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.  

Recipes and more recipes... and lemons, too

Lemons.  What can I say about lemons?  In my backyard, I have 2 Meyer lemon trees that produced over 300 lemons last year.  Now that I know the benefits of lemons, I will never complain at how well those 2 trees produce.

Lemons are shown to inhibit and prevent the growth of cancer by protecting your cells.  They are also known to help aid in the prevention of a tumor from growing.  They have limonene - an oil known to help aid in the prevention of cancer.    Lemons are acidic to the taste, but when introduced to the body, are very alkaline.  Cancer cells can not grow in an alkaline environment.

Lemons are rich in vitamin C.  We all know the benefits of this vitamin.  A big glass of lemon water can help cleanse the liver and get it started for the day.

Lemons are also helpful in battling acne and promoting glowing skin.

I have 3 recipes that I used lemons in.

Watermelon Lemonade
1 small watermelon (personal size)
1/2 lemon (peel and all)

Simply put.  This was a delicious and refreshing juice.  I love using watermelon juice when I am tired of the green juices and the veggies.  This could easily be a summer sipper worthy of a poolside afternoon.

My next juice is a green juice.

Kale Explosion
1 bunch of kale
2 cucumbers
1/2 lemon
ginger
turmeric
2 apples
4 celery
dill
parsley
 *  I added the dill and parsley because I have it growing like mad in my backyard.  If you don't have it, don't worry about it.

Not sure where the red/orange is coming from on the bottom.  Maybe the apples?

And finally, an orange juice.  Just a note.  I did not use any oranges in this juice.

The Color Orange
1 large sweet potato
1/2 lemon
5 carrots
2 wedges pineapple
2 handfulls of power greens (baby spinach, kale and chard)

Juicy Thursday

Today, my first juice is a garbage juice.  Doesn't sound delicious does it?  However, this is why it is garbage juice.  I take a look in my fridge and see what produce needs to go ASAP and I make it in to a juice.  I just so happened to have quite a bit!

Week old tomatoes, both round and a few grape ones, and green onions as well as a head of butter lettuce.  I added a bit of fresh produce to round it out in to a nice tomato juice

Garbage Juice
1 head of butter lettuce
tomatoes (as many as you want)
4 carrots
4 stalks celery
green onions
wedge lemon
2 hands full of spinach

 I was off the diet this past week end and I certainly paid the price.  Although I did not gain any weight, the toll it took on my digestive system was great.  I suffered, up til today, with bloating and gas pain.  I imagined that there was a battle in my intestines between the good stuff moving in and the bad stuff trying to hang on, but getting moved out.  I am feeling MUCH better today.

Next juice is a citrus beet juice.  I had a piece of leftover beet as well as grapefruits and oranges that needed to leave the house one way or another.

Citrus Garbage
2 peeled grapefruits
3 peeled oranges
1/4 beet
4 carrots
wedge of lemon
nub ginger

Enjoy the juice.

A Rare Saturday Post

Ate spaghetti last night.  Need to juice today and be strict.

I still have another 20 pounds to go.  I have lost 30 pounds since January 6, 2014.

So.  I made 2 juices for today and am planning to make chicken lettuce wraps for dinner.

Straw-Grapefruit Juice
2 pints of strawberries
3 grapefruit peeled
nub of ginger

And the next juice is another simple juice.

Carrot-Apple-Celery
4 granny smith apples
6 carrots
8-10 celery stalks

An update about the melon cucumber juice I made yesterday.  I did not like the taste and am not using an yellow melon any more.  The cantaloupe melon is much sweeter and easier to drink than the yellow melon.

Enjoy the week end.

Strawberry delight

It is strawberry season here in Florida and we are able to get these delicious berries right off the farm for wholesale prices.

Hubby brought home a flat of berries  I forgot just how much that was!!

So.  What do you do with so many berries?  Why you juice them, of course.

Strawberry Kale Delight
2 pints strawberries (I left the hulls on)
4 kale leaves
Thru the Breville

I ate a cheeseburger last night so this is my breakfast (half of it anyhow) and I will juice all the way to dinner

My afternoon juice is a melon and cucumber blend.  I had bought a yellow melon about a week ago and I knew it was time.

Cucumber Melon Delight
Whole yellow melon
2 cucumbers
Juice thru the Breville

Enjoy!!

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!

Protein Smoothie and Tuesday

Somehow, overnight, I managed to lose a pound.

Went to Costco yesterday and stocked up on some frozen organic blueberries, blackberries, spinach, pears, etc.  Looking forward to juices this week.

I have amped up the protein powder.  I scoop of protein powder, 1 cup frozen berries, i tablespoon ground golden flax and water to the Max line in the Nutribullet.  So delicious and filling

The frozen berries made it thick and the chocolate powder made it chocolaty.  Delish.

Taking advantage of the berries.  Our morning smoothie is in the NutriBullet

2 cups spinach
1 banana
1/2 cup blackberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1/4 cup flax seed
water to Max line

I did a version of this for our lunch but used the Power greens that Costco sells.  Baby spinach, baby kale, baby arugula, etc.

