Day 21! Happy Halloween!!!!

In honor of this Day 21, I did a little reading about habits and breaking them. I have always heard that it takes 21 days to make or break a habit and believed that to be true. I did not set out on this journey to break any habits. But, if it happened, as a side benefit, then more power to me. The habit I thought  I  might break, was that of coming home from work, pouring myself some sort of alcohol and plopping down in front of the TV, only doing something minor, such as feeding the dogs. I can't say if I have succeeded, but I can say that I don't do that anymore.

Bad habits are things you do that are detrimental in some way to yourself or others. But, there is a difference in habits and addictions. Smoking and drinking can both be addictions and seen as a habit as well. I used to smoke too, add that into the coming home routine and you have an unhealthy mix for sure. I used to cough all the time. I quit that part of my routine, and I use an e-cig. Yes, I still get the nicotine from it, but none of the other effects the over 4,000 toxins in cigarette smoke give you. I also go for long periods of time without using the e-cig. Why do I still use it? Because I enjoy it and it keeps me from smoking real cigarettes. My cough went away too.

I don't know if food is an addiction or a habit or both. It isn't for me, so this has been easier than it would be if I had that habit. The plus for me is breaking the drinking habit and lack of activity as well as losing weight. It's a win-win situation. Fortunately, I don't think I was addicted to alcohol because I did not suffer any type of withdrawal effects that I could tell. Even caffeine addiction gives you a headache when you stop drinking it. So, it will remain to be seen if my bad habit is truly broken. I have  plenty of time to practice new good habits!!

 And of course, juicing on, is the best habit I have found in a long time! 

Happy Halloweem everyone and stay strong. Those goodies are pure poison, the anti-juice! Remember that and keep it out of your pie-hole!!!!!!!!

Day Twenty.......Freak Out!!!

This morning, I had a major FREAK Out!!! I am recovered now, but I felt just awful. I had my apples, carrots, sweet potato and ginger all ready to go. Put the pieces on the juicer, flipped the switch and nothing happened!! I flipped it a couple more times, tested another appliance in the wall outlet, and it was working. So I just stand there looking at my breakfast that I can't have, thoughts of what to do, racing through my head, a sinking feeling in my empty tummy. No juice bars around here, I have a blender, but not the same as my juice, and what time does Bed Bath and Beyond open? No, I don't want to buy another juicer, that's for sure, so I get out my user guide, hoping there is some kind of reset button or something. One little tip box says, " Be sure the arm to secure the lid is in the up position." And the Bonehead Award goes tooooooooooo, almost Skinny Vic!!!! Cheers all around!! My juice tasted even better this morning!

It surprised me how terrible I felt about the possibility of not having my juicer working after coming so far. Sure I could get another, and mine is still under warranty, but the disruptions of my plans and trying to figure out what to do about it all, wasn't making me a happy Vic this morning. Not only that, my juicer is Autographed by the man who started all of this for me, Joe Cross. It has sentimental value now. It's more than just a juicer. And I am more than just a little bit silly sometimes. Geez.

The above was not what I planned to mention today, but that's fine. My shopping yesterday was great! I spent just under $50 again. I did buy a container of Coconut water to add to my morning juices for a test. It is high in potassium and has other goodness in it too.

Take a look at this crazy veggie I had to buy. It's call a Daikon radish, supposed to have all kinds of goodness in it.  The scissors are there so you can compare. They are standard size scissors.

Now, even though I am not Skinny Vic all over, my legs and b-hind still are. Most of my extra pounds are in the worst place possible, my tummy and torso in general. I am what they call "pear shaped". Even though I have lost 16 pounds, I can't tell much difference, but my tummy must be getting smaller or something is somewhere. I say this because as I was walking around shopping, my underwear kept falling down. I'd try to hitch it up by sticking my hands in my pockets and grabbing at it. It's just uncomfortable. So, if you are getting discouraged, but one day, your underwear starts falling off you, well, be happy. You can be a Happy Hitcher. I know I was. Juice on!!

This is Nineteen!!

