Some Juicing Tips::

I'm going to share these awesome tips from the Fat Sick and Nearly Dead website as a follow up to my last post about how every juice doesn't have to be a party in your mouth.  However, I should have also added:: Don't drink something that is absolutely HORRIBLE either.  I don't mean for you to gag down something everyday that you wouldn't feed to your worst enemy.  Just kind of like how you drink water; you're not always dying of thirst and it's not absolutely flooded with flavor, but you drink it (maybe with some indifference) because you know it's good for you.

I would also like to add: I LOVE food, cooking and flavor.  A ton.  I said the other day, that I don't miss eating solid foods as much as I miss cooking them, and when this fast is over I hope to continue my blog with some awesome healthy cooking recipes.  But for 30 days I'm sacrificing that a little bit to be healthier in the long run, and that's not a bad trade off.

This article is called Juice S.O.S. and was written by  Stacey Kennedy who is the nutritionist for Reboot Your Life (the company that spun off of the documentary).

"We’ve all done it at some point. Juiced up a bunch of vibrant, healthy and delicious vegetables and fruits only to taste it and think – ick!

My first botched batch of juice had way too much ginger. I love ginger and know how good it is for immunity and digestion so I figured, the more the better! When my beautiful green juice, made with local, organic veggies from my CSA/farm share box, like kale, swiss chard (silverbeet), dandelion greens and collards (cabbage leaves), celery, cucumber tasted awful, I was determined to rescue it and turn my juice into something palatable. No way was I wasting all that green goodness!
Here are some tips for how to turn any juice disaster into a delicious drink. Start by adding more ingredients to boost nutrients and tweak the flavor. If this doesn’t do the trick, then try diluting and pouring your juice over ice. If all else fails blend in some smooth and creamy fruits.
Step 1: Don’t throw it away!
With a bit of creativity and determination you can transform your juice from icky to yummy, strong to subtle or bitter to sweet.
Step 2: Add more ingredients
• sweet- apple, pear, strawberries, peach, watermelon, butternut squash (baby pumpkin), celery root/celeriac
• tart – pineapple, mango, orange, clementine, grapefruit, kiwi fruit, blackberries, raspberries, lemon, lime (remove citrus peels for less zest/bitter flavor)
• heat- jalapeno, serrano, habanero or other hot pepper (capsicum), sprinkle some cracked red pepper, chipotle, cumin or other spice on top
• flavor- fresh is best but dried works too sprinkled and mixed in. Thyme, cilantro (coriander), basil, mint, fennel, cinnamon, parsley, ginger, scallion, red onion, garlic, etc…
• neutral- zucchini (courgette), summer squash (yellow squash) cucumber, jicama (yam bean,) grapes, romaine lettuce (cos lettuce)
Step 3: Dilute with
• coconut water
• water
• juice of just one fruit/veggie (like 100% carrot, apple or orange)
• your favorite juice
• pour over ice
Step 4: Blend in more flavors
• banana
• avocado
Here are more good ideas to try http://jointhereboot.com/jamin’s-juicing-tips/
Have fun with your new creation. We’d love to hear about your juice adventures!
Cheers,
Stacy"

So... Not to contradict myself:: Just kind of saying:: Your juice is not going to taste like this::

Thanks for the pic.

But you shouldn't deal with it tasting like this:

Thanks for the pic.

For Those Considering::

We did a sample of juicing at fellowship last Sunday.  My Pastor has been juicing and has gotten his family into it as well as some other church members.  We're planning on a screening of Fat Sick and Nearly Dead as well as starting a community program in the DeMotte area where we help people get started on small juice fasts.

With the sample of juicing there was some mixed feelings.

Some people thought it tasted very good.  Others thought it was gross.  Still others wouldn't even try it.

And with this, Stacey (pastor's wife and my friend) brought up a very good point::

"People need to get over this notion that every meal that they eat needs to be the best thing they've ever put in their mouth.  You really have to get into the mindset that what you're eating is fuel and it does your body good."

