You always hear the saying… eat your vegetables and on some level you know they are good for you.
And today I finally realized why it was important to eat your veggies.
First, let me say I love to garden and I grow most of the vegetables we eat.
But also, there are a few other reasons vegetables are good…
- exercise – it gets me out in the garden growing them
- the vegetables just taste better
- they keep your regular (if you know what I mean)
So why did the light bulb go on this morning?
Well, this morning I woke up to aches and pains.
Every joint in my body was like it was inflamed and on fire.
I came out of the bedroom hobbling on a cane that I had from when my knee was really bad.
Now, my knee is much better, but it’s still not perfect as I haven’t been able to get to a chiropractor.
For the last two days its been great and I haven’t had to take an Advil for the pain.
Yesterday I was thinking that I might even try wearing shoes today as it was feeling that good.
(I haven’t had a pair of shoes on since I twisted my knee in January)
But, this morning dashed my dreams.
Both my knees were sore and on fire as well as my ankles, hips, elbows, wrists and any other part of the body that has a joint.
And it was all my fault!
You see… for the past week or two, we had been eating out of the garden.
Some nights for dinner it was just veggies and on other nights, a large number of veggies with a small piece of meat or fish.
Lunch is usually a salad as there is way too much lettuce in the garden right now.
So, each evening I head to the garden and pick a selection of lettuce, peas, potatoes, carrots, broccoli, golden turnips (they are yummy) and beets.
Wash them up, make a salad and steam or bake the rest.
I’m even getting strawberries although technically that’s a fruit.
Needless to say, we were eating clean with little or no processed food in our diet.
And, by eating my veggies my system had gone alkaline.
Now, there are numerous studies and diets written about having an alkaline system and it’s said that most diseases prefer an acidic one.
Here I am, minding my own business, eating my veggies and now its Friday night and I don’t feel like hunting, gathering and preparing food.
Taking the easy road I take a pizza out of the freezer, add some veggies I had in the fridge, a couple of cloves of garlic, some olives and extra cheese.
Delicious!
But the after-effects were not worth the convenience or taste.
Eating all those carbs after a couple of weeks of veggies put my system in a tailspin.
I’m sure if I had one of those testing strips to see if you are acidic or alkaline I would have been at the top end of the acidic scale.
You would have thought someone had injected acid into all my joints they were so sore and stiff.
I knew instantly what had happened but that didn’t make it any better.
Drinking lots of water and a green smoothie for breakfast I was finally able to move without discomfort around 11 am.
Then, I headed out to the garden to give the plants a little fish fertilizer to help them grow lush and bountiful.
Seems like I have a vested interest in the garden this year and it was back veggies tonight with strawberries for dessert.
No more pizza for me!
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