Juicing For Life

Some of you may already know that we bought a juicer a few of weeks ago. There were a few reasons why we decided to; the films: Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, Hunger for Change and Food Matters. These are all wonderful documentary style films and you should watch them, recommended by me! Plus, if you have Netflix streaming, you can find all of them there.

Once we decided to purchase a juicer it took us some time to decide on which one to get. I had it down to two kinds, the Hamilton Beach Big Mouth or the Jack LaLanne. They are both pretty much the same except one is $30 more and the other one sounds like a blender (loud). So, we decided to go with the Jack LaLanne one that truly is whisper quiet when you turn it on (here is a YouTube video to show you a comparison of the two). That is the one that is $30 more, for us it’s worth it because we can juice while L.L. is sleeping. Her room is almost next to the kitchen so it was something for us to consider in the buying process. It’s not whisper quiet when the produce goes through, but that’s going to be the case no matter which one you get. We figure since they are both pretty much the same outside of the noise, we were better off starting with quiet enough for baby to sleep. There are others that are more expensive, but out of the lower to mid-range, I found these to be the best options.

Next, we looked up the reboot juicing plan that Joe Cross suggests, the guy that made Fat Sick and Nearly Dead. Gil decided that the 5 day was for us. I agreed, since I had done a similar raw diet (blending) before, maybe 5 years ago, that was 7 days. We were all in, next we needed to purchase the produce for our reboot!

Since we are almost exclusively organic produce people, I went to our local farmers market and spent $100. It didn’t cover the whole list, but would be enough for us to see what else we would need for the remaining days. By the way, if you use Joe Cross’ grocery list review it realistically for the recipes you are going to be making. I had to adjust the count for almost every item. Plus, remember that list is only for one person to do the reboot, double it if you are doing it with your significant other.

The plan gives you some choices. I decided to go with the most variety we could get:
Breakfast: Orange
Lunch: Green
Afternoon Snack: Red
Dinner: Green
Dessert: Purple
There are other drinks that he adds in, you decide what you want to do about them. I didn’t bother, from lack of time, lack of need or dislike.

In the morning, before Gil would go to work I would make three juices. Then, for dinner I would make the remaining two. That way he would have them at work and I didn’t have to juice and clean the parts all day long. I know they say you lose some of the nutrients if you don’t drink it right away, but they also say you can put it in the fridge for up to 2 days. I figured a few hours was fine. We also learned that we didn’t need to double each recipe, so we did another half if the ingredients yielded a lot of juice.

I have a bunch of pictures that I will post after this as a day-by-day catalog. Instead, I will show you all the produce that I bought on the first round.

photo 1
Just to give you some perspective: 30 carrots, 3 bunches of kale, 3 bunches of parsley, 2 bunches of mint, 2 bunches of basil, 2 celery heart, 6 cumbers and 4 zucchini.
photo 2
3 more bunches of kale, 8-10 beets, and more…
This one is pretty easy to see everything.
This one is pretty easy to see everything.

That is what $100 of produce looks like. In the end we spent $165 on groceries. However, if we had doubled each recipe I think we would have spent $200. It’s possible that we should have done that anyway, because we both got hungry throughout the day. I would drink the leftovers and be fine. I know that Gil would have been better off with a bit more, too. Instead he ate a banana or two a day as a supplement to make it through work. Estimate $100 per person for the 5 days, if you are using organic produce.

As we were doing the reboot I didn’t think that I felt *all* that much better. We already eat pretty healthy, most of the time. Here is a list of the things that I knew were better.

* I was sleeping very well through the night, or almost. (Something I haven’t done in 7+ years)
* I could pop out of bed and feel refreshed. Normally, I’m the person who needs 10 minutes to lay in bed before I get up.
* I didn’t get the afternoon lull everyone gets after lunch.
* I felt lighter, but didn’t feel like I was truly losing weight. By the end of the week I could see that the ‘water weight’ people talk about was gone. My face looked thinner with high cheek bones and my arms didn’t do that little giggle around the biceps, when they aren’t flexed.

Otherwise, that was it, I couldn’t tell that it was this amazing ‘cleanse’ I had read about and SO MANY others had experienced.

THEN, I ate my first solid food meal. The next day I woke up tired, lazy and parched. I had no idea how incredible I had been feeling until I went back to normal food. Here’s what I had in that meal:

App: Goat cheese with honeycomb and roasted garlic on toasted bread chips.
Main: Fresh grilled halibut with grilled veggies and roasted red potatoes.
Dessert: Graham cracker and cheesecake covered strawberries.

All of these items were homemade and mostly organic.

I also had a couple of beers, since we were at a friends enjoying a fun evening with them and their 4 doggies. Domingo had a blast, too!

Needless to say, the reboot worked in more ways than one! We now crave juice and more healthy food. I actually want a salad for lunch, now. (That really never happens.) Here is what I realized I was feeling without noticing it:

* No longer waking up with a parched dry-mouth (this has been a problem of mine since moving to San Diego).
* Barely waking up to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night or needing a drink of water. (I probably wake up 3x a night for the latter.)
* Having difficulty knowing if I brushed my teeth in the morning because there was no harsh breath from sleeping all night and my teeth still felt clean from brushing at night. (The one negative with that one was that by the end of the day, all the juice would put a film on the back of my teeth I could feel right around dinner.)
* No longer yawning throughout the entire day. If I caught myself yawning it was really because I need the extra air, I never felt tired, just ready to relax at the end of the day.

Now onto the bad: the cravings! WOW – I had cravings for carbs, cheese and regular food like it was no one’s business. It was hard to concentrate some days. While feeding L.L. was torture – I never wanted a cracker so badly before. The worst was day 3 and by day 4 I started to feel better, but that was only because I knew that the next day was it. Seeing the light at the tunnel really is true, in this case. By day 5, though, I felt great and almost didn’t want to stop the juicing. It was hard getting there, and it took a long time until I was really over the crazy (pregnant like) cravings, but it was worth it.

After going through all the benefits once we started eating solid food again, I can say I highly recommend doing this. It’s not for everyone, though. You have, have, have, have to REALLY want to do it and stick with it. Can you imagine how unsatisfying it would have been if I quit after day 3? Plus, the juices are very good. Not only are they packed with a nutrient punch, but they are delicious.

From here on out we are going to juice for 1-2 drinks a day. It’s a great way to start and end the day or replace one meal, in my book. So, that’s where I will leave it. Along with a picture of a juice we made this weekend.

photo
Strawberries + Oranges + Apples = YUMMY!

JUICE ON!

4 thoughts on “Juicing For Life”

  1. Gina and I just switched to a gluten free diet and have been contemplating the incorporation of juicing. Sounds like it has some perks for sure.

    1. I’m sure if you have figured out how to do gluten free it won’t be that difficult, either. 🙂

      1. Yeah, it ain’t easy and we were starving for a week. We’re not obsessive (as there are trace amounts in so many things), but we’re getting it and have found it to be beneficial.

        1. Well, it’s great that you have worked it into your daily life. I have a friend who is vegan and she says she makes it through by “not sweating the small stuff”. As in, when you are at a restaurant and you are pretty sure your veggies are grilled the same place the chicken is, you don’t make a fuss. I’m glad you can tell a difference, makes the sacrifice easier to maintain.

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