FRESH DAY JUICE

Today is the fresh start to my juice fast.   One of these days I am going to succeed.   This is going to be the time.  I have the day off and will be traveling with the boyfriend so it should be pretty easy to keep my mind off food.  I will keep all my juice in a cooler bag with ice packs to keep them cold.  I also have 2- quart mason jars with fruit infused water ready to go.

 

Here is the ingredients for the Mean Green Juice from Joe Cross (I forgot the lemon and ginger in the picture)

 

This is the pulp after I was done juicing. 

2 pint jars of lovely Mean Green Juice. 

I apologize for this next bit..  My picture seems to have evaporated and I cannot find it.  I will leave the post but excuse the missing picture.  (2/16/15 picture is missing from blog)

The line up.  Starting top right with the orange one.  

1. Carrot, apple, ginger and lemon.  

2. Mean Green Juice.

3. Romaine, carrot, celery, pear, lime

4.Mean Green Juice

5. Tomato, carrot, celery, yellow bell pepper

6. blood orange, apple, celery

I woke up again. Feeling quite poor.  I was up all night with fighting doggies.  There are just some nights they insist on being disagreeable.  Drives me crazy!

I am however up and ready to begin my day.  Lemon water here I come.

Back in the saddle

Tonight I am preparing my juice for tomorrow as I intend on hitting it hard this week.  I ate all raw today after my explosive weekend with junk food.  I went to the grocery and purchased about $32.00 worth of veggies and that will be enough to make about 4 days worth of juice.  Mainly veggies and apples..

 If you have not visited the site Vedged Out you are really missing out.... She has a recipe there that is just plain amazing..  It is called Ultra Green Juice and is probably the best tasting GREEN juice I have made to date... WOW>>>  I could drink this all day..  It made a whopping 80 full ounces of juice.   I do not think I will be making another juice for tomorrow simply because I had not anticipated it making quite so much.

She also has a recipe for a cashew milk that I just might try.  I love my almond milk but cashew milk might be a nice change..

These are my lovely Kefir bottles..  The 2 on the left are milk kefir with blueberries. The one in the middle is water kefir with Raspberries.  The 2 on the right are milk kefir with lemon and orange.  While juicing I intend on using the milk kefir in place of my evening almond milk on certain days.  The water kefir just any old time.  I , of course, will not be eating the fruit.. hahaha  I do realize that I will not get the full benefit of juicing by drinking kefir, however, relatively speaking the almond milk isn't juice either...

Okay..  After thinking about it I decided to make a jar of  Pick-Me-Up Apple Carrot Juice.   Just in case I needed something different in the afternoon.  I have never been one to really be able to drink the same thing all day irregardless how much I love it..  Doesn't look great but sure tastes sweet and refreshing!

Day 4: Woke up early and refreshed

Holy crap!  I got up this morning at 5:45am feeling like a million bucks!  I haven't had coffee yet and I don't even feel the need to drink a cup.  Hahaha.  Still gonna take an iced coffee to work but might skip the creamer.

I have decided to stop taking the cleanse pills.   I suspect they are why my belly has been feeling yucky so I am going to see how I feel today. 

Anxious for this storm to show up.  Supposed to be nasty with Gov. Walker calling a state of emergency.  We will see.   Hoped school would be cancelled but no such luck.  I like staying home with the kids.  Maybe early release?  Hahaha.

7:00am:  6 ounces of water with lemon

7:10am:  off to work.  3 juices in my bag along with 1 veggie broth.  

8:00am: 16 ounces of Suja Purify Juice.

9:00am:  Broke down and made a 15 ounce iced vanilla coffee.

10:00am:  finished up 18 ounces of water

12:00pm: 1 cup cabbage soup

1:45pm: 18 ounces of water

4:45pm:  16 ounces of Green juice

  Morning weigh in 168.4

Random thoughts

I am just being random here..  I sit here and think about all those that do a complete juice feast for months and wonder why someone would want to completely give up food for that long..  Now don't get me wrong.. I want to lose weight just like everyone else and I have hopes of shedding around 30 pounds..  I am not overly huge but big enough that being smaller would be nice.  I did manage to fit into my size 14 jeans a few days ago..  What a lovely feeling that was.. I didn't even feel cut off..  They fit just right!

I had someone ask me today why I drink that "nasty" green stuff and eat all the soups I eat..  Well....  to be honest...  I love it..  Honestly... I have a few recipes that are quite amazing...  Some premade ones are quite intolerable and some are bordering decent if they are without beets..  Did I ever mention my extreme dislike of beets?  YUCK~!!!!  Once you find the recipe that your taste buds love, you will learn to adjust your recipes to include other yummy flavors.  Making my own is so much nicer than store bought.  I do wish we had a juice bar around here but alas we do not...

I also refuse to give up certain things like my coffee with french vanilla creamer (sugar free).  My feelings are that I should not have to give up everything to lose weight.  I try to balance out the juices I drink as well as taking vitamins.

