Mission Accomplished

It's officially after midnight (don't trust Blogger time) which means I have successfully completed my twelve day juice cleanse! In celebration, I thought I would share twelve things I have learned on this journey.  And here they are:

1. Real juice does not come in a glass, cup, bottle, can, jar, jug, carton, box, or anything of the sort.  Store bought juices are nothing but sugar water and have little to no nutritional value.  Even Odwalla and other "naked" juices are pasteurized.  Pasteurization is when the juice is heated to get rid of bacteria.  Unfortunately, beneficial nutrients may also be eliminated during this process. If you want to reap the full health benefits of drinking juice, you must make it yourself or purchase it from a legit juice bar.
2. Do not put your juice in the fridge!  When fruits and vegetables are juiced, they begin the oxidation process and soon lose some of their nutritional value.  (Oxidation is what makes an apple turn brown when you cut it.)  Always drink your juice right after making it.
3. Drink your juice slowly.  You must give your body time to take in the overwhelming amount of vitamins and minerals from the juice.  Drinking it too fast can prevent you from fully absorbing the nutrients.  And it can make you feel sick.
4. Juicing is time consuming.  For each glass of juice you make, you will need to prep the ingredients, juice them, and clean the juicer.  This can take anywhere from thirty minutes to an hour.  If you're doing a juice cleanse, you will probably want to make juice at least three times a day.  So, you're likely to spend an hour and a half to three hours a day in the kitchen.
5. Making juice can be very expensive.  It's amazing how much food you have to put in your juicer just to produce a small glass of juice.  Shop at the farmer's market when possible.  Not only are the fruits and veggies local and fresh, but they also tend to be cheaper than at the grocery store.
6. Don't be afraid to experiment with different juice combinations.  You just might end up with your best juice yet.  By the same token, use your intuition.  If you can't imagine pairing a certain fruit with a certain vegetable, you probably shouldn't.
7. Use a wide variety of ingredients.  Every fruit and every vegetable has its own unique nutritional benefits to offer.  Try them all!
8. We are in control of what we put into our bodies.  We can choose to fill our bodies with foods that will help us or with foods that will hurt us.  The helping foods can taste just as good as (if not better than) the hurting foods.  In fact, if you begin eating more healthy foods, your taste buds will change.  All of a sudden, the unhealthy foods you used to crave will start to taste as awful as they are for you.
9. If you are looking at your computer, tablet, or mobile phone to read this blog, then chances are you have never been hungry.  Most of us have never experienced true hunger.  The hunger we feel stems from our brains, not our bodies.  However, hunger should be physical.  We must learn to listen our bodies not only to tell us when we are hungry but also to tell us when we are full.
10. Never underestimate the importance of drinking.  You can survive much longer without food than without water.  In theory, you could live your entire life on a liquid diet.  When we think we are hungry, more often than not, we are really thirsty.  Drink a full glass of water before every meal even if your meals only consist of juice.
11. You may think that you need your cup of coffee, your can of Red Bull, your 5-Hour Energy Shot, etc. to wake you up or give you the energy you need to get through the day.  But these things are not doing anything good for your body.  Several hours after drinking them, you are likely to feel even more sluggish than you were to begin with.  You don't need caffeine or a ridiculous amount of vitamin B to get energized.  All you need is a good healthy dose of vitamins and minerals.  Which you can always get from a delicious glass of fresh squeezed juice!
12. It is possible to completely change your life in as little as twelve days.  And I am living proof!

Juicy Fruit No More

It's official.  I've become a hardcore juicing machine.  What better way to celebrate Independence Day than with an all green veggie juice?!  That's right, no fruit.  Not even a sweet beet.  Ingredients: Russian kale, curly kale, dinosaur kale, broccoli, rainbow chard, celery, dandelion greens.  Can you say yum?  Celebrate your freedom...drink juice!

Deep In The Juice

Day nine is coming to a close and the countdown is on...only three more days to go!  There is no doubt that already the juice has helped me to become stronger person.  For the first time, perhaps ever, I have made myself a priority.  I am doing this for me, no one else.  And I am not depending on anyone else but myself to complete this journey.  I get the ingredients; I make the juice; I drink it.  I have the discipline to to this everyday all on my own.  Sure, some people have helped me along the way.  Like my friends at How Art Thou? and all the fabulous people holding me accountable by reading my silly blog.  Still though, at the end of the day, I juice alone. 

