The Smoothie Recipe That Healed My Adrenal Fatigue

I was packing my kids up for a trip to the park last month when I realized…something was wrong.

Work was finished for the day. The house was clean. My head felt clear, and the park sounded fun. But my heart was racing, and I felt riddled with anxiety. Full blown panic attack feeling had set in.

This had been happening more and more. This feeling that I was barely coping. Or, rather. The feeling that I wasn’t coping at all.

It scared me. As a single mom of four, working full time, shouldering the weight of finances and childcare, building a new love, maintaining a business, meeting deadlines, managing friends, trying to make yoga happen– life is busy. But, I’ve always been able to meet busy.

Yet the past six months, a near-constant anxiety has been building.

My hair has been falling out.

My belly has gotten soft.

My head feels spaced out constantly. Airheaded. Zoney.

My body doesn’t ever want to stop. Always itching to go. Even at bedtime.

Panic moments come. A lot. Randomly. Suddenly.

I googled my plight. Then started taking vitamins. I tried to get out for more workouts. But, nothing seemed to be helping.

THE UNEXPECTED ANSWER

Then, a few weeks back I was preparing for a recipe photoshoot of my bossguru’s new book, The ‘All-Day Energy’ Diet.

The book begins with his own story. As a teenager, he dealt with extreme lethargy, alopecia, and exhaustion. After meeting with handfuls of doctors who offered to patch his conditions with meds full of side-effects, Yuri struck off on his own and decided to try healing himself with pure nutrition. A few years later, he was playing pro soccer, and a few years after that he turned into the lively healthrepreneur he is today–an unstoppable, optimistic force to be reckoned with in the fitness industry.

I’m always fascinated by stories that begin with hurt and end with healing. I’m profoundly awed when the healing happens with food.

For so much of my life, food has been an enemy. Something to avoid. Something to curb. Something to stay away from.

Surrounded by diet books, weight loss mags, and the ongoing battle of trying to *not* eat that donut I so want to swim in, I’ve always felt a battle against food.

Reading Yuri’s book made me realize–food isn’t the enemy. Food is the cure.

And a powerful cure, too.

About midbook, Yuri offered up a checklist for “adrenal fatigue.”

I tend to be a pretty healthy soul, and “adrenal fatigue” sounded like one of those things crabby old women get after teh age of 82. But, sure enough. A look over the list and I realized. I was deep in the thick of adrenal fatigue.

DO YOU HAVE ADRENAL FATIGUE?

AdrenalFatigue.org lists these 5 signs as the most common indicators of adrenal fatigue:

1. You have trouble getting up in the morning, even when you go to bed at a reasonable hour.
2. You are feeling rundown or overwhelmed.
3. You have difficulty bouncing back from stress or illness.
4. You crave salty and sweet snacks.
5. You feel more awake, alert and energetic after 6PM than you do all day.

I had every symptom on that list. What’s worse? I thought each of those numbers was normal.

Yeah, I was tired in the morning. Who wasn’t?

Sure, I was tired and overwhelmed. So was everyone, right?

Of course I craved salty and sweet snacks. Who didn’t?

As I read through the final chapters of The All-Day Energy Diet, I realized these things weren’t normal at all. It isn’t normal to feel foggy-headed. It isn’t normal to have your heart rate rise over enjoyable outings to the park. It isn’t normal to feel overwhelmed and exhausted, even if you have a busy day. And it certainly isn’t  normal to feel keyed up during nighttime hours.

THE FIRST STEP IN HEALING MY ADRENAL FATIGUE

As I read through the book, it started to dawn on me just how abnormal I was feeling. That idea overwhelmed me. Panic started to rise. Jitters set it. I felt overwhelmed.

Yep, this was not normal. I needed to something, stat. But what?

The first thing is, buy the book. It’s a great read. (Plus, Yuri is giving a boatload of freebies away if you buy the hardcover from Sept 23-26. Visit his website for all the deets).

But, I don’t want you to  have to wait for the book. If you’re like me and you suddenly realize something is awry with your system, here are two simple ways to start healing yourself:

1. Quit coffee.
2. Start your mornings with a green smoothie.

HERE’S WHY THESE TWO STEPS WORK: Let’s start with walking through what coffee does to your insides.

Coffee gives you energy by tickling your adrenal glands and telling them to secrete adrenaline.