I also have to say that taking all these cleanse pills seem to be quite a waste..  I don't think I am going to take them tomorrow.  Not mixed with the juice and skinny fiber..

Day 3: Feeling good but to busy

So this is the beginning of day 3.

6:00am:  I woke up sluggish.  I did not sleep well at all.  Cramping and a bit nauseous.  Took 2 cleanse pills and 2 skinny fiber with 14 ounces of plain water no lemon.

Stepped on the scale and was sooo happy...  See weight below..


6:30am: coffee with creamer

8:00am:  4 ounces of water with green tea bag..  Strong to calm my belly.. It is not feeling good at all.  Took my next 3 cleanse pills.

10:00am:  I am feeling okay but not great.  Kind of sluggish and really wanting to just lay down for a nap.  Where is the energy I am supposed to have?  grrrrr  

12:00pm:  Headed home for lunch..  No juice in so I gulped down 8 ounces of that nasty Purify Suja juice..  I really hate beets.. haha   Followed by 10 ounces of cabbage soup.

12:45pm:  I am feeling so much better with warm soup in my belly.  However...  I still have 3.5 hours of work and I still want that nap.  Feeling slightly weak but not super tired any more.

1:30pm:  I had some 16 ounces of Suja Glow juice.  It had a much better flavor than yesterday.  Still prefer my own better but I just didn't want to waste what I had already bought and it expires on the 22nd.

2:00pm: polished off 8 ounces of water.  2 Skinny Fiber pills

3:00pm:  2 tbsp of a trail mix..  I couldn't get my belly to stop growling and this did the trick..  Feeling fantastic.

4:30pm:  polished off another 10 ounces of water. 3 cleanse pills

5:15pm:  Finally home from work.  What a busy day.  I totally forgot to eat most of the day because not only am I feeling funky but we were swamped.

We are supposed to have a nasty storm coming in tonight.  Ice, rain and snow mix..  Cross your fingers for a snow day so Mama doesn't have to go to work.. hahaha (Conveniently I have Friday off too)

6:30pm:  Had a slice of white bread with a tbsp of peanut butter and a half can of white tuna...  I couldn't help it.. I was just soooo hungry...

8:50pm:  10 ounces of water.

9:50pm:  Heading to bed...  Last 2 cleanse pills

10:15pm:  8 ounces of water

I am going to do my best to get more juice in tomorrow and less solid food..  Seems night time is really difficult for me..  I need to focus on my knitting more at night I think.  Or maybe a good book.
Something to keep me occupied and not think of food...

1167 calories
11,882 steps

 Morning weigh in 169.4

Day 2 : Detoxing I Think

This is part of my daily line up.  Suja juice and blended cabbage soup.

I made it thru the morning without much incident.  I ended up going to bed last night at 9:30 pm due to udder exhaustion.  I really have to start going to bed earlier than midnight.. hahaha

5:45am : Awoke feeling quite alert and energized.  I was out of bed and in the shower within minutes.  Not that just NEVER happens..  I felt great..  Took my first 2 detox pills with a 10 ounce cup of hot lemon water.

6:30am: 2 skinny fiber pills with another 10 cup of hot green tea with fresh lemon juice.

7:00am: 1 cup of coffee with sugar free french vanilla creamer (big no no but I refuse to give that up)

8:00am: finished 10 ounces of water. 3 detox pills

8:30am: had the 9 ounces of glow juice.  I was just to full to even force myself to drink more.

9:30am: I managed to get 9 ounces of suja fuel juice down.   Not really in the mood to eat or drink anything.  Nothing significant other than lack of appetite or thirst.

10:30am: I had another 8 ounces of water.  2 skinny fiber pills.   Feeling kind of sick to my belly.  Not sure what the deal is but it isn't really a nice feeling.  Thankfully I was on sales calls to different businesses so I was able to sit and drive a lot.  Walking is not making my belly feel good at all. 

1:00pm: 2 cups of cabbage soup.  About 10 ounces give or take.  It is about as delicious as you can get..  All warm and making my belly feel soooo good..  I am pretty alert.  No headache or out of it feelings.  Feel quite energized actually. 

I did not manage to make my cauliflower soup last night so I am stopping at the store tonight to get the ingredients so I can tonight.  I am so in the mood for the creamy goodness.  I love cabbage soup but a mix would be lovely.

2:10pm: I am feeling quite weak at the moment.  I just ate 2 cups of soup so I should be feeling good.  Wtf..  My head is starting to get a little headachy.   Not bad but also not nice.  

Did i mention i have been in the potty many times today?  At least 10 times to pee and my boss keeps looking at me funny :)

3:30pm: I opened the 16 ounce Suja Purify juice..  Ewwwww...  It is so beety tasting that I almost gagged..  I really hate beets..  They just plain taste like dirt.  I have 2 more bottle of that junk to drink.  And being $9.00 a bottle I will manage..  Maybe mix it with something fruity.. IDK...