Time to do inventory for shopping. I did fairly well on not running out of anything except for Kale and a pepper for today. Oddly, I seem to have miscalculated my celery needs and ended up with 3 bunches left over. I don't know how that happened. It did look like a lot when I bought it. At least is keeps well enough so I can use it this week. Had some extra apples too because I decided to substitute carrots for one of the apples in some of the breakfast juices. I can't tell the difference and I hoped to cut down on some of the calories and add more nutrients.

Looks like I lost at least another pound. I still can't really tell by looking at myself. Yesterday I was talking to my co-worker about it. We were discussing the fact that I have not had even one tiny bite of food for 16 days, it was, yesterday. Both of us found that hard to believe. He did say that he noticed I look thinner. I was surprised, one, because he's a guy and two, because he sees me almost everyday, and three, because I can't tell any difference. However, it made me feel good. I can't wait though, for someone to come up to me and say "Are you losing weight?" I plan to tell them "no, I just defragged. "

Off to shop for week FOUR!! Juice on!!!

Eighteen! Day Eighteen.....sounds like along time.

Usually, I make my breakfast juice, put in a cup, lunch goes in a zip top in a little cooler, and then drink my breakfast as I drive the 30 minutes into work. This morning, I was thinking about so many things as I drove, I totally forgot to drink my juice till I got to work!! Hope I didn't lose too many nutrients due to the delay. Maybe I wasn't hungry or thirsty? Maybe I wasn't thinking about food? Maybe it's all getting very routine now? Or, all of the above. It just kind of surprised me.

Yes, I am working as I write......multitasking. Most of the time I write something up the night before and then just make a few changes. So, get off me already!!!!!!!!!

Wanted to talk a little bit about juicing techniques, now that I have been doing it for a while. I have the Breville JE98XL with an 850w motor. I got it at Bed Bath and Beyond, with a coupon. I noticed that Amazon, who had it for the same price of $149.00, now lists it for $179.00, interesting. Anyway, here are some things I do.

1. For spinach, don't bunch it up too tightly. The juicer seems to struggle if it's in a tight wad, which is possible after washing it. Using a salad spinner helps to dry it out somewhat and so the handfuls can be looser.
2. For apples, if whole, cut a small slice off the bottom. The juicer seems to have a hard time with the skin. If halved or quartered, stop the juicer, put the pieces in cut side down. Same with tomatoes.
3. For harder items, such as beets, use the high speed. Low works for most things. Cut sweet potatoes into strips.
4. For ginger, stop the juicer and put the peeled piece in. Hold it with the plunger and then turn the juicer on. Also, DO THIS Last! Ginger is so stringy and even though it is small, the strings will clog up the blade and the strainer basket too.
5. I let the basket sit in the sink under the faucet as I rinse off the other pieces. Then, I make sure that I clean the strainer extra well with the little brush that was provided. After I think I have it clean, I go over it once more. This is crucial, so that the most juice can get through it every time.

Please add your tips and comments. I have found that a few people are reading this and that makes me happy.

Yes, down another half pound, at least. Juice on!!!!

Day Seventeen stretches ahead of me...........

So this morning I had an apple, pear, 2 carrots, sweet potato, 1/2 lime, small pc. of ginger. Sprinkled a little cinnamon in it and it tasted just like an apple pie. It also reminded me of brown sugar/cinnamon oatmeal. Regardless, it was Yummy!!! You know what? I felt full after only drinking part of it. I'm talking about the kind of full you feel after you EAT. Of course, I finished it. I'd be a whacko not to, it was so tasty! I will be making it again and again and again.....

Yay for me. I lost another half pound. I really wish I had listened to my daughter and gotten a scale that does the ounces. That seemed like overkill at the time. I guess it really still is. Do I really want to know my weight to the ounce? That is bordering on being obsessed so I guess I don't wish that after all. The important thing is that my weight is continuing to go down.

