Day 9-02/09/2012

18 pounds down! If I can loose another 5 pounds by the time I finish in 4 days I will be extremely happy. The perfect start to adapting a more active lifestyle. And I tried a new morning juice!

2 cups watermelon
2 cups cantaloupe
1" ginger
Juice as usual
As you might expect this was very pleasing. A highly refreshing watermelon drink. Watermelon is also known to aid in weight loss.

Prepared melons and ginger.

 

Processed

Paint strainer bag

Juice pulp inside bag

And squeeze...

Juice!!!!

At 12:30 I had the carrot juice from day 2 (carrots, celery, green apple, lemon, and spinach) and realized I hadn't posted a picture of that yet..so here it is!

It looks less green in person

At 6:00 my palate appreciated a cool glass of mean green, with a final serving of "V8" juice at 9:00.

Today I started to crave a few foods...a nice big salad with gourmet greens, tons of veggies and vinaigrette, homemade popcorn, and spaghetti. Shane and Kenna had pizza tonight and when it came out of the oven it smelled wonderful. But it didn't just smell like pizza as it normally seems to...I could very distinctly smell the green bell pepper and tomatoes.

Day 8-02/08/2012

Once again 2 pounds lost...16! Seems that loosing 2 pounds a day is pretty standard for me at this point. From what I have read I am expecting it to slow down, but I hope not :)

Today is going to be another out and about day. And like yesterday I started with my berry smoothie, made a to go mean green, and hit the road. We got home late, so I made another mean green and went to bed. Only three glasses of juice, but I didn't feel hungry lacking the fourth.

I am again noticing the many health benefits of juicing. My hair is definitely softer, shinier, and thicker. My skin is soft and naturally moisturized. My skin also seems much less oily, which I'm sure will help minimize the few breakouts I do have.

For me one of the best things I have noticed (aside from the weight loss) is the decrease in the arthritis in my knees. As you may already know I have the knees of an 80 year old. My kneecaps are crooked, which has caused many problems through physical activity and everyday life. This has resulted in multiple surgeries and arthritis so terrible that I have no cartilage left in my right knee at all, and minimal cartilage in my left. I finally saw an orthopedic surgeon at the Kennedy Center in Oshkosh late last winter. Steroid injections didn't help so at this point my only option for my horribly painful right knee was a knee cap resurfacing, which is merely a fancy name for kneecap replacement. 27 and already having parts of my knee replaced. I had an arthroscopic surgery first to make sure he was going to be able to perform the replacement, then two weeks later I was back for the big one. My surgical recovery from this was amazingly quick. But since I had two surgeries in two weeks, my thigh muscles suffered severe muscle atrophy. This made the reconditioning phase of recovery long and difficult. Once recovered from that I was back for my left knee. This time I was scheduled for a scope and replacement at the same time. Fortunately the deterioration of my left knee is not as severe as my right so a replacement can be put off for at least another 5 years.
Long story short after having three knee surgeries in a year I was still having quite a bit of pain and more in my right than I felt I should be having. Some of the worst pain is climbing stairs or hills...without the necessary cartilage, my bones just grind together, which is rather painful. I believe it was day 3 of my cleanse that I noticed I was gracefully and quickly going down our stairs...typically I have to take them one by one or need the support of a handrail or wall and walk very slowly. I didn't think anything of it the first time I did it, but once I reached the bottom of the stairs on my second time I stopped and thought "Did I really just reach the bottom so quickly and smoothly"? I sure had because I notice it everyday since. I also realized today that I had almost no pain in my knees at all, only seeming to affect me when stuck in one position for a while (such as riding in the car and then having to get out..it literally can take me 5 minutes to be able to walk). And that pain was less severe than it has been in a long time. Not only was my pain generally less, but I had no pain at all in my right knee, it has all been coming from the left. Conclusion: the combination of weight loss (I have been told weight should not affect my knees due to the disease being centralized in the kneecap, but having some extra pounds has still gotta add some stress) and the nutrients from the juice have decreased the inflammation in my knees resulting in less pain.