It's very true.  Not every juice I make is delicious, though some are.  They're definitely not all pretty.  If you're used to a lot of "bad" foods in your diet, even the good ones will probably not be good to you at first.  But the mindset needs to be changed to This Is Healthy.  And also to remember: It's not for forever.  Can you really not go a week (for most people this is what is recommended) without having the best meal of your life?  If it takes a week to jump start health goals that have been in the back of your mind for ages, why not just do it?  What do you really have to lose?

I'll post as soon as I know when the screening will be, everyone should witness it and make an informed decision on if this is the best thing for your health and your body. 

Me, God, Lady Gaga, and Modest Mouse

All went for a run tonight.

Although that started like a beginning to a bad joke, the only bad joke may be my mile time::

So remember how I said I'm preparing to run the IU Mini Marathon?  I figured I should probably get on that since it's a half-marathon and I'm in no shape to run it yet. 

I meant to do 5 miles tonight, because I figured if I could bump myself up one mile per week, I'll get to my 13.1 in time.  I'm glad that I started out better than 5 miles because Bloomington has a lot of hills that I have to work to master. 

In the devotional Pray Fit that I've mentioned in earlier posts, it encourages the reader/exerciser to do your exercises "to fail".  This means you're doing pushups and you keep doing them until your arms will not push you back off the floor again.  The next day you do the same exercise only you should do at least one more rep of it in less time.  I decided I should use this principle in my run.  So I ran my five miles and then kept going until my legs just wouldn't keep going.  And tomorrow I plan to do at least 6 miles at a better time.

A lot of times when I'm doing something difficult, I mentally make deals with myself.  Like, "okay, you're going to do 5 more minutes on this stationary bike but if 5 minutes is up before a commercial break, you have to keep going until the commercial break."  Silly, I know, but usually if this happens and commercial break comes up, I go, "oh well now you've done 6.7 minutes, you may as well do 10..."

So I loaded my "On-the-Go" playlist with songs that I LOVE.  You know, songs that when they're on the radio when you pull into your driveway you will finish them out before you turn off the car and go inside. (Is that just me?)

So I had things like::

Yoü and I - Lady Gaga

Black Cadillacs - Modest Mouse

And Darling - Tegan and Sara

If It's Love - Train

Kryptonite - 3 Doors Down

Beautiful Mess - Diamond Rio

Serenade No. 13 in G, "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", K 525 Andante - Mozart Modern

That Time- Regina Spektor

...and etc and etc.

When I had hit 4 miles, "I want you (She's so heavy)- The Beatles" came on and I pictured a darling retro, 50's-esque dress that I saw and loved when I was at the mall with my sister today everytime the song's sultury lyrics sang "I want you...I want you so bad" and then used "She's so heavy" as some negative reinforcement to keep on keeping on with my run.

As soon as that song ended I got off Abbey Road and the soulful rendition of "Let It Be" from Across the Universe played and brought me to a peaceful place.  I started to talk to God until it was time for my body to stop and cool down and walk the rest of the way home.  Earbuds in, iPod off.

One day, in a conversation about being wholly healthy, I told my pastor, Jeremy VanKley and his wife Stacey (who are two amazing people when it comes to spiritual leaders, motivational supporters, and just plain great friends) that a lot of times I run with absolutely no music but my iPod strapped to me and my earbuds in because I'm praying and I don't want anyone interrupting me. 

"God my legs are aching!

Thank you for giving me working legs.

God my heart feels like it's going to burst!

Thank you for giving me a healthy heart.

God I'm sweating a ton!

Thank you for this beautiful night.

God, I feel like I'm going to puke

Thank you for providing me with food to eat."

I'm really not the most formal prayer.  That's why I'm happy to not get singled out to pray in crowds very often.  Me and the Big Guy are cool and he knows my heart, and that's what matters.

Tonight I learned::

If you're feeling bad for yourself

Or if you're giving yourself permission to quit

You are forgetting all that you're blessed with.

Friday's Measurements::

Jesus is a friend of mine (in fasting, as well)

I didn't want to look at The Juice as merely a diet.  I wanted it to be a refreshing of my mind, a way to focus my day less on what I was taking in nutritionally and more on what I'm taking in educationally and spiritually.  Lately I haven't been.  It's been a focus on my diet and my weight. 
So I'm going to refocus a bit. 

