Juice recipe reviews I

So my awesome neighbor bought me a book on juicing with tons of recipes so I will be trying a lot of miscellaneous combinations after this weekend.  For now I am trying to exactly follow what's listed in the 3 day reboot.  This morning I really enjoyed the carrot/apple/ginger concoction.  It was a nearly perfect yield amount (a little over one glass) and was a surprisingly complex taste (in a good way) despite few ingredients.  That one is the first one added to my repertoire.

The Mean Green juice however...  First of all it yielded nearly an entire pitcher.  My cucumber and apples were admittedly large but goodness!  The ginger gives it a nice kick but it needs to be a bit sweeter.  And this is coming from a person who doesn't like sweet drinks.  I don't like sugar in my alcohol (I drink vodka with water) and I rarely drink soda at all.  But this... this is a bit much.  I thought I would really like it but it tastes like grass.  Grass with ginger lol.  It's going to take me an hour just to finish it.  I'll try this one again with larger apples and a smaller cucumber/celery stalk but first impression is not impressed.  It might be good if there was something else on my palate.

it's a journey not a destination: 3 day reboot pt. 1

Ok so I am the worst blogger ever ha ha.  But it's a journey not a destination so I'm ok with that.

So for Christmas I got a Breville juicer.  I had waaaaay too much to drink the other week and the "day after" I was craving nutrients.  My neighbor has a juicer and hooked me up.  Then he suggested I watch "Fat Sick and Nearly Dead", a documentary about juicing so I did (so I can now accept that Netflix wasn't a total waste; before I wasn't so sure).  Anyway the documentary added to my already growing desire to own a juicer and lucky for me Christmas was near so I put it on my list and voila!

In general I am very much against "diets."  I think healthy is a journey not a destination (I see many things this way) and too many people want a quick fix to drop weight but don't want to eliminate the habits that caused them to put on weight in the first place... but I digress.  Anyway nutrients are good; I like that I will be full of them and preservative-free for a bit.  I do strongly believe in eating and balanced meals but it's only 3 days so I can live with that (I think).  And if I'm craving food tomorrow at this time I'll just eat lol.  But I think I can do it so 3 days is the goal.

I'm following the 3-day plan on the reboot your life website/blog.  The plan is to drink 5 juices a day.  I made a grocery list for today last night and woke up ready to get started.  I love love love cheese and sugar (I am sure there is scientific evidence somewhere that they are addicting and I am definitely addicted to both), but I ate both yesterday (#winning!!) so it wasn't hard to stay in the produce section this morning.  Anyway everything was surprisingly easy to find, nothing too exotic which I like about this plan so far.  I like trying different eating plans because it usually makes me try new veggies.  Today I bought ginger, beets, and swiss chard for the first time.  Again I most appreciated that they were easy to find.  The ginger was in the first juice, which I've already had, and though I've had ginger before, I really appreciated the spice it added.  My first thought was, wow it doesn't take much.  I only used an inch of it in a full glass of juice and could definitely taste it.


My total was $27.18.  I think my grocery store, HEB is an averaged price store.  It may be a bit toward the low cost end of the spectrum.  There are a few mistakes on the receipt, e.g. he didn't charge me for clementines, he rung up the beets as kiwi, etc. but I'm guessing it costs about $30 to make 6 glasses of juice or about $5 a glass.  In my mind I'll be making juice out of leftovers (I buy parsley to make pasta, use 3 sprigs and throw out the rest), so I'm not too concerned about the cost.  Plus I plan to drink a glass or two at most in one day so I think it'll balance out.  And you can't put a cost on health :o).

The Breville was super easy to use.  I was worried I should read more of the manual but just kinda went for it and it was straightforward.  Turn it on before adding food, push through with the machine not your fingers, turn it off.  This seemed to work lol.  I took the stems off my apples but I don't think I needed to.  Other than that I just washed the food and put it in whole.  Easy peasy.

What was less easy peasy?  The cleaning.  I see people complain about cleaning these things a lot.  The wire basket was a bit tricky but that's why it comes with a little brush to help.  I washed the juicer parts right away and I can see that being a really good idea lol.  I'll try to keep that up, though I definitely use my food processor less cause I hate cleaning it.

