Monday, June 25, 2012

Days 18-21-Home stretch

Hey! So I've been fasting for 21 days now. Funny how time flies when you're having fun, right?
This weekend was full to the brim with friends, fun, exercise and THE JUICE.

On friday, I was sitting outside on the front porch watching my son zoom around on his Razr scooter and my neighbor approached and wanted to talk about health and fitness. We must have sat for about an hour talking about fitness routines and healthy eating and juicing. Mind you, my neighbor is 19 years old and over 300lbs. We decided to start our own fitness routine and got started Saturday morning.


We headed over to the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook and tackled the 700'+ staircase which the devil built with claws and teeth. OMG! It hurt SO BAD getting up those stairs. They're jagged, uneven, and crooked, but as you climb higher and higher, the Los Angeles cityscape blossoms below you. By the time you get to the top, you have a 360 degree view of L.A, from the ocean to the mountains, Beverly Hills to the hood', it was a beautiful sight to behold. After forcing my stomach contents (JUICE) back into my stomach-I was seriously about to heave-we made our way back to the base via the conveniently placed hiking trail. There are bathrooms and a little museum up at the top to help you get it back together. I had such an overwhelming sense of accomplishment when I reached the bottom. I felt like I had just climbed Mt. Everest!


 



Me and my boy Hula Hooping at Soulnic
Saturday Evening was all about Soulnic at Griffith Park. Parking was a good 10 minute hike away from the field where the event was held, so I got a lil extra inadvertent work out in. We had a blast! It was all about Chicago House music and I was not disappointed. There were games for the kids and the smell of the food was killer. I made a huge bucket of what I dubbed my "Festival Juice" and just savored the sights and sounds.


Sunday morning was all about cantaloupe and green juices, church, family, and a fun evening at Mulligan's.

I didn't take detailed notes about the juices I made, but below is an approximation:

Cantaloupe Beet Juice (Delish!)
1 Cantaloupe
1 Beet
1 apple
1 pear
Handful of strawberries





Festival Juice (Nice mostly veggie concoction, no pix :()
1 bunch Kale
1 Cucumber
3 Stalks Celery
5 or 6 Radishes
3 Carrots
1 Granny Smith Apple
1 Fiji Apple
1 Pear

Watermelon Juice (Watermelon juice is so great)
1 Small Seedless Watermelon
2 stalks celery
1 apple
1 pear






Thursday, June 21, 2012

Day 16-17-Juicy Fruit, Veggie Veg

So I'm starting to experiment with more juice flavors and the results have been semi-great:
Yesterday, I made a most excellent morning juice:

Tricycakes PiƱa Party (laaaaame name)
1 Pineapple-Peeled
4 stalks of Celery
1 Mango-sliced around the big ass seed (stone) (Don't put the stone in your juicer)
1 Lime-Peeled







Mmmmmm....so nice. Surprisingly semi sweet. The mango kind of turned into a thick sludge on the top of the juice. Still good though.

I forgot what type of juice I made in the evening....Kale, cucumber, something or other...

My phone battery died on me today so no pix. This mornings juice was a redo of the Honeydew situation from the other day. I added a lime and it cut down on some of the sweetness and made it SUPER DELICIOUS. I'm going to juice my cantaloupe in the morning and see how that turns out.

Evening juice was a doozy:

1 small sweet potato (I had to use it because it was starting to sprout)
4 plum tomatoes
4 stalks of celery
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch swiss chard
1 lime (peeled)
1 clove of elephant garlic

Holy garlic juice! The potato thickened it and it was garlicfied with a HINT of tomato. This would be better warmed as a soup. This is a grin and bare it juice. The garlic is really overwhelming.

I'd been making some pu$$y ass juices over the last few days and needed a full on veggie experience. Boy did I get it.




Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Day 15-Half way!

So, I'm half way to my goal of 30 days! Still feeling energetic, clothes fitting a lil looser, attitude is still optimistic! The juice is life changing!

Morning juice: Mellow Melon
1/2 Honeydew melon, seeded and peeled
1 Granny Smith Apple
1 Pear
Sprig or 2 of mint







Mmmmm-sweet sweet juice. This was a very good juice. Very sweet though. Might try and cut it with some lemon on the next go round, seeing as I have another half of honeydew left. I'll juice it in the morning.

For the midday, I was out and about and stopped at the Jamba for the Apples and Greens again, and I got FULL. My goodness. It's really a great tasting juice too.

Dinner Juice is back to the good old green: Spinach, Kale, Celery, Apples, Cucumber, Ginger.