I have to admit, I pretitle these "bonus posts" based on passing thoughts throughout my days and then sit down, pick a topic, research a bit and write about it.  Also, as you have probably figured out already, my posts are a day behind.  I try to pick the "bonus post" that most represents the tone of the day because it's the easiest to write.  And after tomorrow's main post you may see why this was an important one for me today.

When I thought up this topic, and titled it, I was going to pretty much do a brief history lesson on what it meant throughout the years to fast.  I was going to use other cultures as well as the Bible to do this.  Someday I may write that post.  But right now, I'm just going to freewrite this one.  So bear with me.

In the documentary, "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" Phil Staples uses his faith as a driving force to continue on his fast.  While walking on a wooded trail as his daily exercise, he remarks that Jesus had fasted and so had John the Baptist.  He liked the footsteps he was following.

Phi lwas sick, as Joe was, with the auto-immune disease Cronic Urticaria .  He was desparate, in pain, and he had cut himself off from his family because he felt ashamed of the way he had let himself become so out of shape and ill.  But once he started his Juice fast he humbled himself and he never complained.  He said things like the above remark.  For Phil, this wasn't just about the weight, it wasn't just about getting healthier physically, it was about getting wholy healthy.  Emotionally, physically, socially, and spiritually healthy.  Just as I had said in my first post that I have been working on doing.

I promised to always be honest and accountable in this blog and to its 5 loyal fans.

I focus on my belly a lot.  It's not so much because I so strongly dislike the way I look, but it's that I strongly dislike the way I feel, I dislike the way that larger belly reminds me of the 6 months I decided to check out of life and the following 6 months I had to use only to dig myself out of the hole I had dug for myself.

Mainly, lately, I've been focusing on ME a lot.  I've been a selfish.  I've ignored phone calls and emails, been persistantly late, been really lacking at seeing how my friends and family are doing in their own lives.  Really, I've been lazy.

I suffered a great loss, and I truly hurt for anyone who has experienced tragedy in their own lives, but also, it does no honor to yourself, your God, or your loved ones for you to check out of life.  Mourning needs to be done and I'm thankful to be surrounded by people who allowed me that.  But at some point it became less about missing my mom and more about not wanting to face this new unfamiliar life that no longer included her.  It was easier to let myself be swallowed up by the sadness.  It seemed like too large a task to start rebuilding.

This life is always going to be strange without being able to talk to my mom whenever I want to or need to talk to her.  I'm always going to miss that.  There is a bigger picture out there, though.  A life to spend honoring the person she was, the person I want to be, and the people that are in my life now and in the future.  Not moving forward and not working toward improving oneself does absolutely nothing for those goals.

This whole blog is titled My Resolution.  A lot of people say they don't do resolutions because they're tired of breaking them.  I think sometimes the way to stick with something is to look at it a different way.  This isn't a diet.  This isn't a way to be able to wear a swimsuit at the lake this summer and not feel judged.  This is a reset, a refocus, and a new perspective on my life. 


My driving point being::  Fasting should not be about the diet, it should not be about the outward appearance, it should be about the commitment and the work that it does on your mind, body and soul inwardly.  My pastor's departing message this Sunday was to think about how your life would be if you started every week with the important soulful parts and then continued everything that you did based on how that lesson had worked on your soul.  How different would your life be if whatever lesson this week hit your soul the hardest lead the way you looked at every decision the next seven days? 

I want to commit myself to looking at this fast in the same way.  The lessons I learn while doing this: the trials, the things that it does for my mind body and soul, I want to continue to influence the rest of my life.  I want to think this clearly, feel this goal, and be this connected to the things that matter most on this earth for the rest of my days, and I want it to start here, with the lesson that's been hitting my soul the hardest.

Day Six: And then it hit me.

In the film Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, Joe Cross stayed in bed the first 3 or 4 days he juiced.  He said he felt tired and sick and was just basically feeling sorry for himself.  As you know from the Day One post, the day that I started, I could not stay in bed feeling sorry for myself.  I had a 10.5 hour shift at The Job.  Plus I was excited about starting this new journey. 

