Melissa Jones

Smoothies are on my mind today. My throat is still so sore that I can hardly handle solid food. My body feels much better and I got a good night's sleep last night, but I feel like my throat is attempting to do a spontaneous tonsillectomy.

Before taekwondo I usually just feel like having a smoothie for breakfast. Apricots, almond butter, rice bran and rice milk (with a little veggie glycerine) make for a satisfying smoothie. My kids don't like the texture of it, but that leaves more for me. Today I didn't feel like almond butter either, with my throat, so I used 3 frozen apricots, about 5 frozen cranberries, rice milk, v.glycerine, cinnamon and a mild cottage cheese. I'd prefer ricotta, it's smoother, but I only had cottage cheese. It was tangy and good. I think I'll call it my Thanksgiving smoothie.

I often have a simple green tea smoothie, as an energy drink, though it doesn't have quite as much substance: ice cubes, powdered green tea, v.glycerine, and rice milk. Ricotta works well in it too, but cottage cheese might be too tangy for this one.

I found a new organic energy drink that is sweetened with agave nectar. I don't see much use for pre-packaged energy drinks in my life, but it's nice to see improvements in them. When my workouts are never more than and hour, I have plenty of time to make a smoothie beforehand and eat a meal afterward. I do sweat plenty in that hour, so I may consider adding a little sea salt in there somewhere, though I have developed such a taste for salt, that I probably get enough.

After taekwondo I always shower and sit in my infrared sauna, to reduce sore muscles. Hmm, maybe I should add a pinch of sea salt to the water I drink for sauna-ing.