4:40pm: 16 ounces of cabbage soup.. 3 detox pills

I cheated through the day by nibbling on a half cup of almonds..  Made me feel better..  

Oh.. and 18 ounces more water thru the day..

As I am making my juice for tomorrow I have been sampling..  Around 8 ounces of variety juice.

I just wanna munch on my green pepper and tomatoes and celery..  ooooo and the soaking almonds look yummy!  Can you tell I am starving...

I am going to have another 8 ounces of cabbage soup before bed. I know I shouldn't but something warm other than tea will be nice.. 2 cleanse pills

1143 calories

10,334 steps

morning weigh in 170.2 

Day 1: Soup and Juice

6:20 am :  rolled myself out of bed and took the first 2 cleanse pills and my 2 skinny fiber pills with 12 ounces of water.  I was kind of groggy this morning.

7:30 am : I arrived at work with my pint mason jar of green juice, 2 suja juices and a water bottle.  I did bring a carton of veggie juice just in case I wanted something warm.  3 cleanse pills

8:30 am : I finished my pint of green juice.  I was absolutely starving so it didn't take long.  I also had about 12 ounces of water.

10:30 am: I caved in with a cup of coffee with french vanilla creamer.   I just can't seem to be strong to withhold that from myself..

11:00 am : 1 cup of blended cabbage soup.  12 ounces water.

1:30 pm : 16 ounces Suja "glow"  juice.. Not as tasty as I had hoped.  A bit hard to choke down actually..   but I did manage to get it down.  2 slices white bread with 2 tbsp of peanut butter.

3:00pm : 1 cup of cabbage soup.  This is the point where I am really tired of liquid.  Chewing it isn't even helping.  Seriously.. how the heck do you chew a liquid drink without looking like an idiot?

4:00pm:  2 Skinny Fiber pills

6:30 pm : 12 ounces green tea and 3 mini pancakes with butter.  I know... I know..  but they were small 4 inch round ones. 3 cleanse pills

It is now almost 8pm and I am totally drained.  According to my fitbit I have consumed 1388 calories today..  Not to bad.  I want to drop it by another 100 tomorrow.  I have to manage to get in another 750 steps to get to 10,000 and I am almost to pooped to get in 10  hahaha...  I will manage it..

9:00pm: 2 cleanse pills

1388 calories
9,612 steps

morning weigh in 172.2

Soup and Juice

I have found something interesting.   I found it at the People's Food Co-op in La Crosse.  It is called Total Body Cleanse.  A complete 14 day Internal Cleanse claiming to be organic. I started it yesterday.  So far so good.  2 pills in the morning upon waking up.  3 pills 30 minutes before breakfast.  3 more pills 30 minutes in the evening.  2 more pills in the evening.    10 pills total of 3 different blends.  Nothing significant to report other than I did get a bit gassy last night.  Not sure what that was all about but ewwww...

Now.. I am still taking my Skinny Fiber.  The link will take you to my page where you can read about the product.  It is amazing at making you full so you don't over eat.  It also helps regulate your potty breaks.  I will do another post about the product at another time.  I want to focus on the Total Body Cleanse product now. 

One thing I want to mention is that after my last juice cleanse I went right back to eating junk and gained back the weight I had lost.  This tells me that I really need to be careful of my eating habits and pay attention to the type of food I am eating.  I felt horrible all last week and I am sure that it was due to all the eating out we did.  My belly hurt and I had major headaches that were bordering on being migraines.

2 days of good food and I am feeling much better.  I made a couple days worth of juice and also made myself some cabbage soup that I blended up into a smooth creamy blend.  I am going to make some cauliflower soup tonight.  That stuff is AMAZING!!!  I use almond milk in place of cows milk and I skip the flour all together.  You don't really need it.  It is all in how you season it. 

My plan for this 14 day cleanse is to stay away from heavy solid food.  I plan to still eat fruit in whole form and some veggies like cucumbers and zucchini.  The main will be blended soups though.  No meat, grain or dairy for this one.  A total juice cleanse just isn't going to work for me.  My will power is just not good enough..  I am a cave-er in-er when it comes to snacking.  Habit kicks in and I reach for my beloved ritz crackers.. haha

I will leave this post as is for now.  Possibly update later tonight.  

Morning weigh in: 172

Back to eating review

So I am back to eating solids and I love it!  Geez I really love food.   I have been going for more veggies and fruits than before.   Cutting out pastas and grains is a bummer but I know I shouldn't be eating so much of them anyway. 

I got a copy of the iZo cleanse recipes.   I might give that a try next month.  I think a cleanse once a month would be good for me.  Not sure how many days I will go though.   Putting goal dates is hard when your body is screaming at you to eat something.   I think a day to day goal is much better.