Of course, other things throughout the day do this, too: stress, grief, cardio, sugar. All of these things send signals to your body that you’re in fight-or-flight mode. To get you through, your body boosts the adrenaline. You get energy to survive, and the adrenals wait for the next time you need them.

Problem is, of course, when the adrenals are called upon too often. They start getting tired. And once tired, they start firing at random.

Our family has this adorable video of my son Jacob, when he was a baby. While sitting in his highchair at the dinner table, he started drifting off to sleep with a chicken drumstick in his hand. His eyes would blink-blink-blink, his head would nod, he’d drop into a snore, then suddenly he’d pop up and bite into his drumstick, sleepily gnawing at it before sleepiness got the better of him, and he’d fight the drift into sleepiness once again.

This video reminds me of tired adrenals. Poor babies keep trying to get rest, but they can’t. Constantly behind, they shoot off what little adrenaline they have whenever they can. Which means they’re constantly behind, working at random, and totally off kilter all day long.

Which is why that enjoyable afternoon-trip-to-the-park had turned into a recipe for wired-and-tired-buzz-body. My morning coffee PLUS workstress PLUS major life changes PLUS busy mom everything PLUS PLUS PLUS was constantly calling on my adrenals. And they’d been so called on, they’d worn themselves out.

Once I realized this, I started replacing my morning coffee with a Green Smoothie. This is the second step inspired by Yuri’s All-Day Energy Diet.

THE ADRENAL FATIGUE SMOOTHIE

HOW GREENS HEAL: Yuri’s approach to healing adrenal fatigue and reclaiming your energy is to start by re-balancing your blood. Our modern-day diet is so full of acid-forming foods. Gluten, wheat, sugar, dairy, and processed shit. A body doesn’t get much fuel from these foods. It can digest them, but it doesn’t get life-giving nutrition from them. In other words, these foods deplete the body.

Thankfully, there are hundreds of raw, natural foods that replenish the body. The All-Day Energy Diet claim is that you can restore your energy, doubling it in just 7-days if you eat right.

Eating right begins with boosting your blood alkalinity with leafy greens. Cutting gluten, sugar, caffeine, and dairy out of your diet (these foods are the most common causes of allergies & disease-promoting internal inflammation) helps restore a natural blood pH, and floods your body with the nutrients it needs to heal itself.

There are dozens of ways to do this, but the easiest for me was to blend the most potent daily foods into a single smoothie. Here’s what goes into it:

GREENS

Fresh kale. High in calcium, kale helps your body calm the nervous system, calming down that fight-or-flight response.

Greens Powder.  A  scoop of superfood greens powder  adds that extra boost of detoxifying, cleansing supergreens. I’d never suck down a scoop of chorella or spirulina, but whipping it into a smoothie made it easy to sip.

BLUEBERRIES

Low in sugar, carbs, and calories, blueberries add serious disease-fighting antioxidants, PLUS a natural sweetness to the smoothie. I purchase frozen organic blueberries from Costco. It’s cheaper and easier than buying fresh blueberries, since I can buy in bulk, and store the berries in my freezer for weeks. So much better than running to the store every 3 days for freshies.

MACA

If you haven’t tried this superfood, it’s time to add it to your daily regiment. An ancient Aztec root, ground into powder, maca helps your body create hormone-regulating enzymes. It’s a powerful, natural way to help your adrenal hormones renormalize. As a snappy side note, maca is also said to have boob-boosting powers. And, though my boyfriend thinks I’m crazy, I promiseswear my breasts are boostier. This powder is seriously the shiz. If you’re having any kind of hormone irregularity, look into it with your doc as a truly effective option..

MCT OIL

MCT is a combo of coconut and palm oils. It gives your body an energy boost with slow-burning fats that won’t make you crash mid-afternoon, supports weight loss, and strengthens the immune system.

LEMON

Lemon helps hydrate the lymph system, and stimulates healthy enzyme function, which can help with body detoxification. High in potassium, lemon also helps the body relax and destress.

STEVIA

A little bit of sweet, not a drop of blood sugar spike. I add just a drop or two to cut any nappy greens flavor.

HOW LONG UNTIL IT WORKS?

Within three days of swapping smoothie for coffee, I noticed a difference. That panicked feeling stopped firing at random times. I didn’t feel so groggy in the morning.

Within a week, I kept saying to The Boyfriend, “OMG! I’m wittier, aren’t I?” I suddenly felt more clearheaded, more capable of paying attention, more able to engage in the now. And I stopped feeling frantic when stress & busyness struck.