You know what it is, but I took pics anyway:











So to commemorate these past 15 days, I present to you the button on these jeans. When I first bought the jeans I could barely squeeze into them. Then I couldn't. Then I could. Then I couldn't. I have a real love/hate relationship with them. I guess we're back in love again:

No time to pat myself on the back just yet, I have 15 or MORE days to go. Gotta keep going!

Monday, June 18, 2012

Days 12,13, & 14-Pow pow pow!

So I survived another weekend!

Spent saturday swimming and juicing with my oldest sister, Kenya, in Brea. Before we drove out there Saturday morning, I went over to Jamba Juice and had an Apples and Greens smoothie. Their website says it has Apple-Strawberry Juice, Green Vegetable Juice (Carrots, Spinach, Bell Pepper, Kale, Spirulina, Lettuce), Peaches, Mangos, Bananas, Ice. It was nice! I wouldn't replace it with my own juice, but it was a cool departure from what I've been having.

I packed up my juicer and whipped up a batch of Mean Green. My sister enjoyed it and is looking forward to starting her own juicing regimen when she is fully healed from her lung cancer surgery (Carcinoid tumor, they removed her left upper lobe).

Sunday was an epic morning juice day, I whipped up a BOMB.COM watermelon juice that was SUPER delish and so pretty to look at:

Watermelon skill supreme
Tricycakes Mouth-Watering Watermelon Juice:

1 small seedless watermelon-rind removed
4 apples
1 lime-peeled








This juice came about as we were sitting around the kitchen sunday morning. I had already made a Purple Power juice earlier and we happened to have this little watermelon just chillin' there. My cousin challenged me to make something out of it. It was so light and refreshing! The perfect summer juice. I ended up having a bunch of this juice, so I sipped it for the rest of the day. All fruit everything!

Today I started the morning with some left over watermelon juice, because I loath wasting anything. My dear Uncle Will stopped by and I made him a Swiss Chard, Carrot, Apple, Spinach juice. Again, I'm yielding so much, that I can continue to drink from one or two batches of juice all day

Uncle Will sippin' juice

I'm still feeling great. My water consumption is on the decline, so I have to focus on that. I had a few cheats over the last few days, and I'm not proud of that. Doubling down for the last half of this juice experience.
 
I just got back from an epic veg shop and picked up some new fruits. My morning juice is going to be off the chain tomorrow. Can't wait! Promise to have my phone charged so that I can take more pix. Thanks so much for reading! ~P

Friday, June 15, 2012

Day 11-Whoooo-ooooo

Here is the second half of today's two-fer!

So, I started off today with a concoction that I just thought up. My veg supply was limited this morning, but I had a whole packet of strawberries and thought, 'what the hell".

 Morning Juice: (I took pics, but it appears that my android ate them)
15 or so strawberries (I keep my stems, because more juice is less waste....lol wut?)
1 peeled lime
A few Celery stalks
 Handful of spinach
1 green apple

 This juice was aaaight. It was pretty tart, but there was a pleasant sweetness. I'll probably forgo the lime if I attempt this one again.

Midmorning juice:
1/2 of green cabbage
1 cucumber
4 roma tomatoes
1/4 red onion
1 bunch parsley
1 Red Bell Pepper

 This was a truncated AND expanded Gazpacho juice. I substituted cabbage for celery, because I didn't have anymore. I also forgot the lime...It was good. The cabbage trumped everything else other than the onion. I had a boat load of this and sipped on it for the rest of the day.











Since I was running low on veg, I decided to take a field trip over to Grand Central Market  to re-up. Here is the deal-there is delicious food EVERYWHERE. The smells are enough to make you forget your fast and dive head first into a plate of street tacos. Once you make it through that madness and get to the veg, it's mostly rotten and just under moldy-which is why you get some ridiculous deals (6 cucumbers for $1?!). I found a veg stand that was a little less rotten than the rest and spent about $12 for a bunch of stuff-2 bunches of celery, 2 bunches of spinach, bag of apples, 2 bags of carrots, 6 cucumbers, packet of blueberries and strawberries and some other stuff. REALLY look at what you're buying, because you don't want moldy produce.

 Juicing featured on 'The View' today.

Day 10-Did I win?

Lol, it's not a race silly.

So, 10 days of mostly fruit and vegetable juice and I feel good. I haven't weighed myself or any such thing because my leading cause for doing this fast is preventing myself from going down the path of a preventable health-disaster future. A few days in, I developed a doozy of a chest cold or something and have been hoarse and phlegmy (eeeeew) for the better part of a week, but it was doable to fight through it. I had to reaffirm with myself my reasoning behind doing this fast, because if your conviction for change is shaky, then it's all to easy too cheat yourself back to square one.

