Recap on the Juice Cleanse

Sunday was my third and final day of the juice fast, and needless to say, I was pretty excited to eat again.  But before I talk about all that, a friend reminded me that I never talked about my juicer; what kind I have, how I picked it out etc.

This little beast is named the Juiceman Jr.  When I picked him out, I probably wasn't wearing my "good consumer" hat.  The reality of the situation was this: I didn't want a large bridal registry full of things I didn't need, but then I got flack for not having very much on it at all. I'd forgotten I wanted a juicer, so this guy was a late-in-the-game addition to the registry (and my now-mother-in-law graciously picked it up for us!)  I only read reviews on a few, but the one other in this price range had a lot of reviews saying it died within a year.

So I guess my biggest qualification for getting this juicer was that it not die within the year.  I'm doing my part, trying to take very good care of it,  but man is this thing a lot to clean up after.  It separates into eight pieces.  The worst part is this piece: the part that does the juicing:

Sooo many tiny crevices!

But I'd imagine that's the same for any juicer, and at least it came with a brush (which I did not realize the first time I tried to clean it).  As far as actual juice extraction, I don't have anything to compare it to, but it seemed pretty fair.   You still waste a lot in the pulp, but that's the point of juicing.  Anyway, if someone is looking for a brand recommendation, I'd say give this one a try!  The price was pretty reasonable, and it came from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  (Quick note: I don't know what this thing is the "Jr" of, but don't let the name fool you, it's actually quite large!)

So, day three of the juice fast was fine.  It was funny, each day I drank from various juices all day long so I never felt hungry.  at the end of the night, right before bed, was the only time I felt a twinge of hunger.  But when I would wake up the next morning, I wouldn't feel hungry or want any juice til almost 10am.  I wonder what that means about my body's digestive patterns.  The whole time, though, I felt alert and energetic all day long.  

Overall, I'd say I liked the experience, but it wasn't without its drawbacks:  I wasn't hungry, but I did miss eating. And I thought about food a lot. Also, juicing took up enough time in the morning that I didn't get to work out at all.  Right now, I'm torn as to whether I want to ever do an all-juice fast again, but having one every once in a while is something that I definitely want to incorporate.

So how did I break my fast? I wanted to keep it healthy but also have something really hearty, since I hadn't had solid food in three days.  Vegan chili was just the ticket!

I've been playing around with chili a lot since I first made it waaay back in September, and It looks completely different now!  I've learned that chili as best as an off-the-cuff food--add as much chili powder as it takes, as much cumin as you want. And as far as what you can put into it?  Anything goes there as well. Right now, the most far-out ingredient featuring in my chili is zucchini.  Erica loves it, and I know she's not just being nice, because she asks me to make it all the time, and she bogarts the leftovers.  I'm sure other people would like it too.  I should really try to write this recipe down.

And speaking of recipes!  I plan to share my favorite juicing recipes. Look for that soon.

So what's next for us?  Well, we joined a CSA, which is basically like buying a share in a local farm and getting a portion of their produce.  First harvest is at the end of this week, and I'm super excited.  I won't get to write again until the beginning of next week, but expect to hear a lot more about the CSA!

Juice Cleanse: Recap of Days 1 and 2

Well, I started the juice cleanse yesterday, so now i'm about 2/3 done.  It's really amazing me how much I'm learning, both about myself and about this process.  The biggest thing I've learned is that hunger is relative, and food cravings are at least 90% a mental game. For example, I've been doing just fine with my plan of eating healthy and avoiding certain foods, but during this fast, I really want nothing in the world more than to eat a bucket of Boardwalk fries, cardboard and all.  Also cheese. That would be nice.  And maybe a burger, too. Hell, I saw an ad for Subway last night that had my mouth watering!! I don't even like Subway, really.

I'm off-track.  My point is, I'm doing something healthy, and though it's extreme, I'm still getting enough calories that I'm not craving these foods because I'm hungry.  I'm craving them because I told myself I can't have them.  I'm afraid that once I'm done, I'm going to have some wild rebellion and just eat the worst food I can get my hands on.  I doubt I will, because once the restriction is lifted, I'll go back to my regular habits of eating well-balanced meals.

