I Love JUICING!

First of all I have to say I would be a lot better at this if I had someone else hand me the glass of juice or at least bottle it up and leave it in the fridge for me.  NOT that it's a HUGE deal to make, it really isn't, and once it's part of my daily routine, I actually enjoy the whole process.

Second there are 100s if not 1000s of websites, blogs, 'what have yous' online that can give you all this information and more, but I know it helps to have someone you know tell you what they use, how it works, do they REALLY like it, is it a pain to clean up and does it really make a difference.

To see what we use go here .  Omega seems to be top of the line right now, but we are very satisfied with our Champion.  It's solid and does what we need it to, and it was a gift from Dad Graves who insisted we had to have a Champion because that's what he and Mom used.

Holly is the one who really got me started when she told me about Drew Canole and that I could get a free book of his for my Kindle called:

 Train your Taste to Trim your Waist

 I also have these two:

40 Recipes for Weight Loss and Healthy Living

Drew Canole's Juicing Recipes for Vitality and Health

BEETS!  I hate beets.  But I can juice them along with pineapple, carrots a little ginger and voila I love them!  If you really get into juicing, you'll be buying things you may have never heard of.  I still need to try a few.  Brad isn't real big into spinach and kale, but I can slip that into a smoothie and he doesn't even know. Ok, Smoothies are another thing.  I use the Ninja Blender.

You have to start slow with the beets if you're like me.  Baby steps!  It doesn't take a whole beet to make your juice a healthy drink. Plus if you over do it, your first (slightly red) BM afterwards might alarm you. If you aren't going to use recipes, you'll be experimenting and may combine a couple things that really don't go so well together.  I use recipe's as a guide.  When I didn't I got a very heavy, filling juice that didn't feel so good after it went down. 

LEMONS!  I love lemons and love adding it to my juices.  ZING!

Clean up is a breeze.  Seriously.  I had everything out, cut into sizes that would fit the juicer, made the juice, taste tested, added an orange and another apple, poured the juice into the bottles, took photos (because I'm a photo nut) washed and dried juicer parts, cleaned area thoroughly in under an hour.  I make enough for 2 bottles, so if you're juicing for one it wouldn't take as long.

TIP:  If you want the effectiveness of the juice to last longer, fill to the top of the bottle and seal tightly.  Keeps the oxygen out and oxidation doesn't start as soon.  (thank you Holly!)  I think she said it stays good for up to 2 weeks.

YES, I love my juice!  YES, I feel a difference. I definitely have more energy.  But then you are asking someone who practically lived on Pepsi or Coke as her fluid intake.  Tomorrow will be 6 months off the nasty stuff. Now I need to back off my Coffee intake and double the water I drink.

Have I lost weight?  I had when we were being faithful about having a bottle in the morning and with our evening meal.  Starting last night, I'm back at it, and will keep you posted.  I intend to juice along with some form of protein for breakfast and dinner.  Lunch will be a healthy smoothie.  Snacks will be nuts, fruit and cheese.

Think I can lose 15 pounds before the wedding?  If not, I know I will at least feel GREAT!  Here goes.  Yes, I know I should have started sooner, but I'm the world's biggest procrastinator.  And by biggest I'm not talking size here.

My own recipe:
1 grapefruit, 1 orange, 2 apples (1 green 1 red)
3 carrots and 3 celery stalks 

Have FUN!! 

one Sunday in July
 "do these stripes make me look too thin?"

I know it's all about being happy, not about being thin. 
That being said, I would be really really happy if I was 50 pounds "lighter" ..
but for now, I'll go for 15.

HAPPY JUICING!