Day 7-02/07/12

Another 2 pounds gone this morning...13 in 6 days! This is giving my motivation a huge boost! I had so much energy today, I just had to get out of the house. I needed to stock up on my last weeks worth of produce anyway, so off to Stevens Point I headed to bring a car full of groceries home.  Before I left I made my berry smoothie and a serving of mean green. Typically you need to drink your juice within 15 minutes of making it, or it begins to oxidize. Oxidation essentially spoils your juice, and when a fresh living juice is made the nutrients are all present during the first 15 minutes. After that the oxidation process is far along enough to effect the quality of the juice, primarily the depletion of the very important phytochemicals. This can obviously pose a problem when you need to be out of the house, whether it be for work or running errands. For me using a food processor vs. a juicer helps this a bit, as juicers, epsecially centrifugal juicers, don't cause as much oxidation to the fruits and veggies as a juicer. I believe this has to do with the speed and method of "crushing" (dicing or processing in a processor or blender). With this in mind, I figured if I could bottle the juice, filling it to the brim and capping it, that I could minimize the oxidation enough to make it last a couple hours. Even if some of the nutrients are no longer present, its still better than nothing! Shane suggested before capping the bottle to pierce through the juice with a knife, releasing the excess air, like in canning. Of course pouring the juice in slowly and holding your bottle at an angle to reduce the foam will help. So I prepared my mean green to go using this method and could tell no difference when I drank my juice two hours later.
When I got home I whipped up a glass of "V8" juice around 5:00 and mean green again at 8:30.

Day 6-2/06/2012

I have lost 4 more pounds, a total of 11 so far. Other than that my post is pretty boring for today. I made my normal berry smoothie for breakfast and had mean green for lunch, the carrot juice I made on day 2 at 5, and mean green again at 8.

Many people have started to notice my weight loss and my clothes are definitely looser.

Day 5-02/05/2012

Fortunately today when I woke up I felt almost as equally amazing as last night.  I am much less sore...my shoulders are still achy, but not as bad as it has been. My head doesn't feel cloudy anymore...everything is becoming clearer, mind and body. My headache is gone. My detox symptoms are finally on the way out. I think that if I would have drank more water over the first two days that my detox would have over already. I have been pushing a lot of water today day...almost 3/4 of a gallon. I'd like it to be a gallon.

I need to back up to last night. My V8 style juice was another tasteful success. It didn't seem to have much flavor at first, but the aftertaste is definitely V8 juice like. As long as I have enough ingredients I am going to try it later today with the addition of a red pepper. The closest grocery stores to me are between 6-10 miles away and those towns have populations well under 1,000, meaning the quality of produce (absolutely no organic produce what so ever) is rather horrible. Even in the summer with the few small local farm stands that there are, you still have to drive 50 miles to Stevens Point(WI) or a little further to Madison to be able to purchase organic produce from a farm stand or market. If I would have started my cleanse in the summer I would of had a much larger selection of local organic produce. This, however, did not even occur to me to be a consideration...my main thought was I want to change, and I want to change now...and of course it will be nice to be healthy and active for the summer. I am able to get the vast majority of my produce from the Stevens Point Area Co-Op and can fill in with the organic produce section at Trigs.

Here's the "V8" juice                                                                                      

 

If you make this your color may vary. I use local multi colored (purple, yellow, and orange) carrots. 

For breakfast I had my same old smoothie. I promise tomorrow I will try a new breakfast juice/smoothie. At lunch I had the "V8" juice again  with the addition of a red bell pepper. I couldn't taste much of a difference, it just gave me more juice and different nutrients. At 6:00 I made the Mean Green, minus cucumber since I have run out and can't make it to the store until tomorrow. Again not much of a taste difference, I think the apple and the kale really stand out in this combination, so all the juice lacked without cucumber was the refreshing smell (thats just me though). 

Mean Green-cucumber=

Not sure what I will make yet tonight. I felt great all day and had tons of energy.

Day 4-02/04/2012

Today started very slowly. My headache is gone and my body aches are minimal, but my stomach itself is a little  sore, to the touch even. Tender would be more the word. I didn't even make my morning juice (again the same as it has been!) until 9:00. I got a lot of work done on the computer this morning, but with all the sitting and typing and lack of motivation I felt extremely lazy. Semi productive at the very best. I made my afternoon juice at 2:00 (mean green kale juice)!

