Day Six - Best day yet!

I woke up this morning on my sixth day feeling good and ready to hit the grocery store.  I had some of the nasty juice left over from yesterday that I forced myself to drink for breakfast.  It wasn't as bad this morning, maybe because I knew what to expect, maybe because it had sat over night which means it loses some of it's nutrients, or maybe because I chugged it in about one minute flat.  I sat down and made out a grocery list for the next few days.  I spent just over $50 and got all the goodies below.  I got apples, limes, lemons, kale, spinach, cucumbers, celery, carrots, romaine, onions, garlic, tomatoes, corn, a jalapeno, and some cilantro.  I tried to buy mostly organic stuff but it's not all organic.  

Grocery trip gone wild

I have been making my own recipes up this week and I figured today I would try the official "mean green" that Joe Cross did for 60 days while he was fasting.  It consists of 6 kale leaves, 2 green apples, 1/2 a lemon, a cucumber, 4 pieces of celery and 1 inch of ginger root.  I decided to be brave and try the ginger again, even though I hated it so much yesterday.  I thought, if Joe drank this for 60 days I am pretty sure I can drink one glass.  The lemon must knock out the ginger because it tasted so much better! The lemon made it more fresh and it was very filling.  All this made about 32 ounces, which is 2 drinks for me.  I drink three or four 16-20 ounce glasses a day.  It depends on if I am eating a meal that day.

The mean green drink machine

 I read on someone's blog yesterday that you can line your pulp cup with a plastic bag to make clean up easier today.  I decided to try that and it sure works, great idea!!

Ginger root... soooooo gross, smells gross, tastes gross, just gross.  It even looks gross!

Lunch and dinner

 For an afternoon snack I made a small spinach salad with an avocado and pico de gallo that I made this morning.  I have never made it and it was delicious!  I used a tomato, half an onion, a clove of garlic, cilantro, a jalapeno, and half of a lime's juice.  I learned that fresh jalapenos are much more powerful than the ones that come in a jar!  But the salad was very refreshing and so good.  Avocados are one of my favorite foods, I could eat 10 at a time, I love them on salads!

My fresh made pico de gallo.  I made it this morning and had it on a salad for lunch.  Hot and spicy!

Five pounds of fresh blueberries from Michigan, for only $9.99.  When I was a kid we used to go and pick these by the carton.  Yumm.  I froze most of them, and will juice probably a pound in the next few days.

That's about it for day 6.  No headaches, not too hungry, lots of energy, I feel great.  I am going out to meet some friends for the rest of the evening so I thought I would blog now.  I am taking my juice with me for dinner.  =)  I am happy to hear different people are reading this, I hope that maybe it inspires you to try the challenge too!

Day Six - 191.4 Pounds

Total Weight Loss - 6.5 Pounds

I woke up this morning and got on the scale only to realize I had gained .5 of a pound.  I wasn't too surprised by this because I felt really bloated yesterday and this morning, actually I still do.  The first 5 days my body was feeling tighter and my tummy was feeling super flat.  Today I feel like I have a food baby.  I was a little discouraged but got over that pretty quick.  I need to go work out, I was just nervous to go the first few days.  I know I am barely eating any calories so I didn't want working out to wipe me out.  Well that's it for today, happy juicing friends!!

Day Five

Ahhh day 5, the possible ending to this whole fast business, but not for me!  I am still going strong heading towards the whole 15 fast!!  I woke up this morning feeling much better after a not so great day yesterday.  I started juicing away and decided to add ginger root to my juice this morning which is recommended in many recipes.  OMG it was awful!!  I felt like my whole batch of juice was ruined, but I was not about to throw it away.  My roomie Steven came home and encouraged me to just chug it and get it over with.  So.. I did, and yuck, at least it was over!  Here's what I juiced up this morning.