I am also contemplating a soup and juice cleanse.   My friend Inga is on one like this.  Inga is from Ireland where things seem to be much "cleaner living" than here in the U.S. I think it is called Can Can but I will have to double check.   She seems to like this one over a plain juice cleanse.  She has also dropped 9 pounds in 6 days.  Might have to think about that one.

I did make a big pot of cabbage soup.  I love this soup.   Not a fan of the diet so I don't ever do it, but I do love the soup and the kids do too.  I like to use it as a filler when I need a snack.  It's not overly filling but sure sits nice on a cold evening.

I am still officially down 6 pounds since my reboot.  I knew I would gain a few back cause you always do.   It's the filling of the digestive track.

I am gonna call it a night.  Not feeling to great this evening.   Feeling almost flu-ish.  Sigh

Day 10 of 15 day reboot

Good Grief...  I have been swamped.. I apologize for not getting on here sooner...

How I am feeling...  Well.. the caffeine withdrawal headaches are gone..  I feel pretty cleaned out.  I am down 8 pounds and feel pretty good.  My only concerns at this point are how my belly is feeling.  Very empty even though I drink plenty of fluid to keep it full..  I am desperately trying to stay focused but my body is not cooperating very well. 

I am just plain hungry.  I feel light headed a lot.  I don't really care for that feeling.  I drink juice when it happens and it fixes the problem for the time.  As long as I stay on task with something I am okay.  When I am just relaxing all I think about is food..

I almost gave up on Friday and ended up getting sidetracked and managed to stay on track with it.  This reboot is much harder than the last one I did.  Maybe because it is so dang cold out.  It is possible to get -50 out tonight and it is just blowing thru the house like crazy..

Anyway..  overall I am energized again.  Some sluggish moments but nothing to horrible..

Day 5 and 6 of 15 day reboot

So yesterday was a nightmare for me.  I got up and did my normal routine.  Lemon water in the morning..  Made my smoothie breakfast and went to work.  10 minutes in my boss comes up to me and asks if I plan on taking my piercings out.  My eyebrow, nose and tongue are pierced and have been for many years.  Now.. I have been employed for 3 years with this company and it has never been an issue until a year ago when I was asked to remove it and I refused.  Nothing more was said.  Now all the sudden it is either take them out or be fired on the spot.  Well.. listen here.. my piercings are small and very inoffensive.  I find it very hypocritical that the guys can walk around with full sleeve tattoos and I can't have small studs...  WTF...  I refused to take them out and he said it was going to be an issue. 

I waited all day for the fall out that did not come.  I was so stressed that I couldn't finish my smoothie, didn't eat lunch, and barely got my juice down.  I called the district manager to ask if there was some compromise like taking the nose one out and leaving the eyebrow..  He said a definite no.  So right before quitting time the boss comes to me and again asks if I plan on taking them out and I said no.  I will take the nose one out but not the others.  He said to get a dark one and keep my hair covering it and it shouldn't be a problem.  I agreed. 

The rest of the day had my nerves shot from the stress and came home to find Bruce in bed sick and feverish..  FRACK!!!   Took my darling daughter Macky (McKenzie) to her award ceremony for the VFW, made the supper and then sent Bruce into the tub filled with hot water and salts to help relax him.  Big backfire..  He felt horrible.

The night was restless for me and I got little sleep.. 

I made lemon water and took it with me to work this morning only to have one of my co-workers following me around to see if I had taken my piercings out since she was a sheep and did as she was told..  Grrrrr..  Mind your own dang business... I hate that with a passion..  Nosy and I have no doubt she intends on ratting us out..  Whatever.. If I get fired more the better..  Better jobs are out there that pay more and less stress..

8:00am- BREAKFAST!!  I managed to choke down my 14 ounces of morning juice.  Carrot apple lemon and spinach..  It was very tasty..

9:30am- 18 ounces of water down..

11:00am- SNACK TIME!!!  12 ounces of plain carrot and celery juice.

1:30pm- LUNCH TIME!!  16 ounces of green juice made with celery, kale, spinach, green apple, cayenne pepper, cucumber and pear.

3:00pm- Incredibly tired..  Is it naptime yet?  No... you are working silly fish... sigh...

4:00pm- 18 ounces of water finished.

Day 4 of 15 day reboot

Well today is a Monday...  Thats for sure.. grrrr

5:45am- wake up with 10 ounces lemon water.

8:00am- Island Green Smoothie

9:30am- finished first 18 ounces of water

10:30am- 12 ounces of Carrot Apple Lemon Juice.  Very good but cut the lemon.  Instead of 2 I did 1.5 lemons.

12:15pm- green salad with olive oil dressing.  7 ounces of green detox soup

2:00pm- finished second 18 ounces of water.

4:15pm- 12 ounces Carrot Apple Lemon Juice.

Finally home from work..  Lucky me has a store meeting at 8pm.  Not on my list of fun things to do.. grrrr.

Can you tell I am cranky?  I have a really bad case of the f - its... I am stressed and just want COFFEE!!!