I timed myself this morning, not rushing, but just out of curiosity, while I made breakfast and lunch juices. Want to know how long it took me? Sure you do. 17 minutes. That includes cleaning out the spinner basket in between juices and then total cleanup after. Now, I would like to know who can not do that in the morning? Granted, I had everything washed, peeled and cut except for the apples, don't cut them ahead or they will turn brown. I did the prep work the night before while listening to the radio. Sometimes I like to do a couple of days in advance, but on the other hand, I kind of like to do it when I get home now. Keeping busy is a good way to help break the old habit of doing hardly anything when I got home after work.

Oh, here's a tip I read, I think on this site: http://jointhereboot.com/ . It is the site that Joe Cross started. Anyway, for Kale or other greens, cut the stems and stick them in water, like you do flowers. This will crisp them up, making them easier to juice and giving a little more juice. I still don't get much from the Kale, but I just hope that it's packed with nutrients. I cut off the ends of the stems of what I was going to use the next day and stuck them in the fridge.

Check out that site, http://jointhereboot.com/. It does have lots of good information on it. I don't like the site that much, just because of the design and sometimes the pages are slow to load and other oddities. However, Joe said that a new one should be coming soon. It is still worth looking into. You might even want to sign up!

Juice on!!

PS: I got the tip on the Facebook Reboot group site. 

Sixteen days, today! Do I need protein?

I was thinking last night about protein. For many people considering a juice fast, the first question they ask is "What about protein?, How will I get enough of it?" Truth is, most people take in more protein from meat and dairy than they need. That extra protein acidifies the body and if not used, is turned into fat. Oh lovely, we all need more fat right? I love it so much!! NOT!

Have you ever been up close to a giraffe or an elephant? What about a chicken or a Texas Longhorn bull? Well I have. Except for the chicken, these animals are huge!! How did they get that way? And how do those chickens pack all that protein into their eggs? It was not from eating any meat at all. Yet we eat chickens, cows and dairy to make sure we get our amino acids, 9 of them to be exact. We even add protein powder to our smoothies. We don't need to do that and really shouldn't.

Vegetables have protein in them and so do fruits. Even watermelon has some! Now, they do not have all 9 amino acids in one, so we need a variety. That's fine by me. Of course, beans have the most. Beans. I can't juice a freakin bean. I read that someone tried to juice green beans, with failure. Here is a good list I found. It doesn't have greens, except for spinach so I Googled Kale and Collard Greens. Both have a nice amount or protein considering that they are Leaves.

http://heartspring.net/list_of_vegetarian_protein_foods.html.....check it out. 

So now you know the basic skinny on the protein issue. You can read a lot more about it all over the Net. 

Or you can save yourself some time and take my word for it.

Morning of Day Sixteen, down 13 solid pounds in 15 days. Juice on!!!!!

Day Fifteen and feelin fine!

This morning I thought I'd try something different for breakfast. The recipe is:

1/3 pie pumpkin
1 sweet potato
1 apple
1 pear
2 carrots
1/2 lime
1 pc ginger

I could not cut open the pumpkin. I tried all my big knives, and even my electric knife. Finally, I gave up on that. The recipe was supposed to taste like pumpkin pie, which I love. Oh well. I made it without the pumpkin and used a whole lime. It was delicious anyway, but I think a half lime would have been better. Sweet potatoes make more juice than you would think. I cut it into strips about the size of your average carrot, to make it a bit easier on the juicer. They are REALLY good for you.

And now on to more serious topics. I wanted to talk about waste management. Don't mean the pulp either. Before I started this project, I did like to make smoothies with blueberries, strawberries, almond milk, etc. They are too high in calories to be having all the time, but they do make you "go" as do salads and veggies, which I also consumed a fair amount of on a semi-regular basis. Normally, waste management was taken care of about twice a day on average. I know, too personal, bear with me, there is a point. Once I started on only juice, I was no longer taking in the fiber at all. Deposits basically stopped, except for day 2-3 when something didn't sit right. (Remember from a past blog, "beware the toots.")