For as long as I can remember, I have been self-conscious about my weight.  There was always this feeling in the back of my mind that if I could just be thin, somehow all other aspects of my life would magically fall into place.  That I was inadequate as a person because I never fit into some Hollywood-created mold of beauty.  Or because I couldn't wear a pair of skinny jeans without looking ridiculous.  Yet, in nine short days, I have opened my eyes to what I could not see for twenty-two years.  It was never about my desire to be gaunt.  What I really wanted, deep down, was to be perfect.  Now, everyone knows that there is no such thing as perfection.  But, knowing this does not stop us (or did not stop me) from desperately wanting to achieve it.

I have often felt myself thinking, "I'll never be good enough."  The real question is: good enough for whom?  Whom is it, exactly, that I am trying so hard to impress?  And why, of all things, would I want to impress he/she/it with my body?  Physical beauty is, after all, quite subjective.  I can now accept, amongst other things, that I will probably never fit into a size two.  I simply wasn't designed that way.  Loving myself and my body is the first step in attaining that which I have only dreamed of.  When you truly love yourself, no one can change your perception.  Being perfect doesn't matter anymore because you only have to be good enough for you.  To me, skinny isn't beautiful.  Fat isn't beautiful.  Short, tall, big, small isn't beautiful.  No, healthy IS beautiful.  I may not lose a single pound from this juice cleanse.  I might gain twenty when it's over.  Guess what?  I could care less.  I am happy to be getting healthy.  No matter what number that may reflect on the scale.

What's even more amazing about this juice journey than my self-realizations is the impact I've had on others.  My friends are starting to adopt better eating habits and a few have even set out to buy their very own juicers.  Nine days ago, that never would have happened.  Pretty soon, the juice will spread like wildfire!  How fitting that when I randomly turned on the television today, Family Feud was on.  The topic: "Name something that might be referred to as juicy."  And the number one answer...me!  (Okay, just kidding.  It was fruit.)

Recipes

Recently I have been getting a lot of questions about juicing recipes.  Personally, I feel that following a recipe is more trouble than it's worth.  I prefer to experiment and see what combinations strike a chord with my taste buds.  But, I can also understand that someone who is new to the juicing world might want a recipe as a starting point.  So, I thought I would post some links that I have discovered.  (These links contain other useful information as well.)  And without further ado, here they are:

• Top Juicer Recipes – The Power of Juice
• Juice Recipe for Beauty
• Jack LaLanne's Power Juicer Health Community
• 5 Favorite Juicer Recipes
• Mean Green Juice Recipes
• 30 Days of Juicing

Also, definitely check out RebootYourLife.  They post new recipes on their blog every week.  Happy juicing!

James Island Juice!

This morning I made my first ever visit to James Island's one and only juice bar!  How Art Thou? Cafe, Juice & Wine Bar is located on Maybank Highway, making it convenient to Johns Island, West Ashley, and even Downtown.  Food allergies are not an issue at this lovely juice bar as they clean out their juicer after every use.  The juices on their menu do not contain many green leafy vegetables.  But, they are willing to do substitutions and add anything from their food menu into the juice!

My father and I chose the "On the 'Monet'", which contains cucumber, broccoli, kiwi, white grapes, and mint.  We subbed the cucumber for greens.  I can honestly say this was the best darn juice I have ever had!  The mint gave it such an amazing flavor.  And for $6.79 for a 20 ounce cup, you can't beat it.  That's about half the price of the juice at The Sprout.  Not to mention the exceptionally friendly service and great ambience How Art Thou? has to offer!  I will definitely be returning very soon.

What You Juicing Up Now?

It's the end of day seven which means I have successfully completed one week of my juice cleanse.  And now there are only five more days to go.  I'm so happy that the end is in sight.  I'll admit, the past few days have been rough.  I attribute this mostly to the extreme heat we've been experiencing.  Normally, I'm not a big fan of the rain.  But, this evening I could not have been more thrilled to hear the thunder boom and the see the lightening crack signaling that the showers are on their way.  Hopefully things will be cooled off soon.

