March 13, 2012 - Doing well!!!

I have been eating cooked foods, plus raw foods, plus juicing. My experiment has lessened my weight loss. If you feel you are losing weight too fast, just eat some cooked veggies and that will slow it down. I will say that the more I eat, the hungrier I am, and when I mostly juice, I don't feel as hungry.

Today I had "mean green" for first juice of the day, then I ate some cooked cabbage, carrots, and potatoes, which was okay, nothing special. Then I made collard greens, parsley, carrots, celery, red beet, and ginger root. It was tasty and I do love the red beets. Go very easy on the red beets to see how you react to them. If you are pre-cleanse, the red beets really pack a wollop because of their liver cleansing properties. They are also high in sugars, so at first I used 1/2 beet, now I am up to a whole beet. If you do too much too fast, you can become nauseous, blech.....

I make 32oz of juice at a time, drink 16oz of it while I clean the juicer and refrigerate the other 16oz for about an hour later. I sip the juice slowly and wash the juice around my mouth to stimulate saliva, digestive juices.... Then I read that the acid from the juice can erode the enamel off your teeth... Even something good can be bad?? One thing I learned is to rinse your mouth with water after drinking juice, don't brush your teeth right after juicing, wait a while.

Because I had a good meal, and mostly juices today, I feel pretty good. The juice gives my stomach a rest from digesting foods. I suffer from GERD and take medication for it, and I don't know if I will ever be able to stop this medication. Maybe I am just built this way? I think once the weight comes off, a lot of these secondary problems will go away.

My skin is clearer and not spotty, and the texture is moving toward the soft side. My weight loss has slowed, so I have to start eating raw foods, not cooked, and use portion control, and really get serious, I MEAN IT, about walking about 30 mins every day. I have some weights, a yoga mat, yoga bricks, Wii Fit Plus, etc. It is all waiting for me to GET SERIOUS!!!!

I am sending my first Breville juicer, the Ikon Multi-Speed, back to Breville tomorrow for warranty replacement. Sometimes when I am ready to juice, it will not start. I tried taking it apart and putting it together again, still won't start... Wait a while, still won't start, then I turn it on out of nowhere and it starts!! This drives me crazy, especially when I have everything all set up to juice..... Hopefully, the new Ikon won't act like that and I can keep it as a backup or sell it to someone, or who knows what. I love the Breville Juice Fountain Elite, but it would be nice if it had variable speeds like the Ikon. I like the metal basket on the Elite, the Ikon plastic basket seems to collect residue that is difficult to get off the surface. I use Dawn detergent and it does a good job. Anyhow, Breville said it would take 14 days to get the replacement Ikon, thank God I have a back up...

I love the juices, but I don't feel I have enough variety. I tend to use what I buy which lasts a while since I am the only one in the house juicing. I need to try fennel bulb with other fruits besides pears, just to change things up.

I bought quinoa, brown rice, 7 bean mix, lentils to try. I read that lentils and brown rice was a complete protein, so I will try that with some raw veggies, or steam them lightly. I have to stay away from the Whole Foods cafeteria and eat at home. Stay away from flour, wheat, sugar, dairy, meat, eggs, cheese, butter, ok that is dairy, but I feel so much better, still have cravings for those foods, so that tells me I am not juicing enough, or eating raw foods enough. Once that conversion happens I don't think I will have cravings...

More later....

Day 13 of Reboot (Quick Start)

Day 13 of 15 Quick Start Reboot. Today I started out with chamomile tea, then went to a dear friend's memorial service. It started at 11am and I was there until 1:30pm, so I was really hungry. They had table after table of desserts, which I looked over and I saw fat, sugar, flour, dairy and it kind of hit me that it was disgusting. This, from a lady who went to a pot-luck and sampled two tables of desserts... So the reboot really has changed my taster.

After I left the memorial service, I went to my favorite produce market and first thing, I went to the juice bar and got an apple/carrot juice to hold me over til I got home. Then I shopped for my goodies. I am trying to get new things because I read that different minerals, vitamins, and amino acids are in different greens. So I am trying to do a variety of greens. Today, I got collard greens, some other green lettuce, mint, parsley... This place has the best quality stuff and the price is right... The stuff at the grocery store is so "plastic" looking, now that I am seeing stuff that is "real."

I made Mean Green juice and put a red beet in it for a change. I love that stuff!!!

Tomorrow, Sunday, morning is weigh in. I am excited to see how much I lost this week.

I took my blood pressure yesterday and it was 123/70, which is so good for me.. My next visit to the doctor will be in April and he will do blood work. I am anxious to see what my cholesterol levels are. In November, I was getting in trouble with my doctor about my cholesterol levels, and he said I needed to change something or he would have to put me on medication... It was my wake up call, so from then until Jan 30, I lost 10 lbs, eliminating dairy and trying to watch what I ate.

But then, I saw "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead," and I knew if I wanted things to be different, I had to be different.. "Nothing changes, if nothing changes." So, on Jan 30, I started to drink veggie/fruit juices and foods, and since then I lost 7-8 lbs (or more). This juice, raw foods thing really works.