6:30pm- 7 ounces of Squash Apple Soup..  It really is not great..  YUCK... I do not like it.

8:00pm- 14 ounces of hot coffee...  Yes.. I blew it..  I couldn't stand myself so I just gave in and got it over with.  And it was YUMMY!!!  It tasted so dang good...  I don't feel guilty for cheating... But now that it is out of my system I think I will be okay..  My attitude is much better as well...

*****  I also wanted to touch base and say that I have lost 3.9 pounds at this point.  I also have never gone to the bathroom this much in a day ever...  Holy Moly I have to pee a lot.   That has to be a good thing right?

Day 3 of 15 day reboot

I woke up this morning at 3am with the worst belly cramps imaginable.  OMFGosh!!!  It was so horrible.  I laid on the bathroom floor by the toilet just praying it would stop.  1.5 hours of pure hell..   Seriously it was intense..  I didn't lose it, but close several times.  I was definitely stopping this plan..  Nothing was worth this kind of pain.  NOTHING should ever make you feel this bad.

HOWEVER....

After sleeping on the floor until 5:30am-ish....  I discovered that my body was just plain unhappy and really needed to be cleaned out more than ever.  So... I will continue the program and get my body back to where it should and needs to be.

6:00am- 10 ounces of hot lemon water with ginger

7:00am- 10 ounces of hot green tea with fresh peppermint to cool the tummy..

10:00am- BREAKFAST!!  20 ounces Shamrock Smoothie...  This is super good, but I did add a couple drops of stevia to sweeten it up some.  Just a tad lip puckering.. I don't like a full lemon in my smoothies and tends to make me pucker to much..  My thoughts are this...  If it is to bitter, tart or just plain yucky you are not going to enjoy doing it..  So tweek it a bit without changing it completely..  It you can enjoy it you will stick with it more..

12:15pm- LUNCHTIME!!!  I know...  Skipped my morning juice.. I really should be having that for lunch, but I am still not feeling super great and just want something in my belly.  Something hot..  so...Green Detox Soup it is..  This stuff is AMAZING!!

My goal for today is to drink a bit more water..  Instead of tea..  I love tea, however, I do need to increase the fluids just a bit..  maybe 8 more ounces to start.. haha

Took myself a little nap.  Feeling very tired today.

2:15pm- having a nice tall 7 ounce cup of water kefir.  OOOOO... it is lovely...

3:00pm-SNACK TIME!!! 15 ounces of Green Lemonade Juice...  Not to bad at all...  Kind of fresh tasting.

I am finally roasting up my acorn squash for supper..  Gonna make some Apple Squash Soup.  To be honest I would rather just devour the squash as it is.. hahaha..  Smells divine.. but sampling the broth before blending isn't all that great..  :(

6:05pm- SUPPER TIME!!  Blah..  The Apple Squash Soup is nothing to write home to mom about.  Its not horrible but would require a lot of tweaking if I was making this for any other reason.  Even with pepper it is bland.  The green detox soup was sooo much better..  However..  I am having the other half of my Mushroom stuffed Acorn Squash from last night.  That is divine... 

6:30pm- finished a 20 ounce bottle of water.

7:00pm- 10 cup of hot yerba mate tea.

Day 2 of 15 day reboot

I woke up this morning feeling okay..  A bit on the sore side..    I was not able to get comfortable so I tossed and turned all night.  I am pretty sure I smacked the bf a few times.  I woke up feeling alert but craving coffee...  sigh.. The smell of fresh morning brew is overwhelming this morning.  Driving me crazy sitting next to Bruce while he drinks his. I would love to have me a big ol cup with some french vanilla creamer but I will behave and skip it.

I ate more food yesterday than I normally do.. I usually have less food that has more calories so my belly is not really liking being so packed with food, water and juice.  Calorie wise I feel find.  No burn out to mention.  No starving belly rumbles yet.. haha

Bruce will be gone until Tuesday.  He had an emergency run to North Carolina and wouldn't you know we woke up to a snow storm..  So I am back here at our Sparta home until he gets back.  Had to drive in it this morning so I was not overly happy about it.  It will make this first few days more manageable though.  Not having to watch him eat burgers and fries will be a big help.

9:00am- 10 ounces hot lemon water with a slice of ginger

9:30am- BREAKFAST TIME!! apple berry breakfast (this recipe is included in the 15 day reboot plan)

I just popped in the new Man of Steel.   It is pretty good..  A good way to spend the day today will be in front of the tube and doing some hula hooping in the living room.. hahaha

10:15am- 10 ounces of hot green tea..  just the plain old original blend..  Very tasty though.. I needed something hot.

11:00am- SNACK BREAK!!!  Mid morning 20 ounces of Celery Pear Cucumber green juice.   Not horrible but not as sweet as it could be.

11:50am- has me anxiously awaiting the carrot ginger soup I will be having for lunch.. Think I might top it with a bit of parsley...

