As if this challenge was even hard..
I love green smoothies!
Since I'm feeling heaps and bounds better this morning, i thought besides giving you my fabo-finale superfood smoothie today, i'd also supply you with a list of healing herbs i've been taking that may help if you're getting run down. I'm taking a lot, but i do honestly believe it's all of these things, plus rest, that's shortening the duration of what could have been a catastrophy cold or flu. I'm down to congestion (head and chest) and a little weakness (mind you i haven't had much of an appetite or worked out in days). That said, my jatara agni is ignited again(appetite) which is a sign of good health.
Let me first say, i'm not a big fan of eating too many sugars, but in the past few days i've taken in a lot which typically wouldn't be advised during sickness. It just so happened that many of the herbs and vitamins i was taking were in a sugary base. That said, i seem to be kicking this cold to the curb quick, so i must be doing something right? Here are my potions:
Eating lots of this:
- Roasted garlic (raw garlic makes my stomach upset, but if you can handle it, go for it. If you are roasting it, cut the top of the garlic bulb off to expose the cloves, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil and roast at 400 degrees for about 35 minutes
- Citrus: oranges, pineapple, and grapefruits...plus their juices
- Ginger and cayenne (ginger tea and ground ginger and cayenne in smoothies)
- Superfoods infused in smoothies & mixed into immunity shots
And taking these herbs & supplements:
- Sitopaladi - an ayurvedic expectorant made with rock sugar, bamboo, pipali (long pepepr), cardamom, and cinnamon. It's delicious! I drink a tsp in hot water or make a shot with local raw honey, a tsp of sitopaladi, hot water, and sometimes a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar
- Elderberry syrup - i'm a fan of gaia herbs brand. The only available one at the store was the night time version with echinacea, lemon balm, and poppy. Elderberry really helps to stave off the flu.
- Oil of oregano. This is so incredibly strong but it's one of the best anti-biotics known to man. It's anti-vital, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal...a total cold buster. I take it in liquid form. I'll make a shot of juice from an orange, a couple drops of oil of oregano, apple cider vinegar, camu camu, sometimes i've thrown in sitopaladi or elderberry syrup (remember i can't taste, so it doesn't matter how crazy gross it maybe of a combo)
- Probiotics - i've increased my dosage to two a day, especially since there is more sugar going in with all of these herb carriers. It's said that your digestive health is 70% of your immune system - so get your gut in good health!
- Zinc lozenges with Vitamin C
- Camu Camu - get it in powder form and add it to smoothies. its one of the richest forms of vitamin C known to man.
- Bee Pollen - immune booster. I take somewhere between a tsp and a tbsp a day.
Additional Practices:
- Dry Brushing every morning. Moves the lymph, the system of the body that carries wastes out. Always brush toward your heart, the direction the lymph flows
- Abyanga - self oil massage with sesame oil. When you have a cold there is an influx of both kapha and vata in your body. Kapha is the mucous, vata is the windy dryness. I've been doing extra oil abyanga, my body is drinking the oil up a lot, so clearly i need it. Wash the oil off 10 minutes later
- Oil Pulling - after brushing your teeth, swish a tsp of sesame oil around in your mouth for 20 minutes (or as long up to then as you can). I do it first thing so i can swish while doing dry brushing, abyanga, showering, etc. That way it stays in for a while. DO NOT swallow the oil. Spit it out, it should be white when you spit it out. It helps pull out toxins and is incredibly healing on the body and can ease headaches.
- Nasya - oil in my nasal passages that's infused with herbs for rest and eucalyptus for clearing
I also took one aleve when i was at my worst, and last night took some tylenol cold/sinus. I'm doing alright, and will continue all my herbs, but only resort to these medicines if my symptoms make living life seem unbearable. :)
Fabo-Finale Superfood Smoothie:
2 cup vanilla-cinnamon almond milk (i make my own, but you can always add a dash of cinnamon to your store bought vanilla)
3 Tbsp of Beaming protein with greens
1 heaping Tbsp of Superfood Smoothie Mix
1/2 a frozen ripe banana
a slice of a ripe avocado
3 ice cubes
i also added a bit of cayenne to boost my internal flame
i also added a bit of cayenne to boost my internal flame
(if you want it green toss in a handful of power greens, if you want it to look chocolatey, leave the greens out - you're getting greens if you use this protein powder. It's infused with chlorella, spirulina, and blue-green algae)
Blend. i've again garnished it with bee pollen for it's immune boosting properties.
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