It's so tasty being green

For many years now, I have battled eczema in various spots on my body. The last six months it has been on the palm of my hand. It has been a frustrating, irritating experience and I have suspected a grain allergy. After trying all kinds of creams and ointments prescription and natural, I have almost given up. Tried the zyrtec thing with bad results.

I was really praying about it and decided to go off grains. I also started wondering what natural antihistamine I could take. After a few days, stinging nettle came to mind and I am going to order some of that soon. But then, I got a phone call returned that I made a couple of weeks ago to my LDS herbal momma. She is the mom of my childhood bestest friend and she has influenced me greatly. I called her in desperation a couple of weeks ago. She was out of town and called me yesterday. She suggested water and green drinks. Oh, I remember the green drinks she used to serve her family at breakfast.

So I am upping my intake of water and I read all about green drinks and smoothies today. I bought some spinach and kale and made my first drink for dinner while my family ate pizza. OK, I had 1/2 slice of 2 pizzas. And one very large glass of the following:

A large handful of spinach (or collard greens or chard or whatever)
2 stalks of kale without the largest part of the stalk on the end
1 apple (or pear)
1 peach (or mango or other)
1 banana (or 2)
Several large spoonfuls of frozen blueberries (or other berries)
1 cup of pineapple juice (or other juice)
1/2 lid of lemon juice
1 squirt of liquid or 1 spoonful of dry stevia
sesame seeds (calcium), flax seeds (omegas), almonds (good protein/fat), etc.

Note: if this scares you, start with more fruit and one leaf, then 2, then more. Decrease the fruit as you go and replace with greens. The fruit overpowers the greens. Really!

Blend baby blend. I have a Bosch blender that did pretty well, but I am thinking about saving for a Blendtech or Vitamix. It tasted quite yummy, although the blueberries changed the beautiful green color to a little less desirable. Everyone in the family tried a taste and they all agreed it was OK to wonderful. It passed the 6 and 8 yr old test.

I am so excited to make this a daily thing and can't wait to see the results.

I never liked drugs

I can tend to be a little extreme in my anti-medical views. I have softened over time and have found there can be benefit at times to using a doctor. Like when your gall bladder malfunctions and you try for eight months to save it and almost waste away to nothing because you are stubborn. But normally, I can treat myself and my own family thank you very much.

For the last five years I have had a rash somewhere on my body for the majority of that time. (Eczema)It has settled on to my right hand the last 6-8 months. It has been the most frustrating physical condition I have ever had. I've tried just about everything to no avail. I finally was persuaded to try Zyrtec by my husband's cousin who is a pharmacist. The first few days I noticed a big difference in my temperament. I became yucky. Hmmm. So, I cut the dose, safe for a six year old, to half and it kept the rash at bay but never cleared, so I upped the dose again and had an emotional meltdown the likes of which I have never seen. It frightened me. Worse than post partum depression.

So, no more zyrtec. I am trying Singular for the next few days while dropping all grains from my diet. I am on day three no grains. That is really hard. I love all whole grains. But, I have to keep trying to find a solution. Nothing seems to work.