For the snack juices we did 2 different ones.  I will be honest, I am having a hard time with my afternoon juice so I have been doing a lighter, sweeter juice.

Mid morning juice

Bunch of kale
5 carrots
6 celery
1 pear
1 lemon
nub ginger
in the juicer.

For the afternoon snack (and I am hoping to be here to enjoy it)

1/2 baby watermelon
pint of strawberries
1/2 lime

Oh if you could smell it.  I will have no problem drinking this juice.

Enjoy your day.

Another week down

I lost 3 pounds this past week.  THREE!  Unbelievable.  I have lost a total of 21 pounds since we started this January 6, 2014.

Every time I make it to a Sunday I am grateful.  Not only does it mean I get to have a cheat day, it also means that I have another week under my belt.  Each week I am seeing results.  Each week it seems to get easier and easier.

I have also reached the point where my body craves these juices.  CRAVES THEM!!

I can do this.  This diet is working for me.  30 more to go.

Monday, Monday

Now I am not gonna tell a fib and say I was very good this week end.  I did pretty good on Saturday.  Sunday was a true cheat day.  However, the good news is that I did not gain any weight.  Whew.

So now to detox and get back on track.

I have a bit of a scratchy throat from being out in the rain and cold on Saturday, so I wanted a juice high in vitamin C.  I also wanted our regular morning juice and a green juice to detox on.  I guess that means we made 3 juices.

The morning juice is the same - the spinach and fruit in the Nutri-Bullet

The juice on the right I will call Vitamin C Plus

2 ruby red grapefruits peeled 

12 hulled strawberries

ginger

turmeric

What a refreshing juice.  I can feel the vitamins going right where I need them.

Green juice is simple

Kale

half bunch dandelion leaves

1 wedge pineapple

celery

2 cucumbers

ginger

turmeric

Both of the juices went thru the Breville juicer.

My goal for this week is to lose 3-5 pounds.  I am determined to do it.  

Made it to Friday... again

No daily gratitude

After today's blog, I am signing off for the week end.

Fennel.  That slightly sweet Italian bulb with the licorice flavor.    Most people use the seeds.  Rarely do we use the bulb or the green tops.  I am intrigued by fennel.  I have broiled it and sprinkled on lemon and parmesan.  Delicious.  I have sliced it thin and used it in salads.  Again.  Delicious.

So.  Why not juice?

Fennel is high in Vitamin C and has antioxidant value.  It is also a great source of fiber and may help reduce cholesterol levels.  It is also high in potassium, which can help lower high blood pressure.

So I decided to juice up some fennel.

1/3 bulb of fennel and a few strands of the stalk
5 carrots
ginger
turmeric
5 celery
1/2 handful of parsley

You get this:

And best of all?  It smells like licorice.  Now I am not a fan of licorice (unless it's the red kind) but somehow, I am able to eat fennel.  

Weight loss is another pound his week.  I probably need to up my water intake as well as my exercise routine.  

Enjoy your week end.  I will be back Monday.  

New Juice

Daily gratitude:  Hmm. Tough one today

Every start of a new week, I am more determined than the last week to make this juice diet a success.  I find that my afternoon snack is the hardest juice for me to get down.  So, today, I changed it up to give my tastebuds something they want to taste.

Watermelon juice.

Read all about watermelon and its wonderful benefits here:  Watermelon

I bought pre-cut chunks

3 cups watermelon

1 lime

2 kiwi fruit 

Through the juicer.

The smell from this juice was so fresh and light.  I can not wait to try this in the afternoon

For breakfast I did pineapple and mango with the spinach.  I bought a few mangoes on Friday and they are ripe and ready.

Our morning snack juice is a green detox juice and I got the idea from the Raw Juicing and Detox Bar in Thornton Park when we went to their Grand Opening on Friday.  Click on their name above for their Facebook page.  Click here for their website.  Raw Juicing and Detox.  

The Green Lizard

Handful dandelion stems

cucumber

6 kale leaves

half a pineapple

ginger

turmeric

All ingredients through the juicer.

The Green Lizard is on the left.  Our Mango Pineapple Smoothie is on the right.

Enjoy your day.  My goal is 10 pounds by the end of the month.  I get my Nutribullet today.  Will report on it tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

Detox Monday

Daily gratitude:  Glad to make it to another Monday

Our cheat day was yesterday.  Super Bowl Sunday.  Didn't do too bad.  The chili I made for dinner sat in my belly and my body was screaming for a detox.

That's what today is.  Detox Monday.

Pineapple is also a great detoxifier and flusher.  It is high in Vitamin C and manganese, which is good for bone strength and growth.   Pineapple is known to help in digestion and is a great anti-inflammatory and helps prevent gout attacks.  It is also high in beta carotene and helps prevent macular degeneration.

Morning juice was:

2 cups pineapple
1 banana
2 cups spinach
1.5 cups water
blended smooth

Our afternoon juice is a juice high in greens.