Busy work days were just that–busy, not impossible.

Busy kid nights were just that–busy, not overwhelming.

After one week, I felt a measurable shift. Within two weeks, I felt like the better version of me. More alert,  more capable, more in control of my wild and zany life.

What a relief to discover such a simple fix to months and days and weeks of stressinsanityworryburdenchaos.

One smoothie. Once a day.

If you think you may be adrenal fatigued, try swapping your morning coffee for this smoothie. Then, pick up Yuri’s book and let him walk you through the rest of his program.

It’s a powerful reminder that food isn’t the enemy. It shouldn’t be avoided. It shouldn’t be fought against.

Food—real food–should be eaten.It should be enjoyed.

And when eaten right, food heals.

THE ADRENAL FATIGUE HEALER

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups kale
1 tablespoon supergreens powder
1 cup frozen organic blueberries
1 teaspoon maca
1-2 tablespoons MCT oil
1 lemon (or lime), skin removed
2-4 drops stevia

1 cup water

DIRECTIONS:

Blend until pureed. Enjoy.

Make-Your-Own Cookie Dough Larabars

This August, I made a revolutionary decision: to stop making breakfast and lunch for my kids.

Attempting to balance the ever-growing list of Impossibles–cook, clean, work, volunteer, exercise, blog, photoshoot, launder, rake, run, write, read, suntan, automating two meals a day seemed an obvious solution to my general timecrunchedness.

So, I prepurchased a year of school lunches and bought a box of Cookie Dough Larabars. Our favorites.

Of course, buying a bunch of bars can get expensive. So I decided to conjure a quick and raw way to batch out our new morning staple.

Turns out, it’s absurdly easy to make Larabars at home. All you need in a hi-speed blender. And 7 good-for-you ingredients. Toss, pulse, enjoy.

These sweet treats are perfect for slicing and toting anywhere you desire. The best part? No added sugar, so they’re skinny body happy.

Happy kids. Yummy simple. Skinny body. What more could a mom ask for?

DIY COOKIE DOUGH LARABARS

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup soaked almonds
1 cup sesame seeds, milled
¼ cup honey or agave
½ cup coconut oil
2 cups hemp seeds
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup cacao nibs

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a hi-speed blender or food processor, pulse together the first 6 ingredients until soft & doughy.
2. Press into a parchment-lined bread pan.
3. Firm up en fridge for 20-30 minutes before slicing.

SAVORY SMOOTHIE BOWL

I’m still having a love affair over Smoothie Bowls. They’re such a simple way to spoon an entire meal. Soup like, you know, but none of the cooking time.

Traditionally whipped up like a smoothie, and topped with fresh fruits and seeds, today’s version is savory. More like a green gazpacho. Lots like a bowl of bliss.

It’s the easiest way to eat your greens. You’ll inhale 6 cups of arugula without a single chew. You’ll get healthy fat, filling avocado, and tons of flavor that will bend your mind into utter happiness.

I love tossing toasted pine nuts on top. Of everything,

Toasted pine nuts turn everything better. They make meats suddenly cheflike, sauces pestolike, and smoothie bowls cravelike.

Grab your blender, toss your pine nuts, feel healthyhappysimple in seconds.

SAVORY SMOOTHIE BOWL

 

INGREDIENTS:

6 cups arugula
1 avocado
2 organic tomatoes
½ tablespoon chopped onion
½ cup cilantro
1 cup water
Salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Vitamix yo' arugula, ½ avocado, 1 tomatoe, onion, cilantro, and water.
2. Blend until puree’ed.
3. Top with sliced avocado and tomato.
4. Salt and peppa.
5. Spoon, sip, slurpy. 

(SECRET: Toasted pine nuts make this OMG amazeballs.)

Serves 1.

The Easiest Paleo Appetizer Ever

We’re here for healthy minimalism. The sort of simplicity that feeds body and soul.

Fed up by the Pinterest obsessive life, tired of too many undones, unable and uncapable to keep up, I decided to simplify.

Or rather, I got to the point where it was demanded of me.

I couldn’t keep eating shit that made me feel like shit.

I couldn’t keep mothering away any pain from all my people.

I couldn’t keep up with the treadmill of work-life-exercise-shop-sustain-be-do-live-fight-feel-love-adventure that seems required of us in the web world. So many tabs needing attention. So many people to follow. So many recipes with so many ingredients.

