Preparing to Juice

Here is what I've done to prepare for juicing:

1) Find something or someone that will tell me exactly what to do. For me, that comes in the form of a book titled The Juice Fasting Bible by Sandra Cabot, M.D..

This book is awesome. It's only 146 pages, and it gets straight to the point. She offers several plans, and a ton of recipes.

2) Make a juicing plan. This was really, really hard. Even though I had every recipe laid out, making sure I was accounting for a week's supply of juicing was not easy. However, by using the seven day plan in the aforementioned book, I was able to put a solid plan together in about 45 minutes. Here's what I did:

1.  Used the 7 day fast plan from The Juice Fasting Bible
2. Accounted for each recipe, then doubled a few of them to make sure I had a week's supply of juice.
3. Went shopping at Whole Foods

3) Come home with a s!%# ton of produce. $184 to be exact. I got a deal with Living Social for $10 off a $20 voucher, and we also got some supplemental stuff that will last us a while. So really it's more like $130 worth of produce.

Now, almost a week into it, I realize that recipes aren't really necessary once you know what you like. But, this made it so much less intimidating for the first go around.

I'll leave you with a bit of advice that I will be sticking to myself: GET RID OF ALL FOOD THAT ISN'T JUICING RELATED. Since we have a two year old, we do have some pastas, yogurts, and peanut butter and jelly stuff for her to eat since she isn't fasting with us. Even that makes my mouth water. If you can get rid of all of it, or just store it where it isn't readily available (since I do NOT advocate wasting food), do it. You will save yourself a lot of temptation.

Day Five

Menu

Breakfast:

5 oz of blueberries

5 oz of blackberries

1 orange

1/2 grapefruit

1/2 inch ginger root
1 Tomato

This was really good. My produce supply is dwindling, so I'm sparing my greens for lunch and dinner. 

Lunch and Dinner:

Stuff thrown together randomly. I have a lot of stuff left, but at this point, I know what I like, and how much to put together. I'm not really following recipes. Something sweet+a lot of wheat grass and spinach seems to do the trick.

Today we soaked in Epsom Salt baths, since it's supposed to help with detoxing. Tomorrow will be Apple Cider Vinegar baths.

Day Four

Menu

Breakfast:

Bunch of blackberries

1 apple

Handful of wheatgrass

Slice of pineapple

1 cabbage leaf

This yielded about 2 cups. It tasted pretty good. I find that if I use enough fruit to cover the taste of the greens, it isn't too bad. What sucks is that fruit juice isn't supposed to be the majority of your diet in juice fasting because of its sugar content. 

Lunch:

Leftovers

Dinner:

2 carrots

1/2 beetroot

Handful of spinach

2 apples

1/2 inch of fresh ginger root

a couple of chunks of pineapple

Handful of wheat grass

This was delicious, and really pretty.

So far, this is totally worth it. I have been a little sluggish, but it's wearing off.

Day Three

Menu

Breakfast

1 grapefruit

1 orange

2 carrots

handful of wheatgrass

This got me about a cup after I topped it off with a little bit of aloe vera juice

Lunch 

1 peeled lemon

1/2 inch of fresh ginger root

1 apple

2 carrots

2 cabbage leaves

handful of mixed herbs (parsley and basil)

1/4 red onion 

I got three full cups of this. It was positively disgusting. Never, ever again.

Dinner 

Leftovers...  

Day Two

Menu

(all recipes from The Juice Fasting Bible)

Breakfast:

1 orange, with peel

1 lemon, peeled

1 pomegranate, seeds and flesh

2 inch slice of fresh pine apple 

2 peaches, pitted

1 C pureed blueberries

I got about 3 cups out of this recipe after I added in the pureed blueberries. 

Lunch:

 1 grapefruit, peeled but with pith

4 oz of wheat grass

3 broccoli florets

2 brussels sprouts

2 carrots

1/8th cup of aloe vera juice (Lily of the dessert brand)

This yielded 2 cups.

Dinner:

1 grapefruit, peeled

1 lemon, peeled

2 stalks of celery

1 cucumber

1 red radish

2 inch slice of fresh pineapple

1/2 inch slice ginger root

(not sure the yield on this, since it's not quite dinner time)

So far, I'm not feeling too bad. I accidentally took a four hour nap today, and my head aches a little. But, since I knew this was part of the deal, I'm not really angry at the juice feasting gods. However, a couple of the juices I've had with celery in them seriously make me gag.

Halfway through the first day..

I WANT FOOOOD.

It's not that I'm starving, or even hungry. I am really craving carbs, or chocolate, or anything that isn't hippie juice! (I kid, I kid)

Really though, we have already cheated. I ate a handful of raw, organic, almonds, and we both ate a banana. It was the most delicious banana that I've ever eaten in my life, and James agrees. Look at us rebels.

Anyway, for lunch we both had very large glasses of juice.

Recipe:

2 apples
2 carrots
3 celery sticks
1 orange, peeled
1/2 inch of ginger root
Handful of random herbs (parsley and mint)
Add on 1/8 C of store bought aloe vera juice (Lily of the Desert)

Neither of us are feeling particularly bad, or different, but I'm sure we'll start feeling it soon.

Morning One

Recipe:

1 orange with some peel
1 grapefruit, peeled (biggest grapefruit I've ever seen)
1 tomato
1 clove of garlic
2 cabbage leaves
1 carrot
(added flax oil after juicing)

Yield: 3 cups (yes, seriously)

Taste: Very citrusy. The garlic is definitely there, but honestly, it's pretty good. It's also pretty satisfying. I woke up starving, and while I don't feel stuffed, I do feel satisfied. James doesn't wake up hungry usually, but he looks content.

Verdict on the Omega: LOVE. It was the best investment ever. The pulp was pretty dry, and it gave me 3 cups, when I expected to only get about 2. The juice is a little thick, but not too pulpy.

Pulp

Halfway Through!

Why We Are Juicing

We first heard about juicing about a year ago when we watched a documentary called A Beautiful Truth. It was something that we thought we should do, but didn't think much about it after. Then, like most who are currently juicing, we watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. It's the first documentary we've seen that caused us to act immediately. We spent a few days researching juicers and juicing, and within a week bought the Omega VRT350 HD. (Check out THIS YouTube channel to see comparisons of every juicer that ever existed.. ever).

We are juicing because health is important to us. After seeing Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead, we had no excuse but to follow through with it. We are going to keep going for as long as we can, and right now, the goal is a week. We'll let you know then how serious we are about it. ;)

Here's to juicing!