In the morning I've been drinking shakes made with my new Nutribullet high-speed mixer and my health is improving noticeably. My sister gave it to me as a gift. It's a little scary because it has no on-off button; you just connect the blade-base to the cup of ingredients, put it on the motor base -- and plug it in. All it needs is about 5 seconds, then you unplug it. So you can picture how high speed it is.

I usually put in a big handful of baby spinach, a little romaine, some grapes, a few walnuts or almonds, some frozen banana and frozen strawberries, some blueberries and some water. It makes the most wonderful shakes. I'm finally getting vitamins I sorely needed, and now I find my glucosamine-chondroitin pills are doing what they're supposed to. Pain in my hands, arms, ankles, knees, neck -- is so much reduced that I'm going entire days without ibuprofen, forgetting to take any because I don't hurt. I also take a multivitamin and a couple of B ones too.

Tonight I'm going to have a vegetable and fruit shake for dinner. I understand now why people rave about things like this. When pain and discomfort start to disappear because you're eating right(and now I feel energy to exercise more, too), it seems miraculous.

I used to use a wand hand mixer to make Slim-Fast shakes in the morning, but I like these better since they're with water instead of milk. Easier to clean the cup and base, too.