I recently (3 weeks ago) had a “come-to-Jesus-moment” that, not surprisingly, had little to do with religion. The Urban Dictionary defines a “come-to-Jesus-moment” as,
“An epiphany in which one realizes the truth of a matter; a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something; coming clean and admitting failures; realizing the true weight or impact of a negative situation or fact; acknowledgment that one must get back to core values; moment of realization; an aha moment; moment of decision; moment of truth; critical moment; moment of reassessment of priorities; turning point; life-changing moment.”
When I apply this definition I am pretty sure that I have at least 10 “come-to-Jesus-moments” a week about various things in my life that need fixing or at the very least, tweaking. I think Oprah calls them Aha Moments. Sometimes, an “Aha Moment” does not really seem to quite sum up the need for change. I think I have mere “Aha Moments” about 2-3 times per day – often they are technology based moments of clarity – like when I figure out how to do something awesome with my iPhone that the rest of the world has known for years.
My recent “come-to-Jesus-moment”… I had to stop eating cupcakes. It pains me to even write those words because I love a good cupcake. Actually it pains me less than it did 3 and a half weeks ago – explanation on the way. I stopped eating ice cream, candy, cake, cupcakes and anything else that is sweet and gooey and full of processed sugar. As I have learned (and probably you have too), there is sugar (and soy – but that is for another post) in so much of what we eat that it is becoming increasingly difficult to limit our processed sugar intake. I will not get into the science or the nitty gritty details about what happens in your body when you eat sugar (for a more in depth read on this take some time and read “Not So Sweet” and “The Bitter Truth About Sugar”) – not the point of this post – but too much sugar was seriously bringing me down.
I mean bringing me down quite literally. I was tired, lethargic, gaining weight and my hormones were haywire (more haywire than usual – poor family and friends!). For a time I chalked it up to the winter blah’s and age related body nonsense, but it persisted and actually I felt worse and worse. I started keeping track of what I was eating during the day and I discovered that processed sugar in the form of all things sweet and yummy had crept into my diet in a pretty major way. Time to make a change before my drug loving doctor decides to intercede or even scarier, I keel over into a massive sugar induced snooze!
I have only recently begun to emerge from the Gum Drop Mountains – clearing the way for many more “come-to-Jesus-moments” or at least a few “Aha’s”. The trek through those mountains was a little scary – tiredness, mood swings and cravings accompanied me along the way. That leads me to the purpose of this post. The Berry Smoothie got me over the hump. While this smoothie has some calories from the walnuts and the coconut milk, I think the health benefits outweigh the calories. This smoothie (along with a couple of other green smoothie varieties) was my cupcake replacement.
I am happy to report that I am feeling more like myself again (everyone is happy about that), more productive and lighter. I will continue working on new ways to distract my brain from the Gum Drop Mountains and share when something is working particularly well. Enjoy a fruit smoothie and spring forward this weekend with renewed energy! Feel free to share your latest come-to-Jesus-moment below 🙂 See a printable recipe at the bottom of this post.
Happy daylight savings…
- 1 cup fresh strawberries
- 1 cup frozen mixed berries
- 1 organic banana
- 3 tablespoons full fat coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 small nub peeled fresh ginger
- a few mint leaves (optional)
- 4-5 ice cubes
- 1 to 1½ cup water
- Place all ingredients in the NutriNinja or the Vitamix (or whatever blender you prefer) and blend until smooth. If you want to sweeten it up a bit you can add 1 tablespoon of honey. You can add more or less water depending on how thick you like your smoothies to be.
- Enjoy!
Ben says
This was so yummy!
Mary says
Oh, berries, how I love ya!
Pip says
I will make a smoothie lover out of you yet
Sandy white says
Still haven’t tried it yet…….no blender but I am going to beg Allie to try it.