So how has it been so far, other than the food fantasies?  It's not terrible.  Most of the juices I've made have been pretty good (some of the fruit-based ones are excellent, actually!), and making them is not terribly time-consuming.  The worst part has been cleaning the juicer.  It's a beast, seven different pieces, and I've been handwashing it at least three times a day.  But my energy level has been great, and actual hunger hasn't really been an issue.

Another big thing I've learned was that I actually snack a lot while I cook.  It was really hard for me to refrain from cutting the orange, for example, and popping a piece in my mouth.  Since I do a majority of the cooking in the house, I can imagine that I get a ton of anaccounted-for calories that way.  I'm still not really sure what to do about that.  I imagine most cooks taste-test as they go, right? It part of the process for me:  I don't know if I could just cut it out.  But I'm glad I pinpointed this.

 Ingredients for Joe Cross's "Mean Green" juice

My invention! Perfectly fruity and refreshing.

The results of those two juices=what I took to work yesterday.

Using water bottles actually turned out to be a stroke of genius.  Not only do the juices stay fresher when they're airtight, but being able to shake them vigorously is a big plus.  Each day so far I've had two veggie-based drinks and 1.5 fruit based ones.  I'm trying to be careful with fruit due to the high sugar content (of course they taste better!) but they do give me something to look forward to.

So.  One more day.  I feel like I'm having my most anti-social Saturday ever; I'll probably even go to bed early.  But I'm glad I chose this weekend.  For one, I work every day, so at least there's some time where I'm not focused on it. But also, I feel like eating well really gets away from me on the weekends.  I'm sure most Americans have a similar mentality ("back on the diet on Monday!")  but that's just exactly the type of cycle I'm trying to break.  Still, dinner tomorrow night is going to be the best meal I've ever eaten.

Finally! a.k.a. A General Update

Well, hello!  It's been quite a while since my last post,  and though I knew the blog would be facing some sort of hiatus, I definitely did not intend to go three months without posting.  I thought I'd take today's post to recap what's been going on before I dove back in to the blog:

• Erica and I are finally married!!  Planning and prep took up most of my March and all of my April (well, part of April was our awesome honeymoon in Napa, but still! Wedding-adjacent).  We're finally settling back to normal, although most of June will be occupied with family wedding festivities.
• We really only made it two months into our "No TV for a year" commitment.  After a few stressful nights in a row, we broke down in early March.  I do have to say though, our "mindless" TV watching has decreased significantly, and we've even considered giving it another go over the summer.
• Even though we're watching TV again, we still have our limits.  We're still eating in the dining room (No TV) and we didn't renew Netflix.  We never did have cable, so we're really limited to network TV.
• Although we haven't been adhering to any crazy rules or 60-day challenges, we seem to have settled in to a pretty healthy eating routine.  I've also done a pretty good job of keeping processed food out of my diet: at this point we're making pretty much everything from scratch! 
• I've been calling myself "predominantly vegetarian," eating meat for dinner only about once a week, and even then it's usually fish.  Erica, who's actually underweight at this point, is soon going to have to deviate from my habits and create something that works better for her.  That's a big challenge that we face in the coming months, especially since we like to eat dinner together.
• I have, more or less, finally settled into a workout routine! I'm still ironing out the kinks in it, and running has not been working out as well as I'd hoped, but it's major progress.  More on all this soon.

But for the immediate future, I have something interesting.  I've been thinking about trying a juice cleanse to re-energize my interests in fruit-and-vegetable-based eating.  According to everything I've read, someone of my body mass should only do a 3-day cleanse, so that's what I'm going to try.  I'll post again in detail once I figure out the logistics and what recipes to use.  Then I'll keep track of my progress, including how much I'm spending at the grocery store.  

I have to say, These past few months have been amazing, but I'm really glad to be back to normal, and back to blogging!