Green juice made easy

The problems with green juices are many.  Unless you have an expensive masticating juicer, the centrifugal juicers just do not extract a lot of juice out of the greens.  You need to use a massive amount to get a little bit of juice.

Another problem is the taste.  Some green juice can be rough to swallow since it tastes like you are drinking a meadow or your freshly cut lawn.

I have searched for a store brought juice to add to my freshly made juice and was never able to find one that I was completely taken with.  Preservatives.  Added sugar in the form of fake sweeteners - even Stevia is not good for you - and other added ingredients that are not natural.

Enter Suja Juice.  No preservatives.  Some have added sugar, but most do not so read your labels.  This adds volume and taste to your our of the juicer green juice.

That amount in the photo is for 2 mid morning juices and 2 afternoon juices.  Here is the recipe

Easy Green
1 bag of spinach
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch dandelion greens
1 large cucumber
5 celery stalks
1 lemon
3 granny smith apples
2 wedges pineapple
1 23.7 ounce Suja Essentials Green Delight

I juiced all of the ingredients except the Suja.  Stirred the juiced juice and then divided the individual servings by filling each container half way with juiced juice and then the rest of the way with the Suja juice.

Easy and delicious.

The Daily Juice 8-18-14

So here it is Monday.  August 18, 2014.  Matt is home from vacation and we are re-starting the juice diet in an attempt to lose more weight.

From January to May, I lost 30 pounds.  Matt lost 35 pounds.  From May until today, we were learning to maintain tat weight loss, adjust our eating habits as well as learning portion control and moderation.

One difference is going to be the lunches.  I am adding protein to lunch and not juicing.  I will only eat 4 ounces of a protein.  That seems to get me through to dinner and takes care of any tiredness I might feel mid-day.

Breakfast was the typical Nutribullet smoothie

2 cups of triple green blend
banana
handful goji berries
handful of almonds
1 cup of triple berry blend
chocolate protein powder
3 prunes

Satisfying and delicious

Snack juices are a typical green juice.  For this juice diet go around, I am going only green juices and vegetable juices.

That is a bunch of Lacinto Kale
bunch of parsley
2 cuts of pineapple
2 apples, celery
lime
2 cucumbers
ginger

I supplemented it with the Suja Essentials Green Delight.  I am doing this so that we will get four (4) 12 ounce servings out of the juice.

Tonight's dinner will be chicken breasts, broccolini, cauliflower and a salad.

I will cook enough chicken to have leftover for tomorrows lunch.  I usually get breasts that are pretty big ad I cut them in half prior to grilling.  4 portions right there.  No over eating of the protein.  I am not concerned with the amount of veggies that we take in.  Salad dressing usually consists of vinegar and oil and occasionally I whisk in a little Dijon mustard or lemon juice.

A little catch up to do...

It certainly has been a while.  Life gets in the way sometimes.

I am still juicing and maintaining the 30 pound weight loss that I accomplished.  However... It is time to lose 20 more pounds.

Let's talk a little about maintaining the weight loss.  Yes.  I had to make changes.  Not drastic changes, just changes.  First off was cutting out eating out as much as we did prior to the diet.  Along with that came cutting the high calorie, high fat foods from the diet.  My next change was limiting the amount of "white" I ate. Meaning  - pasta, all rice and grains, potatoes, bread, sugar, dairy.  Not eliminating, just reducing.  I also changed out ground beef for ground turkey or buffalo in many recipes.  And, one of the important things?  Having things to eat for lunch in the house so that we did not go out to eat.  This was accomplished by stocking the freezer with turkey burgers, chicken burgers, already cooked grilled chicken and making sure I had salad ingredients.  Another change, and probably the most important change was re-committing myself to the preparation of dinner.

Along my journey, I have discovered that I need to juice my breakfast and I need to have another juice during the day.  Lunch needs to be light and should be protein to get me to dinner.  If I grill chicken, I make an extra one for my lunch the next day.  Simple 4 ounces of chicken for lunch and I can make it to 6 pm.

