The past two weeks we’ve been juicing for two out of three meals each day. The reason? I watched “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead” and was sold on the health benefits of juicing. We planned on doing a full juice fast but Ty only did it on the weekend and he stunk to high heaven when his body was expelling his nasty energy drink toxins (I may have exaggerated that the toxins were energy drink related but he really did stink. It was like a tangy smell and it was so gross. Not being rude but because I normally love how Ty smells, this was a barf alarm. I still shudder thinking about it). Don’t worry, he wasn’t alone in the stink factor: my breath was horrible. I didn’t do the full fast because we’re trying to get pregnant and I want to eat meat. (When I do get pregnant I definitely plan to juice as a supplement to my diet).
Over the weekend we had friends over and went out to dinner. I ordered a salad to be safe but I did eat some bread. Tyler had drinks…and drinks. He was drinking with his friend like they normally would but Ty didn’t really think about the fact that he hadn’t been drinking or eating much; his tolerance was practically non existent. I’ll spare you the details but you can imagine what happened.
One of the main reasons for juicing, for me, is that I have thought for a few years now that I have a gluten sensitivity. I’ve had serious stomach issues for years. Not diarrhea but serious shooting pains in my stomach where it feels like someone is stabbing me. I’m serious. I noticed after the first week I had zero stomach pains. Nada. I felt amazing. I also noticed my stomach pains went away last year when I was doing the Dukan Diet. Around that time I spoke with a friend who cannot eat gluten and she told me all of my symptoms were like hers. It all fits together. I definitely have a gluten issue. My skin looks so much better too! I should have known…
So now we juice every day and we feel disgusting when we eat heavy foods. We definitely eat though. We had steak and corn on the cob the other night, salad one night, and Taco Del Mar one afternoon. That’s about it though. I do eat nuts throughout the day to hold me over and when I do a lot of yard work I feel light headed so I try to take it easy because it’s a pretty low calorie diet. We basically put anything we want in our juice and because Ty and I like all fruits and veggies, we don’t restrict any of them (minus bananas and avocados because they don’t juice).
Each night before bed I make our juice for the morning. It doesn’t last longer than 24 hours so we drink it well within 12 hours. The greatest thing is that Caleb loves the juice I make him. I’m taking it easy on him at first and only doing fruit juices but I started added kale and he didn’t seem to notice the difference. We bought this Breville juicer because it is one of the best ones (the froth separator is really cool). With our gift card and coupons, we only spent $99 (including tax and shipping) so we were pleased with our deal and so far it’s held up well to two solid weeks of juicing. A lot of people complain about cleaning juicers but if you just clean it as you are cleaning up- it’s not even a big deal.
Here are some of our favorite juice recipes. I didn’t include quantities but we try to do more greens than any other fruits or veggies.
Morning Juice Example (this one always looks green):
Apple, kale, cucumber, carrots and celery. (I call this the “fruity” because I sometimes add pineapple to make it really sweet). You could use watermelon or strawberry in place of pineapple to make it just as fruity.
Afternoon/Evening Example (this one usually looks brownish green):
Cucumber, celery, carrots, red peppers, beets, spinach/kale, zucchini, apple. You could really do any veggies you want. These are our favorite ingredients.
Caleb’s Juice Example:
Apple, grapes, kale. One of his other favorites is peaches, strawberries and apple. (These juices are dangerously good and since they have no added sugar like store juices, we don’t mind giving them to him).
We’ve had some friends and family try our juices and they like them. The pure veggie ones are a little tough for some people but you grow to really love it. So far we are both feeling really well. Ty has lost about 10lbs and I have lost a little over 10lbs.
