Green Tablets

 Yesterday after coming home from work I didn't sleep the entire day away. I napped for a few hours then joined the rest of the world in life. When the day is this pretty it's hard to sleep it away:

We went on a 3.5 mile run in record time, too: 26 minutes. Usually, I don't work out at all after working the night before. The more vegetables I've been eating, the more energy I've had after waking up after working.
  So four years ago, when I ate meat, dairy, and vegetables and worked night shift, I hated it. I wanted to quit nursing and I was depressed all the time. This time working night shift I don't feel that way. This time working night shift and eating so many vegetables I feel like I can wake up, join life, and even run after working! To put it on an equal scale, that would be like the average person working 7 am to 7pm, sleeping for 4 hours, and waking up at midnight to go on a run. So do I notice a huge difference in life after eating a plant-based diet? Absolutely. I also bought these little guys at the health food store recently:

I got into a conversation with the lady who works at the health food store about wheat grass. She suggested these pills and another brand called BrainOn. When I asked her what she noticed about herself after taking wheatgrass and other kinds of natural grass pills, she said, "Oh, mood! For sure. A clarity. An even amount of energy." I was glad to hear that it wasn't in my mind that I have been in a better mood since taking wheatgrass. It was a tough first year for us here, for sure, and there were times I wasn't sure we would make it. I cried every day, sometimes twice a day. Most of our problems I cried about are still present. The only thing that has changed has been my job, and my intake of wheat grass. While I do believe a job is an important factor in our happiness of life, let's not forget it is a new job, which brings with it a whole new level of stress, and it is night shift.  In addition to these things, I am naturally a worrier, an anxious and type A personality. Despite this, I feel less anxious, less worried, and I haven't cried since before I was taking wheat grass. I drive into work feeling relaxed and happy. And again, I can wake up after working night shift and actually engage in life. I can go shopping, go on a run and make dinner after working. Again, that would be like you sleeping from 10 pm to 2 am and waking up and going about life. Night shifters know this is huge because we always joke we live in a cave or are dead to the world after working a night shift. It's really not something you can understand unless you work night shift. Your world flips upside down and it's not always a good feeling. In fact, it's actually an awful feeling, and every person on night shift with me is on the list to go to day shift. Some have had to leave to find day shift jobs because they simply can't adjust. Others have lost weight, feel sick to their stomach all the time, and have suffered other ailments. It's not natural to be awake at that time of the night and have to switch your sleep-wake cycle around every 2 to 3 days. So I am very fortunate to have adjusted better this time, and I of course credit this to my diet.

 Back to the pills. They contain wheat grass, barley grass, brown rice, chlorella, and kelp. No caffeine, no energy supplement. Just pure greens. The bottle reads, "The barley and wheat grasses are harvested at the peak of their nutritional value in the fertile Nassau highlands of Japan. The chlorella is grown is in natural European mineral springs, and the kelp is gathered from the pacific ocean."  There are no additives, no preservatives, no sodium, yeast, dairy, gluten, and flavors.
 I figured I would give it a try, not expecting to feel nearly as good as I do when taking my wheat grass shots. I was wrong. I felt different, and perhaps better than just taking the wheat grass shots.  The bottle says take 6 daily, so I took three in the morning and three in the evening. I was able to go into work without drinking any coffee and last the entire night without any coffee. I never felt dragged down or tired while at work. I came home, slept, woke up and took 3 more. That's when I was able to go on my run. After the run, I showered, went out to dinner, came home and went to sleep at a normal time and slept through the night.
 I feel so energized, but not in a way I have ever felt. When I think of coffee, I think of energy, but not a good energy. A coffee buzz is short, high, and not always pleasant. It's sometimes jittery, makes me anxious, and scatterbrained. First I'm doing the dishes then I'm paying bills then I'm stressing about money then I'm thinking about 10 other things I need to do. I haven't been that way since taking wheatgrass, but I feel more energized. It's an even, calm energy. The bottle of pills was reasonably priced, there are 180 pills and it was 16 dollars. So that's my review of Kyo-Green. I highly recommend them.

 How is everyone doing on their intake of vegetables? There are so many ways to eat your veggies!

Make a french onion dip and dip them:

Spread them on flatbread and bake as a veggie pizza:

Roll up in flatbread and eat as a wrap (doesn't this look like something you could get at the store or restaurant?)

Or throw in the blender and blend together for a smoothie:

Make hummus and make a sandwich or use as a dip:

Or throw into some broth and eat as a soup:

The truth is, there are so many vegetables and so many great ways to enjoy them. We have felt so much different and much better after cutting out processed foods and processed "vegan" meat, and transitioned to a much more raw fruit, raw vegetable diet. Remember our containers of vegetables, all 21 dollars of raw produce?

I am happy, (and sad) to report it is all gone! We completely devoured all this food in 3 days:

I have never gone through this much produce before. We were doing our own little challenge and seeing how we would feel if we munched on vegetables every time we were hungry. We sliced them up and made some dips and before we knew it, they were gone. We also ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. The vegetables were in addition to, and as a snack. My favorite recipe this week was definitely the veggie pizza

 Has everyone else had a good weekend? What was your favorite recipe that you had or made this week?