Day 9 of my 60 Day Juice Feast

Juicy Update

Okay, so it isn't technically day 9 anymore. I missed it by 30 minutes. But we'll have to call it close enough. It was a busy day. I got some work done on my ebook, made cookies for the kids, and went shopping and made juice.

Today was pretty good, following a rough night of detox symptoms. My back was so sore last night--ugh. I'm glad it's over. But today I feel healthy again and have my energy back. I'm just a little sore in the feet--which isn't unusual for me.

I've been craving a lot of things today and I'm starting to realize what some of my food triggers are. I want to eat when I'm tired for sure and I've always know this. But I didn't realize I was a stress eater. Had a bit of a shock today when I realized we were going to have about $400 less than we thought this month and immediately started craving comfort foods--foods I don't even like the taste of anymore. And I mean some powerful cravings. But I managed to make cookies and not taste anything, so that's a pretty good day since I haven't had any solids in 9 days. :)

All in all, today was a success. I'll keep it short again today and sign off with that.

Today's Juice

So today I had watermelon juice for most of the day, but this is what I made tonight. The green juice is close to the same thing I usually make. The orange juice is 1/2 bag of organic carrots, 1 fennel (or anise if you prefer to call it that), 1 lemon, and 6 apples. I might have gone a bit overboard with the carrots, but it's quite tasty. I'd use maybe 1/3 of a bag of carrots the next time.


Okay, I'm signing off now. I'll post a really simple recipe as well tonight.

Juice on!

Day 8 of my 60 Day Juice Feast

Update

Just a short check in today. Managed to get shopping, then home and had my juice today. Went for a nice walk earlier and spent the rest of the day in the kitchen, making food for the family. Hopefully they'll have enough salads and what not for the next day or two.

Made little mini pizzas for the kids as a special treat as well. It was a real test of my resolve as pizza is probably my favorite food in the world--or at least it used to be. Now, I would love nothing more than a spinach salad. In fact, I'm drooling just thinking about it. But, I'll be able to eat all the salad I want in just 52 days. In the general course of a lifetime, that's nothing. 

I'll post a recipe of the mini-pizzas tomorrow. I had to tie the kids up while I took a picture. :)

Took some heal all tea this evening and all I can say is wow. That, along with the juicy diet, is an incredible detox. I'm exhausted and have some nasty back pain going on--but that's to be expected. Had a little nap this evening so that's why I'm so late posting.

Today's Juice

I know I'm incredibly boring, but this is more watermelon juice and the best green juice I've ever made. This is what I put in it. 4 stalks celery, 1 honeydew melon, 2 small pineapples, 2 lemons, 1 orange, 6 small apples, 6 or 8 kale leaves, 3 inches of an English cucumber, and about a tsp of dehydrated wheatgrass powder.  It was too easy to drink--evidenced by the fact that I have mostly watermelon juice left for tomorrow. :)

Okay, I'm going to leave it there for tonight, because I'm so tired, but will try to be earlier tomorrow.

See you at the end of the show.

Day 7 of my 60 Day Juice Feast

Update

I felt pretty good today, but a little tired. So if I don't sound very coherent, it's just exhaustion talking.

I managed a walk today and I cleaned for awhile, so I guess my energy wasn't bad earlier. But I'm tired now, and almost out of juice, and not able to make more until sometime tomorrow. Tonight might be a bit of a test for me and I might have to blend up a smoothie later, to tide me over. The only fruit I have left is one lemon.

Overall, I'm still feeling pretty good. Just going through some detox symptoms today--a bit tired and irritable and I have a bit of a headache. I don't think I'll have trouble getting to bed early tonight.

Today's Juice

Today I'm finishing off the last of the watermelon juice. It was really good. Watermelon, pomegranate, lemon and a couple of apples. And I made a green juice out of what I had left in the fridge: spinach, celery, cucumber and a couple of tomatoes. It isn't the tastiest juice, but it does make me feel more settled.

The watermelon juice I find very cleansing. It makes me feel a bit jittery at the end of the day. The more vegetable based juices are good for calming that down a bit. Also, I find herbal teas calming.

