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.