I've been getting such a positive response to this blog and it makes me feel MOST AWESOME to know that my little fast is causing other people to reevaluate their health and take some steps to getting themselves in control. My sister finished her 10-day fast a few days ago, and I couldn't be prouder of her.

This fast gives you some time to do some soul searching and see when your relationship with food becomes unhealthy. For me, I LOVE to eat! Eating is an emotional mood lifter for me. Instead of emotional shopping, I love to go out to different restaurants and get in on the decadence. I'm SO missing my once a week thai spot Original Thai BBQ, but I know that this indulgence isn't healthy for me. I don't eat ALOT, but when  I do...I OVER eat. I can starve myself the whole day in anticipation of a trip to Fridays or Chili's, and when I get there, I tear the house down. My relationship with breakfast is non-existent and I don't drink alot of water. All these things have contributed to my weight gain along with a sedentary lifestyle. Now that I've gotten a handle on this juicing thing, my focus for the next 20 days is to MAKE SURE that I do some sort of physical activity EVERYDAY. Now, along with my juicing, I will update my progress on getting more physically active.

Please please, leave a comment and share my blog with others. Subscribe too. I update (almost) daily.

Here's to the next 10 days!

Strawberry spinach celery mint

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Day 9- On the Go

So, my son has his Pre-Kindergarten culmination tomorrow morning and I decided to take him out and about after school.

I started the morning with a celery apple orange ginger juice and followed up with my left over mean green from yesterday for midmorning/lunch.

I had a bunch of errands to run: oil change for the P-mobile, Target run to get my son's culmination gift(a razor scooter), to the park to test out said scooter, Madagascar 3, and a mall run to get lil man a fresh outfit for tomorrow. My Android is acting a fool and wont hold a charge and refuses to work with my car charger anymore, so I was at a complete loss on where to find a juice bar.

I decided to seek out South L.A.'s Simply Wholesome Organic market and restaurant while I was out because I was positive that they had a juice bar. Low and behold, they do not make their own juice. I was shocked, but there were 2 refrigerators of organic bottled juices to choose from. I picked one that appeared to be alright-I tossed the bottle. and since my phone was dead, I couldn't snap a pic of it and cant remember the name. It tasted OK, but my freshly made juice from home is much better.

I'm off to bed without making anymore juice.

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

Day-8 How not to do it...

So, I failed in a spectacular fashion today. I've been taking a parenting class at my son's school and today was the last day of our class. Sidenote-if they offer parenting class where your kids go, take it. It's a wonderful resource, and you can use the certificate for child care certifications and custody disputes.

Last week, before I started fasting, we had a potluck list for the POTLUCK that took place today. 1 word-CHILAQUILES. One of the parents brought in 2 varieties of this tasty mexican treat. The air was rife with the scents of onions and cilantro. There were refried beans, donuts, and fucking CAKE...at 10 in the morning. My carrot apple ginger juice was NO match. I put up a brave front, but I was dying inside. The other very helpful and generous parents continued to offer me food, me politely declining each time. They just couldn't understand why a sane person could pass up such a bounteous feast. I was persuaded to at least take a plate home to give my son for lunch. I made a small portion and put in my bag with every intention of doing just that.

Me and my son got home and I showed him the plate of delicious chilaquiles. He took one look and was having none of it. I made him a sandwich and then fell upon the chilaquiles like a ravenous beast. With sauce dripping from my chin like the blood that flows from the neck of a freshly killed dear, I came out of this haze of chewing and swallowing and said one word...'FAIL'.

I FAILED SO BAD...and the aftermath was equally horrendous. Stomach cramps, fatigue, and the overwhelming sense that I let myself down. But after I awoke from my chilaquiles fueled nap, I went to the kitchen, started my juicer and made me some MEAN GREEN with added tomatoes and garlic.
Even though I failed, I'm not going to STOP. I just have to be even more diligent. I also need to know that I'm not trying to win a record for the most perfect juice fast ever. I'm human and we all make mistakes, but it IS up to me to keep going, not make this one act an excuse for me to stop. It's my choice, and I choose the juice.

More FAIL:

Monday, June 11, 2012

Day 7-Here comes the hard part...

