Raw Food extravaganza - Day 25

Hey all!

A QUICK update - I will hopefully have a bit of time Friday or Sunday to update you all... but I just got back from Denver, am moving tomorrow (so today is crazy last packing and cleaning day) - and then my honeymoon Tuesday!  Things are super nuts right now.

I'm still raw, still feeling great, and I promise I'll come back and update you with details and photos. :)

Love,
Jenn

Raw Food extravaganza - Day 17

I've been a bad EHG and not updating you all.  Sorry!  Things have been so crazy with work, packing the house for our move, getting ready to go to Denver for a week... sorry about that.

So, I did NOT complete 15 days of the juice fast.  I ended up incorporating fruit and veggies on Friday last week, and I've decided to just eat raw until my body decides it needs something else.  For now I'm still drinking juice every day, and eating raw foods.  I am learning SO much about the raw lifestyle, it's been really an amazing experience so far.  (raw = fruits, veggies (including raw juicing and raw smoothies) only peppered with SOME raw nuts and seeds.  Selective additional things like EVOO or balsamic or cider apple vinegars and lots of seasonings like garlic, cinnamon, chili powder, etc.)

Me on the way to the grocery store:

What I bought.  (yeah, boyyyyy):

Breaking my juice fast with a kiwi.  YUM!  It was the BEST kiwi ever.

We still love the juices, and even Dan gets into it.  This was one of his own concoctions:

Sunday football snack - "chips" and fresh homemade salsa.  (chopped tomato, cilantro, chive, red bell pepper and avocado.  HOLY delicious.)  ((chips are slices of zucchini!))

"pasta" made from spiralized zucchini and yellow squash - mixed with lots of black pepper and some chopped red bell pepper - tossed in a little EVOO.  Delicious.

Skin continues to get better.  Weighed in at 164.8 today (-8.2 lbs in sixteen days.  So, I'm continuing the loss of about 1/2 pound a day, which is great.)  Seventeen day difference in my face:

I DID throw out my back somehow yesterday.  Big bummer there.  Not enjoying the sore back, and advil is my friend for the moment.  Lower back... pulled it while I was cleaning my studio yesterday.  But I will say it's sparkly clean now!  

I'm hosting a florist event on the 30th, and then it's time for MAJOR studio overhaul - I'm taking November to work on the studio and completely redesign it.  Yay for staying busy!

Well, that's about it for now.  Dan and I are going to go shopping for a new couch for our new place.  Yay!

Juice Fast Extravaganza! Today is day 12!

Yep, folks - I only have three days left.  It's interesting.  I really love juicing, and I'll keep doing it for the rest of my life.  I definitely am looking forward to starting to eat some delicious raw foods after I'm done.  The experience has been an awesome one so far!

I'm full of energy today, I'm down 6.6 pounds, and Dan told me today after kissing me, "your skin is getting so soft!"

I thought I'd share a few pics with you all, and a recipe that Dan helped me name. :)

"The Jackal"

2 huge carrots (four normal size)

1/2 huge cucumber (or one small)
1 zucchini

1 bunch parsley

1 bunch cilantro

1 bunch spinach

3 stalks celery

1 yellow pepper

1 hot pepper

1 lime, peeled

2 oranges, peeled

1 beet (ends cut off)

Look at all these gorgeous colors!  I mean really, have you ever seen a more gorgeous array of colors in your veggie selection?  Greens, yellows, oranges, red, purple... gorgeous!

At first I didn't have the oranges, but after tasting it, realized I needed a little sweet to counter that hot pepper a little bit!

Check it out:

Spectactular color.  SPICY juice, and jam-packed with so many nutrients... it's lovely!

~J

PS - speaking of nutrients, check out my nails!  They look and feel amazing right now.  My hair is growing faster, my skin looks good.  Juicing FTMFW!

Orlando Honeymoon - Healthy Eating?

Hidy ho, folks!

Well I wanted to interrupt the blog posts about juicing with a very real question.  Dan and I are honeymooning in a few weeks to Florida.  (I've never been.)  We're doing Disney World and probably Epcot.  What I'm curious to hear is:

1.  What are your "don't miss!" recommendations?  (We have four full days to work with.)
2.  What restaurants do you recommend?  (On or OFF park / resort grounds.)
3.  Speaking of restaurants... how, just HOW do I stay healthy in terms of food while I'm out there?  Are there any options for whole foods?  You know, hippie food?  I mean... I am not going through a fifteen day juice fast just to turn around and eat crap food because "oh well, I'm in Orlando."

So!

Those are my questions, and hopefully you can help me!!

xoxo,
~Jenn

Juice Fast Extravaganza! Day 10...

Hidy Ho!

Weight - 166.8 (down 6.2 pounds)

I was feeling pretty pretty the other day:

Yesterday stopped by the juicing place by my studio and got a Pink Flamingo!  That's orange, grapefruit and pineapple.  Yum-o!

And last night, a gorgeous green juice with cabbage, cucumber and apple.  Freaking yum.

I definitely still miss food.  I have found, however, that I'm most excited to get done with the fast so I can try all the delicious sounding raw recipes I have found.  I have been doing research on what kinds of raw foods and recipes are out there for my transition back into eating solids after this is over. :)

Ta-ta for now!