By day 5, I was becoming somewhat concerned but not uncomfortable. I had read that if you don't keep things moving along in the intestines, toxins could be absorbed back into the body. I sure didn't want that to happen. So I did some research and decided to buy some herbal tea that contains Senna Leaf, a natural laxative. I was at Sprouts, getting all my produce and the tea on Sat., day 5. All of a sudden, whooeeiiee, where's the bathroom? So odd. I still bought the tea, just in case. Now, when I am thinking I need the tea, I find that I don't. It just takes awhile, (about 5-6 days) for the dumpster to get full enough for waste management to take over. So the point is, be patient and listen to your body. And drink plenty of water.

The next subject is one that I have not read about anywhere; your teeth. This summer, I had that deep cleaning done where they really get all the plaque and stuff that has accumulated over the years, off. Since then, I floss regularly, which I had not been doing, and also use a water pik. Since I stopped eating food, I kind of slacked of on the flossing. No need, right? So I thought. I was still brushing with my electric Braun. After a few days, I decided to floss anyway. Guess what? That nasty plaque still gets in between your teeth even if you only drink juice and water!! So now I am back to my same dental care routine. Point? Don't change things you are doing that are good for you just because you change your diet.

I still don't get it, what is that plaque stuff anyway and why does it like my teeth? Would I still get it if I ate nothing at all? Is it manufactured by me? Well, I am not going to think about that anymore.

Lost another pound or half pound. It's hard to tell with my scale. This puts me at about 13 pounds gone in 14 days, this is day 15 and I am feelin fine!!!

Fourteen, pretty routine

Don't have much to report today. Still at a solid weight loss of 12 pounds. I wish it was more, but that's fine. As long as I am not gaining any, I am not going to be concerned with the day to day weight. My scale only does to the half pound anyway.

Two weeks. It's getting to be pretty routine now. I never feel bad, but do notice some kind of "boost" after drinking my juices. It's nice to have the recipes worked out so I don't have to think about it too much. I just have to decide which one to have at night. Variety is important for several reasons. It's important to use different types of vegetables because each one brings something different to the table. Also, it keeps you from getting bored. There are so many good recipes to be found. I may change it up a bit next week. I think I'd like to add some broccoli. Part of the fun for me is planning out the week and making my lists.

As happens with many, this has become more than just losing weight for me. The best way to get the most nutrients for my system is with juicing and I plan to make it a part of my new lifestyle. I was even thinking of a way to make a salad dressing by using some juice, the other night. The possibilities are unlimited and I plan to use the pulp too. 

Create a new life, juice on!!!

Thirteen, wow almost 2 weeks!

Today I packed up the autographed juicer and 3 half recipes of goodness to take over to my daughters' and show off a bit. I was hoping to make some converts. Two little ones, do not eat veggies, and not many fruits, I was afraid that they would not even taste the juice. I was wrong. They were fascinated by the process and did taste the juice. Not sure that I have any converts yet. But I will keep trying.

Oh, had a really good test too. They wanted to go to a Mexican restaurant for lunch, so we did. I had my Mean Green waiting for me to juice at her house. I am happy to say that I did not even want to eat so much as a chip. I love Mexican food. It did help that the food is not that good there, but still, not even a chip? Way to go Vic! The thing is, after coming this far, I do not want to waste all my efforts.

I started feeling pretty hungry as I am watching football. Realized that I had not had enough water today. So guys, remember to drink your water. I believe that it's just as important as the juice.

Two whole weeks tomorrow and no bites of anything the whole time. I find it hard to believe. But, I am on a roll now. Better to be on one than eat one. Juice on........

Had to look....yes it's Twelve!

Another glorious day!! Off soon to gather produce. Down 11 pounds.

One big sweet potato and 2 Gala apples with a dust of cinnamon tastes amazingly like a cinnamon roll. I thought, how can this taste so good?? This was my desert after I had Miss Scarlett. Oh man was that good too!!

Miss Scarlett
Tomatoes -2
Beet, peeled -1
Gr. Pepper -1
Yellow Pepper -2, supposed to be 1 red and 1 yellow, but I only had yellow

Maybe my taste buds are changing, but I was just so surprised how good this was. I had to change my shopping list.