Today, though, I got up at 5 am like I have been doing since the 2nd day of the year and got up stairs and put my butt on the scale.  I had actually gained weight!  Which is actually fine, because like I had aluded to yesterday, the 6 lb weight loss in a day kind of freaked me out.  So I thought about it, yesterday I had drank enough calories so my body wouldn't think I was starving (anything under 1200 kcal/day, your body will generally fight to keep your fat on you because it thinks you ran out of food).  But water-wise....I think I only drank one full glass!! So my theory is, my body probably thinks I ran out of water and is now holding onto water weight.  We'll see tomorrow. 

But even after I worked out these theories in my head, seeing my scale with the little upwards pointing arrow made me upset.  I told myself "Okay, what normal person gets up at 5 am?"  and "Dad's sleeping so you can't get on the treadmill or make juice anyways." and "It's too early and dark to take Austin Danger Powers the Second for a walk." (Yes that is our pretty little border collie's registered name.)  And I went back to bed, feeling sorry for myself, just like Joe Cross did his first few days.

I woke up a little before nine by a text from my brother saying to check out his morning's post.  So I did and I saw this:

It put some GO back into me to be encouraged like that.  I chided myself for allowing myself to be so down in the dumps on something that really isn't a big deal, vowed to drink more water today and every other day and got myself out of bed.

I did a repeat of my Smile Juice for breakfast::

I had my left over Everything Juice for lunch::

I had a short shift at The Job, just scheduled to cover lunches.  I made sure to bring a bottle of water with me and made a mental note to not leave before it was all the way gone.  I ended up drinking the full thing plus another small plastic bottle I found hidden in my purse.
 
When I got home, I made A TON of Juice.  I almost juiced every vegetable on The Table until I realized I'd probably need to use some before the next time we hit the grocery.  All the cutting and peeling and juicing and cleaning of the juicer took a little minute and it made me very happy that I had decided to do it like that.  So I packed it again into my Family Size Quick Stir Pitcher and have enough juice to get me through the next couple days.  Although the exact amounts are excaping me, I know there are the following ingredients in this juice::

Red Cabbage
Carrots
Celery
Tomatoes
Bell Peppers
     Green
     Yellow
     Red
     Orange
Lemons
Sweet Potato
Cucumbers
Pear

Can't wait to see if my changes helped for tomorrow. 

Day Five: "Oh my word are you kidding me?!?"

Is exactly what I said on the scale this morning

When I weighed in at 162.2.  A 6 lb weight loss since yesterday.

So when you're dieting, you're told not to step on the scale more than once a week.  I know because I've been putting my chubby self on diets since I was ten (despite my parents' disapproval).  But with this I told myself that, "It's so extreme that if it works you should have the little victories to keep you going."  And also, if anyone is considering this (I know there's at least a few people using me as their guinea pig) it'd probably be good for them to see daily victories too.

    Six pounds is pretty fantastic but I have to admit, I hope it slows down a bit.  That's 1/10 of the weight that I wanted to lose all together, including the time of going back to normal diet and amped up exercise after the juice fast is over.  Really, I just don't want to have to quit before 30 days is up, but I need to be safe with my body as well.

     Calorie-wise I take in about 1600 kcals which is 400 more than I was when I was strictly monitoring my caloric intake and output.  And I am being sure to be hydrated.  I am being monitored by a doctor (as you should when you're doing anything extreme with your body) and I think I'll go see him sometime this week just to be sure (I'm shooting for Tuesday).

Okay, Morning Juice::

I'm going to be a dork and call it Smile Juice::

2 Cucumbers
1 Pear
1 Green apple
1 Yellow delicious apple

This came out to just be the color of cucumber juice.  So light it was almost like water.  I threw this in a big giant cup and took it to church with me.  This was delicious! 