Blueberry Smoothie

A special treat tonight to stretch the rest of my juice a bit farther.

Frozen blueberries, watermelon juice and vanilla. Yum! Why do I feel so naughty eating something this healthy?

The Truth About Your Skin

As I mentioned yesterday I will talk a little more about skin today. Yesterday I mentioned exercising and brushing your skin. Today I just wanted to talk a bit about the function of the skin.

The skin functions as a means to eliminate waste from your body in much the way that your kidneys filter and eliminate. Some people call the skin your third kidney. In fact, if your kidneys aren't filtering well, you'll find more stuff coming out through your skin.

Toxins can be eliminated through perspiration and also through acne.

But they can't be eliminated if you cover your skin with cosmetics or antiperspirants, creams and sunscreen. It's best to use as little as possible on your skin.

I've been trying to avoid toxic chemicals because your skin is porous, so whatever you put on it goes into your body. It's almost like you are drinking your skin cream. So, the question arises, could you drink your skin cream, if you wanted to?

There are safe alternatives to moisturizers and chemical laden washes that can be made from stuff that you probably have in your cupboards right now.

Body Scrub

2 parts sea salt
1 part baking soda
coconut oil--enough to make a paste.

I also added some rose petals to this and blended it in a food processor. It was really nice and made my skin so soft. I love this and will continue to use it often.

Face Toner

Aloe Vera juice
Water

Splash on face.

Avocado Face Mask

Blend avocado with a little lemon juice

Smear on your face and let soak into your skin for awhile.

Avocado Face Wash

Avocado
Orange juice
Sugar

Mix together until the desired consistency and use as a gentle face wash.

Mouthwash

1 C peppermint tea
1 tsp rosemary

Steep, cool and pour into bottle. You can keep it in the fridge for a few days.

Tooth Whitener

Lemon juice and salt.

Apply to yellowed teeth and rinse

Or rub the inside of an orange rind on your teeth.


I still haven't found any suitable shampoo replacements. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Okay, I'm off for a cup of tea and maybe some reading before I go to bed early.

See you tomorrow.

Amazing, Disappearing, Mini Greek Pitas and Hummus

This one is a recipe I make for the kids. I'm not eating bread these days, but you could eat the hummus with zucchini slices or carrots, or other raw veggies if you like.

Making these last night wasn't bad, but taking the pictures today was harder--the smell is difficult to resist.

These are absolutely delicious and they disappear quickly.

Mini-Pitas

I make mine in a mixer in the same way that I would make any other bread, liquids first.

1 1/2 C warm water
1 Tblsp olive oil
1 Tblsp sugar
2 tsp salt
4 C flour
1 Tblsp yeast

1. Combine water, oil, sugar and salt. Add flour and yeast. Mix well and knead.
2. Shape into a ball and let rise 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Punch down the dough and knead for 5 minutes more.
3. Preheat oven to 350 °F (175 °C).
   
4. Take tiny pieces of dough about size of a ping pong ball or smaller even and roll out to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Prick with a fork and place on baking sheet. 
5. Place baking sheet on lowest rack and cook for 2-3 minutes per side.

Hummus

2 cans chick peas
juice of 1 1/2 lemon
1 tsp tahini (ground sesame seed paste)
4 cloves of garlic
olive oil (2 Tblsp or enough to reach desired texture)

1. Place all ingredients except olive oil into food processor.
2. Puree adding oil until you reach the desired texture.
3. If you prefer to make a lower fat version, you can use water to blend it into a paste.

 Enjoy!

Day 6 of my 60 Day Juice Feast

Today's Juice

Today I'm back on the watermelon juice due to budget constraints. You just can't beat 32 cups of juice for $5. And I'm not complaining. I love me some watermelon and they are good right now. This will likely last me tomorrow as well and then I'll be ready for something different. I'd post a photo but I misplaced my battery charger for my camera, so it will be just text today.

Update

Today was a good day. My energy level was much better than the past couple of days when I was a little more dragged out from the detox symptoms. I spent most of the day in the kitchen, sipping watermelon juice while I made potato salad, pasta salad and hummus with little pita breads for the kids. I also cleaned the kitchen, did dishes, laundry and made a lot of watermelon juice. I went for a couple of good, fast walks as well. So pretty good energy overall today. I'm still experiencing some aches and pains and probably need to do some yoga for awhile. I'll try to get a bit of that in tonight.