I have also discovered short cuts to juicing.  One store bought juice that I can recommend is Suja Juice.

You can get this at Costco, Whole Foods and some grocery stores.  Now I won't lie.  It is expensive.  I would click on the image to go to the website and research the line ups.  Some do have Stevia in the and I stay away from all artificial sweetener - even Stevia.

Suja does not have any preservatives in it.  I like that.  When I tried the Classics line up, many of the juices taste exactly like the ones I am producing out of my Breville.  I have also tried the Essentials and found them to be a bit sweeter and probably good for someone looking to add juice to their diet.

In any event.  From here on out, I plan to include not only juice recipes, but basic recipes that I am eating to maintain my weight loss and continue on with my journey to better health.

I am headed to a lab draw next week.  One year ago I had a complete lab draw and was surprised to find how good my labs were.  Cholesterol was a little up, but the good was good and the bad was good. Looking to see a change in that overall number this year.  If I can find last years reports, I will post both.  I had that done in July... and yet it took me nearly 6 months to get my act together and get going on the road to better health.

Lesson learned.  Thankfully not the hard way.

The morning after...

I hope everyone celebrating had a Happy Easter.

I overdid it this week end and I am thankful for no weight gain and thankful that I learned a lesson and thankful that I am ready to detox - no matter how painful it may be.

I had 1.5 cinnamon sugar muffins, a cinnamon biscuit, french toast and syrup along with eggs and potatoes. My body did not like me.  I felt nauseous for the rest of the day.  Luckily I was able to start functioning in the afternoon.

Lesson learned.  No sugar.  No carbs in high doses.

I have a recipe to share from Friday because I have finally found my beet recipe.  This was a delicious juice!

Awesome Beet
1/2 red beet
4 peeled oranges
1/2 lemon
1/2 bunch dandelion leaves
4 carrots
nub ginger
nub turmeric.
Of course that juice is pictured on the right.

The juice on the left was not my favorite.  I will share the recipe anyhow

Green
1/2 romaine head
bunch kale
2 cucumbers
dill
ginger
turmeric
2 apples
1/2 lemon

One thing I have learned about apples?  Get either Gala or Granny Smith.  The red delicious do not impart enough sweetness to a juice and that is what this juice needed.

Today, my Monday, I have made the detox Green juice

Detox Green
Kale
1/2 romaine
1/2 pineapple
4 carrots
2 cucumbers
5 celery
1/2 lemon

I will drink this as a snack and have a Bullet for Breakfast and lunch today.  

Monday. Oh, Monday...

Follow us and join us on Facebook.    The Daily Juice

I had so many Facebook friends ask about my routine and ask about recipes, that I decided to start a group for all of us to share recipes and photos.

So.  We are back at it this week.  Trying to lose an additional 5 pounds before we go to New Jersey at the end of the month.

Lion's Tooth Lemonade
1 head of romaine lettuce
1/2 bunch dandelion leaves and stems
3 apples
1 lemon

I have had this juice before and it is quite good.  Tart and refreshing as a lemonade should be.

Sweet Beet
1/2 beet
4 oranges peeled
1/2 pineapple

** What a delicious juice.  Sweet with a subtle hint of the beet flavor.  I am definitely making this one again.

Both of these juices were thru the Breville and both are 2 servings.  These are our snack juices and we have a serving mid morning and a serving mid afternoon.

Sweet Dandelion and the benefits of leafy greens

I like to use dandelion greens every once in a while when I can get them.  They are very bitter, so it is necessary to sweeten the juice.  Pineapple is just that sweetener to use.

Dandelion greens are high in calcium - who said you had to drink milk to get calcium?  They are also high in antioxidants - Vitamin A and Vitamin C.  Dandelion greens are also high in iron!!