12:35pm- LUNCH TIME!!! Carrot Ginger Soup was amazing!   I also had another Kale, tomato, avocado, basil salad..  Very tasty but left off the honey this time.

3:00pm- SNACK BREAK!!  14 ounces of Celery Pear Cucumber green juice.

I now have my supper cooking..  A dreamy green detox soup.  Loaded with zucchini, kale, leeks, garlic... whoa.. it smells FANTASTIC!!!


 ************************

Not so nice stuff:  May be offensive to some readers

I am not gonna lie..  Going without coffee for 2 days is about to kill me.  I now have a headache from Hades.  I am trying to be mellow today, but this is starting to really get ugly..  Full out caffeine withdrawl stinks..

As for the detox..  wow!!  I have never had it quite this bad..  Gas like crazy and smells like sewer..  I have been in the bathroom 6 times and it is only 4:17pm.  That doesn't include the trips to pee..  sigh..  I was not ready for this at all..  On a good note, it will be a good thing in a few days. 

I realize it is cold out but I am freezing my rear off..  I turned up the heat and I am still cold.  Wool socks, sweatshirt and thermal yoga pants..  Seriously.. I should be sweating.  Not to mention I am starving.. I may have to have part of my supper early.  haha
*************************

6:25pm- SUPPER TIME!!!   I am starving...  Green Detox Soup here I come.. I am going to eat you while I cook up your Acorn buddy.. hahaha...  Then I am going to eat my portabella, onion, garlic Stuffed Acorn squash...  YUMMY

Well skip the Green Detox soup.  I couldn't eat any more after the squash..  Not sure that it will affect anything..  With all the water I am drinking I just couldn't fit the soup into the belly.  I will save it for tomorrow and sub it for the soup that tomorrow calls for.

7:30pm- 10 ounce hot cup of spicy green tea with yerba mate..

10:33pm-  It is time for me to shut down day 2.  Bedtime for me...  Goodnight to all...


 

Day 1 of 15 day reboot...

Wow...   Today has been something else...  I woke up in some serious pain in my left chest plate.  Dang it hurts like the blazes.    The car accident messed it up good.  I had to get up for work so I just managed as best I could.  These are the days when I wish I was still a stay at home mommy.  lol

6:00am- 10 ounces water with 1 ounce of fresh lemon juice.  I let the rind float around while I drank it.    I wanted to try adding ginger root to it, but hence the store was out so I couldn't give it a whirl.

7:30am- made myself a 10 ounce cup of green breakfast tea.  

8:00am- BREAKFAST!!!
I ate my apple berry breakfast..  It was tasty, however, I didn't much care for all the cinnamon.  Next batch will have half the recommended amount and just a tad more nutmeg.

9:00am- 10 ounce cup of green peppermint tea

10:00am-SNACK BREAK!!!
15 ounces mid morning carrot, apple, ginger juice. Very good..  However I couldn't get the whole jar down.  Just to much.

Went to the doctor and got in early.. yay...  Looks like nothing is broken just some deep tissue bruising.  Pain meds and instructions on being lazy this weekend.. hahaha..  That shouldn't be to dang hard since I have the best bf ever.  He is a good caretaker so I am pretty sure he will not let me move when he hears what the doctor says...  (if I tell him.. haha)

12:45pm- LUNCHTIME!!!  
1 meduim sweet potato and 1 large carrot made into fries and seasoned with cumin, salt and pepper.  Olive oil to get it to stick to the fries.

Tossed green salad made with red capped lettuce, tomato and spinach. Topped with olive oil, salt and pepper..  Added a small dash of hand dried parsley for flavor...

12 ounces of flavored water

4:15pm- SNACKTIME!!  I ended up taking a nap so I slept thru my juice snack.  No worries though.. I was thirsty so I gulped it down fast.. hahaha  15 ounces mid morning carrot, apple, ginger juice

It is time to start preparing my supper..  I also made my juice for tomorrow since I will not be home. Celery Pear Cucumber Green Juice is tomorrows snack menu...  YUMMY!!


5:45pm- SUPPER TIME!!  I am having a beautiful Kale, tomato, avocado, basil salad with honey olive oil dressing and topped with some seal salt and a dash of pepper...

Then some sweet potato and carrot fries and some sauteed greens with garlic...  oooooo.. I am starving!!!

**********

So after eating my salad I skipped the sauteed greens.. I just wasn't hungry and to be honest I felt kind of yucky..  So I just skipped that part..  I also substituted the sweet potato and carrot fries for Plantain fries..  Omgosh those are sooo yummy with a bit of sea salt.  I will definitely be making those again after my reboot.

