I have had a terrible time as of late with crippling back pain. I have missed 2 weeks of work right at the worst time of year. Christmas holidays.

I have missed 2 full pay checks and have pretty much been in bed as its the only place i can be comfortable. Lying down is the only position that It does not hurt as bad.

I had a CT scan 2 days before christmas that showed multiple disk bulges. My doctor told me the only way to help mange the pain is to be active every day, and to loose weight. I need to loose 50 lbs. I am obese and the extra weight is pushing on my already injured back.

So after much thought, I really need to change my lifestyle and focus on being healthier. I dont want to be thin, I want to be fit and healthy and have less pain.

So my first step is to increase my activity, drink more water and increase my fruit and veggie intake. I have a really hard time eating fruit and veggies all the time and as many sevings as we need.

After searching fb and the internet I have decided to try the Young and Raw 30 day green smoothie challange again. I have had so many people ask me about it after my instagram photo yesterday of my first smoothie.

That is the reason for this post, to share the information with you.

I am not using these smoothies as a meal replacement. I am still eating my low protein food and drinking my formula.

I drink my formula at breakfast and dinner , and my smoothie at lunch. I eat breakfast , have a smaller lunch with my smoothie and a regular dinner.

Yesterday I had a low protein cambrooke eggz omlette for breakfast with my formula , a smoothie at lunch with a low protein muffin and a pudding or jello . For dinner I had a stir fry and my formula.

I got my shopping list from the website and am doing the november challenge while I wait to start a new one. I also am using the archived smoothie recipes. I substitute anything high protein or simply leave it out. such as the chia seeds and flax seeds. I omit them completely. For smoothies with a higher protein content from kale or spinach i just account for them in my day with my phe tracking.

Here is the shopping list for the first 5 days and the day 1 recipe from yesterday.

Shopping List: Day 1-5
1 apple
2 bananas
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
3 ribs celery
1 bunch cilantro
2 field cucumbers
1 cup green leaf lettuce
5 inch piece ginger root
2 tbsp hemp or chia seeds
2 leaves kale
1 lemon
1 bunch parsley
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen pineapple
2 cups spinach
4 cups coconut water (optional)

Day 1 smoothie

Day 1: Pineapple Cleanser Smoothie

• 1 rib of Celery
• ½ field Cucumber
• 1 cup fresh or frozen pineapple
• ½ lemon, peeled
• ⅓ bunch parsley
• 1 inch piece ginger
• 1-2 cups coconut water or water

Health Benefits: This smoothie is very supportive of liver and kidney detoxification. Your liver has to process almost all of the substances that circulate through your body and the kidneys do a lot of work to flush out toxins from the fluids in your body.  Keep both of these organs supported with this smoothie.