Eleven, yes really.

Somethin's happenin here. What it is ain't exactly clear..........

Scales shows 1.5 more pounds lost. I can't tell any difference so, just for grins, this morning, decided to try on a pair of jeans I haven't been able to wear. Last time I tried them on, there was a 1-2 inch gap at the snap. Today, I zipped them up and snapped them so easy. No gut sucking in, no laying on the bed struggling to zip up. Wow, crazy man. I love it.

This morning I juiced 2 gala apples, 3 good sized carrots and a piece of ginger. It made about 18 oz. Very yummy breakfast. I think it's probably better, nutrient wise, than the watermelon.

I was thinking about hamburgers and lasagna before falling asleep sometimes. Last night I found myself thinking about ways to have really healthy snacks and make it seem more like junk food. I love homemade refried beans/bean dip. It's all veggies. Wouldn't that be good on a slice of yellow squash instead of a Frito? I would have never used a squash that way, but had a sample of pico de gallo at a Whole Foods Market, once, on a slice of squash and it was great!

What else will I think of? Something healthy for sure.

Day Ten Starts Off

Ten days without eating any food. Well, nine full days so far, but, still, I can hardly believe it. This will just be a quick update. I wanted to say that my scale did not show that I lost the pound I have been losing every day so far. Not even a half! It only weighs to the half.

I could use this as a good excuse to quit.....must not be working anymore. Right? Yeah, I think I'll go make me some scrambled eggs with cheese and bacon. MMMMMM!! Grits too! Yay!

Absolutely NOT!!!! I am not a quitter. They say you aren't supposed to weigh yourself everyday. I'd probably be sick if I ate that stuff at this point. I don't really want it anyway.

My point is, if you are looking for an excuse to quit, you can find it. I am not. You shouldn't either. Instead, look for reasons to keep going. I only have to look down........."hi there, fat belly! How many dingos you got in there today?"

Juice on!!!!

Day Nine is all Mine

So last night I made the best batch of Vgr8t juice yet! The recipe is on Friday=Day Four. I added a half a carrot more, that I had left over and about 3 skimpy sprigs of cilantro. Cilantro is good stuff but it can be over-powering and I am finding that with it, less is more. Man o man, that stuff was tasty. I find that I like to drink water along with it, just as if I was actually eating. I take a couple sips of the juice and then some water.

Definitely finding that I have more energy. I have read that over and over, but thought it was just hype or psych. Last night I took my dogs for a nice walk, then ran a couple of errands and went to bed later than I normally do. I never felt like doing much after work before, so I must have more energy.  I also am finding it easier to get up in the mornings, looking forward to seeing if I lost another pound! And I did! So after 8 days, lost 9 pounds. I have not noticed it physically, but it must be true.

Oh, I have another picture and tip. I found that making my nightly juice along with getting things ready for the next day, was taking more time than I wanted to spend. So, Sunday, I got 3 bags of veggies ready for my Mean Green lunch juice, and also some fruit for breakfast juices. It is so easy to just grab the bag out of the fridge in the morning, plus it gives me more time at night. I only did 3 days at a time so things will stay fresh, but a couple days or nights a week of prep time, I can handle. Here is what it looks like:

I will reuse the bags too. They are 2.5 gallon zip tops, larger than what I need, but that's ok. Dig my jazzy wallpaper? It's retro baby, yeah, that's what it is. I guess I am almost old enough to be retro too. When I get back to Skinny Vic, I am going to be a hippie.
Peace out.............Juice on!!!!

G'Day Eight Mate

What a night I had last night!!!! I found out, kind of by accident, at about ten till five yesterday, that Joe Cross was hosting a screening of his movie in Dallas. Well, at first all I knew was that Joe Cross was in Dallas from a tweet I saw somewhere. I found out the rest in about a minute. I had seen "Fast, Sick, and Nearly Dead twice, but decided on the spur of the moment to go and meet him and hear what he had to say. Driving madly home, the thought to take my juicer for him to sign, popped into my head. Crazy? No, odd, maybe. I did it.