So, my throat issue has turned into a cough...sucks. But I will persist. I had a few minor set backs and some cheating *minor*-sunflower seeds (AGAIN), but I'm not going to let that get me off of my goal of 30 days. Um, I'm not doing any update of the weekend. I came, I saw, I juiced...nuff said.

It's now starting to dawn on me just how daunting a task this is. The amount of veggies needed on hand is starting to put stress on refrigerator space, I really need to start conserving water and God knows what else is going to pop up. However, I am confident that I can continue on and make it to my goal and (maybe) beyond. I added herbal tea twice a day to help with this throat/cough situation. I smoke(d) cigarettes (socially), and maybe this is my body's way of kicking my ass for it. I haven't had a cigarette since I started, nor have I wanted one. The smell alone makes me sick to my stomach.

Let's get to it:

Morning Juice
Tricycakes Apple, Carrot, Orange, Spinach, Ginger Blend

1 Apple
6 Oranges (peeled)
3 Carrots
A handful of spinach
~1" of ginger


Herbal Tea is now a must
Good juice for branching out on my own to try new flavor combinations.


Midmorning/Lunch

Mean Green
(recipe found on Day 1)








Dinner


Sunset Blend Juice
1 large Sweet Potato
1 medium Carrot
1 Red Bell Pepper
2 large Red Beets
2 Golden Delicious Apples
1 Orange, optional (I opted not)


This is a nice, hearty and filling juice. The sweet potato adds a nice depth and dimension that I've been missing.

I was provided some juicing info from a pro, Mr. Pudginald Stanley. Take of it what you will. I feel that I've been digesting chemicals and all sorts of tomfoolery for years, I don't think mixing fruit and veggies will make THAT big of a difference.

Hey Patrice, one suggestion for your juicing
"Keep Fruits and Veggies Separate: 
It's best not to mix fruit and vegetable juice together as they are digested differently. Combine a sweeter vegetable (carrot) with a bitter vegetable. An exception would be apple, used sparingly, with more bitter greens."

i got that from here : http://www.juicer-guru.com/juicing-tips.html


Sunday, June 10, 2012

Day 6-I'm still going!

It's sunday night and all is quiet. I wanted to tiptoe in here to say I'm feeling good. I'm energetic, my hair looks good, I've talked to at least 10 people about juicing over the weekend, and I'm happy that I undertook this journey. I'll recap the weekend tomorrow. 

Don't Stop!


Day-5 Ready, Set, Damn...

So this morning I was up bright and early to go film on set. I AM an actress and gotta continue with my livelihood. Hiding in the house juicing ain't where it's at. Unfortunately, I didn't plan this excursion that well, and ran out of time before I was able to go to the store and get more veg.  I again had to make up my own juice (Spinach, apples, ginger, and oranges-BOMB.COM) and had enough for 2 servings which I took with me. While on set, I'll have to search out a juice bar or get down on the fresh fruit at craft services...But I will not cheat.

Update-I ate some carrots, celery, and tomatoes while onset. After I got off, I hightailed it to the store to re-up on some veg because I was having some serious hunger issues.  Watched the Paquiao fight with some friend sipping Gazpacho juice, while they ate fried chicken, corn, and cerviche.

Sorry, no pix, but enjoy this gem:


Friday, June 8, 2012

Day 4-Gimme MOAR!

So I slept in today and got a little bit of a late start. My son doesn't go to school on Fridays, so we don't generally wake up early. Nature called, I answered and went back to sleep.

I made up some juice this morning because I didn't have all the ingredients to make any of the breakfast juices and I just threw some stuff together. It was kinda gross at first, but it grew on me.

Tricycake's Nasty Ass Juice
2 Carrots
2 Apples
2 Kinda old tangerines that we had laying around
1 cup of blueberries
20 mint leaves


So the tangerine rind did a number on the taste of the juice. It was too tart. I'll try peeling the next time.

So I was smart and juiced my mid-morning juice along with my morning juice to save time and conserve water. Washing fruit, veg, and juicer 3-4 times a day is sure to raise the water bill, so I'm going to come up with some conservation ideas. 

Spinach-Fennel-Cucumber
1 Fennel Bulb
1 Cucumber
3 Celery Stalks
3 cups spinach



This juice is so nice. The green juices sometime have the overwhelming grassy/green taste, this one is nice and light.





Dinner Juice
Bountiful Brassica Juice
2 Broccoli Stalks
1/2 Head of Green Cabbage
6-8 leaves of Kale
1 Granny Smith Apple
1/4 Lemon (peeled)
1" ginger root



Yummy! Another winner of a green juice. The lemon and ginger meld nicely! Yielded a bunch, so this will last til bedtime.