Weight Loss and Loose Skin

Have you noticed on some of those TV shows where people have lost a lot of weight quickly by getting a gastric bypass or other such unnatural means, that the person ends up with a lot of excess skin. Well there are reasons for this.

Often, the person is eating the same things, just less of them and so the body isn't getting the nutrition it needs. When you eat mostly live foods, you are feeding your cells rather than creating a problem for them to have to deal with. So you won't be left with hanging skin once you lose the weight.

All of the people I've seen who have done a juice fast have experienced a shrinking of their skin along with the weight loss. Yes, your body has the ability to do this.

There are a couple of ways that you can help with this process though.

1. Brushing your skin. This one is simple, just use a bath brush to gently brush your skin as you bathe. This causes the blood to rush to the surface of your body and stimulates circulation. 
2. Hot and cold. So if you are taking a shower, at the end of it, it's a good idea to alternate between hot and cold shower. Run the shower as hot as you can stand it for a minute, then as cold as you can stand. Alternate 4 or 5 times. This "exercises" your skin, expanding and shrinking the pores. It also forces the blood to the surface of your body and then to your internal organs, promoting more circulation.
3. Another thing you can do after you have a hot bath is stand up and shower off with cool water--again, exercising the skin.

So nurturing your skin with live foods and exercising it should help you to keep it tight as you lose weight.

I will talk more about skin health tomorrow--and I should be able to get a recipe or two up as well.

See you at the end of the show.

Day 5 of my 60 Day Juice Feast

Today is going well. I woke up a little stiff and sore this morning. It's probably partially the detox and partially all the yoga. I'm sure that's why my shoulders are sore.

It's a grey and half raining kind of day which always makes me feel sluggish. Sandy has a pot of pea soup on the stove. It smells good in here. I'm going to make some little pita breads and hummus for the kids later. I'll post my recipe later on if I can get some pics. My camera battery is dying, so it will probably be a lot later or maybe even tomorrow before I post it.

Today's Juice

Yummy Melon, Pineapple Juice

 The red juice is what's left of yesterdays watermelon juice. The stuff in the glass is honeydew melon, pineapple, a lemon (to preserve it), and a few apples. It's delicious. I needed something different after a couple of days of watermelon juice. So I made a couple of different kinds.

Day 5 Juices

The dark juice in the back doesn't look very nice, I know. That's what happens when you combine carrots and spinach. You get a muddy looking, but tasty juice. I made that one with carrots, spinach, celery, cucumber and apple. It's nice to have a juice that isn't too sweet for later in the day when you want to wind down.

Exercise While Juice Feasting

What about exercising while juice feasting? Well, a juice feast is a cleanse where you try to eliminate toxins from the body. Your body is freed up from the job of digestion so that it can spend it's energy cleaning itself out. If you do vigorous exercise or lift weights while juice feasting, you are slowing down this process. There will be time to build when the juice feast is over. Sometimes I feel like I want to lift weights again, so I have to keep reminding myself of this. I want to do the juice feast in as short a time as possible, so I don't want to slow it down by doing too much exercise.

There are some activities that are good to do when juice feasting though. Walking or jogging, depending on your fitness level are okay, especially when outside in nature. Yoga is a good exercise as it helps with stress and it uses a lot of oxygen. Oxygen, relaxation, and gentle exercise should be the backbone of a good cleanse. Be gentle with your body. When you feel energetic, go for a walk. When you're tired, rest.

Weight Loss and Juice Feasting

The weight comes off at an amazing rate while juice feasting. I'm losing about a pound or two a day right now. I expect it would be a little slower if I were closer to my goal weight, but it's much faster than any other weight loss. And I feel good--better than I have on any "diet" I've done in the past. I feel clear headed and more alive than I ever have.

Eating live foods makes you feel alive. So whatever your state of health right now, eat more live foods--uncooked fruits and veggies and you will see a huge difference.

So I've lost five pounds as of this morning in my four days of juice feasting so far.

