In Which I Glow with Health. And Righteousness.

What's going on in the Submat kitchen? Smoothies! I've been talking to various far-flung friends about eating to boost immunity, and a morning smoothie seemed like a good way to get a lot of antioxidants in at the start of the day. Last week I welcomed a Magic Bullet into our home. You may remember that I have never in my grown-up life possessed a food processor. Nor is my blender very good. (Or it might be good if I could find the little rubber thing that goes on the thing that screws onto the thing.) All I wanted the food processor for was pesto and hummus, so the Magic Bullet meets all those needs. And more!

Y'all, I was so excited that I read the instruction booklet.

Then I asked my friend Beth (she of Remarkably Domestic) for smoothie secrets and she was all like, girl, add green powder to your smoothies! I had to google "green powder." I had no idea that was a thing. But it is. It's a powder that is green. And it contains about fifty various ground-up superfoods like wheat grass, kale juice, and carob pod, but also spirulina, Icelandic kelp, and something called Bladderwrack. Apparently this is a type of algae. A terribly, terribly named algae. I dunno.

So I've been drinking a smoothie every morning that contains:

organic frozen blueberries (they sell big bags at Costco)

a smidge of banana

half a cup of Greek yogurt

a little ice

a little Vermont maple syrup (don't judge me)

a tablespoon of green powder

And also whatever fruit is around. I just got a bunch of organic strawberries to throw in, or yesterday I had mango. Today Hank ate the entire remaining mango before my smoothie happened. I peeled it and he just ate it in his hands like a big, slippery peach.

The instructions on the jar of green powder advise, "Drink consciously and with positive intent." So I have been trying to do that, but I'm landing more on, "Drink abstractedly with loud slurping." I've heard that people can't stand the taste of this powder stuff, but in a fruit smoothie it's not bad at all. Matt tasted it and said, "Hmm, a slightly grassy finish." I did try a little of the powder stirred into a glass of water, and it tasted like the Green Giant took over the municipal water supply and then died in it.

So doncha wanna come over and let me make you a smoothie? By the power of Bladderwrack you are healed!

We are also making other changes in our diet--you'll probably hear more about that 'cause I tell y'all everything eventually. I'm reading a lot about nutrition too. Dr. Weil, of course, and that Anticancer book is really good, I just started it. I decided last week that I was finished reading about the disease of breast cancer. I was a ball of anxiety trying to parse all these studies and figure out what the exact ten-year rate of recurrence is for my exact population, and all these other statistics. I decided to read about health and wellness instead, and take a giant chill pill on the rest. Like, I literally took a chill pill; I got so upset one night that I took one of the Ativan they gave me for nausea. No more reading on the internets.

And I'm swilling green tea. SWILLING.

Since I started this regimen, I have been feeling really great. I don't know if it's the power of Bladderwrack or if it's just that I'm now in week three of the chemo cycle, far out from the treatment, and I've recovered. Just in time for another go 'round on June 2.

Anyhoo. That's what's cooking here. Have a good day y'all. Bladderwrack.