To read more about how to use dandelion greens, click here:  Dandelion green smoothies

I get my dandelion greens at Freshfield Farms, who locally sources them from Lady Moon Farms.  On their own, they are bitter.  But when juiced with the right fruits and veggies, they pack a ton of nutrition to your daily juice.

Sweet Dandelion
1/2 bunch dandelion greens
2 cucumbers
1/2 lemon
1/4 pineapple
(2 servings)

Another tip to take with us with regard to the greens in smoothies - Rotate your greens.

Why?  Alkaloid build-up.  All leafy greens contain a very small amount of toxins and when consumed over a long period of time, these toxins can build up and harm the thyroid.  Please know that this is VERY RARE.

If you use spinach one day, kale the next, you have it down pat.  Don't worry.  And besides, it is good to switch it up every once in a while as different greens have different nutrient benefits.

Another article on the benefits of greens in your smoothies:  Benefits of greens

Tomorrow?  Why to use lemons.

Pearrific Juice

Keeping it slow and steady with another pound lost.  Matt is holding it down at 40 pounds lost.

Pears are known for their anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.  Pears are also one of the easier to digest foods and have a high amount of digestible fiber.  I know when I add them to a smoothie, they add a thick texture that feels decadent on the tongue and a nice sweet flavor.    Pears are also considered to reduce the risk of Type 2 Diabetes and lower heart disease.

Today, I have juiced a nice pear and citrus juice that I am excited to drink for my morning juice.

Pearrific
3 pears
2 peeled oranges
1 lemon
ginger

I am also still on my citrus juice

Citrus Kale Juice
6 kale leaves
2 peeled grapefruit
1 peeled orange
1 lemon
2 handfuls of spinach
1 cucumber
turmeric
ginger

Re-set Monday

Daily gratitude:  That I was able to get my husband to get some things done around the house this week-end.

Spent Saturday visiting the produce places and then came home and processed all of the fruits and veggies - mainly the fruits.  Mango, pineapple, papaya for the tropical mix, and blackberry, strawberry raspberry for the berry blend mix.  Also snagged some citrus - oranges, a few limes, grapefruit. I also grabbed some seeds - pumpkin and sunflower.  I am getting back to the fruit in the morning and a veggie juice in the afternoon.

Monday is re-set the diet day.I am hovering at the 27 pounds lost mark and I want to shake it up and get a few more pounds lost this week.

So, with all that good produce, here are my juices for the day.

For breakfast I am doing the NutriBullet blended smoothie.  Greens, my tropical mix, a banana and some pumpkin seeds.  For lunch will do in the Bullet - greens,berry blend, protein powder and banana and almonds.

Mid morning juice:

4 peeled oranges
1/2 sweet potato
8 carrots
1/2 beet
turmeric
grapefruit (not pictured)

For my afternoon juice (not a great photo)

Peeled grapefruit
4 celery stalks
bunch parsely
3 cucumbers
lime
ginger

It's Monday.  A new week begins.  Broken resolutions can start over fresh.  Enjoy

Advice to new juicers

I think that since I have been doing this for nearly 60 days and my weight loss is 27 pounds, I can comment on what to do when you are first starting out.

1.  Decide how serious you are about this.  Do you want to lose weight?  Do you want to get more greens and veggies into your diet?

2.  How long do you plan to do this?  Is this something that you are doing for a month?  A year?  The rest of your life?

3.  Based on your above decisions, get the right equipment.
    a.  decide how much money you want to spend.
         - a blender will make a smoothie, but will not extract the nutrients you need completely.  You can can              get spinach and softer fruits to break down pretty well, but nuts and kale, hard fruits and most
           veggies will not break down.

            -  Nutribullet 600 or 900.  One of the best options.  The 600 is cheaper and will do the job.  These                   extract the nutrients and break down your fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds completely.  Easy to
                use, easy to clean and I highly recommend it.

             - Juicer.  One of the best options to get if you are looking to get the nutrients right in to your system               and looking for a consistency that is more juice like and less smoothie like.  Everything can go in
              the juicer.