Shortly after drinking my juice and taking my vitamin I started cleaning the house which progressed into taking my shower and getting ready...starting my day, but just really really late. I realized that physically I felt pretty good, which made me feel amazing mentally. My skin is everything but dry, but is not oily, it is just soft. My hair even seems softer...although this could also be because Kenna was rubbing Dr. Bronners Pepermint soap all over my head before I took a shower.

I had to run over to the neighbor's house and weighed myself quick while I was there. I have lost 7 pounds in 4 days! Starting to see my body's health increasing in multiple ways has me feeling very positive and motivated about what I am doing.

I am going to start taking pictures of the juice and of the various processes...the mean green juice is such an awesome bright green color.

I'm trying a different juice now..heres the recipe, its supposed to taste similar to V-8 juice. I'll comment later on what my taste buds think. I think I forgot to mention in my post about yesterday that the carrot and spinach juice I have been making, is almost equally as delicious as the mean green.

3 good handfuls spinach
2 large carrots 
1/8 large beet Root
1 green onion, including white part and green part
1 1/2 sticks celery
1 handful parsley
2 large tomatoes

I plan on making the carrot juice for my night juice at 9:00...I'm thinking I will feel as
good when I wake up tomorrow as I did this afternoon. As Kenna says "thats a great thing mom."

Day 3-02/03/2012

I definitely had a lack of energy today. It felt like a huge chore to stand and wash the dishes...i literally felt like my neck couldn't hold my head up. My upper back to the top of my head ached.

I started my morning off again with my strawberry, raspberry, banana, smoothie. I decided to stick with the same juices that I drank yesterday since I knew I enjoyed them. At 4:00 I had the carrot juice, and at 8 I had the kale juice again. So I ended up drinking 4 16 ounce glasses of juice.

I noticed that my stomach felt less hungry during the day...I had less "rumbles." And when I would drink the juice I could feel it flowing through my body. I could feel it hit my stomach and fill it. Very hard to describe, but it is an extremely satisfying feeling.


Tonight was the first time I had to cook for Shane and Kenna. I made them homemade mac and cheese with caramelized onion. It sure smelled and looked good. But I sat down at the table with them to "eat" and I enjoyed my juice.

Maybe tomorrow I will feel adventurous and try some new juices :)

Day 2-02/02/2012

Today was so much better! I woke up with a major headache, which I first attributed to hunger. My body also felt very achy and stiff, which I again wrote off as I am recovering from a nasty cold. I made my morning smoothie. I used the same ingredients as yesterday, but remembered the juice this time and it was a tasty, refreshing, uplifting morning drink.

I then sat down and spent a few hours searching for different juice recipes and information. Aside from finding some great looking recipes I discovered that my headache and body aches are likely symptoms of my detox..and as they continued throughout the day, I'm do think it is a positive sign that my body is responding to the juice. I also stumbled upon a site that had the recipe from Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead and I couldn't believe I didn't think to make that first! It is delicious! A 16 ounce glass of the "Mean Green" kept me satisfied for just over two hours....seemed pretty good to me for my second day. This juice tasted like everything but the kale...I could taste apple, lemon, celery, cucumber, and ginger. It was so good I believe I am going to make it as my before bed juice.

3 kale leaves (lacinato or dinosaur kale is the preferred juicing kale, but they are all good)
1 green apple
1/2 inch ginger
1/4 of a lemon
2 celery stalks
1/2 cucumber

I felt pretty good all day. I am finding myself running a little low on energy, but again this is normal and should improve in another few days. I have only been drinking one glass of water between juices..I need to step it up to two. I am surprised and happy to find that as of yet I am not having any trouble tolerating the hunger side of things..I make a juice, drink some water and tea, and make another juice three hours later when I start to feel hungry and repeat.

We are in need of a new scale, but just for my own curiosity I am going to weigh myself daily and record how many pounds a day I loose. I have heard reports of between 30 and 90 pounds in one month...20 pounds in 10 days. But until I get a scale next week I will only be able to give this data when I happen to be around a scale.

It's time to make some more juice..here is what I am making:
4 carrots
1 stalk celery
1 apple
1 handful baby spinach
1/2 lemon

Day 1-02/01/2012

On February 1st 2012 I started a juice cleanse.