I feel fine. You have to have to have to continuously drink water, or you'll get dry mouth. Stock up on toilet paper and/or Depends, because toilet time is ALL THE TIME. My sinuses appear to be draining and my throat issues still persists. It's like I have a giant lugie in the back of my throat that I can't swallow or hock up (ewwww)...gonna curl up with some hot ginger tea and see if that helps.


Hey, enjoy some awesomeness!


Thursday, June 7, 2012

Day 3-Yay Me!

Wow, today was challenging. I had to go to court and run some errands, so I ended up making a bunch of juice at the same time and shuttling it about with me. I felt like I was going to shrivel up and die in court, but I persevered and ran back to my juice.

Breakfast:
Carrot Apple Beet
2 Apples
4 Carrots
2 Beets
6 leaves of Swiss Chard
1" ginger root





I'm really starting to dig the smell of freshly juiced ginger. It's a smell that makes me look forward to the day. This juice seriously woke up my digestive system. Beet colored bodily waste makes for interesting toilet time. I gave some juice to my cousin, and she had a panicked moment at work today thinking that she had stomach cancer symptoms. IT'S THE JUICE. If you can see your PEE in rose tinted glasses, then the rest of life is definitely peachy.

Mid Morning Juice:
Great Greens Juice
2 Green Apples
2-3 cups of Spinach
6-8 leaves of Swiss Chard
1 Cucumber
4 Stalks of Celery
1/2 Fennel Bulb
1 bunch of Basil


I swear the Diet Coke ain't mine...lol
Fennel Bulb smells like licorice! I had a great AHA moment with that one.

Lunch:
Tabbouleh Juice
1 big bunch of parsley (approx 4 cups)
1 Tomato
1/4 Red Onion
1/2-1 peeled Lemon
1/2 Cucumber
Dash of Sea Salt and Pepper over ice

This was my court juice. Sorry for no pics, but I had to get on the good foot and get out of the house on time. I put the juice in one of those clear heavy plastic commuter cups, borrowed ice from McDonalds, and went about my business. Oh yeah, 26 hours of community service and $150 fee (GO ME!). Red onion in juice is freaking delicious. Parsley juice makes me hate life just a little. The juice giveth, the juice taketh away.

Again, I'm yielding more than I need to to continue making another recipe, so I had my left over Great Greens Juice for dinner.

I feel fine. It got a little sketchy since I was in court for HOURS without juice, but I didn't faint or get dizzy. The only discomfort that I'm having is my throat feels a little strange. Blew out a boatload of phlegm (eeeeew!) this morning. I guess my near constant congestion is starting to loosen up. Also, my tongue is white, which I expected. Get thee gone toxins!

3 down, 27 more days to go! Hat tip to my FB homie Mr. Pudginald Stanley for this link re: what to expect while juicing.

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Day-2 Feeling good

So I totally cheated and ate a handful of sunflower seeds last night. I'm not really mad though, because they were DELICIOUS...
Anyway, I woke up this morning because nature called, and instead of falling back in the bed, I got up and started juicing. Usually I'm groggy in the mornings, but this morning was a little different. I had a lil UMPF in my step. It was just a BIT of extra energy, but enough to be noticeable. 

Purple Power Juice:
6 cups concord grapes
1 golden delicious apple
2x2" ginger
1/2 cup blackberries

There were 2 apples in mine because, apparently, I wasn't very good at following directions this morning. I also substituted blueberries for blackberries as Whole Foods was sold out.

IT WAS BOMB.COM! I wanted to make sweet love to this juice. Had Dallas (my lil dude) and Auleria (cousin and housemate) try it. It was an instant win.

Sorry for no PPJ pics, because it was a beautiful violet color. It was 7am and my brain was screaming JUUUUIIIIIICCCCCEEEEE!!!!

Added benefit-Purple Power is RIGHT. I'm jonzing out of my pants. Need to go run or *gasp* work out.



Midmorning:

Green Lemonade
1 Green Apple
2 cups Spinach (~3 handfuls)
2 cups Kale (~6-8 leaves)
1/2 Cucumber (After a second look, I used the whole cucumber...)
1/2 Lemon
Tricycakes addition- 3 strawberries



Yesterday as I was sipping on my Mean Green, the GREEN taste of it started getting to me...activating my gag reflex, but I drank the whole 26 oz. Today, with the GREENERY of the Green Lemonade, I added a few strawberries to make it taste better and it DOES (Shout out to Facebook friend Robert Fuller for the tip). This is a nice juice. Nothing fancy, lots of green...but I do LONG for my Purple Power!