~J

Juice Fast Extravaganza! Day 8 - update / results

Stats:  10/2 vs. 10/10
Weight = 173.0 / 168.6 (-4.4 lbs)
Bust = 39.5 / 38.5
Waist = 31.5 / 30.5
Lower belly = 38.5 / 38
Butt = 43.5 / 42
Hips = 42 / 41


So, after 8 days I've lost 4.4 pounds and an average of 1 inch off of most of my measurements.  

I've gotten into juicing sweet potatoes.  With carrots, spinach - they're simply creamy and yummy.

Raw juice does separate a bit...

But, it just takes a quick stir.  Yum, yum!

So.  Can you guess which is the orange strawberry, and which is the tomato red pepper?

Delicious cantaloupe and mint!

This weekend I had two weddings, and let me tell you... I did come prepared with a cooler, with tons of bottled water and a juice, but... it was really, really hard.  The smell of the food, and it was GOOD food (wedding food,) both the dinners and the cocktail hour food... not being able to eat it was really difficult.  Just when I was feeling pretty comfortable with juicing, the idea of eating super healthy afterward and having gotten rid of my cravings for "bad" foods... all of a sudden I was constantly thinking about food yesterday.  The groom was served taco bell (as a silly joke) at the wedding yesterday, and then all I wanted was taco bell.  (yes, it's nasty but I LOVE IT.)  Then I came home, and what the hell... Dan got Taco Bell for his dinner.  The smell filled the house... it was so difficult, and I almost felt like CRYING, I was so frustrated.


I put up the blog post, and made myself a cantaloupe and mint juice.  The mint was so powerful it overcame the residual taco bell smell in the house, and the juice was delicious.  After that I felt better, and I feel better this morning.


I freaking hate food addiction.






On the positive side... my skin is doing AMAZING.


I don't know if you guys really know about all the struggles I've had with my skin... Acne has been a major part of my life, (my brother has dealt with it just as I have,) - and it's the thing I'd always said I'd change about myself, even before weight issues.  I've tried every cream, ointment, toner, homeopathic method, weird ass crazy things to get my skin to clear.  Nothing has ever worked beyond temporary measures.  


Here are my results after 8 days:

Last night I found myself saying "I feel like this whole thing is pointless."




Well.. after writing this post... I am pretty sure I don't feel that way anymore.  I do miss food though.  I am looking forward to eating.  :)

~J

Juice Fast Extravaganza! Day 5...

Hello lovelies!

Well, yesterday was a FABULOUS day - I felt alive, full of energy, my soreness was completely gone, and I felt awesome.  Until, about 5:30pm.  At that point, I really started to feel hungry.  I made my favorite dinner juice (tomato, red and yellow pepper, celery, parsley) - and that satiated me for a while, but as I went to bed I really was super hungry.  Granted that was around midnight.

Starting weight:  173
Current weight:  169.6

Morning juice - I decided to go with a green juice that I call "Life Juice" - instead of my usual fruit.  This includes Kale, Romaine, 1/2 cucumber, 1 green apple, 2 carrots and a bunch of parsley.  It sort of tasted like drinking freshly cut grass.  Definitely a green taste, but still yummy.  I will try this again today but add a lime to it. :)

Here it is immediately after juicing before stirring it up:

After stirring, in my bottle:

I found out that there's a place in the Milwaukee Public Market by my studio that does fresh juices.  Woo-hoo!  It also happens to be one of my favorite salad places in the city.  I stopped by for a "green giant" juice, which was spinach, apple, wheat grass and lime.  It was super tasty and super lime-y!

In between I had 1/2 pineapple, two oranges and 1 golden delicious apple but forgot to take a photo of it because I drank it so immediately.  It was freaking delicious!

Final juice of the day was the tomato juice:

Oh!  And someone asked what I was detoxing from.  Primarily, caffeine (in a huge way.)  I used to consume MASS quantities of Diet Coke and around a half pot of coffee (at least) a day.  DAILY.  So that was where my detox symptoms (headaches, sore muscles, etc etc) were coming from.  In a fast you also are flushing out toxins from the foods you eat on a regular basis (chemicals used to grow or prepare the foods, all those ingredients we're like "wtf is this" to, etc).  

I was talking to Dan last night about how weird it feels to be doing this juice fast.  Not because of the actual act of juice fasting, but more about the long-term implications it has.  I didn't necessarily start this in an attempt to change my entire outlook on food, but in reality that's what is happening.  I don't want to put the work in, complete this 15 days and then go back and eat a pizza.  Or less "dramatically" even, go eat a sandwich.  Why would I reverse all the benefits I'm gaining?  Releasing weight, clearing my skin, clarifying my thought process and my mind, etc etc?  

It's honestly a little scary to try to think about what I'm going to do after the fast.  I know I'll start slow (obviously as to not shock my system,) with solid fruits.  After that I'll mix in salads and veggies, and perhaps some low sodium soups (or homemade soups, even better!)

Beyond that... should there be a beyond that?

Food for thought... 

~J