4 kale leaves
2 green apples
2 kiwi peeled
handful of dandelion greens
6 stalks of celery
lime
ginger
turmeric
Run all ingredients thru the juicer.  This is a mild, easy to drink green juice.

Yum yum.  Time to detox.

T.G.I.F.

Daily gratitude:  Grateful I have stuck to this plan

I have lost 2 more pounds.  Total loss for me is 18 pounds.  Matt has lost 25 pounds.  Men...


Other than the beet juice the other day, I have mainly stuck to green juice this week.  I have also looked at the detox recipes.  Our weight loss seemed to plateau and I think we needed a little extra push.

We went back to the fruit blended smoothie in the morning yesterday.  Matt likes those and it does seem to keep us fuller through the morning.  I have also started to take the protein powder in the mid morning.  That seems to help me make it to lunch.

Pear Smoothie
2 pears cut off the core
1 banana
1.5 cups water
2 cups spinach
1 avocado
blend til smooth

Our snack juice was a green juice
Rainbow chard
celery sticks
carrots
apples
lemon
lime
turmeric
ginger
I also had half a head of romaine that needed to get juiced or thrown out soon
All ingredients in the juicer.

It made an ugly juice, but I know it's good for me

Another green juice recipe
1 beet green stalk (leftover from Tuesday beet juice)
6 kale stems and leaves
cucumber
lemon
2 green apples

This was an ugly color but it was like green lemonade.  Very citrusy and easy to get down.

Week 4.

Daily gratitude:  I am grateful for my dogs:  Beau, Finn, Bindi and Meera.  They make it all worth it.

Matt and I are heading in to our fourth week of juicing.   Here is what we have noticed so far.

Weight loss
No more antacid pills
No afternoon naps
Increased energy
Decrease of bloating
Lowered blood pressure
Not needing almost daily Advil for headaches.

All of that in just 3 weeks.

Because we had a cheat day yesterday  - and, to be honest, Matt had a cheat 3-dayer - I have decided to do cleansing juices for the afternoon.

Our morning will be the fruit smoothie - the 2 cups of fruit with the spinach.  It's filling and tasty and gets us ready for the afternoon.

Our cleansing juice today will be:

5 kale stalks
3 apples
1 lemon
1 cucumber
ginger
thru the juicer

This is a lemony juice.  Tart and good and you don't even taste the green

I have started to use glass containers to store my juices.  They clean up better and leave less of an odor. Plus, I have been reading about BPA's and hey, I am juicing to be healthy, I may as well not put anything extra in my juice, especially cancer causing chemicals.

Here are the new pitchers.  Check out your discount stores for them.  I got all 3 at Ross for under 4.00 per pitcher

Inspiration I use on a daily basis

I start my day by being on the internet.  After I read e mails and Facebook, I then head over to Pinterest to look at juice recipes.  I usually have an idea what I am going to juice that day, but I am always looking for inspiration.  I make a mental note of what I have in my fridges (yes, plural) and look for recipes that will have those.

As I explained before, I am juicing the fruit in the morning and then in the afternoon, all veggie with an apple or grapefruit for sweetness.

Here is the link to my Pinterest Juicing board: Denise's Juicing Board


And from there, I will look at websites and learn whatever I can about the juice diet.

A website I just visited today has the differences in the juicers as well as recipes for juice.

Juicing Juice

I also use my Kindle for getting juicing books online (usually 99 cents or free) and I look at some of the recipes.

Alone time

Daily gratitude:  Hmm.  Hard one today.  I know I am grateful for something, just can't think of it right now.

My husband is gone for the week end.  I am planning to continue on with the juicing.

My morning juice will be:

2 Cups pineapple
1.5 cups water
1 banana
2 cups of spinach
In the blender.

This is what I mean when I say in the blender.  I use this:

For the morning smoothies, the blender works fine on the softer fruits and spinach.  I can get the spinach chopped down finely.

For the afternoon, I am going to try the Sweet juice on Vmac and Cheese's blog site. 

SWEET GREEN JUICE

Makes a little over a quart of juice

3 granny smith apples (or any variety)
1 navel orange, peeled (I use the first steps in this technique to peel citrus of any kind)
1 lemon, peeled
2 inch nub of ginger, washed
entire bunch spinach, thoroughly washed
1/2 bunch kale, thoroughly washed

Through the juicer.

 When I say through the juicer, this is the machine I use for that:

 The juicer extracts all of the juice and most of the fiber making the juice more of a watery consistency.  I use this juicer for the beets, apples, cucumbers - what won't break down easily in a blender.  

I went to Hubbly Bubbly last night for dinner.  Click their name for the link.  I ordered the Hummus bowl with chicken and then added tomato, cucumber, lettuce, the Mediterranean salad and pickles.  I ate half.  The other half came home with me for dinner tomorrow night.  Good clean eating at the Hubbly Bubbly Falafel diner.  If you are in or near College Park, Orlando, Fl, it is a must try.

Place all ingredients over the lettuce leaves and enjoy.  Yummy delicious and low calorie!

Enjoy your day and juice for your health.