I could have sworn that I posted this recipe before, but I can’t find it anywhere!    Requests come to me daily for my “super smoothie” recipe because it starts of the day right by balancing blood sugar and helps stop gnawing cravings the rest of the day. Every ingredient in this delicious (almost ice cream like!) recipe is chosen with a specific action in mind.  So don’t go adding all sorts of stuff (bananas, pineapple, agave, sugar laden nut milk, soy milk) unless you really understand nutrition!!!  Long term daily enjoyment of this smoothie has helped repair my insulin resistance, blood sugar swings, anxiety / panic attacks, and adrenal fatigue.

SUPER SMOOTHIE RECIPE

2 scoops Power Meal

5 drops YLTG grapefruit oil for the taste, chemo prevention, bloating (lymph support)

2 drops YLTG  nutmeg oil for the adrenals

¼ tsp of Redmond Real salt for the adrenals

1 heaping tblsp of coconut oil for thyroid, blood sugar, and yeast (candida)

1 raw egg for the protein, fat, and vitamin A (1/2 an avocado can be used instead of eggs)

Stevia extract to taste

About 10 ice cubes in the blender 1^st, add ingredients.  Then fill up with enough water so it will blend until smooth. Blend super well so it gets fluffy and the coconut oil and ice cubes are no longer chunky.  Add Young Living’s stevia extract to taste.  It’s not only for the sweetness, but stevia is known to help balance blood sugar and decrease cravings.

Sometimes I add 1/4 cup of blueberries, raspberries, cherries, or strawberries to this. Nothing else. NO BANANNAS OR PINEAPPLE – although delicious they are very high in sugar.

If you are at work or on the road and can’t take time out with a blender, just do Power Meal as a snack. It taste goods even on the go by just adding water.

In the summer time I will often crave ice cream. By slightly tweaking the recipe above by adding a few more ice cubes and 1/2 an avocado – the smoothie will be very thick and can be eaten with a spoon. Yummy and health … PERFECT!

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Recipe time!  Another yummy one has been birthed from the kitchen with ingredients chosen “mindfully”.   Eating like this will not only help you’re brain feel fabulous, your pants will become looser too!   My recipes will typically not contain a starch (corn, potato, rice, pasta, bread, etc). This is because I use vegetables as my carbohydrate source due to my blood sugar issues (swings are what caused the severe panic/anxiety attacks). Eating this way also helps repair the “crazy blood sugar swinging” caused by severe insulin resistance.

Any protein can be chosen for this recipe – seafood, poultry, or meat.  I also choose Bragg’s Liquid Aminos instead of soy sauce because it has way less sodium, uses non GMO soybeans, has no MSG, is gluten free, and I just plain like the taste better.  Bragg’s also contains these essential amino acids:  arginine, aspartic, lysine, glutamic, serine, threonine, alanine, glycine, praline, isoleucine, methionine, valine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and leucine. Many of these are my favorites for balancing blood sugar and supporting feel good brain chemicals!

Simple Stir Fry:

Ingredients:

2 small onions (small diced)

3 large carrots (julienned)

1 large broccoli floret (coarsely chopped)

½ of a lemon

1 pound of protein cut into bite size pieces (your choice – we did steak!)

¼ cup of coconut oil (melted if not already liquid)

¼ cup of Bragg’s Liquid Aminos

Mrs. Dash Seasoning – Lemon Pepper

2 drops ginger oil (Young Living ONLY!)

2 tablespoons of tapioca flour

Prep a few hours before cooking the meal:

Marinate protein with Bragg’s and coconut oil.  Sprinkle heavily with Mrs. Dash Seasoning (approx. 1 tsp).  Mix together and set aside for a few hours.

When it’s time to cook:

Saute meat in a wok or fry pan.  Scoop out meat and leave juice in pan. There should be about ¾ to 1 cup of liquid in the bottom, if not add water to increase the volume (add a few squirts of Bragg’s if you’re feeling saucy!).  Add in the vegetables and cook until al dente.

Remove about ½ cup of liquid and add the 2 tablespoons of tapioca flour and 2 drops of ginger oil – whisk until fully blended.  Put back into vegetable mixture and heat until thickened.



Remove from heat, squeeze lemon juice over the vegetables, and mix in the meat.

Now it’s done!  Enjoy.

You can read more about how your diet is related to you “BRAIN” by reading “Can You Really Eat Your Way to Happiness? The Mood Food Connection”.

