Kate, I lurk over here once in awhile, and happened to see your post. I do smoothies in several ways. Recently I've bought some little push-up containers for freezing and I'm making popsicles that are 'the bomb' - excuse the pun. I'll start with two recipes for popsicles that were given to me 30 years ago, and they easily converted to sugar-free, fat-free. The first is for fudgesicles. Mix a 3 oz box of instant sugar free chocolate pudding mix according to package directions, using nonfat milk. Then blend in a ?13 oz? can of nonfat evaporated milk (not the sweetened kind, just plain evap milk. If you're not watching your fat grams, regular evap milk makes a creamier fudgesicle, but these aint half bad.) Pour into molds and freeze. (If you're not on a diet, a cup or two of brewed flavored coffee and a can of that sweetened evap milk, frozen, is also yummy. But I digress......) The second is for dripless popsicles. It calls for a 3 oz box of any flavor Jell-o, mixed according to package directions. Do not chill. Instead, add a can of evap milk to make a "Dreamsicle", or 2 cups of mixed fruit, (mashed or pureed). Pour into molds and freeze. Now, for what I call a "milkshake", soften 2 tsp. of unflavored gelatin in about 1/2 cup water. Then place this in the microwave until the gelatin has melted and the mixture is kinda like eggwhite. This takes only 30 seconds or so. Into your blender, place whatever kind of fruit strikes your fancy. I like peach, banana or strawberry the best, or a mixture. Maybe about a cup. Add about half cup of water. If you want it like a smoothie you would not add dry milk, but I add 1/3 cup dry milk because I like it better that way. Start the blender, and while it is whirring, pour in the hot gelatin. Then start dropping ice into the blender until the mixture thickens and becomes smooth. Pour into a glass and eat it with a spoon. If your fruit is not sweet enough on its own, add some artificial sweetener or sugar. Smoothies can be made with all kinds of different fruits, and lot of times I just throw frozen fruit into the blender in lots of different combinations: plum and banana with some frozen apple juice concentrate. Canned pineapple and frozen strawberry with some frozen orange juice concentrate. Something tart with something sweet, you know? You can leave out the gelatin if you don't want to go to the trouble, but I like the smooth creaminess it gives to the finished product. You can make a very nice 'cheesecake' by using the gelatin, fat-free cream cheese, some dry milk powder and lemonade concentrate. Of course there's sugar in the lemonade concentrate. You can also make a 'chocolate shake' by using the gelatin mixture recipe, replacing the fruit with 1 cup water and another 1/3 cup of nonfat dry milk powder, and adding maybe a tablespoon of cocoa. I like to go to Allrecipes.com and I notice they're featuring a lot of smoothie recipes there. So if none of these appeal to you, try there. They have a search function you can use, just search on 'smoothie'. I'm not connected to them in any way, I just like the site. Oh, and BTW, lots of things can be frozen and eaten without thawing (besides cookies, but I'm digressing again...). Grapes are delicious frozen, as are blueberries, peaches and apple slices (dip the apple slices in salt water, drain and freeze, 1 tbsp to a gallon -- do the math for smaller quantities, you don't taste it and it keeps the apple from turning). Bananas can be frozen in the skin, but not for a very long tine. To eat, run water over the skin to thaw it a bit, score it down the length of the banana and pry up along one edge. It will peel right off, usually in one piece. The skin will have blackened but the banana inside is still yellow and creamy. My kids used to call frozen banana 'ice cream'. LOL You must eat it while it's frozen though because when it thaws it's not a pretty sight. Watermelon and cantaloupe make wonderful popsicles. The trick is to puree them first. Cantaloupe is wonderful blended into apricot jello for popsicles. I think they have watermelon flavor jello now but I haven't tried it. There are all kinds of possibilities for smoothies, and any smoothie can be made into a popsicle. If you're interested, I bought my popsicle push-up molds at organize.com (not affiliated with them either). They're called cool cones. I like them very much. They don't leak out the bottoms so when I freeze them I set them upright in the freezer and let the 'stems' hang down between the wires of the shelf until they're solid. I hope this helps! --Ilene

"I WISH I could like the green smoothies but I just don't! Maybe I need to add more fruit to give it a sweeter taste." You could add more fresh fruit and/or dried fruit. An alternative is to give your tastebuds more time to acclimate to the "green" taste. When I first started making smoothies, they had quite a lot of sweeter fruits in them, and a lot of carrot juice. These days, I've not only increased the proportion of vegetables substantially while decreasing the proportion of fruits and sugary vegetables, but I've also switched to lower-sugar fruits, like berries, including unsweetened cranberries. What's interesting is that now, I don't like sweeter smoothies as much. For example, I made one a few days ago with unsweetened pomegranate juice, and it seemed like a dessert to me. golddust, you said this: "I can't believe the difference in my skin. It feels softer and less puffy." The same here. But there's more. How many of you have face creams, eye creams, special creams for nighttime, body creams and lotions? Special ones for feet, for cuticles. For every single body part or so it seems? I realized the other day that I'm no longer using anything. After showering, I always needed the whole gamut of creams and lotions; the same after washing my face, which always felt unpleasantly tight. These days, my skin always feels soft, and no creams or lotions are needed. Of course, I can't scientifically ascribe the change to green smoothies, nor would I. I also can't say it's because of what I now eat, or because of what I no longer eat. It's probably due to a combo of all those factors. (It might well be due to something else entirely, of course.) But whatever, I don't want to estimate the cost of all those partially jars and bottles! Because I doubt I'll ever finish up any of them.

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Thank you for the info Mtn. So glad your DD is in good hands! Also that medications work on her. I hope her headaches disappear for good! Very interesting that she has no identifiable triggers. Has she been checked for TMJ syndrome or jaw or teeth clenching? Those cause headaches that turn into migraines for some. Also neck problems can lead to headaches as well. I know several people who are helped with botox for TMJ related problems. My migraines vary in location on my head plus I get auras occasionally as well. I go blind for at least an hour then. I don't have nausea since I did my health nut regimen 14 years ago. I react so poorly to the medications my Dr took me off of everything except for Tylenol ultra. I take a half pill. I am triggered by stress sugar alcohol white flour most bread too much salt most oils and MSG and big time by bright sunlight and barometric pressure. I have all the triggers just about. Which might be why my migraines haven't abated. My sister's migraines disappeared when she hit puberty!!! Mine started in my early 20s and nothing worked even though I was diagnosed immediately. Maybe I was too old. I was told they would go away on their own. Then when they didn't I was told they would go away with menopause...nope and they're getting worse again. Haha joke was on me. Yes a change in taste can be a sign of brain damage from migraines, epilepsy etc.