The word of the day today has been "negotiation." Pretty much all day it's been my stomach v. my head in a very child-like back and forth that goes a little something like this:
"I'm hungry"
Have some juice.
"I already had juice. I'm bored of juice. How about Dante's 3 layer fries?" (fries, cheese, bacon, jalapenos, sour cream)
You already know the answer to that is no.
"Fine, what about potstickers, you know, the ones from Lily's Garden...they've got ginger in them, sort of like those juices you keep drinking."
Um, no.
"Alright, what about Doritos. You' haven't eaten Doritos in ages. All that cheesy crunchy goodness...don't you miss crunching?"
No and no.
"Roast beef with potatoes?"
You don't even like beef.
And then my stomach deals a low blow...
"Vietnamese spring rolls? You don't even need to put the noodles on them, just veggies, green apple, herbs, and that delectable peanut sauce???"
Oh crap...
I've been bugging my nutritionist friend for support a LOT today, to the point where I'm sure she's amused and mildly irritated at the same time. She's been a great deal of help with talking me off the ledge over the past 4 days, and she told me that 60 days is a really long time to subsist on juice alone. We talked about my motives and my 2 upcoming races that I should start training for soon...60 days is a heck of a long time to go without chewing and crunching.
So here's the revised deal: 15 days (so my stomach is just going to have to suck it up and stop thinking about food other than fruits and veggies) of pure, unadulterated juice. I'm going on vacation for a long weekend at the end of the 15 days, so I'll be transitioning into eating some solid foods (again, fruits & veggies only, with maybe a little protein in the form of eggs). Then for the remaining 11 days (so 15 more days total), I'll be juicing for breakfast and lunch and eating a nice solid scrumptious salad for dinner. She suggested this would be a great way to transition back into the land of the living (er...eating). A 30 day juice/raw veggies & fruits stint sounds doable.
So for now, back to the juicer I go.
Cheers,
Dorothy
Showing posts with label whole food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whole food. Show all posts
Monday, July 23, 2012
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Juicing Day 3
It's only day 3, and I think my stomach is submitting to my will. I woke up today sans headache and/or cravings. I haven't been hungrier than normal, and I really like the taste of the mostly veggie juices that I've been making. Although I've been waiting for the other shoe to drop regarding me feeling so great, but it's yet to happen, so I'm hoping it will not happen. Today's juice of choice was a carrot, watermelon, lemon juice...super tasty and refreshing.
I also met a friend at a French Market to buy more veggies...ended up with great conversation, a bunch of new spices (including a pickling blend, since I've got cucumbers a plenty in my garden), and some dog treats. I did purchase a couple of fat cucumbers and some rhubarb, which will make some tasty juice, for sure.
I hit up Caputo's on my way back from the market and was pleasantly surprised by the variety and prices of their fruits & veggies. I was stoked to find golden beets, so I stocked up on those along with some red beets, jicama, lemons, and ginger root. I will definitely keep them in mind for my juicing needs, especially since there's one just minutes from my house. I also stopped at our local Woodman's to bite the bullet and get a bag or two of $7.99 a pound organic apples (if you juice apples, pretty pretty please buy organic. They are uber sprayed with pesticides that penetrate the skin, so even if you wash them to death and skin the apples, you're still imbibing copious amounts of nasty pesticides). To my surprise and delight, they have granny smith apples on sale for $4.99 for a 3lb bag...I bought 6 bags cause I'm crazy like that. If you've got a Woodman's by you, I highly suggest checking them out for their diverse produce selection, including a decently sized organic produce section (they also have a fairly extensive organic & gluten free area of the store, which is pretty cool for a local chain).
I felt like a kid in a candy store as I unloaded bag after bag of juiceable produce when I got home. As soon as my juicer parts are out of the dishwasher (top shelf, of course), I will be firing it up and making an amazingly delicious (I'm guessing) glass of apple juice, which is something that I've been craving since I saw the documentary, "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead." As I've briefly mentioned before, our family eats pretty darn clean as it is. We've kicked out the majority of processed foods in our house (with the exception of the occasional bag of whole wheat organic pasta and/or loaf of whole grain sprouted bread), we rarely eat out, and veggies make up the bulk of our dinner plate. This juice fast has been just another way to simplify eating habits and jump start a routine of even better consumption into our daily lives. Suffice it to say, I'm going to be incorporating raw, fresh juices into my diet when this juice fast is completed.
I also met a friend at a French Market to buy more veggies...ended up with great conversation, a bunch of new spices (including a pickling blend, since I've got cucumbers a plenty in my garden), and some dog treats. I did purchase a couple of fat cucumbers and some rhubarb, which will make some tasty juice, for sure.
