I had a really painful tooth infection last week and it was near-impossible to eat anything except smoothies and soup. I got so bored I almost tried baby food.
IMG_3534On my third day of drinking smoothies for two meals a day, I started to notice that I felt really tired, scatterbrained, bloated, and my skin was breaking out.

All these things are super out of the norm for me these days, so I was curious to find out what was going on.

The only thing I was doing differently was making two or three runs a day to Juice Press for cold, icy, blended drinks instead of meals. I don’t believe any smoothie constitutes a meal, but hey, desperate times call for desperate measures.

I was macrobiotic in my early childhood, and according to the principles of that lifestyle, drinking super cold beverages like ice water and smoothies “dampens” your digestive fire and slows down your entire elimination system (Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is on the same team, and followers avoid ice water like the plague).

Oh, and it’s especially important to eat warm foods in the morning, since your digestive system has been resting and needs to be activated, not frozen. This principle isn’t new to me and I’ve always limited smoothies for this reason, but when I was in a situation where I had to drink them, I saw the effects first-hand and my belief was renewed.

If you’re scratching your head, here’s a metaphor: Your digestive system is like a fire, and it needs warm food to keep it burning nice and hot so it can “incinerate” (break down) your food, absorb the good stuff, and get rid of the bad stuff.

When you throw ice on it, or even super cold food and drink that’s not iced, it burns out and you’re stuck to handle all the raw materials you just put into your stomach.

This greatly slows down your metabolic rate.

So what happens next? Here’s what cold smoothies do to your body:

  • You get constipated and bloated.
  • You’re tired because your “burned out” digestive system is working overtime to try to process your food with no warm fuel to stimulate it.
  • Brain fog sets in and you can’t focus or come up with ideas.
  • Your skin breaks out as your body struggles to eliminate – skin discharge is just a sign of an upset gut.
  • You slowly begin to gain weight, especially around the middle of your body.

As soon as I nixed the blended drinks and started eating mostly warm soups and other soft, cooked foods, I immediately started to feel lighter, more focused, energized, and my skin cleared up.

Pretty interesting, right?

Another core piece of macrobiotics and TCM is the cooking preparation method and the energy of the food. It’s believed that blending gives frenetic, hyper energy to the food and makes you anxious and high-strung. If you think about the electricity and high-speed motion required to make a smoothie, it’s definitely something to get curious about.

Yes, this bit is a little woo woo, so take it or leave it. It might immediately resonate with you, or you might not feel a connection at all. It’s not a hard rule, it’s a theory, like almost all nutrition principles. Just tune in and see what your body says after smoothies and other cold sustenance.

So, we’ve got two reasons to watch out for smoothies:

1. They’re cold and often involve ice.
2. They’re blended on high speed.

Do you love smoothies? Drink them everyday? How do you feel afterward?

Are you having any symptoms like mine that could be linked to your love for smoothies?

Tell me in the comments below – I can’t wait to hear from you.

P.S. Want to learn more about how I maintain and continually upgrade my superhuman powers? Check out my mentor Laura’s wildly-popular group program Wholly Shift, which is open for enrollment right now. This is a big part of what keeps me sane, grounded, and always upleveling my body, life and business. I’d love for you to join me in the program. You can sign up here.