I had a peach, celery, blueberries, a mango, kale, a tomato and about an inch of ginger root

I met some teacher friends for lunch at Eddie Met Salad and had an awesome mix of spinach, romaine, jalapenos, corn, mushrooms, pico de gallo, and avocados.  It was so yummy!  I had a bunch of errands to run before class and didn't want to drive back home so I stopped at Trader Joe's for dinner.  I picked up an apple and banana and then came across this juice in the cooler area.  I thought well that kinda looks like the same green crap I have been juicing all week so I'll give it a try.  I read the back of the label and it is totally organic and 100% juice, so I figured ok!  It actually tasted really good, better then the mean green I brew up and it was only $2.49 for 15 ounces.  Probably turns out to be a better more convenient deal than what I am doing!!  =)

Trader Joe's Juice

Day Five - 190.9 Pounds

Total Weight Loss - 7 Pounds

Day Four - Not so hot

Ugh today has not been a fun day for me.  I woke up this morning late for my meeting and was scrambling around to throw food in the juicer for the day.  Since I was rushing I probably threw too big of a handful of carrots into the juicer and then jabbed the pusher down to make it go faster.  Do you think it went faster?  No, in fact it overheated and turned itself off.  Awesome.  So I had about 3 carrots, some celery,  strawberries and broccoli in there which was not enough for a day's worth of food.  Oh and by the way, there's no juice in broccoli!!  I put a bunch in and would have been much better off steaming it or something instead.  Oh well, this is a learning process right?!  I didn't get to drop in the apples from this bowl, or the rest of the carrots, but the picture below shows what I intended to juice this morning!  I ended up having enough for one tall glass, about 20 ounces and then about 10 more left over for lunch.  I mixed that part with water and ice so it was a little diluted but eh.  

So I came home from my meeting this afternoon and made some more juice with strawberries, mangoes, carrots and celery.  I forgot to take a picture of that but you can probably imagine.  =)  I decided to watch the documentary again for motivation but halfway through I got a blazing headache.  I drank a bunch of water but it didn't seem to help.  I was probably already dehydrated, we had another over 100 degree day here today with heat index, so I think it was too late.  I ended up having to take a nap because I could barely think it hurt so badly.  I woke up a few hours ago, had some more juice and water and now I feel great.  So, I now understand the headaches I read about!  NOT FUN!

On a plus side, last month I signed up for this organic delivery service of local fresh fruits and vegetables.  The service is called Green B.E.A.N Indiana and I get bi weekly delivery for $35.  I am still trying to gauge if it is really a good value, it is certainly convenient and I love the fact that it is all organic and local.  Today in my bin I got ginger root, kale, rainbow chard ( I don't even know what that is, some kind of leafy green) strawberries, blueberries, celery, broccoli, peaches, and tomatoes.  What do you think?  Good deal, or too expensive for what it is?  I am looking forward to tomorrow being a better day, I have lunch plans at Eddie Met Salad with two teachers I haven't seen all summer, always a plus!  I have decided that is the only restaurant I am comfortable eating at, so if you want to take me out to lunch in the next 11 days... guess what, that's where we are going!!

Happy Juicing!!

Day Four - 191.9 Pounds

Total Weight Loss - 6 Pounds

Day Three - Still going strong!

Well I woke up today feeling a little nervous because all the posts and blogs I read said day three is the worst, and here I am on day three!  But I am happy to say I made it through, I was pretty hungry and did have a headache this afternoon but all in all I'm good.  I have had so much energy and have been in a great mood all day, in fact, it's after midnight and I still feel amazing!  This morning I made another V8 kind of drink because the one I made yesterday was so good!  I added kiwis and strawberries today to make a little more and to make it a little sweeter.  It was delicious!!  Here's a picture

I made enough for the day because I knew I had some errands and things to do and wouldn't be home again to juice.  I ended up going to the pool for a few hours in about 100 degree heat today.. which might not have been the smartest move I've ever made.  I tried to keep on with lots of water but definitely got a little dehydrated and sunburnt!  Tonight I had class at Butler and was starving out of my mind by 7pm.  Luckily there had been a presentation and there were veggie trays out.  I loaded up on some radishes, carrots, cauliflower, and tomatoes and felt a lot better.  

I have had a bunch of questions about the juicer I use and how it is to clean, so I took some pics to share.  I bought the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer Express in black.  I got it from Kohl's for $129, but then my sister told me she got the same one from Wal-Mart for $99!  So I went back and had it price matched.  They carry this one at Bed Bath Beyond too and you know you have one of those 20% of coupons laying around so I would recommend buying it there.  The juicer comes apart in 4 very easy to clean pieces.  You have the blade, the pulp container, the pusher and the lid.  It takes about 5-10 minutes to clean and can go in the dishwasher.  The craziest thing about this whole juicing is all the PULP leftover. There is so much, the picture below shows the container after juicing my breakfast.  All that is leftover stuff, either gets thrown away or you can put it in a compost, bake it into breads, muffins, pancakes or something else creative.  You can even freeze the pulp.  Here are some photos after I juiced out my drinks for the day, I took it apart in stages to show that too.  