Finally, I'm really interested in using the pulp that the juicer leaves over.  I talked with my neighbor about this a bit.  He throws his away.  I took a bite of mine.  Then I also threw it away lol.  It was good but very dry (the juicer works!!), and a weird texture overall.  The carrot/ginger/apple pulp seems like it would be good in bread or muffins.  I'm gonna have to step my cooking game up to deal with it (I like to follow recipes EXACTLY and I'm sure not many are calling for carrot/ginger/apple pulp).  I did read that the veggie pulp is good for broths.  And compost.  I'll have to get creative.

To summarize: I'm one drink in and I'm a happy lady :o).

food logging

I am interested in giving up sweets (maybe most/all junk) for a while.  I also am aiming to drink more water.  The most important thing is that I eat meals and portion out snacking.  Marathon training is about to begin so I'm going to see the impact of good nutrition.

1 more day :o)

Hello there! We will weigh in for the 60 day challenge on Friday.  I wreaked havoc on my body the first weekend of Spring Break and came back 140 lbs :o(.  Of course it was mostly water (I was 135ish before that weekend) and it came off within a few days of eating well.  I have basically been loosely following the 17 Day Diet.  Spring break got me off track in that way, but I think that's ok.  I haven't been over eating, I have just been eating occasional junk food.  Until this last week that is.  I have followed the first cycle religiously.  I got the tip to drink distilled water for a couple of days. In doing more research I have cut out dairy.  And today I avoided salt completely.  I was working really hard so I actually didn't eat a lot, but for dinner I had a whole roasted eggplant.  I seasoned it with lemon juice and it was actually really really good.  I don't know that I could eat meat without salt.  Today I was too afraid to try, lol.  I did buy low sodium tuna for my lunch tomorrow.  Salt salt everywhere!  I really don't know how vegetarians get enough calories though.  I guess they eat a lot of carbs.  Anyway, I am not necessarily trying to cut weight, but I definitely don't want to retain it.

I was down to 130.6 this morning!! That's 10 lbs in 8 days!!  Will I see the 120s in the morning?  Let's hope so.

I have thought about what I will eat on Friday, lol.  That is the one good thing about weighing in a day earlier than I expected (although today wasn't as hard as yesterday wasn't as hard as Monday).  I already feel the effects of clean eating and know it's quite possible I'm not going to want to mess it up.  So I would say the challenge has been a success.  I never would have let this week be THE week when I eat right were it not for the weigh in.  And how lovely that it comes before my birthday :o).  So I can't do too much damage before next Friday, lol.

Oh!  I have had a crazy amount of energy in the evenings this week.  Not sure if it's from the reduced running (only one slow 6 miler) or the food but I love it.

I have been getting in really good workouts at X-train, yesterday in particular.  Feeling good.  120-something.  Come on!

lifestyle changes #progress

I am making progress.  Granted this contest is still going on which forces me to at least think about exhibiting some self control, but I hope some of these changes are lasting.

Sunday upon discovering there is one right by my house, I did decide to grab Tacodeli :o).  Again I ordered two tacos with no sides.  This time I allowed myself lemonade and a cookie as well (the cookie was f-ing fabulous, btw).  It was a beautiful day so I came home, opened the back door, and fell asleep.  That morning I had failed to go on my 'extra workout' run, and though I knew I still had the rest of the day for it, I doubted I would actually go.  When I woke up from my nap, I had just enough daylight to get in a run if I left right away.  I did :o).  It was a great run, 6 miles.  When I came home I didn't feel like cooking, but I did anyway.  I opted for the fresh salmon rather than the frozen tilapia.  It's my second frozen tilapia fillet that's gone to waste.  I don't think I'll try frozen again.  Good workout, good meal.

Yesterday I ate four mini Snickers.  Not bad except I was trying to go another three days without sweets.  I decided I could have a cupcake and start over today... but then I talked myself out of it... but then someone fb'd me an announcement for FREE cupcakes at Hey Cupcake.  Turns out the cupcakes were B.O.G.O.  I B.O.'ed lol.  The free cupcake is a new flavor, John Lemon, and it was also fabulous.  I did not substitute the cupcake for dinner, and finished my leftover salmon from the night before (before I ate the cupcake, in fact).  Now unfortunately because I B.O. I also G.O. leaving me with an extra cupcake.  I opted not to eat it yesterday, but ate it for 'breakfast pt. I' this morning.  Then I went to X-train Tabata and did another 6 mile run :o).  Bye bye cupcake!  Actually when I ate it I remembered that I do not really like how rich Hey Cupcake's cupcakes are, the Sweetberry in particular.  I didn't notice the texture while eating the John Lemon, but I'm glad I'm not especially eager to get more.  So today (minus breakfast pt. I) was day one of no sweets.  It wasn't hard at all, but I guess I was pretty busy.

