Psoriatic Arthritis Journal - 2.5 year Update Page 63

[eri]

OMG Nicole, that kale was atrocious! I mean,wow. I used to drink green smoothies all the time, but I always used fruit. That drink was so nasty I almost gagged. I had to pour it down the sink. I know I used too much kale & I used about 1/3 cucumber. I thought I blended it enough, but it wasn't as smooth as I thought it should be with all that water.

So Nicole, when are you drinking this? Is it helping you? How fast do you drink it? I will try again tomorrow, but I will have to add an apple or something.

[nicoles]

Leslie, it never ceases to amaze me how much we have in common! I am picturing you working too hard, madly doing heat transfers with dogs all around you . And you are not stupid! Old habits die hard, and new habits take work, that's all.

Yes, it runs in my family too, the low stamina. Or at least on my Dad's side, not my Mom's. I am more like my Dad, physically and health-wise. We always caught it for being "lazy" from my Mom, historically.

She actually broke her shoulder this last week (she is fine, healing well, the fracture is already closed and she needs no surgery) and was just saying to me on the phone earlier tonight that she only really "got" for the first time in her life how hard it must be for me (and anyone else, really) to be tired and in pain and not be able to do whatever we wanted.

(I am happy to be more known and understood by her, but of course I wish she did not have to go through breaking her shoulder.)


I am wondering more and more about the lifetime of AI stuff all day today. Piecing together odd, mysterious injuries, illnesses that could not be diagnosed (like the three months in HS I was in bed sick, with a mono-like illness that was neither mononucleosis nor Epstein-Barr. Perhaps just my own immune system doing it's wacky dance?) and general malaise. I might be landing in the "choose to believe it is the case" camp.

[nicoles]

Eri! I am so sorry!

I am laughing because I know how awful it can taste! I have gagged on it when I don't get the amounts right. Down the sink THAT batch went!

I don't really measure when I make it, but it really just looks like green water after it is blended, no chunks.

Try adding apple or pear, maybe even and orange, and definitely more cucumber. Ginger can really help, and lemon too if you can take lemon. Another trick is to use 1/2 spinach and 1/2 kale.

I'd say experiment with making it to suit your taste in a day when you have time to adjust it right there, then try it out to bring on another day.

I usually drink it in the morning, first thing, although I have not for the last week or so (not taking the best care of myself this last week.)

[eri]

Oh well. I laughed too, cuz I said no way am I drinking this! I didn't have any chunks & it did look like green water. But there was still some kale residue (?) when I thought it should be just liquid. I won't be able to experiment until Sunday, so I'll wing it again tomorrow with less kale.

So you drink it before breakfast. Does it make you too full to eat? Do you feel like you just pee it out? Yes, I know that I'm really getting rid of previously stored water, but for some reason I always think I may be getting rid of something good in what I just drank. I will report back in the a.m.

[lmggallagher]

Hey Nicole:

Just checking in on you after my long pre Thanksgiving hiatus - I can't even remember what all has kept me away, but sheesh I have been too busy. Oh and it wasn't Hurricane Sandy but all that bad weather lead to a big flood in the lower part of my house. Digging out of that has been a bit time consuming - but good too.

I am getting a lot out of the posts between you, Leslie , eri and Moonwatcher. Fibro is not AI but I have done the mono, Epstein Barr or maybe it's chronic fatigue thing too. I personally believe and have read that fibro is the post polio of chronic fatigue - or something else could push it's way in too, who knows. Still everything you all are saying completely fits for me too - having to push, push. push to do what comes easily for others.

Also, wanting to isolate in the bad times because really even the sweetest, kindest folks don't get it. I have one dear friend who having seen those stupid fibro commercials on TV is convinced it's completely related to depression - so she tries to drag me out of the house to things that just cause me more pain - like "lunch out would be good for you!!" Not!

But we keep trying and tweaking and working the mindset that we aren't "normal" and we do need more rest and better food. But I'll tell you all what I now get motivated by - seriously, I am so much healthier then my friends, family and acquaintances now.

True, I am the one with low stamina and limited abilities because of the pain - but I am acing the tests at the docs office like never before. We will not be having those other killing diseases if we keep this up! Plus, we are slowly but surely getting better, in your case Nicole much better - we just have to remind ourselves to look back to like last December to see the improvements!

I laughed so hard about how you thought last December was so great and found out in a week you did as much as in last year's two months! This is the kind of thing that is happening to me too - yet I am still hard on myself that I could do more and am not satisfied yet.

However, because of the support we are giving each other here - I am adapting to being "gentler with myself too: I have backed out of too much volunteering, too many "groups" and too many family and friend obligations recently -I am actually getting stuff done for me and taking time to relax some too.

I swear I would have never figured this out unless I was paying attention to how other people have adapted to make things work for them. It's the permission thing: seriously I know how stoopid that is - but if I see that's what it takes for one of us - then I can give myself some leeway too!

Moonwatcher - "Holiday Undertow" how true it is -- ROFLOL!

Nicole BTW - I am thrilled for you that you are to the point of having to turn folks away for your portrait painting. First, that tells me you are high demand - good for you!!!!! Second, mostly you seem to be healthy enough to have like majorly multiplied your output and that must be completely edifying!! Fantastic!!!!!

