Come Clean

Not Juicing Day 4

Well...today is the day I quit my juicing cleanse.

It's a sad day, and mentally a little tough. I had my mind all geared up for ten days without solid food. But now that i'm "allowing" myself to have it, I don't want it. I think I am just sad that I am not reaching my goal. But i'm coming to terms with it, the goal will still be there when I finish the marathon in September. It's not like the juicer is going anywhere, or the 10 day cleanse is now or never. So it'll be okay. I keep telling myself that.

Jonathan keeps reminding me that most juices out there are three days, so i've practically done what I needed to come clean. I'm not totally convinced.

Anyway, Jonathan and I are having juice for breakfast from now until forever though. They really are a healthy way to start our day so we are keeping up with it.

For future reference, when I do this again here are some things I learned from my 3 day cleanse.

1. Buy actual kale leaves, not in the bag! The bagged ones don't give enough juice. And kale juice is strong, so proceed with caution.
2. Cucumbers give a LOT of juice. But sometimes (most times) I don't like the taste, so also proceed with caution.
3. Don't wear clothes you like while juicing, until you become a professional juicer. The thing splashes sometimes, or you just drop it on yourself...
4. Beware of pinterest, too many good things to eat on there. Surprisingly, I didn't crave any of it, but I saved all the recipes so I could make them later.
5. You have to pee a lot. And I mean A LOT. (sorry, for the info) And don't be alarmed what color it is...(sorry for that too)
6. Ginger is strong so add little bits at a time.
7. Always have extra apples on hand to fix an awful juice, I learned that I alienated myself from the juices too early on. I made myself dread them when I should have been enjoying them! What harm is an extra apple in your day? Absolutely none! Those good juices saved me!
8. It is possible to lose 7 pounds in 3 days. That was unexpected, but of course welcomed. Now we are just keeping up our healthy eating, just in a more solid form...

As for my favorite recipes (more to come as we find them):

1. Ingredients:
3 Large Sweet Potatoes (peeled)
4 Ripe Peaches (pitted)

2 Golden Delicious Apples (cored)
A dash of Cinnamon

(source)

2. Ingredients:

1/2 pineapple

1 cup blueberries

1/2 in ginger

1 1/2 cup spinach

3. Ingredients:

1 medium beetroot, washed and quartered

5 large carrots, washed and peeled

1 medium sweet potato, washed, peeled and quartered

(source)

All of those measurements can vary, we would just eyeball it and add stuff until it was yummy. Each of those made a full glass of juice. I would estimate about 16 oz. So I doubled it for me and Jonathan. EXCEPT for the peach one, that made 3 servings on its own! 

Also, the 1/2 cup of almond milk was really yummy right before bed every night. I would look forward to that all day! You can also make it from scratch which probably sounds fun to people who like that kind of thing. 

Picking a juicer?

I just looked up about every blog about juicing, people seemed to have every kind of juicer out there. So I turned to what I felt was the most reliable source and went with that. It was the juicer used in Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. It is a Breville Fountain one (the cheapest edition for us!). They are such an investment, they are expensive! And the whole juicing thing isn't cheap either, so if you aren't committed, I don't know how worth it it is. The main reason we ran with the Breville one is because it was the brand sold where we had remaining gift cards, so it all worked out perfectly. We like this one, but we have never had another so I can't quite recommend anything. 

Read reviews, and make sure they say it is easy to clean. You'll be cleaning it at least 4 times a day, so ease is great! That reminds me, wash it out right after every one!!! No one wants to scrape off the dried pulp part hours later!

And make sure it is pretty clean. Juicing already creates a mess just from little drips, missing the shoot so you get greens all over, spilling it, just silly things like that. 

Oh! Also make sure the pulp (everything that is not the juice) is really dry to the touch once you juice it. We would put the whole fruit and veggies in, then all the stuff it spits out we'd put it through again to get that last bit of juice out. It was worth it because we could always get more juice out of there! So watch for reviews that say it gives dry pulp, that's what you want!

Expense:

The juicers are anywhere from 60-500 plus dollars. Yikes right? Ours was most definitely on the lower end. 

As for the fruit and veggies, the documentary says to plan on spending 15-30 dollars a day when you're on a juice cleanse! (the variation depending on if you buy organic or not). So from now on, for our morning ones we are planning on buying whatever fruit and veggies are on sale and making it up from there. We are beginning to learn what we like and don't like, so that is helping. 

To start, I picked a website and made a grocery list according to the things we'd need for three days for each of us. It was about 70 dollars. Practically all of our usual grocery budget for 2 weeks...

This was a good idea because we had everything on hand and it was quick to make them.

This was a bad idea because I must not have picked a good website, or our taste buds aren't accustomed to dirt. Some of those things were gross! So we have a lot of veggies we aren't total fans of, but now stuck using them. So maybe I would recommend buying small groups at first, figure out what you like, then buy more bulk later.

Also, having just done three days, I think I would recommend that as a good start. I know that physically I could have finished the ten days. But I know that once I start the 10 days for real, I will be more ready, I understand how to juice, I know what I like, and I know I can survive it. Those things would have been nice going into this one. 

I think that's about it. I feel like I am in limbo between the land of juice, and reality. I know I can eat whatever I want, but I also feel like I need to be extra healthy to make up for the fact that I am not juicing. I usually eat pretty good but now I just don't know what to eat. What a mess i've created in my own head! 

This is one time when reading too many things on the internet is becoming my downfall...I need to learn how to listen to my own body, opposed to all the "experts" out there.