that l was interested in is the reduction of depression/anxiety while changing to a more healthful lifestyle and the weight loss factor. Here’s a little snippet of an article I found online at

www.bellaonline.com (I have not seen the entire website, just this article, so if you go to the website and it turns out to be something about incontinence, don’t judge me…)A study done at the University of Georgia found that fish oil with DHA helps stop the conversion of pre-fat cells into fat cells by causing them to die. This significantly decreases the accumulation of fat. [Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 136:2965-2969] And doesn’t that sound like a dream fantasy come true? You just send in a fish oil knight-in-armor to kill off all those big bad fat cells before they can set up a stronghold in your body castle.

The more I read about it, the more it makes sense. At one point in my life, maybe 10 years ago, I used to take a whole slew of supplements. I stopped taking them because I didn’t notice a difference. Looking back, it was probably because of all the other damage I was doing to my body. I’ve dismissed things like Fish Oil capsules as a giant marketing scheme. Truth is, it’s probably because when you bring something like that up with most doctors, they are quick to tell you that there’s no definite proof. But isn’t there? Isn’t there proof in the lives of all these people walking out there who live nutritionally healthy lives? Is it better to just succumb to the cheeseburger? I think not.

Next week I’ll be sure to document anything else I add to the Carrot juice cocktail. I read that there might be a bit of a “man -up” challenge with the ingredients. Might have to toss in some Kale and Swiss Chard (which is NOT a cheese)! I might be woman enough to try it. Maybe.

(Oh, and Ryan? I checked — You can’t get the Fish Oil from “friedfeeesh”.)