I hit up Caputo's on my way back from the market and was pleasantly surprised by the variety and prices of their fruits & veggies. I was stoked to find golden beets, so I stocked up on those along with some red beets, jicama, lemons, and ginger root. I will definitely keep them in mind for my juicing needs, especially since there's one just minutes from my house. I also stopped at our local Woodman's to bite the bullet and get a bag or two of $7.99 a pound organic apples (if you juice apples, pretty pretty please buy organic. They are uber sprayed with pesticides that penetrate the skin, so even if you wash them to death and skin the apples, you're still imbibing copious amounts of nasty pesticides). To my surprise and delight, they have granny smith apples on sale for $4.99 for a 3lb bag...I bought 6 bags cause I'm crazy like that. If you've got a Woodman's by you, I highly suggest checking them out for their diverse produce selection, including a decently sized organic produce section (they also have a fairly extensive organic & gluten free area of the store, which is pretty cool for a local chain).
I felt like a kid in a candy store as I unloaded bag after bag of juiceable produce when I got home. As soon as my juicer parts are out of the dishwasher (top shelf, of course), I will be firing it up and making an amazingly delicious (I'm guessing) glass of apple juice, which is something that I've been craving since I saw the documentary, "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead." As I've briefly mentioned before, our family eats pretty darn clean as it is. We've kicked out the majority of processed foods in our house (with the exception of the occasional bag of whole wheat organic pasta and/or loaf of whole grain sprouted bread), we rarely eat out, and veggies make up the bulk of our dinner plate. This juice fast has been just another way to simplify eating habits and jump start a routine of even better consumption into our daily lives. Suffice it to say, I'm going to be incorporating raw, fresh juices into my diet when this juice fast is completed.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Juicing Day 2
Who knew that juicing on a weekend would be so hard?! I woke up this morning with a dull headache that originated from behind my eyeballs, but since I couldn't just rip my eyeballs out in order to alleviate the pain, I just drank some water and dealt with it. I didn't quite notice it at first, but day 2 left me cranky and craving every kind of solid food known to man. Every time I made a meal for the cousins that I was babysitting, it took every last fiber of my body to refrain from sneaking a few bites of the food. Seriously, who would I be sneaking from other than myself. I felt so ashamed for even thinking about giving up after 24 hours. I've been trying to incorporate more fruits than veggies in my juices, so today's "winner" consisted of 1 wedge of pineapple, 1 cucumber, 4 stalks of celery, half a pint of blueberries, and a boatload of mint. If you need a name for the juice, I'd call it "cool as a blueberry mojito." It was super refreshing and tasty.
As far as the gastro problems that I had anticipated, other than having to pee every 30 minutes or so, I haven't had any other discomfort or pressing issues. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop but hoping that since I eat a relatively clean diet normally that I won't have and number 2 issues (crossing my fingers).
I've noticed that the constant hunger is sort of background noise by the end of the day. I'm used to it and don't feel the need to just drink juice every time my stomach growls. I'm a lot more tired today than I was on day 1, but I'm going to attribute that to 2 very energetic little girls sleeping over last night and wanting to constantly be on the go and entertained today. Taking an afternoon nap helped alleviate the hunger too, which was nice.
I'm starting to run low on produce already, so it looks like tomorrow will be a shopping day again. I've decided that I really like the taste of beets, nectarines, cucumbers, celery, carrots, lemon, strawberries, ginger, mint, kale and pineapple. I've also realized that berries aren't worth the effort and volume that it takes to produce enough juice to taste. Juicing broccoli is a bad idea-yuck. The taste of broccoli overtakes all other flavors in the juice, and unless you really like broccoli, I suggest you skip it.
Despite the constant cravings for pretty much everything other than juice, so far, so good. I do think that I was a wee bit crazy thinking that I could tackle a 60 day juice fast, but we'll see how it goes. For now, on to day 3.
Cheers,
Dorothy
As far as the gastro problems that I had anticipated, other than having to pee every 30 minutes or so, I haven't had any other discomfort or pressing issues. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop but hoping that since I eat a relatively clean diet normally that I won't have and number 2 issues (crossing my fingers).
I've noticed that the constant hunger is sort of background noise by the end of the day. I'm used to it and don't feel the need to just drink juice every time my stomach growls. I'm a lot more tired today than I was on day 1, but I'm going to attribute that to 2 very energetic little girls sleeping over last night and wanting to constantly be on the go and entertained today. Taking an afternoon nap helped alleviate the hunger too, which was nice.
