juicing: Day 2

Yay!  Another mini victory: two days down!  I woke up really excited to start another day of juicing, especially because I was going to try two new recipes that sounded a lot less celery-crazy.  And I have to say that I really liked both of the juices today.  I started with a big glass of Rise & Shine and then drank Lean and Green throughout the day, saving my last tall glass of Rise & Shine for "desert".

As far as hunger and energy, I think today was a little harder than yesterday.  Some of that may have been because I wasn't working today and so I had a little more time to be bored and hungry.  Another reason is probably because it was my second day juicing and I didn't really have any left-over food hanging out in my body from the day before. But the biggest reason was probably because I ran a 5K this morning.  I know, probably not the best idea.

Actually I had decided to not exercise at all durring my juicing cleanse just because I wanted to make sure that I wouldn't be making myself extra hungry (and also because my foot is still a little sore from my half marathon 3 weeks ago and I really think I need to take it easy).  So, I know, it was a dumb idea, and my foot is totally sore again.  But over all, I still felt like I had plenty of energy to make it through the day.  And I got to the point where I was actually looking forward to  drinking my juice!



Rise and Shine (makes about 4 C)

1 large grapefruit
2 fuji apples
2 granny smith apples
2 cups of green seedless grapes
10 sprigs of Italian parsley

This one is soooo delicious!  It was very refreshing and the grapefruit added nice strong fresh flavor.  I loved it.  But that shouldn't really be a surprise because it is basically all fruit.  It was a huge contrast from yesterday and I am sure had much more sugar, so it gave me a great boost of energy.  I would definitely recommend this juice--especially to people who may be a little tentative or skeptical of the idea of juicing.

Lean and Green (makes about 8 C)

1 head romaine
8 dinosaur kale leaves
6 stalks celery
1 large cucumber
8 carrots
1 lemon
(plus I added 1 gala apple)

I also really liked this one.  Partially, I think, because I had really gotten used to drinking green juices yesterday.   And also probably because I could only detect a hint of celery.  The lemon gave it a really nice fresh flavor too.  I added the gala apple because I was remembering yesterday's juice and wanted to make sure I could swallow this all.  I loved the addition and think I would do it every time.  This is a really great green juice.


And as a side note, I thought I would add a little bit more about why I have decided to try juicing.

Juicing vs. Bending (VitaMix Style)

A few of my family members have asked me why I have chosen to use a juicer as opposed to my VitaMix.  This is a really good question.  And to be honest, the first time I head about juicing I asked the same question, and actually thought it would be better to use the VitaMix or another high powered blender because then you wouldn't be missing out on all of the fiber!  But the more I learned about it and the more interested I got, I discovered that there are wonderful benefits to doing it both ways.

A lot of the women in my family suffer from IBS (irritable bowl syndrom), and sometimes I am one of them.  It isn't as extreme for me as it is for a lot of people who have been diagnosed, but when it hits me, it is horrible.  Durring those times, the best advice I have heard is to avoid high amounts of fiber.  If you think about fiber like an exfoliating mask for your skin it might make more sense.  Exfoliation is a wonderful way to keep your skin fresh, clean and smooth.  Fiber does the same thing to your intestines, keeping everything moving along the way that it should.  Now imagine if you had a cut, a rash, or any other sore on your skin.  Exfoliation is not a good idea until it has healed.  And so that's how fiber is on your gut when you have an irritated or inflamed bowl.  And sometimes even if you aren't having an episode, but you do have extra sensitive bowls, too much fiber can greatly irritate it.

So, if you consider the amount of nutrients and fiber in the ingredients in these recipes that I am using for my cleanse, the idea of being able to get the nutrients with out the fiber is mostly why I want to juice.  I honestly don't know if my gut could handle all of that fiber.   There are sometimes where my morning green smoothies irritate my tummy a little and that is only a fraction of what I am consuming through my juicing cleanse.