This week has been full of health highs and lows.
During the first half of the week, I had a lot more energy than normal. During the last half, I felt like I’d been run over by an 18-wheeler. Fun, right?
On Tuesday, I had to take this devil medication, Prednisone, due to an onslaught of throat and stomach ulcers. The day I take it, I always feel like I’m superwoman–that I can conquer the world. But, the days following, my body feels wrecked. I hate taking it but it’s the only thing we know of that gets rid of my ulcers when I have a breakout of them. I’m still recovering from that big dose of steroids.
Here’s the day-by-day run down:
Day 6 (September 6th):
Because I was feeling nauseous, I stuck with my favorite combination of banana and frozen blueberries. Other ingredients: coconut milk, coconut ice (which is just frozen coconut water) and the superfood, maqui powder. It was creamy and delicious and it gave me energy for the rest of the day.
Day 7:
I had the Creamy Carrot recipe from Superfood Smoothies by Julie Morris with the superfood, hemp seeds. I was incredibly surprised by how much I enjoyed this smoothie. I had a ton of energy and didn’t have to take as much pain medicine as usual. Things seemed to be looking up.
Day 8:
I came up with my own recipe of frozen cherries, banana, coconut ice, organic raspberry lemonade and the superfood, camu powder and called it Cherry Lemonade. I loved this recipe more than any other I had tried to date. Unfortunately, my ulcers were getting worse and worse.
Day 9:
I loved Monday’s recipe so much that I decided to have it again, but I left out the coconut ice this time. I like it both ways: with and without coconut ice. I had lots of energy, because I took Prednisone which always gives me a huge boost of energy in the short term.
Day 10:
I made up my own recipe again and it tasted like a strawberry milkshake. The ingredients were frozen strawberries, banana, coconut milk, coconut ice, and superfoods, maca powder and flax powder. It was creamy and sweet and oh-so-yummy. I’m definitely going to have this one again.
Day 11:
I couldn’t believe this, but I got so wrapped up in Michelle Ward’s CreativeLive course, Create Your Dream Career (even though I already know what I wanna do when I grow up–I’m doing it!) that I completely forgot to make a smoothie. The first day of her class didn’t end until 7pm EST and then I had dinner with my husband. After we finished eating, I said to him, “OH MY GOD…I forgot to make a smoothie today. I was watching Michelle’s course all day.” Whoops!
Day 12:
Today was the type of day I created this experiment for: I’m feeling sluggish and nauseous and I barely ate. Around 5pm, I knew I needed to consume some more nutrient-packed calories so I made myself a frozen berry (blackberries, raspberries and strawberries), coconut milk and maqui powder smoothie. I gave me the energy to write up this post!
Your smoothies sounds fabulous. I do hope they help you. Either way, it’s a win because you’re putting something healthy in you. I am surprised that you can eat berries with an ulcer?
Where do you get your maqui powder? I’m really not even sure what that is?
I have a love/hate relationship with a Prednisone. It helped me breathe better when I was having allergic reactions to food. But I felt weaker afterwards. Glad you felt great for a few days! Hope you have many more days of feeling super.
Sounds delicious… all of them! I hope you’re feeling better soon though.
Hi April,
I am wondering what type of coconut milk you buy? I know there is a difference between, say, the ones that are refrigerated and the ones that are in a can. Those are my two choices locally.
What’s really good as a snack- coconut milk chia pudding. Here’s a quick recipe for you, http://thehealthyfoodie.com/quick-coconut-chia-seed-pudding/
I could eat that ALL THE TIME.
CreativeLive is awesome at making you forget everything else that’s going on in the world–haha! 🙂 How do you look so freakin’ cute drinking your smoothies? I’m usually picking strawberry and blueberry bits out of my teeth. Hmm…maybe that’s why you’re using a straw?
April, your determination to get better is an inspiration! I am also sick of being sick (for 16 years!). It can be so discouraging when those symptoms flare up and affect our ability to work. I, too, am taking Prednisone at the moment, so I TOTALLY sympathize with you. It’s one of those things that you hate it but can’t live without it…at least for now…Anyway, you have inspired me to recommit to my yoga routine. Doing yoga everyday has helped me with my fibromyalsia and lupus pains, but I have allowed my traveling to disrupt that routine the last few months. Now, I need to get back at it! Thanks for reminding me of the importance of being proactive in the management of our own health. =) I hope you feel better soon and will pray for those ulcers to go away!
My favorite smoothie right now is the mango strawberry smoothie from Panera. Probably not as healthy as yours, but yummy just the same! I had to take Prednisone a few weeks ago for major back pain (could hardly move for a week!). I was lucky to have had no side effects from it. It didn’t even affect the back pain! LOL! Hope those ulcers get better soon!
Whoa…so many ingredients I’ve never heard of, or never tried. I have at least heard of hemp seeds, although I’ve never tried them. I’m quite fond of flax & chia though, lol.
Ugh…I don’t remember what steroid it was, but I got put on Benadryl + steroids when my throat was getting scratchy after eating mango. I think I basically ate & slept that week, and did nothing else. Steroids have their uses, but they’re not any fun either.