I listened to the Trim Healthy Podcast several weeks ago, and sisters Serene and Pearl were talking about the health benefits of gogi (pronounced go-jee) berries. I realized that I had been taking the Young Living drink, Ningxia Red, for about six months and while I was using it my retina health improved a LOT.
I've had a lot of eye problems since I was pregnant with Annie almost six years ago. In fact, my eye problems started in November 2016 so I've been on the struggle bus with them for six years now. When I was about four months pregnant, my eye doctor in the UK (where we were living) my eye doctor, who was a friend from church, told me that if I had another pregnancy I would most likely go blind. I've had about 35 laser surgeries on my eyes, a vitrectomy (where they remove the gel-like substance in your eye) in each eye because I was having so many retinal bleeds, and that necessitated having cataract surgery in both eyes in the fall of 2021. It's been a long road, but praise the Lord, things have improved significantly in the past six months!
A friend told me that Ningxia Red was meant to be really good for your eyes so I started taking it. I took it for about six months, but it's pretty expensive so when I heard this podcast I thought I should give just regular ol' gogi berries a try. One of the benefits of gogi berries is that goji berries are packed with antioxidants like zeaxanthin, which help protect your lenses and retinas against damage. It may also help people with macular degeneration.
"YUM! (with two thumbs up)" Annie Oakley, my daughter
I started out reading the back of the Ningxia Red packet to see what all was included. I was excited to see that of the things I felt like mattered (flavors and sweeteners) that I already had--this meant a quick making was in store! In my recipe below I've included measurements for both extracts and essential oils.
Go-go-goji Berries
Yield: 6 servings
Ingredients
3/4c goji berries
3 drops orange essential oil (be sure a high quality EO) or 1.5tsp orange extract
3 drops lemon essential oil (be sure to use a high quality EO) or 1.5tsp lemon extract
optional 3 drops of tangerine essential oil (be sure to use a high quality EO)
3-5 doonks (one doonk equals 1/32nd tsp) of Pure Stevia (adjust to your desired sweetness)
3c water
Directions
Put all ingredients into a medium sized pot and place on medium heat on the stove.
Bring to a low boil for 10-15 minutes stirring every now and then.
Take off heat and leave to cool completely.
You have a choice to make here. Either strain all the liquid out of your goji berries to drink just the liquid (save the berries for toppings) OR you can use your blender or immersion blender to blend everything together to make a thicker sauce.
Either way, store in a glass jar in your fridge. This is good for about two weeks.
You can have this alone as a drink (when strained) OR I eat about 1/4--1/3c of the sauce version at a time over 3/4c of low fat cottage cheese in a Pulled Back E Setting (don't know what that is learn about how to do them by clicking that link above). Throw in some BBOV (big bag of veggies) to eat before you eat the goji berries and cottage cheese and you've got a fantastic pulled back E meal or snack!
Come follow me on all the socials!
#thm #trimhealthymama #thmcoach #trimhealthymamacoach #t1d #type1diabetes #t1dlookslikeme #type2diabetes #latentautoimmunediabetesinadults #pcos #type2diabetic #insulinresistance #weightloss #weightlossjourney #healthcoach #diabeticcoach #diabetescoach #coachmarybeth #cheerfulcoachmarybeth #seedlings #thegreenhouse #diabeticrollercoaster #diabetes #diabetic #insulinresistance #insulinresistant #balancedbloodsugar