Juicing Journey: Day 5

Today was a tough day. I had juice for breakfast and lunch, but in between fell prey to the Junior Mints I bought myself last night.

While my children were at a birthday party, I cooked - and didn't snack! I cooked about 7lbs of ground beef, made 1 meatloaf, and cooked and chopped 11 chicken breasts - all for the freezer. I tasted exactly 1 bite of chicken to make sure the seasoning was good and that it wasn't over done. (Bad things happen when over-cooked chicken hits the freezer!)

Then, while picking up the kids from the party, I was sabotaged. I politely declined goodies - but the birthday mom foisted a plate on me anyway. I tried to pawn it off on my kids, but they were full - and busy playing. So I caved from politeness and ate. *sigh*

I repented by having a big glass of juice for dinner, with a banana and a pear. I had some raisins while playing Farkle and another glass of juice.

But just now, I polished off the Junior Mints. (Since today is blown, might as well make sure I can't mess up tomorrow, right?)

So, today was hard - but it did have a highlight! After showering this morning, I weighed in. I'm down 2lbs since weighing on Friday! Yay! I'm so excited - it is exactly the motivation I need to get back on the train - and STAY ON TRACK!

How do you handle social situations while dieting - especially when you don't want to go into detail? Share your tips in the comments!

Juicing Journey: Day 4

Today was super busy. We do big shopping trips at the beginning of each month and today was the day! Since I juiced last night, I was prepared with breakfast and lunch ready in the fridge.

This was my haul of produce after hitting Sam's Club and Wal-Mart. My best friend and I split the produce bill so this all cost me about $25.

Here was our set up.

Juicing on the table. This is to the far right of the picture above.

"Bottling" on the dryer which is on the other side of a wall from the juicer.

We made 5 juices.

1. Tomato-Cucumber-Onion-Lime: My friend was able to doctor the last batch of tomato juice to her liking, so we finished off the tomatoes. We channeled "salsa" flavors. She's optimistic that this will be really good.
2. Orange-Grapefruit: 3 oranges and 3 grapefruits, this turned out to be a really nice, mellow juice. The grapefruits were just barely tart. This was my afternoon snack juice.
3. Mixed Berry: strawberries, red grapes, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, 3 red apples. This was awesome - but it was a bit thick straight out of the blender. So we added apples and it made it absolutely wonderful. We made a big batch ALL for ME. Yummmmm
4. Green Machine: spinach and green apples, this is becoming a standard. I am almost ready to try adding some other things. And I'm out of apples so the next batch might have pears. I am wondering how that will work.
5. Pineapple-Orange: huge pineapple, 2 oranges, This made a HUGE amount of juice. We made 2 batches, one for my friend and one for me. This is such a smooth, sweet juice. (I may juice a few carrots to add to mine tomorrow - I'm feeling like I'm ignoring the veggies.)

It was SO MUCH FUN juicing with another person. To have someone there to taste test with me made all the difference. I tend to doubt myself - and talk myself into believing that something is acceptable when it really isn't.

Tomorrow will be a cooking day - so I'm really glad I have juices ready to go in the fridge. I'm hoping I'll be less likely to snack on my cooking results if I can sip juice!

Juicing Journey: Day 3

The juices that were made last night were 2/3 successful. The berry-grape-apple juice was wonderful! I enjoyed it for breakfast and as dessert at lunch.  And surprisingly, the spinach-green apple juice was great too! I had also made a tomato-cucumber-basil juice for a friend. She said it needed doctoring. She took it home after work today. She said she was going to think "Bloody Mary" as she worked to make it better. If that works, we plan to make a bigger batch this weekend.

I haven't made fresh juice today. I will be shopping this weekend and will be juicing as needed.  I did really well today - juice for breakfast, morning snack, and lunch. Reasonable dinner and NO SNACKING!  If we go shopping tonight (kids want to go out) then I may make a fruit juice tonight to have for breakfast (and possibly a midnight snack!)

I'm thrilled that I'm finding things that taste great. I'm also thrilled that I seem to be conquering the urge to constantly be snacking (chewing) when doing things like watching TV or reading a book. Now if the scale will react I'd be super thrilled! (Seriously, I want to see some results on the scale soon. I feel my patience wavering.)

Updated: The kids were antsy and the house was hot so we went out to the Wild-Mart (you know how it is on a Friday night!) I scooped up some green apples. When we came home I went ahead and juiced strawberries and the last of the grapes for breakfast (and a little snack now!) I also juiced some spinach and green apples so my lunch is ready. No excuses! I'm excited to do my first weekend day of juicing!

Juicing Journey: Day 2

So the juices I made last night for today were AWESOME. My favorite was pineapple-orange. But the apple-carrot-pineapple was also awesome. The carrot-pineapple was a bit much - ended up adding it to the apple-carrot-pineapple. Overall, a very successful day!

I made three juices tonight. One is for a friend - tomato-basil-cucumber. I'll try it - but I'm not sure I'll be able to do it. The second juice was a mixed berry-fruit juice. It ended up with a bunch of red grapes, blueberries (formerly frozen), strawberries, and 2 red apples. It is excellent! (Are you seeing my preference for the sweet, fruity juices?!)