I knew that the rest of my day consisted of mostly me running around and I probably wouldn't be home before bed. So I made a pitcher of Everything Juice::

(4 Servings)

2 Sweet Potatoes

3 Stalks of Celery

4 Plum Tomatoes

6 Carrots

2 Apples
1 large Grapefruit
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
1 Orange Bell Pepper
1 Cucumber

...literally almost everything I had left on my table assortment of fruits and veggies. (except what I knew I wanted for breakfast in the morning and enough to make some veggie juice tomorrow).  This gave me enough for midmorning, lunch, and dinner and then an extra to take to work tomorrow so I wouldn't have to rush around preparing anything. (Note Day One's Blog).

Today was awesome.  I fit into a size smaller jean (first time I had dared to try) without even having to do the suck it in lay on the bed and then zip charade.  On January 1st I had to do that with the bigger size jeans so that was a major plus.  I went to church and really listened to the sermon, which was a story I'd heard a million times and even seen animated as a child, with brand new ears and appreciation.  We did communion which (I am not Catholic) is not something we do too often.  I noticed that the wafer felt weird to eat and chew already.

After that I had a side job (which is weird for me on a Sunday but didn't bother me at all) and I noticed that I was having more fun than usual at it. I felt like I had more energy and that I was thinking of more problem solving ideas than usual. 

Then I went to hang out with the best friend/boyfriend and watch Animation Domination.  I felt great and it showed.  I did get pretty sleepy pretty early so I left before American Dad came on and crashed pretty early into bed (I was out at 9ish)

What About Day 31?

(thanks for the pic)

I've been thinking, already, about what food I am going to use to break my fast on Day 31. 

     In the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, Joe breaks his fast with a fresh green apple.  Up in a hot air balloon.  It made a point, and to him it symbolized a commitment to continue to eat healthy and not go back to his unhealthy eating habits.  But he was also trying to make a film.
    For me, and the 5 people who read this, it's not going to be a huge deal if I crunch into an apple in a hot air balloon, or bite into a veggie burger in my own dining room, but one thing's for sure, I am not going to be headed for the pizza first thing.  "But why, Stephanie? You love pizza more than any other food on this planet," you may ask.

     Well let me tell you a story:
 Once apon a time in Bloomington my group of best friends (who are, decidedly, hippies and proud of it) all went on this cleansing diet.  Essentially in the same way I am doing now, eating very restricted healthy meals.  Only this one was a little less severe: no sugar, no alcohol, no wheat, no dairy. So I did it with them  This diet introduced me to vegan cheese and wheatless bread.  It also reduced my lactase enzyme and made me lactose intolerant (though I usually ignore it).  The end of this particular 15 days was actually my 20th birthday, a day in which I asked for my dad to bring me a homemade birthday favorite of mine (simple yellow cake with chocolate fudge icing) and ordered my all-time favorite Bloomington pizza Mother Bear's Spinoccoli at dinner.  And made myself absolutely ill.  Stomach cramps and bloating and whatnot.

Okay, so there weren't many plot twists in that story.  But my point is clear.  No matter how much you may want the bad food when you're eating the good food, it's not great for you, and your body will tell you as much.  I'm not saying: Never ever have the treat of your favorite meal ever again.  I'm just saying to wait a bit.  Ease into it.  Or your stomach will hate you.

I do think that I will most likely eat something cooked.  Everytime I open the pantry to grab a plastic bag for the stuff left over after the juice is made, I am spying a can of Campbell's Garden Vegetable Soup.  When I went to babysit the other day, my boss had made a heaping pot of cabbage soup. 

If day 31 was tomorrow, veggie soup it would be.

Beets Stain Pandas

And really, everything else.

     Sadday for my panda slippers, found on my feet whenever I'm home and pictured on my feet in my before pics.  But with the Panda Revelation came another revelation, "As a vegetarian since I was 7, shouldn't I know that already?".  

     When I decided to juice, I went on  FatSickAndNearlyDead.com  and looked up some of the Recipes.  I then redid my grocery list to fit whatever veggies, fruits, and herbs that seemed to occur most often in these recipes and that I know I didn't have.  Beets, Swiss Chard, Kale, and watercress are amoung some of the things I put on there, but have never really given a shot in my own cooking. 