Recently I spoke at Young Living Essential Oils International Grand Convention on the topic of weight management.   I decided to post my presentation because people couldn’t take notes fast enough and during the second session many people had to be turned away because the room was over capacity.   This information is important not only for weight loss, but for building a strong endocrine system.  Strong and balanced endocrine typically yields a body at ideal weight effortlessly.

Warning -  side effects to building a strong endocrine system include: increased energy levels, decreased anxious / panic feelings, clearer thinking, improved skin tone, robust immunity, positive mood / outlook, balanced hormones, healthy sex drive, and normalized sleep patterns.  Who wouldn’t want these?!?!?!?!

The main reason I had 55 extra pounds in my body in 2006 was due to severe adrenal fatigue. I was experiencing severe hypoglycemia, mood swings/irritability, lethargy, imbalanced hormones, not stamina, skin rashes/bumps, bloating, impaired digestion, anxiety / panic attacks, food reactions, non-regulation of body temperature … I was a total mess!!!

My strategy for recovery was to:

1. Adrenal Support
2. Regulate Sleep Pattern
3. Repair the Digestive System
4. Repair Insulin Resistance

My presentation outlines simple ways on how to get started back to health via nutritional changes, essential oil application, and lifestyle modifications.  Also included is an 18 point checklist that can help one determine if adrenal fatigue is a factor.

CLICK HERE to view the presentation.

I had a terrific question posed to me, “What type of supplements do you use for hypoglycemia?”.   Duh, with all of the posts I’ve done recently on how to eat for blood sugar balance, I forgot to address what I’ve used to remedy the crazy blood sugar swings that gave me panic attacks and anxiety.  Be sure to also look at any of my posts on adrenal support.  Recovering their health is extremely important blood sugar balance and anxiety therapy.

As for the correcting insulin resistance and hypoglycemia, I’ve tried just about everything that claimed to balance blood sugar. Many things dropped me too low. So caution: if a product claims to support diabetes (high blood sugar) it does NOT mean it will balance low blood sugar.  Some supplements (cinnamon, ocotea, green tea extract) gave me anxiety because it caused my blood sugars went down into the 50’s.  So anytime I change my supplementation program I only introduce one new thing at a time, test my sugars frequently, and note how I feel until I’ve determined if it’s working well or not.

Through research and personal experimentation, this is what I’ve found that helps regulate my high / low blood sugar swings:

1. Fiber.  I get 7 grams of fiber through my Power Meal. I also eat a lot of non-starchy vegetables, so there is more fiber there. But, the one thing my body really loves as a fiber source is … an apple.  Very complex and hard to find, right?  Every day I have one along with raw almond butter as a meal or snack and my body is happy.  Fiber has been well documented to help regulate blood sugar levels.
2. Omega 3 fatty acids.  These help anxiety, depression, seasonal affective disorder, etc. but as far as blood sugar goes – they are terrific. They help insulin sensitivity as well as cell membrane fluidity.  Huh?  Helps fix the root problem of hypoglycemia and insulin resistance at the cellular level.  Plus, they help perk up my mental attitude.  My prefered Omega 3 source is Omega Blue and my doctor recommends about 5 grams a day.
3. Reservatrol.  This has been shown to support insulin regulation.  I get reservatrol from my True Source food based vitamin / mineral.  I prefer “food” versus synthetic vitamins.
4. Vitamin E.  Another thing shown to improve insulin sensitivity.  The source that I get my Vitamin E from pairs it up with CoQ-10 – which also has been shown to assist with insulin resistance.  I use CoQ-10 from Ortho Molecular Products. It’s available through health practitioners.
5. Coriander oil.  Historically coriander oil has been used for anxiety and to regulate blood sugar.  Makes sense because many times anxiety is caused by blood sugar swings. This has been a LIFE SAVER for regulating my blood sugar levels immediately while all the other nutritionals I take repair the actual problem over time. I ONLY USE THERAPEUTIC GRADE CORIANDER OIL.  Stuff from the health food store is cheap and it can be very unsafe. I just rub 3 drops on veins close to the surface, usually on the wrists or neck once or twice a day.
6. Herbs.  I have played with many herb combinations over the course of the past few years. Some with wild success, other times not.  The most success I’ve seen is through Ortho Molecular’s Diaxinol and Amazon Herb’s Metabazon. I do only 1 Diaxinol a day and 2 Metabazon’s with each meal.