I have been familiar with juice cleansing for quite sometime, but never truly considered it until I watched the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. Only then did I realize the extreme benefit to even a short term juice fast. It makes sense: the toxins in our body effect our organ functioning and prevent you from losing fat. When your body can't properly access the nutrients from the food it consumes your body stops using your fat for fuel and starts to store it. Drinking juice allows you to cleanse all harmful toxins from your body while giving it an easily digestible highly nutritious meal (allowing for fast fat burning, i.e. food=fuel). This is a very basic summary of the benefits of juicing-this blog is intended to give you an idea of what it is like to participate in a cleanse and to provide recipes that I have tried. There are vast amounts of information on juicing available on everything from the benefits, to recipes, to nutritional advice. If you have interest in starting a juice cleanse please read as much information as you can before you begin!

I choose to start my cleanse for many reasons: detoxing, energy boosting, weight loss, and to stop craving foods that my body does not need. I eat pretty healthy to start with. I have been a vegetarian since 2006 and my family and I eat nutritious homecooked vegetarian meals every night. I make my own pasta and breads and love to do so. This is one of the reasons I never thought I needed to cleanse: I eat healthy enough anyway. Now after shedding my ignorance and realizing I have 27 years of toxic build up in my body I begin my first cleanse. I intend on juicing for two weeks, possibly up to 30 days.

My first day did not go as well as I expected. I had a rather busy day and was not as prepared to begin my cleanse as I would of liked to have been. As a result I only ended up having 3 16 ounce servings of juice, when I should of had at least 4 and drank some of the most awful juice I have ever tasted. I will come back and try these juices later, as they are packed with amazing fruits and veggies, but they were not the right juices to try on the first day (especially since I am not the biggest fan of beets). I was pretty hungry all day, but then again I was not drinking juice everytime I felt hungry. It is recommended to drink 4 16 ounce glasses a day or to drink it when you feel hungry. On a juice cleanse, especially after the first 3-5 days, you will not feel hungry as your body has rid itself of all the things it does not need and is getting only what it does.
I was trying to keep myself positive and follow Shane's advice to "transcend through the ewww." I drank my juices and just thought about how good I will feel and all the positive effects I will see, physically and emotionally. I was concerned about having to prepare food for Shane and Kenna and that I would cave and eat what they are having. My tummy and my taste buds want it, but my will power has allowed me to say no. I do not believe that this will be a problem after the first few days, once I am past the detox stage, but this could be one of the hardest things for me to overcome during my cleanse.

In the mornings I will make a berry smoothie in my blender as it should help fill me up right away. Here is what I tried this morning:
3/4 cup strawberries
1/4-1/2 cup raspberries
1 banana
1/2 cup 100% juice-i use a morning blend mix with orange, pineapple, and melon
8 ice cubes
Blend until smooth
This was okay...but I realized after looking at the recipe again that I forgot to add the juice!

For my second juice (at 1:00 pm) I made a beet juice. I was very excited to make this because of all the amazing ingredients in it, but I found it rather horrible. I forgot to mention before it is best of all if your ingredients are organic to ensure they have the highest nutritional value possible.
1/2 beet root
6 baby spinach leaves
1/4 green cabbage
1 full stalk broccoli
1/2 grapefruit
1/2 lemon
1 orange
1 kiwi
2 cm ginger
Juice in order and mix.
We choose to juice using a food processor and paint strainer bags. Not only will it save you $300+ on a good juicer, but this method still allows for some fiber to stay in the juice, giving for an even more nutritional juice. Simply put all ingredients in a blender or food processor and process into fine pieces. Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup water and continue processing. When mixed dump mixture into the paint strainer bag (just put over a bowl or I use a large juice pitcher which works well as the bag sits right in the pitcher. I will attach a picture later). Then just squeeze the bag and goodness inside until all the liquid has been expelled. The leftover pulp can be used to make crackers, muffins, and other foods, or could be simply composted or vermicomposted.

After my afternoon juice (I did drink the entire glass though!) I looked through my preselected juicing recipes to find something that would better suit my tastes. The resulting juice was okay, I would have preferred it tasted much better, but was able to tolerate it much better than the beet juice above. The ingredients in this juice help boost your immunity.
2 tomatoes
1 handful parsley
2 celery stalks
1/2 cucumber
1/8 onion