Ahhhnother week done

Technically not until tomorrow night, but I feel I accomplish something by getting to Friday.

I have a food confession.

Went to Costco on Wednesday.  Had a hot dog... and suffered for the rest of the day.  Stomach pains really bad and 2 antacid pills did not take away the pain.  Lesson learned.

Friday.  Back on track.

Nutriblast for breakfast

Made 2 juices for the day:

1/2 watermelon
pint of strawberries

The second juice was a green juice and I was getting rid of things in the fridge

3 leaves red leaf lettuce
1/2 head butter lettuce
2 red apples
3 stalks celery
handful of broccoli
cucumber
ginger and turmeric

 I have been having a NutriBlast for lunch.  These are filling and just what I need to get me thru the afternoon

2 handful greens
banana
scoop of protein powder
tablespoon golden flax
1 cup frozen blueberries
10 roasted almonds
water
Blasted.

So delicious.  I feel almost guilty drinking this.  The chocolate of the protein powder gives it a chocolatey taste, the banana makes it creamy and the frozen berries give it a chill and make it thick.  The almonds add a depth of flavor.  It's like a milk shake!

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.

Week end pre-made juices

Going away this week end, so I decided to make my juice ahead and pack it in a cooler.  This way will leave little chance of me cheating.  I plan to take the Nutribullet with me, but I juiced some other recipes and packed them in mason jars and a pitcher with a sealed top.  I will be home most of the day today, so these juices are for today and tomorrow.

I had some fennel I needed to either toss or juice.  Into the juicer.

10 carrots
6 celery stalks
1 pear
1 apple
1/2 fennel bulb and fronds
turmeric
ginger

Second juice I decided to go green

Bunch of kale
1 pear
1 apple
ginger
1/3 fennel bulb and fronds
bunch of red seedless grapes

Have a great week end.

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.