"Hey Renee, I'm fascinated by these posts. Thanks for blogging your journey. This is something I've considered and am bummed I sold my juicer in a yard sale a few years back. I'm so tempted to get a new one. Can you do a quick post about the books or websites you read for information and how-tos? I've only looked a bit and would love to benefit from your research. Thanks! =)"
The inspiration for the juice fast for me began with watching the documentaries "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" and "Hungry for Change", when I watched these I thought about my Mama. She has high blood pressure, type 2 Diabetes, she had thyroid cancer a few years ago, she recently had a heart attack and had to have 3 stints put in, AND she has been struggling nearly 2 years without daily stomach upset and pain. I wanted to learn more about juicing and try a juice fast to inspire my mama and perhaps be able to help her out in some way... especially with her stomach pain for which Drs. seem to have no answers, just more meds. (And Bethany, I had a juicer and got rid of it in 2007... I guess the timing just wasn't right back then!)
Anyway, there is a website associated with the documentary I mentioned called http://www.jointhereboot.com/ and it has lots of information, recipes, etc. If you google juicing or juice fasting you can find all kinds of information, but honestly there has been no substitute for just jumping in and doing it. Learning by doing is the only way to figure this out. If you are not sure (like me!) if juicing is going to be for you, just get a cheap juicer from Walmart. The Hamilton Beach that I bought was about $60 and it works just fine. From all I have read, the Breville models are a step up and slightly more expensive, but for the long term it is worth it if you get more juice from your produce. I will be moving up to a better juicer some day.
It takes me a while to make juice in the morning. I make all my juice for the day. Ideally the best juice is consumed within minutes because as air and light reach the juice it begins to oxidize and some of the nutrients are lost. However, juicing and clean up are time consuming and I just can't do it several times a day. So the next best thing... I pour it to the brim in 8 oz mason jars so there is hardly any air in the jar. I drink it all within 12 hours.
I buy organic when it's decently priced, but I figure even conventionally grown produce is better than eating other junk so I don't sweat the organic. I do peel the cucumbers and carrots because they are part of the dirty dozen of produce that has the most pesticides. I have found my favorite juice to be a version of what they call the "mean green"... Approximately 2 green apples, 1 cucumber, 4 ribs celery, a few handfuls of greens (kale, spinach, romaine etc), a lemon, and a 1" slice of ginger. Lemon is suggested to cut the bitterness in greens. I actually really like this juice!! I will also sometimes add a couple of carrots and some eggplant if I am trying to get the ounces up to a multiple of 8.
Last thing... juicing is expensive. It takes A LOT of produce to make juice for the day. Being a thrifty gal, I had to get past this. I just told myself that I have never been the type to go to a salon and drop $100 bucks on hair, nails or the like. In fact, I have only had my hair cut once in the last year. So for me, this is a health/beauty investment and I am not even adding up the cost. (But ALDI's is great for buying produce if you have one near you... so cheap!!) I will be happy to answer any other questions that I can, even though I am just a juicing rookie. :-)
Renee', I am so glad you are blogging about your experience every step of the way. It is VERY inspiring to me; like you, I've read some about juicing, and it's just never been the right time.
ReplyDeleteI have a couple of questions:
How much water and/ or other beverages do you drink?
How are your "body functions"? I mean, to put it in-delicately do you pee all the time, and are you still having regular BMs?
I hope I haven't embarrassed you too much!
Judy