4.  Decide how you are going to juice.  Do you have time to juice 3-4 times a day?  Or is it easier to juice all of your daily juices at once.  Don't worry about reading that it's not good to store your juice.  If you are drinking them all in one day, nutrients are not going to be lost.

5.  If you do not like the taste of vegetables, making them in to a juice is not going to change their taste.  You need to make sure you are adding fruit to the juice.  Pineapple is your sweetest choice.  Costco has a Festival blend that includes pineapple, strawberry, mango and papaya.  You can use it frozen or thawed Bananas also add sweetness.
Spinach is one of the mildest dark greens.
My advice is to make a green smoothie in the morning with your greens, banana and pineapple and then in the afternoon, do a more veggie one with pineapple added.

6.  Beets are not for everyone.

7.  Once you get your tastebuds used to it, move on to other greens such as kale, chard, etc.

8.  Use resources to look for recipes.  Pinterest is a great resource.

9.  Read ingredients on soy milk, almond milk and other "healthy" drinks.  You might be surprised.

10.  Lastly, enjoy what you make  If you did not care for a juice, tweak it the next time and see.  This is all trial and error.

And be healthy.

 

A Green day

Daily gratitude:  Hmmm...

Feeling the need to detox has got me seeing green.

For breakfast I blended the Power greens, 1 banana, 1 pear, sunflower seeds, water (ice in hubby's)

I added a little cinnamon to mine.

And it blended to a smooth consistency.  The pear adds a little texture to the smoothie, but over all, very tasty.

Afternoon juice was another green concoction:

Bunch of kale
6 celery stalks
cucumber
2 wedges of pineapple
pint of strawberries washed but not hulled
1/2 lime
nub of turmeric
nub of ginger
1/2 pear

This is a sweetened green blend that will get the good minerals and vitamins right in this afternoon and hopefully take the burgers and tacos out!

Yes.  My Sunday cheat day was awesome.

Monday morning

I feel the need to detox today.  Perhaps all week long.

Will be taking it lightly today.  Cheat day was definitely a cheat day PLUS, my husband and I had a cheat lunch on Friday

My morning and afternoon juice is a carrot/beet juice.

10 carrots
1/2 a beet root
nub ginger
2 apples
1 pear
All ingredients thru the Breville.
Remember, I juice for 2

I have another friend that has replaced a meal (lunch) with a blended smoothie.  She lost 2 pounds in 1 week.  I think she could have lost more, but is still also eating fast food on a near daily basis.  I guess the good part is that she is getting in greens and fruit  However, the processed stuff is still going in as well.

Baby steps.

Good news

Daily gratitude:  I am grateful that I know of one person that I inspired and she is doing well on this diet

EXCITING NEWS TIME:
I just got home from seeing my Endocrinologist. Well My Triglycerides dropped from 700 to 488 And my Cholesterol dropped from 300 to 232. My liver function went back to normal, and my thyroid numbers are coming down that he cut my synthyroid from 150MG to 75MG. 20 days guys.... 20 days and this juicing is really healing me. And I am down 8 pounds.


That was Shannon's Facebook status yesterday, February 21, 2014.

The photo that started it all:

When I posted the photo of the beet juice to Facebook, it caused a whirlwind of activity.  Congratulations in the comments, questions... and private messages.  One of those messages was from Shannon.  I told her what my husband and I were doing.  She started off eating the veggies and the fruit since she did not have a juicer yet.  She also went to the doctor to ask his advice.  He gave her the thumbs up.

Shannon got her juicer and away she went.  In 20 days she has changed her numbers.  Twenty days!  I am so proud of her.  And so thrilled that she got this motivation to keep going.

In the 61/2 weeks I have been doing this I no longer take antacid medication and I rarely take Advil.  My energy level has skyrocketed and I just feel better.  I would be curious to see my numbers as well, although mine were okay last year when they were taken.

Keep up the great work, Shannon!