It was a recipe for adrenal fatigue, exhaustion, and distaster.

And so, I simplified.

I discovered life can be simple.

Food doesn’t have to be complex.

Skinny is a state of mind, not just the size of your jeans.

Recipes like this one drive that point home.

Simple. Healthy. Perfect.

Now you have time to throw a party, and still be a real woman, too.

No running endless errands, no expensive invitations, no frantic cleaning, no Pinteresty panic. One dirty dish.

Keep it simple.Life’s better that way.

 

SMOTHERED SKINNY SWEET PEPPERS

INGREDIENTS:

1 bag mini sweet peppers
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Maldon sea salt

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 450
2. Place peppers on a baking sheet.
3. Sprinkle with garlic.
4. Drizzle with half the olive oil.
5. Roast in hot oven for 20-25 minutes.
6. They're done when they're slightly browned.
7. Sprinkle with oodles of salt & Serve.

Creamy Avocado Smoothie Bowl

It’s time for another smoothie bowl. Fresh figs are plentiful right now, but they won’t be for long. Why not celebrate with a creamy, healthy breakfast bowl?

This is one of my favorite smoothie bowls because it’s completely raw, but so creamy it tastes like a soup. With heart-healthy avocado, the dish is satiating and splendid.

Slightly sweet. Packed with hempseed protein.

Topped with serious crunch.

Grab the recipe over at YourTango , and discover a few of my favorite Smoothie Bowl accounts on Instagram.

You’ll find it all right here.

Sex Bombs: Quick, Healthy Chocolate

Boost your boom-boom with a quick, simple, and totally delicious dessert. Sex bombs, baby.

In light of last month’s Sex Coffee success (radio shows brought in entire batches), HuffPo picked it up, Bustle even ran a review of the recipe.

What better way to celebrate, than cook up some more simple, healthy, sex boosting eats? I couldn’t think of a better way. So made Sex Bombs. With (warning:) more to come.

This recipe is raw, sweet, and perfect. Full of antioxidant boosting cacao. Dipped in rich, dark chocolate. You’ll love every bite.

And so will your bedmate…

Get the  recipe at YourTango.

Simple Smoothie Bowl

I’m having a love affair with smoothie bowls. Cute as a bento box, pretty as a picture. It’s so easy to whip up a thick smoothie and top it with fruit.

Looking for a simple way to kick that morning coffee? Make a smoothie bowl.

Looking to kick the cereal habit? Make a Smoothie bowl.

Looking to reinvigorate your inner artist? Smoothie bowls. Plus this. 

Some smoothie bowls are complicated and involved. But, they don’t have to be. You don’t need layers of rainbow fruit. You don’t need a full hour of slicing. Done right, smoothie bowls can be quick and simple. An easy way to get more fiber, vitamins, and micronutrients into your day. A delicious way to children into enjoying fresh fruit, chia, and other highly nutritious real foods.

TRICKS & TIPS FOR QUICK SMOOTHIE BOWL MAKING:

• Buy frozen berries in bulk. Costco makes this simple and budget-friendly.
• Preportion into ziptop baggies. It’s easy to grab premeasured bags and dump them into the blender.
• Prepare tomorrow’s smoothie today. Out of preportioned bags? Prep a few while you prep your morning smoothie bowl.
• Slice while the smoothie blends. Prep your topping fruit, and keep it simple.
• Select simple recipes. Keep it easy, don’t spend your entire morning on overly complex ideas

Today’s recipe is wonderful. Full of blueberries and firmed up with chia seeds, it’s like a sweet bowl of berry oatmeal. I sliced the center from my strawberries, then cut them in half to make hearts. Toddlers, tweens, and teens were invited to decorate their own bowl of blueberries. They loved it.

As much an art project as a meal. As surprising as a sunrise in the morning. Make a smoothie bowl, and make a little morning love.

Enjoy.

SIMPLE BLUEBERRY SMOOTHIE BOWL

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup blueberries
2 teaspoons honey
1/4 cup chia seeds
1 cup almond milk
strawberries and blueberries for topping

DIRECTIONS:

1. Blend blueberries, honey, chia, and almond milk in your blender.
2. Pour immediately into a bowl.
3. Top with blueberries and sliced strawberries.
4. Mint on top, too. If you please.

Sushi-In-A-Snap Wraps

Looking for a raw-food lunch that really, really good?