He talked and answered questions for an hour after the film ended. Then he went out into the lobby to sign autographs and let people take pictures. While he was out there, a big thunderstorm came up and it poured. We are in a drought. Anyway, the whole experience was awesome and has inspired me to keep Juicin' On!!!!

Down eight pounds at the beginning of day 8. Not bad at all.

Seven Days.........what????

This is the beginning of the end of a week of no solid food for me. It hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. But yesterday, watching football was kind of hard. I really wanted some beer, chips and queso!!

Lost 6.5 pounds according to the scale, but I can't tell any difference. It will take more than that to make a change in me.

Getting all the shopping done and preparing some of my lunch veggies ahead of time is very helpful. I will have time to go for a walk tonight if I feel like it. I'm fighting off some congestion I picked up somehow over the last couple of days.

This morning, I substituted a celery stalk and a carrot for one of the apples I have been using with some watermelon for breakfast. I could taste the celery, but it was tolerable. Celery and carrots have so many good things in them, and celery, practically no calories, so I wanted to cut back on the fruit a little bit and use the veggies instead.

Some people experience a greater weight loss initially than I have and then settle in to losing about a pound a day, from what I have read. This did not happen for me and I think it is because I was already eating a large amount of steamed vegetables and salads. My system was fairly cleared out. Yeah, I'm saying that I wasn't carrying around 5 pounds of poo in my intestines. That is so gross, but it's true. I am happy with a pound a day loss I still can't figure out how it's working, but I don't care. 

I think this is a good place to stop for today!

Day Six - A breakfast Pick

Wow, a few people have looked at this! Maybe only one or two, but that's ok, this is really to help me keep going.

This was delicious for breakfast this morning......one sweet potato and 2 Gala apples. I cut the potato into strips to help the juicer process it, but left the skin on. Sprinkle with a smidge of cinnamon, and you have 16 oz. of sweet nutrition!

Here's the first bad thing that has happened to me as a result of this fast. Something I drank yesterday gave me gas. Not bad or painful, just noticed it. BM's had slowed down, but still ok so I didn't think much about it. Two hours after I went to bed, I had some gas again, or so I thought. I did not hop out of bed quite fast enough, so ended up doing a load of laundry and taking a shower for good measure. Ewww gross. Are you wondering why I wrote about that? Because people need to know what really can happen. It was no big deal and didn't happen again. However, be careful with the toots!

Going for a walk now before football!!!

Day Five, man alive!

What a lovely day it is today! I slept well and have lost 5.5 lbs. I honestly don't know how, with all the liquid I've been taking in.

Yesterday, I made my spreadsheet of what I will need for one week. This morning, I did an inventory of what I have on hand and then adjusted the totals so I would get just what I need. Then I went shopping. Got only one extra thing, a sweet potato, because I used one for juice this morning, and really liked it. So I plan to adjust my breakfast some. I also found 2.5 galllon jumbo zip-top bags which will make preparing things ahead of time easier for me. I did not include this in my total, because I'm just being lazy on that and it isn't required. I spent a total of $37.23. Remember, I did have some inventory left, so next week it will be more. However, I read somewhere that someone was spending about $50 a week, so that is about right. Wow, $200.00 a month for food? For one person? Eating poorly is way cheaper.

The challenge for me, when I am done with this, will be to find ways to eat healthier on the cheap. There is no way I am going to spend that much money for food. Back in the day, when I really was Skinny Vic, I was fairly poor, but very active. I also only ate when I was hungry. Now I know what  all the research says, but for me, this was only about once a day. Hey, it worked for me and I was very healthy. But, being older and learning all about the miconutrients in juice, I know that I will keep having a juice everyday. I am hooked.

So do you want to see my list? Sure you do...let's see if copy and paste works...

