the one where I talk about juicing
Yeah. You read that right. Juicing. I started juicing. I mean honestly? You probably aren't surprised. Once diagnosed in April 2013, (you can read about it briefly here) , I cut meat out of my diet. Research links red meat to colon cancer and I wanted to give my body every chance it could of taking care of itself and staying healthy through treatment. Juicing couldn't have been too far behind. Right?
Devin has lost basically a human body. He's lost sooooo much weight I hardly recognize him. Like seriously. He's never been this skinny since I met him! He's dropped a ton of the weight eating low carb. But the problem with "diets" is you almost always go off them. So, when I told him he should try juicing, like Joe Cross did in the documentary,Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, he said he would. And I wanted to try it to shed all those lovely Holiday pounds that just wouldn't go away. Me shoving Heath bars into my pie hole certainly didn't help.
We bought ajuicer, downloadeda couple of apsand jumped on the Juicing Bandwagon. Yeeee-ha!!! Here's a few things I've learned the last few weeks.
I posted some pictures on Facebook and there were quite a few questions, messages and texts. Because of the great dialogue we have going on, I thought I needed to blog and share my juicy thoughts here. (See what I did there. Heeheee)
I'm a firm believer in what is in the Bible. God gave us our bodies and this world and us stupid humans have screwed almost all of it up. But by His good graces, we are always given chance after chance. Thank God. Because really? I sooooooo need those graces. But I'm also human, and I make mistakes and I'm lazy and I don't like things that are hard. I mean, HELLO! Life itself is hard enough. Right? So, here's some tips that have helped me with juicing.
First, I don't buy everything organic. I know. I know. My friend Melanie is wincing in her cute red-headed way. And I'm not saying I won't in the future. But baby steps. So, I buy my stuff as fresh as possible right down the road from my house at Market Street. Now, I have bought at sprouts, Sam's, Costco, etc. It's really about what part of Lubbock am I an right now? What's quickest for me to get my butt home? It's that sort of thing. So, don't put extra pressure on yourself to buy organic unless you really want to. I mean, I realize it's better for us, etc. but hey, I'm still learning myself, so I just make sure I buy fresh and buy often.
I buy my greens EVERYDAY. Yep. You read that right. Everyday. I don't stand at my refrigerator every 10 minutes and mist spray my kale and spinach. And I found out that they just don't stay very fresh. I much prefer to buy them each day and juice. This is just me and I'm sure some of you will offer suggestions on how to keep it fresh in my fridge. And please do! I'm open to suggestions. I don't go to the gym, I go to the grocery store. So, this is my thing right now.
I love the app 101 Juice Recipes for the iPhone. Here's the link again so you don't miss it. CLICK HERE FOR THE AP. You all, it's so cool to be able to look up the recipes on my iPhone while I'm in the parking lot headed into the store. Yep. That's all the time I have to think about this. That's it. I'm not pulling from blogs or magazines, or trying to remember what's in what. THIS has to fit into my speedy busy life or it ain't fitting and therefore, it won't get done. So, I highly recommend the app if you want to juice. HIGHLY. It's got an awesome category list, shopping list, favorite button, etc. Please do yourself a favor and if you want to do this, buy the app. And spend some time reading about all the pretty juices you are drinking and just what they do for your body and brain. They are going to make you feel AMAZING!
You should start with a reboot. We did. And even though we rarely fix those juices again, it totally helps and works! But please, please, please, read the pdf I linked to completely and do all the prep work before jumping right in. If you aren't eating as healthy as I was before you reboot, you will have some body withdrawals that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy. It's not joke, we are what we eat. So if you've been pumping toxins and crap into your system, your system is going to REVOLT like DEMONS are not wanting to leave. Leg cramps, headaches, night sweats, etc. Not fun. So, please do the prep work included in the pdf before jumping in. Ain't nobody got time for leg cramps unless your ass is super tight and amazing. Just saying.
Lay all your food out before you turn on that juicer. I make juice once a day for 3 people. We drink all our meals. I still eat during the day, but have all that gorgeous juice just waiting and ready. LOVE that! So, I get all the ingredients together and do all the prep. I peel the oranges, limes, lemons, etc. If you quarter them with a knife, they are easier to peel. I have large bowels to divide everything up in to the 3 piles. Works great and makes the time go so much faster.
Invest in some canning quart jars. We've found out this works the best for dividing everything up and measuring out the servings. One jar will typically hold both servings for the day. I then pour my juice over ice and sip through out the day. Devin is much more anal about drinking it all during mealtimes instead of grazing. Not so much me. And I typically don't divide mine up. For example. Today? We are having Citrus Time Three and I'll drink it all morning and finish it completely. Then I'll move to my green and then my last one. He will divide them up and split them. The main thing is just DRINK IT. Don't be too scientific with it. The main thing is get it into your body. Oh! Buy the wide mouth jars! They are much easier to clean then the others. I bought mine at Target. But I've seen them everywhere. And they aren't crazy expensive.
Don't juice something you know you don't like eating whole. I've never been a big fan of cabbage unless it sour and over some German Sausage. So, juicing it? Eh. Not fun. So, try everything once, but once you figure out what you like, stick to it! That way you will be successful.
It's OK to not include EVERYTHING in the ingredients. I so don't buy fresh rosemary, thyme and mint and juice those things. You can! Don't get me wrong. But I couldn't tell much a difference when I did juice them and they sure add to the expense. Now if I had a fresh herb garden, it would be grand. And then I would. I would walk out there in my flowery sun dress and big hat and snip some fresh herbs and juice away! But alas, I don't. So, there. And guess what? It's still working and tastes great!
Ginger is intense and can actually make you gag. Ugh, what is with that being in every recipe? I realize it's a miracle drug an can cure burping to cancer, but gag a maggot! That stuff can be super strong when juicing. The recipe will call for 2 inch piece and your piece may be huge diameter wise and it just doesn't work well. In fact, I swear Devin and I almost killed ourselves that first week when we tried the Sporty Spice or something like it. Do not take everything so literal. You will get used to the sizes of fruit and veggies and what they yield. So, be prepared to make mistakes and just roll with it or even, throw the juice out! LOL
Be prepared to feel great! I think that's the thing that surprised us the most. How unbelievable great we feel when juicing! I'm a firm believer that we should eat to live and feel great! My energy is through the roof! And that's such a great thing for me after going through chemo and working hard to build my body back after nuking it and poisoning it. HELLO! That's exactly what I did to fight the cancer. So, building my body back and keeping it healthy and working for me is my goal now.
Okay, so I guess I'm done with my bold points. Feel free to comment below and ask questions. I'm sure I won't know all the answers, but I will help any way I can! I'd love more folks to get on board with this way of eating and hopefully change they way the world looks at food. I'm not saying eating meat or pasta or bread is bad. I'm not. I'm just saying they are not the fuel we were created to fun off of. We need LIVING fresh food to keep our bodies moving and working for us. Those things? Those are the treats we can celebrate good life with.
What we consume always determines thelives that we live. We can see this, most easily, with the food that we eat.
Love Does,
Kristin