Even though I'm past halfway, I'm still having juicing firsts.  I was so tempted by the amount of juice that I could get from my favorite fruit that I simply could not resist.  One slice of watermelon yields over four ounces of juice.  That's insane!!!  Do you have any idea how many greens I would have to juice to get that much?  The only downside is that watermelon isn't as nutritionally sound and it doesn't mesh as well with vegetables as an apple does.  Yet, my amalgam didn't turn out half bad.  I combined watermelon, celery, a red bell pepper, dinosaur kale, rainbow chard, and baby spinach.  Next time I'll use less celery.  Oh yes, there will be a next time!

I Do It All For The Juice

It was a scorching hot day at the downtown farmer's market.  Battling the heat and the crowd was hard work.  But, I did it.  All to score some juicetastic ingredients.  Check it out.

Celery.  Rainbow chard. Green bell peppers.  Red bell peppers.  Kale.  Kale.  Kale. And more kale!  Plus a complimentary basket.  (Flowers not included.)  Total cost = $18.  Not too shabby, huh?  Now let's juice these bad boys up...

Hey, You Don't Belong In My Juice!

Well, it's day five of my juice cleanse which means tomorrow I'll be halfway there.  I'm feeling a little better today and am hopeful that it will be smooth sailing from here on out.  I find that it helps to keep myself really busy so I don't sit around thinking about food.  Frolicking in the ocean is a perfect way to help my mind stay otherwise occupied.  And so I decided to bring my morning juice to the beach.

Ahhh, the sound of the ocean waves crashing at my feet.  The warmth of the sun caressing skin.  The cool breeze dancing across my face.  The crunchy sand infesting my juice.  Wait...what?!!  Oh yes.  Beware.  Sand is not afraid to dive right into your juice.  Now the last time I checked, sand is not a vegetable.  Or a fruit.  It therefore does not belong in juice.  Apparently no one gave sand the memo.  Oh well, I guess that's the price you pay for a day of deep relaxation.

Time for an afternoon nap.  The sun makes me sleepy.  I will be well rested and ready to go for the downtown farmer's market tomorrow!  The fridge is in desperate need of restocking!

A Juicy Perspective

If you have been following my blog, you may be thinking that juice fasting is a walk in the park.  Gallivanting around the farmer's market.  Going on juice bar escapades.  Sipping sweet juice in the afternoon sun.  Well let me tell you, it is not all fun and games.  The detoxification symptoms can be intense: head aches, body aches, nausea, dizziness, and more.  Almost like having the flu.  But the great thing is that even though your body may feel weak, your mind is strong.  I am thinking more clearly than ever before.  And from what I hear, my body should catch up soon and these afflictions will subside.

Already, this journey has helped me to gain new insight.  I now realize that my body can survive without food (solid, anyway).  Given the right foods, my body will thrive.  All the food I think that I crave is desired by my brain and not my body.  The body seeks nourishment.  The brain seeks comfort.  And those comfort foods can be pernicious.  They do not do anything for your body.  Food should leave you feeling energized, not sluggish and wanting more.  I am learning what real hunger is.  True hunger is physical.  True hunger is not driven by emotions.  I know that when this cleanse is over, I will be more attuned to my body.  I will listen to it and wait for it to tell me when I am hungry and more importantly, what I am hungry for.

Weight loss may be a side effect of juice fasting (although I have not experienced it yet).  But, it should not be the reason behind it.  You will gain back any weight lost as soon as you come off of the fast.  You have to be ready to make a real and permanent lifestyle change.  And if done right, juicing can be a catalyst to that change.  Anyone reading this post who is looking to lose weight, please read this guide by one of my personal favorite bloggers.  For years, I have scoured the web, reading anything and everything about weight loss.  I have never come across a more realistic or complete resource than Criss's guide.  So, seriously, go read it!  It is well worth your time.

My New Favorite Bar

Cleaning a juicer can be a relatively quick and easy process.  That is, if you are able to dump all the waste in the trash can before washing the parts.  Well, this morning my waste bucket ended up on the floor and my dog feasted on insoluble fiber for breakfast.  It took me forever to clean up.  But, I did manage to create my first ever cup of not green juice.  I used beet stems and leaves, red chard, a red apple, mustard greens, and cauliflower.  I resolved to enjoy my brownish red concoction on the dock.  After all, juice tastes better in the sunshine!

