Blackberries, Bathing Suits, and Barleymax

photo: Blackberry/coconut smoothie

(9:04 PM)
Lately, I've been drinking one cocoBmax drink a day. This has caused me to accumulate a surplus of young coconut meat in my fridge. Now that the blackberries are abundant, I've been experimenting with blackberry/coconut smoothies. The best one I've come up with so far had blackberries, coconut meat, dates, and banana. It was more like a sorbet: creamy and sweet!

I seem to be experiencing some minor cold symptoms. For the last three days I have woken up with a soar throat. It goes away by the late morning. More importantly though, I have been experiencing some sinus issues. My nose has been running and/or stuffy and I've been sneezing a LOT the last few days. It all seems to be happening in only one nostril, actually. I think I may have kicked all of this off by drinking a heavy handed dose of Bmax in my drink four days ago. Instead of feeling energized afterwards, I felt like I needed to lay down. Then I got brave again and yesterday I used a lot of Barleymax in my drink again. The SAME THING happened. I got really drowsy and felt kind of out of it for quite a while. I think the symptoms may be related to my Barleymax intake. Yesterday I woke up with a very empty stomach since I don't think I had much dinner the night before. I had 3-4 t Bmax w/ coco water, then about 30 min later, I tried to eat since I felt a dip in energy after the Bmax drink and I knew there was not much food in me. I ate about 1/2 cup of cream of celery soup and I felt SOOOOOOO full. My body DID NOT want me to eat any more. My throat felt like it closed up and I got a little headachy. I actually experienced these same feelings when I was having lots of Bmax a few weeks ago. I felt out of it, so I took a nap. When I woke up I needed some energy and wanted to try and eat food. I ate 2 large salads right in a row followed by a small portion of cacao dessert. Afterwards I felt like it may have been a mistake to eat that much salad. I felt all the salad digesting for quite a while and I was not hungry again for the rest of the day. I tried to drink some kombucha in the evening to boost my energy which was pretty low all day, but again, my body didn't want it. I felt very full right after I took just a few sips. It felt wrong to try and drink the rest of the glass, so I put it back in the fridge. The last couple of days my appetite has been w-e-i-r-d, like I just don't want that much food. Or like I just CANNOT STOMACH that much food. This is very unusual for me since I love food and I love to eat and I usually eat more food than I think I really need to. I think this is very related to the Bmax and symptoms I have right now. Today I tried to go easier on the Barleymax. I had 2 t Bmax with 8 oz water, 20-24 oz kombucha, 1 medium greens/walnuts/cranberries/orange dressing salad, and (of course) cacao dessert. I started off with liquids and didn't eat as much food today and I am feeling good. I still have sinus symptoms, but I don't mind them too much. Especially because I think this is a sign of detox/cleansing.

I've been enjoying this incredible salad dressing that I want to share. It's:

3-4 oranges
some fresh anise, tarragon, or fennel and
sea salt to taste (I use 1/2 t)

I blend it up and then stick it in the fridge to marinate. When I use it, I add some flax, hemp, or olive oil to my salad. Its so fresh and light and sweet, but still full of flavor. Here is what it looks like:



The weather has been SO GREAT lately. I don't want it to end. I took a really nice walk by the river yesterday evening as the sun was setting.



Life is good.

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