The lid

The pulp container

The blade/filter

Tomorrow is going to be my biggest challenge day.  First of all I have to wake up in about 5.5 hours then attend a workshop from 8-3:30.  Not only will it be my first wake up call before my own body wakes me in the last month, but I will have to juice in the morning for the day.  Kinda nervous but I know it'll be ok.  

Has anyone reading this decided to start juicing too??  The facebook page is a great resource if you are interested in learning more.  Just like, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  I know it's hard to respond to this, sorry about that, I don't know why.. but happy juicing!!

Day Three - 192.6 Pounds

Total Weight Loss - 5.3 Pounds

Day Two

Alright, about halfway through day two of this fast and I am feeling great!  I had some trouble sleeping last night but I pretty much always have trouble sleeping so I guess that's nothing new.  I woke up this morning feeling good thinking about what I would like to make.  There are tons of recipes on the http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/ website but I am having fun just making up my own.  I was craving a V8 type juice so I went into the kitchen to see what I could pull together.  Last night I went to the grocery to pick up some essentials.  I spent $19 and this is what I got. Some bananas too but I forgot to include those in the picture.

Only $19 for all this.. not too shabby!

Anyway.. since I was craving the V8 type juice I decided to throw together some carrots, a cucumber, 2 tomatoes, an apple and celery.  

What goes in...

Must come out!

( I really miss that Kona coffee in the background.. fresh last week from Hawaii that I cannot drink right now )

 I was happy to see a different color juice other than green because all day yesterday all I saw was green!  Actually I made a few juices previous days testing them out and they were all green too.  Ha.. I added the banana thinking I would need it to be more full, but it is STILL sitting on the counter.  It's crazy, as long as I keep drinking water or another glass of juice I am not hungry at all.  In fact for lunch I met up with one of my great friends Gina, at When Eddie Met Salad, a make your own salad bar and I thought about not even eating!  I decided to make a small salad with spinach, corn, avocados, jalapenos, broccoli and pico.  I topped it off with an avocado dressing (which might have been a little cheating) and some water and I was totally satisfied!

For dinner I am having some leftover juice from yesterday, I made so much in that pitcher I couldn't drink it all!  I have enough left for another glass, maybe even a glass and a half.  Also, I still have that banana!  =)  

I weigh myself each morning and was pleasantly surprised this morning that I had lost 3.2 pounds since yesterday!  If this keeps up then I will for sure be happy!  So far so good, no headaches or anything and it is a blazing hot day here today too.  Happy Juicing!!

Day Two - 194.7 Pounds

Total Weight Loss - 3.2 Pounds

Ok... here goes!

So today I have started a juicing fast that I am hoping to maintain for the next two weeks.  I got the inspiration from watching, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead, a documentary focused on two men who choose to make a radical decision about their health.  Both of these men were overweight and sick due to their extreme unhealthiness of constantly eating out.. just like me!  I went out and bought a juicer a few days ago and started following the plan from the website.  This morning I made a large pitcher of juice throwing together all the left over fruits and veggies I had in the house.  I tossed in some kale, grapes, watermelon, cantaloupe, a cucumber and pineapple.  Oh, and a tomato!  It made enough to last me for the day, and tasted amazing!  I have been trying to drink a lot of water which is always a challenge for me.  So far I feel pretty good, but I am definitely getting hungry.  I just drank another glass of juice and hope that helps.

I decided to challenge myself to this fast for a few different reasons.  One, I certainly do not eat enough fruits and vegetables and thought, what an interesting way to incorporate more into my diet.  Two, I just came off of a month of vacation and eating out and was feeling pretty crappy about my self image.  Three, I have the time right now to try this.  It is summer and I am off of work, so why not?  I am interested to push myself and try something out of my element.  I love to eat out, it's my favorite way to socialize and my bank has really noticed lately!  This will force me to stay in, eat healthy, quit drinking alcohol and hopefully kick off some serious weight loss.  I am brand new to this blog thing so I still need to figure out how to post pictures, but once I do I will put up my recipes daily.

You can check out the website here http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/ or watch the video on Netflix on demand.

Day One - 197.9 pounds... UGH I really hope that number goes down

All this plus a little more fruit and a tomato went it..

This is what came out... the fruit and veggie juice seemed to separate from each other!

All mixed up!  Enough for the day!