These easy little Sushi Wraps are utterly yumtown. Inspired by my sister, who one day said “I can’t stop eating nori-wrapped avocado slices”.  To which I responded with a mad dash to the store, the purchase of nori and avocado with mango to boot. And a can’t-stop craving of my own.

Perfect for lunch. Perfect for detox. Perfect for those days when you feel like a fatty, but really want to eat the way skinny people should.

Amazing for those moments when you have exactly twenty-bucks to your name, and consider selling your oldest on Craigslist to find your sushi madness.

Cheap. Easy. Raw. Good.

Wrap. Roll. Enjoy.

SUSHI-IN-A-SNAP WRAPS

INGREDIENTS:

6 nori wrappers
1 tablespoon tamari or soy sauce
1/2 avocado, sliced thin
1/2 mango, sliced thin
1 tiny cucumber, sliced thin
Pea shoots

DIRECTIONS:

1. Sprinkle the wrappers with a little soy sauce.
2. Place avocado, mago, cukes, and pea shoots in the center of each wrapper.
3. Wrap and roll. Eat lunch.

SERVES 2.

Sex Coffee

My friend, Susie once told me her husband would climb under the bedcovers excitedly at night.

“I get coffee in the morning,” he’d say. Utter delight.

A few years later, I discovered this same joy. The joy of night arriving, because it means morning coffee is just a sleep away.

There are so many pleasures that happen between the covers. Coffee anticipation. Sunrise spooning. Sex.

Two of these pleasures come together in this divine little recipe.

Packed with the power of ancient Superfoods, a rich morning brew turns into a dark latte with just a touch of sweetness.

Among the ingredients, maca has me most excited. It’s touted as one of the most powerful adaptogens on earth, supporting your body in natural hormone regulation and boom-boom boosting desire.

Raw cacao, a touch of honey, and two other sex-boosty flavors are also stirred in. They come together to create an incredible mug of steamy goodness.

Make it. Sip it. Sex it up. Life is made for the drinking in.

YourTango has the recipe.

The Fastest Healthy Chocolate Pudding on the Web

A podcast I was listening to last week was dedicated to Reminding American Women Why They Really Wish They Were Scandinavian Socialists. Is it just me, or are there a lot of these articles-podcasts-studies happening? And who else wants to charter a cruise ship to Denmark, stat?

If I ever refind the exact epi, I promise to post. But there’s a podcast-pudding connection that’s more important that proper sourcing.

Here it is: Some featured expert in said podcast said gender equality started to shift overseas with the advent of two things. One, was socializing elderly care and child care. The other was the advent of frozen foods.

When these two things happened, women were free of traditional womenchores. They were no longer tied to 24-hour menumaking and babywiping. They were now free to livestream Soaps from cupcake shoppes, visit sauerkraut buffets,  and interview for management positions with IKEA. Brilliance.

Hearing this inspired serious epiphany.

I realized, it was time I went all Scandinavian on my own ass.

I realized the only person still holding my actions to an age-old idea of the Guilt-Ridden 1950’s WomanMother With PinCurls & Pinterest Party Skills…was me.

It was time to let go a bit. Time to let convenience trump showgirl. Time to let easy in.

Consumerism has a lot of downfalls. Capitalism is seriously missing equality for all.

But, there are a few benefits about this world we live in. And one of those is…food can be so easy.

Why are we making it hard?

I’ve found myself getting so overwhelmed with all I have to do, that I melt into my Facebook feed and do nothing at all.

I’ve looked at lists of a dozen ingredients, and decided instead to take the kids out to dinner.

I’ve bought a candy bar, just because it tastes a shit ton better than the expensive-ass raw chocolate that makes me choke.

Slowly, steadily, inspired by those pretty Scandinavians, I’ve started doing simple. I buy more premade. I try to make my real life be my ideal life.

This recipe helps.

Two ingredients. 21 seconds. Pure. Healthy. Perfect. So I have more time (and more energy) to do the stuff I really wanna do.

Seriously so Scandinavian, it’s practically Ligonberry jam.

EASY, HEALTHY CHIA CHOCOLATE PUDDING

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup dark chocolate coconut water
1/4 cup chia seeds
stevia (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a bowl mix coconut water & chia
2. Wait 21 minutes.
3. Sweeten with stevia if you please.

NOTE: Feel free to swap in chocolate coconut, almond, hemp, or rice milk.
FLAVOR BOOST: Stir in 1 tablespoon of raw cacao powder.