     I've decided that after this is all over I'm going to have to incorporate some of these things into my cooking.  Afterall, they taste good in juice. 

    I think it's funny whenever I meet someone new and food comes up, or perhaps is part of the meeting place (meeting someone's new partner at a dinner gathering, for instance) and so it becomes obvious in the Midwestern part of the country that I live in, that I am a vegetarian.  And they always ask, "Oh, for health reasons?"  And to be honest I want to always say, "Does it look like it's working?"  But even though sarcasm is my thing, making people uncomfortable really isn't.  So, no, not for health reasons.  Not because I was raised in a vegetarian family, and not because at some point in college I decided to join PETA.  Simply, for some reason, I did not realize until I was told the facts about the food chain, that chicken was chicken.  Looking back on this now, I have no idea how I could have missed that for the first 7 years of my life, but somehow I did. 

     But as I mentioned before, I am in the midwestern part of the country, and also, in a rural farm community, so diet is basically

• a lot of meat
• corn as a vegetable
• potatos as a vegetable
• white bread
• white pasta
• any other veggie = fried or cooked FOREVER {with butter and/or sugar}\
• milk and cheese

     And now as an adult who works a side job as a nanny, I can see why this is frustrating to a parent.  When all you really have is chicken nuggets to feed the kiddos, and one of them decides all of the sudden they don't like chicken, what are you supposed to do?


     I had two really accommodating parents who did not fuss too much about my new found vegetarianism but also had to ask themselves the question, "when all you really eat is meat and potatoes, what are you supposed to do with a vegetarian 7 year old (when children are notoriously picky eaters to start with)."  The answer became, to keep making meals as usual and I'd just eat the non-meat parts.  However, the meat in midwestern meals is generally the only protein, and thus the most filling part of the meal.  With the meat gone, it was mounds of mashed potatoes and extra helpings of carrots cooked in butter and brown sugar.  I think the hope was that I would revert out of this "stage", but I did not. 
     Eventually, both of my parents became more health conscious and more veggies and plant proteins and whole grains were introduced to family gatherings.  When this started to happen I was already an overweight teenager, but instead of picking at the whole grain spaghetti and looking weirdly at the almond butter, I found that I actually really loved these things.  I became somewhat of a foodie in college, finding that eggplant burgers are awesome and that almond milk makes everything more refreshing.  As well as trying to try each of the non-chain Bloomington Restaurants to learn about more foods from different cultures (try Turkuaz Cafe or Roots on the Square if you get the chance)  However, when I feel the need for comfort, I revert back to how I ate as a child: cheese pizza, tex mex style tacos, non-meat chili loaded with cheese, crackers, and Fritos.  I did not experiment too much in my own kitchen.  If I didn't know how to cook it, I generally didn't want to spend precious college job earned money on it. 
     So, when I was feeling in the need for some comfort, I did not make stew out of random veggies I found at the farmer's market, or try to make an unfamiliar dish from a vegetarian cookbook, I made something cheesy and crunchy and most likely gooey in some way shape or form.
 
    Peeling and cutting beets, making the biggest mess in the kitchen that I've made for quite a while, I decided that I should have experiences like this more often.  That I should feel the excited feeling I get while trying new things way more often than I do.  I added to My Resolution, to try to incorporate more unfamiliar fruits and veggies more often.  It can only do my body well.

Day Three: Can I Juice a Pizza?

I love starting my day waith a cup of Yogi Green Tea.  And was thrilled to see that I could still do that on this diet.  However, I'm sorry coffee drinkers, Coffee is out if you're being strict with yourself. 



Weigh in: 168.6.  Almost a 2 lb weight loss from yesterday.

Morning Juice: Brain Juice
I know usually take pics of the fruits and veggies that go into the juice, but this morning I took one of the finished product.  As you can see, it doesn't exactly look like the sugar filled, over processed juices that you find in your grocery. 

1. Cup strawberrys (cored)
1 Pear
1 Green Apple
1 Golden Delicious apple
1 nub Gingerroot (refer to Day Two to see how to prepare)

To core the strawberries I used a Core and More.  This innovative tool takes only the core out, leaving more of the fruit than traditional slicing.