And lastly, a very funny story.  Today I came home wanting some of the almonds I knew I had.  I ate a serving, chewing slowly, and enjoying them.  Then I ate half of another serving (total: 255 cals).  I knew I might be tempted to get more so I threw the package on top of the (very tall) cabinet.  It worked, lol.  A little while later I had forgotten that I did that, and decided I might as well have the full 2nd serving.  I went in the kitchen only to find there were no almonds in the cabinet.  It only took me a second to remember where they were, but as I chuckled to myself I decided my hour earlier self knew best and I would not climb on top of the counter to get them.  I ate an egg instead.  Similar in caloric content, yes, but not the same mental food abuse.  (Fresh) tilapia for dinner.

minimizing the damage

So today I caught a movie with my friend.  I had a good breakfast and though I would have liked to have Tacodeli again, I settled for Chipotle due to time constraints.  I got a burrito for the sake of portability and I got cheese because, well, I love cheese.  This made me realize that I did not have cheese on my fish tacos yesterday :o). Anyway, the burrito was not very good and I ate it too fast, but I did make an effort to savor and chew (it just wasn't very good as I said).  I drank a large grapefruit Izze, but I don't think it has it doesn't have added sugar.  I skipped the movie stand concessions (even though the popcorn smelled SO good) since I was full.  And when we finished the movie, my friend and I grabbed food/dessert, and I opted for ice cream rather than a cupcake (or both, ha ha).  I came home and finished off my snacks (I don't think I am the kind of person that can keep snacks around the house), but I think I did good today!  I didn't get a workout in, but I'm going to try for 6 miles tomorrow.

3 weeks away!!

So my resolution challenge ends in 3 weeks!!  Discipline is easier for me when there is a clear end in sight.  My plan is to alternate lower calorie days (cycle 1) with higher calorie days (cycle2/3).  My friend also mentioned that drinking distilled water right (3 days) before the final weigh ins will help me shed that last minute weight.

Today was my higher calorie day.  I ate breakfast (though I snacked a bit more than I would have liked to) and met my friend at Tacodeli for lunch.  The tacos were really good (tilapia) and relatively healthy.  (Also, I passed on the beans and rice, ordering two tacos instead- progress!).  However by dinner time I was pretty hungry again (as I should have been), and there was pizza at a meeting I had that I decided to indulge in.  I wanted some water but there was none offered, so I ended up drinking about a cup of Dr. Pepper.  It was disgusting.  And then afterwards I let my friend talk me into getting a cupcake (which she didn't even end up getting one).

So first of all, I feel ok about what I ate.  Good breakfast, good lunch, moderate dinner, and snacks throughout the day.  The only things that were less than ideal were two slices of pizza, the soda, and a cupcake.  I'm happy that those things make up a meal (vs. a list of random junk foods).  I'm happy that two slices of pizza didn't turn into more.  I'm happy that the soda was too syrupy and not good to me.  I'm happy that I passed on cookies earlier today so that the cupcake didn't feel so bad.

And now a couple things that could have made 'ok' be 'good.'  I should always have a water bottle with me.  I don't even like soda.  Why waste calories on it just because I'm thirsty?  Obviously I could have just found a water fountain, but I didn't.  I think know a water bottle would have solved my problem.  Also, I need to consider packing a (light) dinner for my long days.  Had I been a bit fuller, I may have made the decision to skip the pizza all together.  I don't do a good job of meal planning on my long days.  I eat breakfast ~8:00 and lunch ~1:00 but don't rarely plan dinner for the days I get home after 8:00.  And finally, I didn't really even want a cupcake that much, but I kinda just went with the inertia.  I want to make a conscious effort to skip junk unless I really really want it.

Overall today was a good day.  Eating right during the week makes the damage done on the weekends minimal.  I will try to keep this in mind when I find myself desiring junk on a Wednesday :o).