Onward!


I'm off for a walk now and then to make some munchies for the kids. See you at the end of the show.

Raw Taco Recipe

I posted this on facebook awhile back, but thought I'd share it here as well. I got the recipe from Dan MacDonald the Liferegenerator on Youtube. Check out his videos if you get a chance. He is amazing!

Anyway, I tried this about a month ago and it was incredible. So I got out the good dishes and took some pictures. It's quite the feast for a raw foodie. In fact, it's quite the feast for anyone. My kids loved it. Of course I'm not eating this right now--drinking my watermelon juice and drooling over the pictures. :) Here goes.

The Spread

Excuse the messy kitchen, but this was the spread. Quite the feast.

Taco Shells

Flatten the spine on a romaine lettuce leaf, fill and fold over.

The "Meat"

 2 cups walnuts that have been soaked for 8 to 12 hrs. This releases the enzyme inhibitors and allows you to digest the nuts. 1 Tbsp cumin, 1 Tbsp paprika, 1 tsp sea salt, 4 cloves garlic, 1 zucchini (optional, but it does make it a bit lighter in the stomach and lower fat), 1 Tbsp flax oil (you could use hemp oil instead). Puree in your food processor. It tastes like taco meat only it isn't greasy and it isn't actually meat.

A note about nuts. All nuts have enzyme inhibitors. Nuts and seeds are made this way for a purpose. An animal eats the nut or seed along with the fruit. They walk a ways and then defecate, spreading the seed and allowing the plant or tree to reproduce. You aren't supposed to be able to digest them or the plant or tree couldn't spread. Once they get rained on though, they start to change. Their life force is activated so they can grow. So once you soak the seeds or nuts in water, they are then alive and you are better able to digest them.

Soak nuts for 8 to 24 hrs depending on the type of nut. 8 hours is good for walnuts while almonds need 24 hrs. You will find some charts for how long to soak each type if you search the internet.

The Macadamia Nut "Cheese"

 2 cups macadamia nuts, 2 Tblsp brewer's yeast, pinch sea salt, juice of 1/2 lemon--puree in food processor. This turned out quite good. It was surprising that it tasted so much like cheese. It gave that zesty flavor to the taco that you'd get from cheese.

Guacamole

 

4 avocado, juice of 1 lime, 1 tsp salt, 1/3 red onion, 3 Tbsp cilantro, 1 tsp minced garlic, 2 plum tomatoes or one bigger one. Of course you can adjust this to your tastes, but we loved this combination. I'm not a huge fan of cilantro, so I tend to go lighter with it. This combination was perfect.

Salsa and Toppings

Salsa--3 large tomatoes, cilantro to taste (I put too much in. It's better to put in less and then add more if you think it needs it. The tastes intensify as it sits.), 4 cloves garlic, 1/4 onion, 1 thai pepper (or jalapeno), juice of 1 lime, 1 tsp sea salt.

The toppings in the other dish are chopped tomatoes and green onions.

More Toppings

 Greek Yogurt (I didn't have the right probiotic to make the coconut almond yogurt, but would try that the next time.), avocado slices, alfalfa sprouts. The zucchini slices are for dipping in the salsa and guacamole.

Coconut almond yogurt recipe: 2 cups of soaked almonds, coconut water and meat of a Thai coconut, NCP probiotic (one that is proteolytic). I couldn't find one here but I think you could use a probiotic and a digestive enzyme that can break down proteins. That's what I'll try next time. Blend these together  in food processor until smooth and leave on the counter for at least 3 hrs.

Finished taco

Here's a completed taco before rolling. I tucked in the narrow end and then rolled it up and it held together quite well. The only trouble is, they are hard to stop eating.

This isn't food that I'd make every day. It would be something I'd have for a special occasion or when I had people over for a meal. I don't eat meals much anymore and now it's just all juice. But this is something that's healthy and delicious and a good introduction to raw foods.

It is really easy to make. Takes about 30 minutes if you have the nuts soaked ahead of time and all the ingredients at hand. And it's great for summer as it doesn't require heating up the kitchen. 

I'll post some more recipes as I get time. Enjoy!