Greens Greens and More Greens!

Yesterday I had posted about my juice that was mostly greens with a little bit of grapefruit.  It wasn't the most pretty thing on the planet::

This juice included a ton of greens like I said.  A lot of time (in my neck of the woods) people have no idea what you're talking about beyond cabbage, spinach and lettuce.  Greens are a great source of Vitamin K.  K is the Vitamin that helps regulate blood clotting, as well as helping to protect from osteoporosis, diabetes, and  inflammatory diseases.   They are important for your normal diet as well as to stick into your juice every once in a while.  You may not like the strong taste of these veggies but with any juice, just add a few apples and it'll just taste like apples.  And some good news for those of you who love your dressings (unlike the standard iceberg lettuce) these are actually better for you if you eat them with some kind of oil.  What?!?!  Yes, Vitamin K is a fat soluble vitamin which means it's absorbed better by your body if it's taken in with a fat source. 

So for those of you who are a little concerned about the 6lb weightloss I reported today in my Day 5 blog, add some olive oil or some avocado oil to your juice to beef up the calories and absorb more of that awesome vitamin K. 

Some common dark leafy greens in my juices::

Spinach:  I love this leafy green.  I like it on my Subway sandwhiches better, I like it to add some texture to my homemade pasta sauces, I like to put it into about anything.  It's not a really strong flavor, but it's got good texture and holds up a lot better than lettuce.  Also to be noted, when I went to a breakfast for the American Cancer Society in August, spinach was on the list of foods that are known to be part of the cancer fighting diet and thus served to us at the breakfast.

Kale:  This has kind of a tough texture and a strong flavor.  It holds up really well in stew.  I used to combine roasted tomatoes, tomato juice, corn, black beans, seasonings and kale to make a hearty winter stew.  To me the flavor is too strong to be the only leafy base in a salad, but in juice, you don't really notice it.

Swiss Chard.  This is one that I've never seen or tried before The Juice.  It's what made the deep purple color of my Green Juice.  This is regarded to be amoung the healthiest veggies available to incorporate into your diet.  It's loaded with vitamins K, C, and A, protein, fiber, and minerals.

Watercress.  This is very high in Vitamin C, amoung a ton of other vitamins and minerals making it a great antioxidant and seen as a veggie that benefits has tons of health benefits, one of them being cancer defense.

Keeping your greens fresh::

There are two ways to keep greens fresh.  The first is to wrap them in a dish towel and then refrigerate them.

The Second is to treat it like any other plant and stick it in water::

So go ahead and stick some greens in your diet, I know that it will be an effort I will undertake even after The Juice is over.

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)

Day Four: Getting SO Ready for "The Afters"

I know that in the losing weight game, looks shouldn't be the ultimate goal, but it sure helps.  I did not lose as much weight as I did the last few days... (Weigh in: 168.2, .4lb weightloss) but for the first time since I've started all the dieting (this whole time; before The Juice) I can actually see a difference.  My stomach is visibly shrinking, and the fat that I started to notice on my back is also going away.  Before The Juice, I did not see any changes in my body, and it made me think about John Pinette's Kool Aid reference everytime someone said that they could see it in my face.

Also, my skin isn't as red as usual which is why I decided to give you a preview of The Afters (just this once!) with this pic of me drinking my morning/midmorning juice.

(and yes, I do see the irony in wearing an IU shirt while driking out of a Purdue glass)

This juice was fruity and refreshing:
(For two servings)
2 cucumbers
2 grapefruits
2 green apples
1 pear

Today I was feeling better than a week ago, went to my sidejob of the day and finished in way less time than usual because my mind was more focused.  Even though I slept well the night before and woke up easily, I lost energy throughout the day yesterday, today I did not.

Today I decided to make my diet a little more green, in two ways.  The first is that my third/fourth juice contained all this:

The second is that, the Juicer leaves a lot of solids behind, so I'm going to start composting them to make our veggie garden better this summer and continue to eat a veggie rich diet.

I also put two grapefruits into this juice.  You may ask, "Stephanie, you put grapefruits in everything, is there a reason for that?"
There are many health benefits of grapefruit, yes, but I also think, like adding cucumber, this makes the juice way more refreshing.  Also, even after these few days I still have this many left::

The bags are on sale...

I only made two juices today because the first one I took with me to my side job and the second one I really just made too much.  This one was good, and actually a little salty without adding any salt. 

But it doesn't look that great::

1 bunch swiss chard
1 handful spinach
1/2 bunch watercress
2 handfuls kale
2 grapefruit

This color looks black but it's actually a deep red from the Swiss Chard.  The foam is, in fact, green though.

As always, excited for tomorrow!