8:30pm- I did manage in a cup of tea.  Chamomile green tea with some lavender buds..  It will be good sleepytime for me.. hahaha

15 Day Reboot with Joe

Hi all...  Tomorrow is another test day..  I got talked in to doing a reboot with a couple gals online.  So...  I am starting tomorrow.  This is what happens when you say you want to do another cleanse.. hahaha

If anyone is interested in joining us.. here is the direct link to the program we are doing.  It is the Reboot with Joe. There is a 3 day, 5 day, 10 day and the 15 day program available with shopping lists and recipes included as well as what to have for each meal of the day.  Check the shopping lists though..  I realized that the 15 day reboot shopping list was missing the mango and 2 pears.  Thankfully I had the recipes with me so I didn't leave without them.

My lemon, ginger and cup are ready for tomorrow morning.  All I have to do is add water and prepare. I also have my breakfast and mid-morning juice prepared.  The afternoon juice is the same as the mid-morning one so I doubled the recipe and made it at one time for ease.  The juice recipe calls for 6 apples.  I love apple juice but mine comes out so pulpy that I have to strain it 2 times to get most of it out.  Otherwise it comes out like watery applesauce.. grrrr  mild annoyance.  I have the Omega vrt350 so I didn't expect to have to strain quite so much..  I got just under one full mason jar from the recipe and that is considered to be 2 servings...   And i sampled it and it is amazing...

The other meals for the day can be prepared at the time of eating so I didn't bother pre-making them.  I will have to do some preparing tomorrow for Saturdays meals since I will be on the go most of the day with the bf.  Bruce is amazing but he does not like eating my kind of foods so I will make mine ahead of time so he doesn't have to wait on me.. hahaha

Most of the items in this reboot are raw foods so even a raw foodie can do this.  Just substitute certain meals with the raw ones and you would be fine. It appears to be a vegan menu.  I apologize that I am not real educated on what you folks don't eat.. :)

I am pretty excited to start this tomorrow.  We will see how it goes...  Shouldn't be to hard..  Looks easy enough any way.  So on that note I am going to head to bed.  A good night sleep is what I need.  Keep in mind that I am still pretty bruised up from Saturdays car accident.  This probably isn't the best time to cleanse but why not.. Life is always a challenge so I might as well do it.. hahaha

Random blabbering

It has been one heck of a week...

Friday... in the midst of a nasty snow storm we decided to travel from Wisconsin to Michigan.  It usually takes about 7.5 hours give or take..  Not this time.. sigh

The roads we nasty but we made it 30 miles from our destination before we ended up in the ditch..  The adjuster says it is about $4,000 worth of damage but they missed a few things that I will need to get cleared up before its all done.  The shop did order the other parts needed today so hopefully within a couple weeks I will have my wheels back.  Until then I will drive the boyfriends Saturn around.

That being said I am not really liking my weight gain.  Only 3 pounds but I can tell and I just don't like it.  The boyfriend thinks I am crazy to worry about it, but I do anyway.  I just want to lose the belly.  So ugly to look at.. hahaha..

I have been eating raw foods for 3 days now.  It is amazing how good food tastes when you don't have all that other junk in your system to clog up your taste buds.  I have discovered that beets are not so bad if you mix them in with other veggies.. hahaha   There is something incredibly satisfying when you can eat a huge bowl of salad and not have to worry about calories or fat..

The thought is in my head that I will be doing another juice cleanse soon.  Not exactly sure when, but thinking it might be Friday..  Just not sure yet..

My Birthday! !!!

It is Birthday Day today...  YAY!!!   Despite having to work today it was an overall good birthday...  The boyfriend Bruce got me a birthday tattoo last night.  What a great surprise... It is an amazingly bright and beautiful tattoo..  On my wrist sits a lovely red, orange and yellow lotus amongst stunninly bright green leaves...  I cannot tell you how much I love it..  Stunning!!

Back to business...  I was approached by a gal today who asked me what was in the jar...  hahaha..  My splendid green juice made from Joe Cross's movie Fat, Sick and Nearly dead.  It is about 1.5 hours long but amazing to watch...  I recommend it...

So.. anyway....  She asked me what was in the jar and I told her it was my life changing brew...  She laughed and I went on to explain that it was juice I made with a juicer..  She was pretty interested in it and asked for my number so she could call me and get more information..  I gave it to her with a smile.

She called me about 20 minutes ago and we talked for 15 minutes...  I told her to stop in tomorrow and I would give her a couple bottles of fresh juice as well as some good tried and true recipes she might like..  Made me feel good to give someone else some information and maybe a boost to healthier eating..

So now I am thinking its time to pop in a movie and make a veggie pizza...  MMMMMMMMM

Have a wonderful evening!