My kitchen catastrophe this morning left me in no hurry to make more juice.  So, I decided to look for a juice bar.  I ventured to the Mt. Pleasant Barnes & Noble where my amazing friend, Lindsay, works.  We browsed the cookbook section and I found some amazing raw cookbooks with recipes I can't wait to try.  (I later realized that looking at pictures of food isn't the best idea when you're fasting.)  Then, we set out to find the bar.  And thanks to Lindsay's magical GPS, we found it!

Tucked inside of Eco Fitness gym, The Sprout specializes in vegan, raw, organic, and local foods.  And of course, juice!  Because many of their juices contain carrots, I was a little apprehensive about ordering.  I asked the girls of The Sprout to clean the juicer before making my juice and they willingly obliged.  I could not have been more pleased as I know first hand how much work can go into this process.

Lindsay and I chose the Green Machine, a simple combination of kale, celery, apple, parsley, and carrots.  I obviously got mine minus the carrots.  When I received my juice, I expressed my gratitude to the girl for cleaning the juicer especially for me.  She said all people should be able to enjoy the benefits of delicious fresh made juice, despite food allergies.  Wow, what a great attitude!  I am a customer for life.

The juice is a little pricey.  But, it is well worth it for the exceptional service and the convenience of not having to make it yourself.  The Sprout has Kombucha too!  I can't wait for my next visit to my new favorite bar.

Juicing Firsts

Well, today was a rainy day at the Mount Pleasant farmer's market.  But, that did not stop people from lining up to get their fresh fruits and veggies!

I am happy to say that this was my first, but definitely not my last, time at the farmer's market.  I was impressed by the variety (and quantity) of foods available.  And, you can't beat the prices.  I walked away with three huge bell peppers, four beets, and three different kinds of kale all for a little under $16.  Somehow a mystery pepper also ended up in my bag.  I don't think I'll be juicing it, though.  Pretty sure it's a hot one.

After I got home from the farmer's market, a lovely juicing buddy helped me to successfully make my first all vegetable juice.  No apples, just peppers and beets to make it sweet.  I'll admit, we both agreed that it tasted like a little bit like dirt.  Which surprisingly wasn't an awful taste.  After we drank it down some, it got sweeter and was actually pretty darn good.  I can't wait to experiment more tomorrow!  

Going Bananas

Even superheroes have their weaknesses.  My personal kryptonite comes in three different forms, all of which can be difficult to avoid.  For the common man, these substances do not pose any real threat and can actually be quite beneficial.  But for this superman superwoman hulk, they are deadly.  So just what are these dangerous substances, you ask?  Carrots, peanuts, and worst of all, bananas!  These poisons have the power to make me go from this...

to this...

Pretty scary, right?  Trust me, allergic reactions are no fun.  And seeing as how I have absolutely no desire to kill myself or to make my face blow up the size of a bowling ball, I would never put any of things that I am allergic to in my juice.  (Although I hear carrots are excellent for juicing).  Yet, for some odd reason every batch of juice I have made so far tastes just like bananas.  I've combined different ingredients.  Thrown in more lemon and ginger for flavor.  Juiced more veggies.  Fewer veggies.  One apple. Two apples.  No matter what the result is the same.  It tastes like freaking bananas!  Maybe I'm just going nuts... Oh crap, I'm allergic to those too!

Juice Gets You Jacked!

Well, it's day one and so far so good.  I had a curriculum planning meeting to go to this morning, so I took my first juice to go.

Let me tell you, this stuff is way better than Starbucks.  All those nutrients packed into one glass left me feeling more energized than a cup of coffee ever could.  And, it actually fills you up.  I went with some of the other math teachers to Firehouse Subs for our lunch break.  I was not even slightly tempted by the food they were eating.  I actually just kept thinking about getting home to make more juice!

What I find really cool is that I can put all kinds of vegetables in the juice that I would never normally eat on their own and somehow they taste really good together.  I have always been somewhat of a picky eater and my vegetable repertoire is lacking.  So, it is surprising to me that I like the taste of the juice.  I had planned to ease my way into the cleanse slowly.  Starting off with a combination of juice and raw foods.  But, I feel so great that I have decided to jump right in to all juice and see how it goes.

Oh, and did I mention that juice changes you?  You might not even recognize me anymore.  This is what I looked like after my second glass:

Pretty sweet, huh?  Luckily green is my favorite color...