The combination of items above is what I used that addresses swinging blood sugar levels in the now as well as cellular repair in the long run. Because of their role in blood sugar balance, I also support my liver and adrenals. I did a report on called Loving the Liver that outlines what works for me.  Plus, there’s a recorded training I did called Adrenal Intro Audio that’s accessible HERE.

One of the often overlooked causes of anxiety, panic attacks, and mood problems is imbalanced blood sugar.  Some people may see it as diabetes (hyperglycemia – high blood sugar), hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), and/or insulin resistance.  As sugar levels swing high and low, the body blasts out adrenaline (epinephrine) and cortisol to balance blood sugar levels so the brain doesn’t starve of glucose.  How can balancing blood sugar help anxiety?

By balancing blood sugars, adrenal hormones adrenalin and cortisol levels aren’t all over the map. This also allows the adrenals to rest as well as lessen anxiety because high levels of adrenaline circulating around.  Panic attacks and anxiety is very common especially when blood sugar levels are low since it’s the adrenaline and cortisol that raise levels to safe levels.

Most of the panic attacks and anxious feelings I experienced were due to hypoglycemic (low blood sugar) episodes.  It only took six long months to figure this out!  When I hit 39 (very low number!) during my 6 hour glucose tolerance test my doc said “Yep, you have SEVERE hypoglycemia!”.  Eating correctly to balance blood sugar levels and taking supplements to fill nutritional voids was  how I stopped the relentless 24/7 panic and anxiety.

Because I get asked so often, I’m going to share how I eat for blood sugar balance.  Everybody is different, so each individual will have to experiment to see what works for them.  I also use a glucose meter to check my levels first thing in the morning, before and after a meal, in-between meals, and before bed.   My system may seem simple, but it works for me.

Jen Crippen’s Blood Sugar Balancing Strategy:

• BREAKFAST:  It is important to eat something within a 1/2 hour of waking. If not, the body runs on adrenalin to keep blood sugar levels up until a meal is consumed. This is very taxing on the adrenals.  I eat a high fat/protein meal with a tiny bit of low glycemic carbs to get me going.  For example: apple (CARB) with raw almond butter (FAT & PROTEIN; eggs (FAT & PROTEIN) with carrots (CARB), tomato (CARB); smoothie of PowerMeal (CARB & PROTEIN) with added coconut oil (FAT) and raw egg (FAT & PROTEIN)

• MID-MORNING SNACK:  Something light and protein rich like a handful of almonds (FAT & PROTEIN) with Ningxia Wolfberries (CARB) or 1 hard boiled egg
• LUNCH: Nice substantial meal with veggies, protein, and substantial fat. For example:  tuna salad (PROTEIN) with celery, tomato (CARB), natural food mayo (FAT); spring green salad with 2 hard boiled eggs (FAT & PROTEIN), green peppers, scallions, carrot (CARB), sunflower seeds (FAT & PROTEIN), oil & vinegar dressing, couple of Ningxia Wolfberries (CARB); hamburger (PROTEIN) with small spring green salad
• AFTERNOON SNACK:  Again, something light and protein rich.
• DINNER:  Dinner I always have a heavy protein (seafood, meat, poultry) along with  green vegetables (spinach, broccoli, chard, green beans) and a starchy vegetable for carbohydrates (root vegetables, sweet potato, squash).  Very rarely will I eat any grains, but when I do it’s quinoa, black rice, or teff.
• AN HOUR BEFORE BEDTIME SNACK:  This snack is very important because often my blood sugar levels would plummet overnight and give me restless sleep or nightmares.  Sometimes I will have a bit of the leftovers from dinner in a very small portion or even a PowerMeal.  I keep it very light and total volume of food is normally about a 1/2 to 3/4 cup.

As for drink, I typically have water or non-caffeinated tea (herbal). I don’t drink soda of any kind and rarely drink alcohol. Alcohol creates a blood sugar nightmare!  Also, anything with caffeine creates blood sugar havoc because of the adrenaline surge. So it’s best to avoid with blood sugar, anxiety, panic, and/or adrenal issues.

There is a lot more to my strategy on how to eat to help anxiety. Next post will be on some of my secrets such as portion size of carbs to protein and fat, getting off soda, and how to enjoy sweets without the blood sugar consequence!