[Lesliec1]

What kale drink exactly are you talking about? I know you posted it here but I can't find it. I just remember kale and cucc.

[eri]

Two full size kale leaves, without the stem, and about 4 cups water, Leslie.

This is what I tried, Leslie. I added 1/2 cucumber, 1/2 lemon, ginger & two apples. But it was hard b/c our kale is chopped up, so I had to guesstimate. It was tolerable today, but I kinda felt bad about having to add both apples for such a small amount of greens. I will try one apple Sunday & see if I can stomach it. The watery texture was much easier to get down than a thick smoothie. I blended it much longer this time, too & staggered the ingredients. I plan to keep it up.

[nicoles]

Thanks Eri. !

I was just looking back at my post about it and I noticed that I said kale water "tastes fine" and is "very satisfying."

Not to be misleading - it is not delicious by any stretch of the imagination. I meant tastes fine as in "I can live with this", not as in "This is a mighty fine glass of algae-lookin' liquid!"

I look at it a medicinal. I messed with the proportions of the stuff until it was as much kale as I could tolerate without wanting to gag or vomit, cut with as little of the other stuff as possible.

And as for very satisfying...it is oddly satisfying. I don't feel satisfied and happy the way I might after a nice, warm, baked sweet potato or a bowl of ripe cherries. I feel like, "OK, I drank that green stuff and now I am satisfied, even if the experience was not all that amazing." Which is odd for me because I am usually a flavor-chaser.

And it seems to keep my food-vacuum tendencies in check. Go figure, right?

[Lesliec1]

OK I get it. I thought you were talking about a different smoothie. I'm not doing raw anything yet but I will try it soon. I don't like kale but I eat it daily.

[eri]

^^Yeah, I feel ya. I will add more kale Sunday & hope for the best. I do want to cut the non- leafies down as much as I can. I don't expect it to taste like a yummy soup, but like you say, I don't want to gag, either.

Leslie, yeah, I decided to try it. I thought about it for a while & decided if I hated it I would never do it again. Truthfully, I don't care for kale, either. How do you cook yours? I just hide mine in a weekly stew cuz I haven't found a way to like it steamed. I need to find a sauce or something.

[Lesliec1]

I just try to hide my kale in other vegetables. The darn stuff doesn't even cook down very much. Mmmm ... pass the lawn clippings.

Nicole- what beverage would you suggest I try to add? Herbal teas are often blends right? What would consider on the safer side to add/test? I would love to be able to drink something hot.

I'm concerned that I won't be able to tell a reaction from just a slightly bad day. Is that easy for you to tell?

[nicoles]

Hey Leslie,

Lawn clippings! Too funny. I like kale...now. I did not used to, though.

I do have a hard time telling a bad reaction from just a bad day, too. That is why I test things repeatedly, with several months in between tests. If the first test is fine, no need to re-test. If the first test is "not sure if bad day or food" I don't eat that food for three months, then I try it again. So far I have come back to a few things that were either fine to begin with, or I can tolerate now. Guess it does not matter which, right?

(I made a whole chart with other factors like how much sleep or exercise I had, my stress levels and where I am in my menstrual cycle to try to eliminate other factors as potential triggers, but I am not great about actually using it.)

Leslie - you can get single ingredient teas. There is a shop near me that sells some, but there are also places like this one online. Just google "single ingredient herbal teas" to find more.

At first I just made my own "anti-inflammatory" tea by shredding ginger root and turmeric root ( the health food store near me carries it sometimes, but the tea works without turmeric too) with a lemon zester and then steeping it for 15 minutes, covered. You can also make it with powdered ginger and turmeric, but some spices are cut with wheat so the source has to be checked.

I hear you about hot drinks, especially in winter. I'd just test each tea ingredient like you'd test food.

[lmggallagher]

At first I just made my own "anti-inflammatory" tea by shredding ginger root and turmeric root ( the health food store near me carries it sometimes, but the tea works without turmeric too) with a lemon zester and then steeping it for 15 minutes, covered. You can also make it with powdered ginger and turmeric, but some spices are cut with wheat so the source has to be checked.

Hey Nicole:

Amazing a new thing learned spices "cut" with wheat. I can't even figure out what that means exactly, but it sure is good to know.

Does it mean like cut in factories that also process wheat - or cut with wheat so it's actually a filler ingredient. I just hate that this stuff is so all pervasive, it sure makes it hard for us to be on top of it!!!!

[nicoles]

Hi Michelle
The wheat is used as a filler ingredient in many spices. And toothpaste! And corn starch. Corn starch is also used to cut table salt, so if corn is a problem for anyone, sea salt is the way to go.

It does make it really hard to be on top of it! At this point, I make all my own lotion, shampoo and laundry soap. I am trying a new toothpaste, which I like OK, but I will try making my own when this one is used up. I only buy single ingredient teas and spices, and I call the manufacturer to check on anything I might react to.

Oh well. It is all cheaper anyway, and less toxic, hopefully.

[lmggallagher]

Hey Nicole:

I am completely bummed about the spices - I have walls and drawers and cupboards of them - ouch! but good to know - they are easy enough to buy online in future I guess. do you buy yours online or locally?