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