My friend ordered a Breville juicer, but is not sure when she will get it. She said it was on back-order at Williams-Sonoma. So, I may have a Reboot buddy that is in the same town as me.

More later.... Happy Juicing, everyone!!!

Day 7 of Reboot (Quick Start)

Day 7 of quick reboot for total of 12 days in Reboot...

First of all, I think it is very brave of a person to take these photos. That shows that I have a lot of hope for change.

This morning I started out with 2 pints of juice, and when I weighed myself I was 187.2 and I started at 205 last November. In the past 12 days since I started juicing and doing a reboot, I lost 7.2 lbs, so I am very happy with that. I am wearing size 16 instead of 18, and my belt is 2 notches tighter.

I went on an errand and instead of eating out, I came home and had a nice veggie salad with red beets and walnuts. I really enjoyed the salad.. Now I am drinking 1 quart of juice, one pint at a time. This juice is so good and had some bite to it... Three handfuls of spinach, 4 stalks celery, 1/2 small cabbage, 5-6 skinny carrots, a red beet, and ginger root. When I drink cabbage juice I get gassy, but that means it is probably a good thing..

Next time I need carrots I will get the bulk carrots at my favorite Green Market... They are huge and look really good. The other ones I got were bagged and very skinny...

Yesterday, I went to lunch with a friend and had some focaccia bread... It was so good, but I am glad we shared it because I would have eaten all of it... Not good on a reboot.. My friend said she was going to buy a juicer like mine. I hope she does, then, she can get healthy too.

Today, I took some photos of myself, front and side. When I look at myself in the mirror I look great, but when I look at the photo, it is how I really look... That's so weird that my mind plays tricks on me.

So tomorrow, I go to the market again, and will try to stock up on some different greens. I read that different greens have different nutrients, and to rotate them, or mix them up is very good, and to only drink one type of green is not good in the long-run... you can get an overload of one thing and not enough of another. Variety is very important, but I tend to stick with the things I like and with the familiar... I hope to keep an open mind tomorrow while I am shopping.

I was eating peanut butter on a banana or celery during my reboot, but found out I need to wait until after the reboot, when I go to mostly raw foods, and then I want to experiment with making nut butters. I saw a video online of a woman making almond butter... That looked really good and I bet it tasted good. She said you can add salt, or not, and I am sure I will NOT add any sweetener. Our tasters have been so adulterated by unnecessary additions to our food.

I just think of my grandparents who were born in the late 1890's, who ate out of their gardens or from their farms, make their own jellies and "canned" their produce for the winter. I remember their "cold cellar" and my mom's aunt/uncle who had a spring house for their water and to keep food cool, and also had a water pump. I know my grandparents did not have processed foods as they were growing up, so I try to think of how they ate (minus the meat and dairy), and if it grows in the ground or on a tree, then I know it is okay for me to eat.

Juicing packs in a lot of servings of vegetables and fruit into one item. I am so lucky to have found this way of life again. In the 1970s I ate raw foods and juiced and exercised and I was very fit and happy, of course that was 40 years ago!!! LOL But optimal health is my goal.

I need to start moving and exercising to really get the toxins out of my system. Maybe tomorrow ???? lol

Happy juicing everyone!!!

Day 1 of Reboot (Quick Start)

Day 1 of Quick Start Reboot: For some reason I woke up at 7am after going to sleep around 3am, so I got on my cruiser bicycle and went for a short ride, going against the wind on the way home. whew!!

I started out with Chamomile tea with lemon and later, had one quart of Mean Green juice. YUM!! Then I met a friend who is visiting the area before she goes back home. I was so hungry by 1:30pm that I decided to go out to a restaurant to eat. I headed out to Wellington to eat at California Pizza Kitchen (they have great salads), but realized I was very close to Whole Foods!! I had a wonderful self-made veggie salad with red kale, spinach, romaine, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts (not the ones in oil), broccoli with raisins, and an asian cabbage salad with sesame seeds. I meant to add some dressing to the greens, but it was too late to go back after I had paid ($6.00!!!), so I had it with the flavors from the other salads.... It was awesome!!

Then home to rest... later in the afternoon I had 1/3 of a fresh pineapple with some strawberries. That was tasty and nice to have something sweet. Later I made a carrot, celery, apple, ginger juice. I love me some ginger!! It adds some heat to the juice.

Anyhow, the world of veggies and fruit is opening up to me after a 30 year absence from that lifestyle. I am starting to feel 30 years younger, and the mind-set of those days is coming back, the good part, that is.... haha...

I will be juicing and eating veggies and fruits for 9 more days, for a total of 15 days. I want to do a juice only fast for about 10 days, see how that goes, then possibly for 30 days. I will see how I feel and where my head is at by then... I also have to see my doctor to get his OK before doing a juice fast, so I don't get into trouble.. lol.. .

I am excited to think that I could be 50-60 pounds lighter.. a day at a time.. For today, I am very happy with the progress and am feeling great and very upbeat....