Quick update on a cheat!

Sunday we had breakfast at about 9:30ish yesterday.  Then we went grocery shopping, and came home for a very late lunch.  I was starting to feel those hunger pangs.  Had a great juice about 3:30 which did well for me.  Then about 4:30 I decided to cheat and have a cookie.  Well, 3 large cookies.  It was good.  Well, quite frankly, too sweet.  Then I began to feel not so hot, and worst of all I could feel the sugar floating out into my body.  As weird as that sounds once you have stopped eating sugar [I quit sugar about six months ago] you can feel it implode inside your body.  And it doesn't really feel good.

I realized yesterday that as my last pre-fast meal I wanted pepperoni pizza from Costco, and I forgot to have it so that is the only thing I have been craving.  I told myself that would be my ONE cheat, but instead of driving to get that I had a cookie.  And now I wish I hadn't.  And I had a massive headache, so obviously that was not a great choice to make.

Live and learn, and do better going forward!
~Kiezie

Juice Day 3: Lunch

A really late lunch today.  I was just getting to that point where you start to shake, and you are just beyond hungry and about to go crazy.   Almost!  I felt it coming on but was able to just get my juice made and I was good to go.

For our late lunch we had a wonderful mixture of:

• Spinach - probably 3 handfuls
• Green cabbage - about 1/5 to 1/6th of a head of cabbage
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 large carrots
• 2 apples - 1 fuji, 1 red delicious

 I will post about our latest purchase, but it made quite the difference and I loved lunch!
Also, I am finding that it's best to keep it simple with the flavors!  Too many and it tastes a little crazy!

Have a wonderful day!
~Keizie

To buy or not to buy...

So after the first day and a half of juicing with the Vitamix I am very torn.  All the feedback I read from others people loved their juicers and people loved their Vitamix's.  Here is where I stand after day 1:

The Vitamix does a fantastic job of juicing, the challenge comes from separating the juice from the pulp.  I bought the straining bags [also known as Nut Milk Bags], and they work great.  However, they also work very slowly, and they take time to stand there and gently squeeze the juice out. 

So after making breakfast and lunch yesterday I purchased a sieve.  This worked much better but was still a slow and a bit of a messy process, and then I made another juice with the bags again and realized they are messier but faster than the sieve. 

I hate to admit it is making me rethink the juicer.  My thoughts are that the juicer may be messy too, but they make the juice and then you clean the machine.  Right now I make the juice, strain it, clean the machine, the strainer, the bowl I strain it into, the pitcher I pour it into that helps me put it in our travel bottles.  It's a lot of work!  We will continue to think about the juicer.  Until then we will enjoy our blended juice!

Juice Day 2: Hit and Miss

Breakfast was a mixture of juices, and unfortunately I didn't write down what went into it.  I made 2 last night, we were going to split them.  One was quite good [watermelon and peach were the fruits, with veggies and lots of spinach], the other was terrible, lots of kale which I think  may turn bitter over time, and just 2 small apples.  I made them last night because we were heading out at 7 this morning and I didn't want to get up at 5 to make juice.

For late lunch I just put together the following:

• Water
• 2 chunks of cauliflower
• Approx 1 cup of carrots [baby or diced]
• 1/4 of a personal size watermelon [hate to pay for those but that's all they had at 2 stores]
• 2 [rather small] green apples
• 2 stalks of celery
• Lots of spinach [approx 4 handfuls]
• Juice of half a lime

I enjoyed it but either it had too much lime or I should have left the lime out altogether.  I made the juice and squeezed the half lime directly into it after.  I think I like it better blended in.  I really enjoyed it, Eugene not so much.  He can't seem to say what he didn't like about it, but I think it was a bit on the bland side.

After Day One...

Day one started with a bang.  I felt great, however, we failed to plan our meal schedule and that made it a bit tough in the middle of the day - Now we know! - hungry, but I was able to juice up enough to stave it off somewhat.  I did have a few baby carrots and some grapes to help.  Other than that it was pure juice.

Eugene had a headache after lunch and still this morning of day 2.  I had a headache around bed time, and lightly when I woke up this morning.  Other than that I feel great. Oh, and we have each lost 2 to 3 pounds!  Nice way to start.  

More to come,

~Kiezie

Juice Fast: Day 1

Last night we went to one of our favorite spots for dinner.  It's a fabulous fusion of Asian and Mexican food.  Delicious!  Then we stopped by the grocery store on the way home to stock up on juice supplies.