Lunch:
V28
2 large Red Beets
2 medium carrots
2 stalks celery
4 Plum tomatoes
4 cups parsley, leaves and stems, roughly chopped and packed into measuring cup
1 Jalapeno, ribs and seeds removed
12 Red radishes


Mega yield


This juice can turn into a fiasco! The beets are huge and messy when cut, the radishes have lots of stems and leaves. the parsley isn't easy to wrangle, and I gotta deal with pepper seeds. I left all the stems and leaves intact and yielded HELLA juice. It was at least 50 oz of juice that had a surprising sweetness and earthiness that was very nice. The color is beautiful and the jalapeno is very subtle and leaves a lasting tingle on the tongue. The smell takes some getting used to. Smells like garden soil aka DIRT.
Not mad at you V28, because I was ready to be all:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I ended up having so much V28 that I didn't juice anymore today. I should be up to 10 recipes, but I've only made 6. The yield is more than I anticipated. Tomorrow is going to be hectic because I have to go to court (traffic ticket) in the middle of the day and run a few errands. I have the luxury of chillin' in the house juicing, but sh*t is about to get real.


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Day 1-Leggo!

So here we are at day one. Here is a pic of my big veggie shop from yesterday. I got sh*t that looks like BROOMS SON! Just seeing all the bright colors of the produce lifted my mood today.



I started the morning with a simple Carrot, Apple, Ginger Juice:
3 (organic) carrots
2 (organic) apples
1 small piece of ginger (about 1")
Ice and a big cup

Now, I don't want to get into the debate about organic vs. regular fruit and veg...I'm sure there are other blogs that can give you the skinny on all of that. Organic maybe more expensive...if you are in a restricted monetary situation, get to Food 4 Less or some other market and buy your veggies. I'm going to check out my local farmers markets and go downtown to the produce district and see if I can come up on some deals.

CAJ was super delicious, fresh, and hearty. I can seriously drink it everyday and be perfectly happy, but woman cannot survive on Carrots and Apples alone...

Mid-morning is all about the Mean Green:
1 Cucumber
4 Celery Stalks
2 Apples
6-8 Kale Leaves
1/2 lemon
1 tbsp. Ginger

Freshly. Cut. Grass. I really have no other words to describe the Mean Green. It's refreshing and just PURE tasting. The celery really shines here.



I ended up having a bunch of Mean Green-about 25 oz....so I sipped on all of it for a few hours. I felt like hell at about 2 o'clock and laid down for an hour. I got with it on the next juice as soon as I got up, because I was feeling headachy and discombobulated.

Lunch/Supper Gazpacho Juice:
4 Plum Tomatoes
1 large cucumber
2 stalks of celery
1 red bell pepper
1/4 small red onion
2 cups parsley, leaves and stems, roughly chopped and packed into the measuring cup
1 Lime

This one is my favorite after CAJ...Like drinking salsa juice or a nice cold GAZPACHO (no one likes hotzpatcho). I'm feeling loads better, headache is gone, and I no longer feel like shit. I think I found my new hangover cure...I might add some jalapeno too and kick it up a notch. BAM!

I had a video, but cant get it to convert from a Windows Live Movie Maker file to a .wmv file....I'll try to figure it out.



Monday, June 4, 2012

It's now or never

I start my juice fast tomorrow! I'm excited. Got my Breville juicer in the mail today (a steal off of ebay) and gave it a test run, went on a Whole Foods shopping mission (spent a lot of $$, will need to find a cheaper alternative) and I'm ready to go. I'm using this blog to document my progress.

My decision to start a juice fast solidified when I watched the documentary "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" on Netflix. I'd done the lemonade cleanse in the past, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to do it again because I was very hungry, unsatisfied and generally pretty miserable for that whole 15-day period. I don't care how much water or lemonade I drank, I had visions of steak and shrimp pasta dancing in my head. Also, my family has been hit extremely hard by cancer, diabetes, and high blood pressure over the last few years. All are prevalent on BOTH sides of my family and at the age of 30, it is high time that I get myself in order to hopefully avoid all the pain and suffering those illnesses cause. 

I am a woman of African-American descent and I do not want to die a slow and painful death. I am juicing for my life and hopefully by leading by example, I can get some other people to take control of their health as well.  My sister is also juicing and started because I told her about FS&ND and she was inspired by Joe and Phil. We are going to do this together!

View the movie and get recipes here.