Kale leaves	52
Cucumber	8
Celery Stalks	38
Apples	27
Lime	4.5
Ginger/pc.	12
Extra leaf	1
Cilantro/bunch	2
Spinach/handful	14
Carrots	17
Tomato	9
Beet	5
Italian Parsley/handful	4
Green Onion	4
Sweet Potato-lg	1
Bell Pepper-Gr	1
Bell Pepper-red/yellow	2
Honeydew Melon	1
Pears	2
Watermelon/wedge	1

Don't know the ratio of fruit to veggies, but it looks pretty good. Want to see my poor stuffed fridge? Sure you do......

And I am supposed to believe that the fridge will be empty in 7 days, and all that goodness will have been consumed by me. Sure it will.....
TTFN

Friday=Day Four!

Friday!! Yay!! Doing well, slept better. Last night I made this: 

V-Gr8 (great) – A heartier, more healthy version of V-8.
(Makes 26 oz.)
Spinach – 9 oz. = 3 good handfuls
Carrots with tops removed – 8 oz. = 2 large
Beet Root – 1 oz. = 1/8 of a large root
Green Onion – 1 (including green and white part)
Celery – 4 oz. = 1 1/2 sticks
Italian Parsley - 2 oz. = handful
Tomato – 16 oz. = 2 super large tomatoes
Add 1/2 teaspoon of tajin Clasico Seasoning to the mix. Didn't have this so used a tiny bit of Cajun Seasoning

It was very good, but when I juiced the onion, oh did my eyes water!! Fortunately, I have some swimming goggles and I will wear them next time. I liked this juice because it had a lot of flavor and the onion kind of lingered. 

I decided that I need some kind of system for this to work, so am making a spreadsheet of the ingredients I need. This way, I can determine what I need to buy for a week and keep track of the cost. I won't end up getting something I don't need and also, will have everything I want on hand. I plan to take the time to get 3 days of produce ready at a once. I just need to figure out the best way to store it all. 

Feeling good though. Last night I felt like I needed a little something awhile after I finished my juice. A half a glass of water took care of that. I am sure glad I like water. 

Here is a picture of my lunch. It's the Origianl Mean Green juice. I like it. Notice my cool glass straw?
 

 

Day Three, already?

Time flies!! I feel good.

Last night I decided to make the original Mean Green juice, even though it has celery in it. My previous juices were drinkable, but not so great. Here is the recipe:

1 Bulk of Kale, about 6 big leaves
4 celery stalks
1 cucumber
2 granny smith apples
1/2 of a lemon
lump of Ginger

Naturally, I changed it a little bit, substituting Gala apples and a small lime instead of the granny apples and lemon. It turned out as pretty a green as any of the pictures of it I have seen. Best of all, it really tasted good to me. I like the little kick that the ginger gives it. Made it again this morning for my lunch juice. 

I have decided that I have to make this easier for me and come up with a system. First, I am going to find about 5 juice recipes that I really like, and a couple of fruit ones for breakfast. Next, I am going to figure out exactly the ingredients I need to make enough juice for one week. I don't have time to be wasting gas and running to the store several times a week. Third, I need to come up with a way to prepare several days worth of breakfast and lunch fruits and veggies, so at night I only need to make my dinner juice. This way I will have some time in the evenings to go for a walk. Will post what I come up with......

I did not say my starting weight. It's too embarrassing for me to admit. Unlike many person's blogs I have read, I have not struggled with being overweight all my life. In 1992, when I trained for and ran a marathon, I was at my heaviest since having children, 5'7" and 125 lbs. The muscle I gained accounted for the extra weight. I was a lean machine. I do not expect to get back to that. It would be unrealistic. But I do expect to get back to a reasonable facsimile.  That is my goal and I will run again.

Day Two Dawns

Day 2 and welcome to it. I was hungry yesterday afternoon, but that went away pretty quickly. Made another batch of juice, and prepared for today. I have decided that I do not like celery juice.

Did not sleep well, but feel pretty good today. Had pineapple and apple juice, didn't really want it, but drank it anyway along with a big glass of water.

I think that I am putting too many ingredients in my juice. I cut down on the different things in my lunch juice that I made and left out the celery altogether. It tastes better, but seems like it needs something.....salt? Is that allowed? Will have to research.