My third juice was a bit of a gamble. I know the benefits of green juices - but you have to put GREEN things in (and I do not like most GREEN things.) An ever popular choice is kale - but I'd heard it has very strong flavors. So I skipped it - and went for some baby spinach. I did a spinach and green apple juice - that is surprisingly good! I had a couple little shots (for lack of a better word) before bottling it up for tomorrow. It was almost sweet, a bit tart, and quite refreshing (although that sounds cliche`.)

So hopefully tomorrow's juices will work out well! I am planning a big shopping trip this weekend (it is the beginning of the month, after all!) Pineapple and oranges are at the top of the list!

As a side note: I know it is better to drink the juice immediately after juicing - and this summer (and weekends for now) that is what I plan to do. But with my busy life right now, juicing the night before is the best I can do.

How have you fit juicing into your life? What is your favorite recipe for greens (specifically spinach!)

Juicing Journey: Day 1

So today was day 1. And it started well. I loved the Apple-Strawberry juice I made last night. It was a great breakfast (and mid-morning snack.)

And then came lunch. After a single sip, I realized my hi-jinks last night did not cover the celery taste. After a taste test by my friend, I opted to pitch the juice. It hurt - money wise I've got a lot invested in this. But I'll feel bad if it sits in the fridge and goes bad - and I need the container. So I dumped it down the sink and moved on.

Today, after a lot of thought, I decided to approach juicing differently for now.  I'm going to juice items separately (for the most part.) Especially items I'm not sure about liking. That way I don't ruin a whole batch of juice.

Today I made pineapple juice, apple juice, carrot juice, and orange juice. I'm fruit heavy right now - I'll ease into veggies as I get more comfortable with this process.

Today's juices got combined this way:

Pineapple-Orange
Apple-Carrot-Pineapple
Carrot-Pineapple

I'm happy with the tastes - sweet but the carrot comes through. So does the pineapple. I'm pleased with this batch! Hopefully tomorrow's lunch will be much better than today's!

For dinner tonight I had a cheese quesadilla, banana, and juice (cranberry-pomegranate-orange/store bought.) I'm not trying to eliminate dairy right now. I feel the need to add fruits and veggies into my diet through juicing. Maybe once school is out I can go for a more "juice only" diet for a while.  We'll see.

I felt good today - tired at times (but I was up late last night!) After dinner tonight I nearly napped on the bed - but a certain 9 year old needed help formatting her interview in Word. Saved by homework!

The Beginning: My Juicing Journey

Over Spring Break (April 6 - 15) I signed up for a Netflix free trial. (LOVE!) I happened to find the documentary Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead.

Life changing.

The gist is that this guy, Joe, has gained a bunch of weight, takes a bunch of pills, and - get this - has CHRONIC HIVES. Sound familiar? He gets checked by a doctor and then goes on a juice-only diet for 60 days. In the end, he even helps another guy (Phil) do the same thing. Joe came off all his meds and lost a bunch of weight. So inspiring.

So I spent some time thinking about it - juice fasting. And realized that with my current life style I just couldn't go with no food. There's too much right now - testing in 8 days, remediation after that, being a "single mom" 5 nights a week while my husband works. So I did some research and decided that I'd replace my meals of Instant Breakfast (breakfast and lunch) with juice. Also, I'd eliminate junk foods from my diet.

Then I had to face facts - how was I going to get money for a juicer?

Lucky for me, I got some money for my birthday and then some more for our wedding anniversary. Since my husband had spent the Christmas money to fix his car he told me to spend the Anniversary money on a juicer.

After all, spending $128 (plus fruits and veggies) is WAY cheaper than doctors to diagnose my hives.

So, I ordered the juicer (with a 20% off coupon) from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. And began the "Did it come?!" dance every day. Until yesterday!

After a quick trip to Walmart for produce (don't judge!), this is what my Twitter stream looked like:



I was seriously so excited. I got up this morning and had a glass of fruit juice - wonderful.  Until lunch time rolled around - and I discovered that what I thought "fixed" the juice last night, hadn't.  It was still pretty awful.

So I've learned my lesson - I don't like celery. At all.  That made me much more cautious about juicing today. But that's another post.

Have you ever juiced? What are your favorite recipes? Please share tips and tricks in the comments!

By The Numbers...

Claritin - 3 small boxes @ $4, 2 bottles @ $7 = $12 + $14 = $26
Benedryl - 3 bottles @ $4 = $12
Zyrtec - 4 boxes @ $5 = $20
Drugs total: approximately $58

Family Doctor Copay - $30 (6 vials of blood)
Specialist Copay - $70 (12 vials of blood)
Insurance Deductible - $200 (for labs)
Doctor/Insurance Total: $300 + 18 vials of blood

3 tubes of Eucerin Calming Creme @ $10 each = $30
1 bottle of Eucerin Calmin Itch Relief @ $7 = $7
2 bottles of Eucerin Calming Body wash @ $7 each = $14
Many packets of oatmeal bath in the early days = $10
Various tubes of creams and ointments = $20
Skin total: approximately $81

Approximate Grand Total: $449 + 18 vials of blood (and counting!)

4 months or 136 days with hives, pain, and general illness.

No answers. Is it any wonder I'm frustrated and just want to hide and CRY?

(I am counting from approximately November 12, 2011 since I don't feel like digging through my Twitter history to find when I first started complaining of hives.)

Read the beginning part of the story here.