My First Creation

Well, my juicing adventure almost stopped before it started.  I couldn't get the darn juicer to turn on.  I tried everything.  I took the whole thing apart and put it back together again.  I read all the troubleshooting tips in the owner's manual.  I said a few choice words.  Okay, more than a few.  I asked my mom, who is halfway across the country, what to do as if she could see what I was looking at.  Irrational, I know.  The light bulb did not go off until I spoke with my sister.  Turns out the problem was not the juicer at all.  I simply needed to press the reset button on the electrical outlet.  Wow.  Sort of feels like another metaphor for this whole juice journey.  I have been searching high and low for a solution to my body struggles.  As it turns out, the key is in the reset.  I must help my body return to a more natural state through a deep cleanse.  But, that's enough philosophical mumbo jumbo for today.

Once I had finally gotten the juicer to turn on, the rest was pretty easy.  I combined a bunch of random ingredients from the fridge and got my first glass of juice.

Looks gross.  But it tastes phenomenal.  The juice test run was a definite success. Let's hope I can figure out what I did so I can make some more delicious juice tomorrow morning!

Stocking the Fridge

It's probably not the best idea to work out heavily while doing a juice cleanse.  So I had to get in one good last trip to the gym before preparing for the fast.

As you can see, I was a hot, sweaty mess.  I think juicing will be just like exercise.  It's hard at first and in the beginning you might want to quit.  But eventually it really grows on you.  You might even become addicted to it.  When it's over, you feel amazing.  Like you can do anything.  Like you're on top of the world.

After my wonderful workout, it was time to hit up the grocery store.

Celery, bok choy, red chard, ginger, kale, mustard greens, green apples, limes, lemons, cauliflower, and broccoli.  Total cost: $23.16.  I can't wait to turn all of this into juice!  I'm hoping it will last me at least until I can get to the farmer's market on Tuesday.

Now I'm off to practice with the juicer...wish me luck!  The cleanse begins tomorrow!

Starting the Journey

I am finally ready to make some much needed and long overdue changes to my life.  After many years of trying to get skinny, I have decided to accept my body as it is and focus on getting healthy instead.  I realize that I am never going to be perfect and that no matter what I do, there will always be things I don't like about my physical appearance.  That's just part of being a woman, part of being human.  I only have one body so I might as well love it and take the best possible care of it.

This past year, I tried a lot of "diets".  Eating protein bars, meal replacement shakes, and other chemically engineered crap will help you to shed those pounds.  But, what happens when you return to a "normal" way of eating?  Well, in my case, you gain it all back.  Restricted calorie diets screw with your metabolism.  Your body gets used to surviving on a lower number of calories and starts conserving anything extra.  Sure Slim Fast, Special K, and other fad diets will help you lose weight.  Hell, they might even help you keep it off.  But, at what cost?  Is being thin really worth sacrificing your health?  Do you really want to live off of processed junk for the rest of your life?  It's time to adopt a new definition of the word "diet".  I will no longer think of a diet as a punishment for being fat.  As something I have to do temporarily until I lose enough weight to feel like it is okay to go back to eating again.  My diet will be my way of life.  My diet will be something that I keep for forever, for the rest of my life.  Food is no longer going to be my enemy.  Food will be the fuel my body needs to do the things I love to do.

So, where do I begin?  After some encouragement from my wonderful sister and some research of my own, I have come to the realization that a plant-based diet is the way to go.  I want to begin eating foods that come from the earth, not a factory.  However, before I can fully make the switch from man-made to God-made, I feel that I must detox.  I need to cleanse my body of all the toxins I have put in it for so many years.  I want to start off with a clean slate.  I am embarking on physical and spiritual journey that will lead me to a healthier life.  I want to change my relationship with food.  I want to remove the poisons from my body and my mind.  I want to change my taste buds and my outlook on life.  I will accomplish all of this through a 12 day juice fast.  I know it is not going to be easy.  But, for far too long, I have made excuses.  There is never going to be a perfect time to change.  I must start today.  I must invest in myself.  I want to live a life devoted to helping others.  To do this, I have to help myself first.

Please follow me as I begin my journey.  I would love to hear your thoughts.  Any words of encouragement will be much appreciated.