six months

It has been six months since we have been to the doctor.

SIX MONTHS.

That is a record for our family.

In years past my kids and I have traded colds and the flu fall through winter and into spring.

I have to thank our insurance that offers such poor coverage for the motivation to find a way to avoid the doctors office. We changed insurances last year and our insurance only covers two office visits per year per person. After that there was no coverage. Each child's doctor's visit (usually for a cold that could not be kicked that lead to an ear infection) would run about $200. That was simply too much for us to continue to pay. Davis was "loosely" diagnosed with asthma and I was given a persription that I was to give to him daily. I filled it. $100 a month. For an undetermined amount of time. I never gave him a single pill and determined that there must be another way.

This post by GreenSmoothieGirl changed our lives. I read it. I took her quiz. I FAILED. Some of you may know how I hate to see anything less than an A. I thought that I actually ate really healthy and I was shocked. I took the quiz again to day and scored an A.

Shortly after reading that blog post I attended a GreenSmoothieGirl event in May (you can see me in the audience--taking careful notes) and commited to drinking a quart of green smoothies a day for a month.

It's been six months.

I started collecting vintage green glasses in honor of our green smoothies.

This was the beginning of some major changes for our family. Many of you know I helped organize and attended an 8-week nutrition course, taught by Cali Cutler--which was fantastic.

These are just some benefits we have seen:

Bronwyn's excema is gone (I attribute this mostly to the absence of dairy).

Bronwyn had issues with excess yeast--which seems to have lessened significantly.

Davis "asthma" is gone.

Tim has lost 35 pounds (he has also been working out every day).

I have felt my moods during the day have leveled. I also have discovered that there were several foods that were making me sick that I didn't realize (dairy in particular).

I have decreased cravings for sugar and now crave green smoothies and green drinks.

My kids (and I) no longer seem to have an intolerance to nuts.

If I do feel that anyone in our family is starting to feel sick I feel like I now have "tools" to try and combat it from the very onset before it becomes a major illness.

I am often asked about the expense of some of the items (like a Blendtec blender) or the individual prices of organic foods or health foods. Six months with no doctors visits--that has certainly paid for all of the above. And really there is nothing as priceless as the vibrancy of good health.