Juicing tips

• Fresh juice should always be consumed on an empty stomach. Drinking juice on an empty stomach allows the vitamins and minerals in the juice to go directly into your bloodstream. Having food already in your stomach prevents your body from rapidly absorbing the nutrients from the juice.
•  As soon as your green juice is freshly juiced and gets exposed to air, the live enzymes begin to degrade, therefore decreasing the nutritional content.  It is always best to drink your juice freshly juiced if possible.
• Sweet fruits and vegetables like watermelon, apples, pears, and carrots are very nutritious when consumed whole, but you can quickly consume to many when juiced. Limit the high sugar items.
•  Juice (and smoothies) are food and should be chewed. It’s important to swish around the juice in your mouth or move your jaw up and down for a couple of seconds before swallowing it to release saliva that contains important digestive enzymes.
•  Remember to rotate the greens (kale, chard, spinach, mustard greens, collards, dandelion, arugula, etc.) in your juice each week to prevent build up of oxalic acid.
•  Mix up your juice ingredients..  Do not stick with the same juice day in and day out.  You will quickly get bored with juicing and lean more towards giving up.
• Try to stay away from social gatherings that rotate around food.  This will only increase your desire to eat the things you do not want to eat.  If you do eat, stick with fruits and veggies..  Keeping watermelon on hand for the chewing action is a big help.  The small amount of fiber in it will usually not be a problem.

Juicing Basics

Whether you call it a juice fast, juice feast, juice cleanse or just a juice journey there are a few things  you should know before starting..  This is by no means a written in stone thing as well as not being everything you should know.. It is just something to get you started on your own personal journey to a healthy you.   I also want to be clear that I am in no way claiming I know it all because I do not.   Each experience is a new one so each is going to be different from the last.   I also am not an licensed nutritionist or doctor.   I am just a girl sharing her experiences and tips..

The first thing you need to remember is that not everyone is going to see your journey in the same light that you will.  There is a ton of conflicting information out there so you really need to go with what your body tells you.  It knows you better than anyone else.

Now.. You need to figure out what your goals are...  Do you want to cleanse your body?  Do you want to lose weight?  Do you want to try something new?  Are you looking to incorporate juicing into your regular diet?

Once you figure out your reasons you will have a better idea on what your expectations and guidelines should be.  

First off...  My goals have always been to detox and lose weight..  So based on that when you are planning your menus you will want all your daily juice to equal out to at least 50% green juice..  by green juice I mean.. leafy greens, kale, lettuce, swiss chard, romaine, parsley, cilantro, cucumber, broccoli, bok choy etc....  You get the idea...  

The more fruit you add to your recipes the more calories you are adding as well.. So go easy on the fuits.. Use them to sweeten your juice without making it the main course.

My rule of thumb has been to drink a gallon of juice a day...It is very difficult in the beginning until your tastebuds get used to it..  If you can't tolerate that much just drink as close as you can get and make sure you are still drinking water or tea...  Oolong is my favorite...  Yerba Mate as well...

Keep a journal or some other form of tracking.  Accountability is the key to success... I use my fitbit to track my foods...  Once you get the hang of it you can figure out your calories and fluid intake..  What I do is keep track of the amount of each ingredient I use..  then tally it up and divide it by the ounces.  Then I can track my ounces and calories each time I have a cup versus trying to figure out how much is left at the end of the day.

Save your bottles or jars for recycling into cute drinking containers.  You will see above that I use mason jars.  32 ounces in each jar so I only have to drink 4 of those each day.

I would also like to mention that it is not a good idea to drink strictly juice.. You need to add water to the mix.. Try some plain water infused with fruit, tea with no sweetener...  Heck.. I even drink coffee...  Some folks would flip hearing that, but... I will not give up my coffee for anything..  :)  I also add those flavor packets to some of my water to shake it up a bit.   

All this said.. lets get on to the mechanics of juicing.. You can do it one of 3 ways.. 

First get yourself a good juicer... A good juicer will yield way more juice than a cheapy.  In the long run anyway..  If you are not sure that juicing is for you then by all means by a cheap model at your local discount store.  It will do the trick until you choose to upgrade.  I have one of each..  I have an Omega VRT350 as well as a cheap one I picked up from Walmart.  It works but I do run my pulp back thru it to get additional juice out of it.

Second option is to use your blender.  Blend all ingredients with added water and strain it in a cheesecloth or cotton napkin.  This is a lot of work folks.. It takes more patience than I care to do, however, if you do not want to invest in a juicer it will work.  

Third option which I do not recommend...  Buy premade juice.  Just make sure it does not have added sugar.  There are some places you can buy it from online, but they are very pricey and do not give alot of customizing options.  Find yourself a juice bar that makes daily fresh juice.  We do not have one locally so I just make my own.  


Be Realistic... Keep your expectations real..  Juicing is hard..  It is not as easy as some might like to tell you..  Detoxing symptoms really suck..  Headaches, dizziness, nausea, foggy, and foul smells...  Keep it simple your first time round.  Try a 1 day cleanse to begin with.  If you feel you can go longer then by all means..  Just keep it real..  

• Nifty products to assist in your drinking pleasure

I love my lids.. It makes drinking with my jars so much nicer and people love commenting on them.. lol   

I also like to recycle glass Starbucks bottles for easy toting.   I find my mason jars are quite difficult to transport in my small cooler bag.

Always remember that this is your journey and you can make it into what you want it to be.

happy juicing!!!