I'm starting to run low on produce already, so it looks like tomorrow will be a shopping day again. I've decided that I really like the taste of beets, nectarines, cucumbers, celery, carrots, lemon, strawberries, ginger, mint, kale and pineapple. I've also realized that berries aren't worth the effort and volume that it takes to produce enough juice to taste. Juicing broccoli is a bad idea-yuck. The taste of broccoli overtakes all other flavors in the juice, and unless you really like broccoli, I suggest you skip it.
Despite the constant cravings for pretty much everything other than juice, so far, so good. I do think that I was a wee bit crazy thinking that I could tackle a 60 day juice fast, but we'll see how it goes. For now, on to day 3.
Cheers,
Dorothy
Thursday, February 2, 2012
Off to a Great Start! (Breakfast Smoothies)
Alright, day one is in the books, not without a few temptations, however. For breakfast, I made a blueberry spinach smoothie. I know that spinach in a smoothie sounds like a bad idea, but actually the flavor of the spinach is pretty delicate, easily masked by the stronger flavors of pretty much any fruit that it's paired with. I try to have either a smoothie or a bowl of whole grain, high fiber hot cereal (with fruit & a little honey) every day. I find that the fiber in both of these helps to get me to lunch without searching the office kitchen for something else to snack on.
My smoothie recipe is really basic & pretty easy to switch fruits in or out, depending on availability and personal taste. The easiest thing to do is just pick up a couple of bags of frozen fruit when you're grocery shopping & just keep them in the freezer. If I use milk, I try to use whole milk that is raw or organic milk that's pasteurized at a low temperature (Kalona Super Natural is the only organic milk brand that I know of that does low temp. pasteurization). Vitamins are fat soluble, so if you use skim milk, there are far less vitamins than whole milk. I know that there are plenty of people who would argue that whole milk is full of fat, but I don't really eat much junk food (if any) on a regular basis, so I justify my whole milk as my "junk food." If you're going to use honey in your smoothies, or at all for that matter, make sure that it's raw, unfiltered and local, like within 100 miles of your home. Honey has some great anti seasonal allergy properties since real local honey contains small amounts of pollen in it, sort of the same concept as a vaccine (if you ingest small amounts of the allergen material, your body builds up an immunity to it). Smoothies take less than 5 mins to make, so they're a great make & go breakfast for days that I'm running late.
Basic Smoothie Recipe
1 cup spinach (or a decent sized handful)
1 cup frozen fruit (if you use strawberries or something with really big chunks, I suggest microwaving them for about 25 seconds to thaw them just a little)
3/4 cup liquid (milk, soy milk, almond milk, fruit juice, just something to get the frozen stuff moving)
1-2 teaspoons raw unfiltered local honey (or more to taste)
1/3 cup almonds (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon or freshly grated ginger (optional, depending on the fruit blend)
Throw all the ingredients into a food processor, blender, or blend with a stick blender until smooth and blended (you shouldn't be able to see big pieces of spinach). Pour into a travel mug & run out the door.
My smoothie recipe is really basic & pretty easy to switch fruits in or out, depending on availability and personal taste. The easiest thing to do is just pick up a couple of bags of frozen fruit when you're grocery shopping & just keep them in the freezer. If I use milk, I try to use whole milk that is raw or organic milk that's pasteurized at a low temperature (Kalona Super Natural is the only organic milk brand that I know of that does low temp. pasteurization). Vitamins are fat soluble, so if you use skim milk, there are far less vitamins than whole milk. I know that there are plenty of people who would argue that whole milk is full of fat, but I don't really eat much junk food (if any) on a regular basis, so I justify my whole milk as my "junk food." If you're going to use honey in your smoothies, or at all for that matter, make sure that it's raw, unfiltered and local, like within 100 miles of your home. Honey has some great anti seasonal allergy properties since real local honey contains small amounts of pollen in it, sort of the same concept as a vaccine (if you ingest small amounts of the allergen material, your body builds up an immunity to it). Smoothies take less than 5 mins to make, so they're a great make & go breakfast for days that I'm running late.
Basic Smoothie Recipe
1 cup spinach (or a decent sized handful)
1 cup frozen fruit (if you use strawberries or something with really big chunks, I suggest microwaving them for about 25 seconds to thaw them just a little)
3/4 cup liquid (milk, soy milk, almond milk, fruit juice, just something to get the frozen stuff moving)
1-2 teaspoons raw unfiltered local honey (or more to taste)
1/3 cup almonds (optional)
1 teaspoon cinnamon or freshly grated ginger (optional, depending on the fruit blend)
Throw all the ingredients into a food processor, blender, or blend with a stick blender until smooth and blended (you shouldn't be able to see big pieces of spinach). Pour into a travel mug & run out the door.
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| Before: Frozen blueberries, spinach, honey & milk |
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| After: Smoothie goodness |
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