This morning we began with juice! For breakfast I didn't focus so much on any one recipe, and it was pretty good.  Very drinkable.  Here is what went into the Vitamix:

• Some water
• Red beets
• Carrots (roughly 1 cup)
• 1/3 of a large English cucumber
• Lots of organic baby kale
• Large handful of spinach
• 1 green apple
•  Juice of half a lime
• 1 stalk of celery

For lunch I tried a variation of the Mean Green by Joe juice:

•  Some water [this is essential with the VitaMix]
• Most of one whole cucumber
• about in inch of ginger
• 2 apples
• half a lime [this time I put in the peeled lime rather than just the juice]
• Massive amounts of baby kale.

This juice was more bitter than breakfast, and the spiciness of the ginger really came through.  However, I don't think I used enough apples and there was WAY too much kale for my liking.

My biggest challenge today was that I took a nap, so I had breakfast at 8 and didn't have lunch until 3, at which time I was REALLY hungry.  I made another half juice to try and get rid of some of the hunger.  This was primarily red beets, apples, some spinach, and half a lime.

Dinner's juice was not fit for sharing, but we drank it anyway!

They recommend 4-6 16-22 oz juices per day.  It is now 10 at night and we have just finished our "dessert" which was our 5th juice.  Feeling really good actually.  Eugene [my husband] has a bit of a headache, probably from the lack of caffeine today.  I don't drink caffeinated drinks so I am hoping I won't be affected by that.  

Until tomorrow!

Kiezie

A green juice to try... from Food Babe

Foodbabe.com is a great source for all natural research, and for juice recipes.  I came across this Cabbage Patch Kids juice while researching some recipes.  It's on our list to try. 

Juicing without a juicer...

We own a Vitamix blender, high power, high speed, blends almost anything into nothing [well, not nothing!].  It was a two-year-long "impulse" buy.  After a bit of buyers remorse and LOTS of blended goodness in our life, we gave it a break.  [FYI, no more buyers remorse, in fact, quite the opposite, we LOVE the Vitamix].

Once we watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead we knew that we wanted to give the juice fast a try.  And then I started researching juicers.  But even at $150 for a moderate juicer it seemed silly to buy another machine when we had the Vitamix that we have used for smoothies - all kinds of smoothies - and many other things!  There is obviously a difference between the results of a juicer and a blender, but how much and would it really matter?  I started reading reviews, community boards, and found that most people with juicers do not like the 20+ minutes of juicing and the big mess to clean up.

The fiber/pulp in the blended "juice" was not needed/wanted/recommended for the juice fast, however I ran across many people who had both machines, and preferred the time and clean up factor of the Vitamix, and then just strained the juice.  They also got a larger amount of juice from blending rather than juicing the fruits and veggies.

So rather than invest more money in another machine I have ordered More Than a Nut Milk Bag [for straining the juice], a 6-pack of Aquasana 18 Oz. Glass Bottles [for work, running errands, etc], and the rest will go towards our fruits and veggies.  Right now we are researching, reading, planning our juices [and our shopping list!], and will be starting our juice fast on October 3rd or 4th.  We decided that we could start on a Friday so that we have the weekend to adapt, adjust, test juices, and so on, so that by Monday we will, at the very least, have a better idea of what we need to take to work, and how to manage any hunger issues that arise.

Looking forward to it!

JUICER UPDATE: We caved!  3 days in, a combined 13 pounds lost and we bought a juicer!  I will post about that soon, but I'm glad we did!

Cleansing Juice to try

I found this recipe on Dr Oz's site for his 48 hour weekend cleanse.  Although I disagree that a juicer is required, it looks worth a shot!  We will report back once we try it.  Have you tried it?

Kale, Pineapple and Ginger Detox Drink (Juicer required)This purifying beverage contains kale to cleanse the kidneys; pineapple, which has bromelain to aid digestion; and ginger to help stimulate bile flow in your gall bladder.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup pineapple
2 large cucumbers
1 bunch kale without stems (4 cups chopped)
1/2 lemon, squeezed
1/4 inch of ginger
1 bunch of mint (1/2 cup)

Try this Revved Up Red Juice

Came across this Revved Up Red Juice, from Dr. Oz.  It's on our Juice Recipes to Try list, so I will report back when we try it.  Have you tried it?

Ingredients
(Makes 3 1/2 servings)

1/2 cup chopped peeled red beets
1/2 red pepper, seed & stem removed, chopped
2 cups watermelon cubes
1 cup hulled strawberries
1 cup peeled cucumber cubes
1 tsp grated ginger
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/2 cup ice

Combine all in blender, serve and enjoy

Breakfast Juices to try...

Here are some juices I have collected from other sources and ideas from others.  As I try them I will move them to a standalone post with feedback, labelled as a recipe.  

1. Juice for Breakfast and snack was, 2 apples, 2 big handfuls of kale, 1 cucumber, 3 carrots, 7 strawberries [from the Reboot with Joe community boards]

Welcome!