Find this helpful tool HERE.

Now it should be obvious why I called this morning's juice Brain Juice, but it has a double meaning too.  Today I found that I was thinking clearer.  I was able to process what I was learning a lot faster as I was studying both my devotional and my personal training test books.  I found myself to be more mindful and to speak more clearly to others (if you know me, you know sometimes I have a bit of a stutter especially when I'm a little off my game).  Also, WAY MORE ALERT and ENERGIZED.  Woke up with a start this morning, it was awesome!

For lunch I made a deep purple juice out of this:

1 handful of kale

1/4 bunch watercress

1 handful spinach

2 carrots

1 grapefruit

4 beets

This was very good, a little earthy and very dark purple.

This next combo is where the cravings started.  All this week I hadn't wanted a single piece of "bad" food.  Today, I wanted pizza.  It may have been the basil...

1 Grapefruit

1 Red bell pepper

1 Orange bell pepper

1 Yellow bell pepper

2 Plum tomatoes

1 bunch basil

 

This one was SO GOOD.  I drank half of this concoction for lunch and the other half i drank at night.

The actual juice looked like this::

 

All in all, it was a day of very good juices and I'm looking forward to what tomorrow brings.

The Juice!

     So last year I created a blog that some people followed for all of two posts.  And then abruptly stopped.  It was about getting back into shape.  In it, I admitted to my emotional eating.  Right after that second post was published, my mom passed away very suddenly.  And it was holiday season.  The peak of the social eating coupled with some major depression.  It's been over a year and when my mom's death anniversary rolled around, I took a good hard look at myself and the belly I created.  I was now 20 pounds heavier than "Resolution 2011" posts and needed to do something about it badly.  I was careful about what I ate, exercised, made some fitness goals for myself. 
    I started to eat COMPLETELY clean at January 1st, as most do, after a New Year's Bash I couldn't not participate in. I also started exercising daily, sometimes to lengths where my friends remarked that I was crazy.  And I'd lost 8 lbs from when I started.  Good, but not great.  Every time I look at the belly on my tiny frame and feel the padding on my back and see how my clothes don't fit, I am reminded of the last year.  Sick and sad and angry.  Not like myself at all.  And I want the reminders to go away. 
     I learned in every single health class I took in college that for a person to be truly healthy, they need to be socially, emotionally, spiritually AND physically healthy.  After blocking out those in my social circle and crying way more than I've ever been used to, I thought what would really help is to get that spiritual thing in line.  My mom was a Christian and I was raised as one, but to get healthier I felt I needed help to get to the place where I respected others, respected the body I was blessed with and had both a human and a spiritual support for the emotional stuff.  I found a church and in it I found a whole congregation of amazing people.  This is me getting baptised this summer::

     So from there they started to heal me, socially, emotionally and definitely spiritually.  And I started formulating goals for myself and goals with my best friend/ boyfriend Matt.  I got a job, started paying down my debt.  Signed up for a race I've always wanted to do.  Started studying to get my personal training certification.  Everything was lining up EXCEPT my weight.  I was working my butt off (unfortunately not literally) keeping track of what went in and how many calories were going out, taking supplements that were supposed to help you burn more.  Nothing worked.  At least not as fast as it would take to make my goals this Spring. 
    So last Sunday, my pastor incorporated a documentary he'd watched into his sermon.  This film was Joe Cross's "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead".  I love documentaries, and believe it or not, I love veggies (I've actually been a vegetarian since I was 7).  So when my dad came home two nights ago, I sat with him and watched it.  Joe Cross, an Aussie man juiced veggies and fruits only for 60 days. It not only helped him look better and feel healthier, it helped him kick a dibilitation autoimmune disease called Cronic Urticaria.   I'm not quite at the point of obesity that he was, but I'm headed that way and the doctors have told me diabetes is on the horizon. 
     He said the first days sucked.  A lot.  But when I do things (and am myself) I do them wholeheartedly and as extreme as possible, So I got out my juicer right then::

I set it up for the morning, and changed my grocery list to just fruits, veggies, and herbs.