Juice Cleanse, Day 2

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Health, How To, Recipes, WIAW by chicken nugget girl

The night between Day 1 and Day 2 I had lots of really vivid dreams and I remembered them once I woke up! That’s definitely a surprising side effect from the cleanse.

Thank gawwwd I didn’t have a headache anymore, and I was not hungry. Both good things.

I hopped on the scale and was excited to see that I was down 3 lbs. This shit was actually working!

Weirdly enough, I had an easier time getting up in the morning than I usually do. I also felt like my mind was a bit sharper in the morning – even without coffee.

The day passed in two(ish) hour increments, spent waiting for the next time I could have my juice. Not because I was hungry, I just wanted to consume something. Every hour and a half I would start to feel a little more drained, a little weaker. I could seriously tell that my body was soaking up the nutrients in the juice when I re-fueled, which is kind of a strange feeling and hard to describe!

Here’s the juice schedule I followed:

Juice 1: 9:30 am
Juice 2: 12:00 pm
Juice 3: 2:30 pm
Juice 4: 4:30 pm
Juice 5: 7:00 pm
Juice 6: 9:00 pm

I could not wait for Juice 2, my absolute favorite juice by far.

P.A.M. is a pretty simple juice: a ton of pineapple, and some apple and mint. It was extra cool because I got to use my mint from my mint plant that I harvested and have yet to kill (nbd, hell is freezing over).

I haven’t really tried pineapple before, and I think the only time I’ve ever had pineapple juice was with a bunch of vodka in Hawaii. At least now I have one juice from the cleanse that I genuinely love and will keep making!

Everything continued smoothly the rest of the day until Ginger-Gate.

*Side note: I’m talking about ginger root – which I had to ask the grocery store worker for because I was wandering around looking for pink ginger like the kind that comes with sushi. Turns out that the pink ginger is made from artificial dye. Who knew.*

The first night I had C.A.B. I didn’t put any ginger in the jar because I ran out of room. Beets make a lot of juice.

It wasn’t the best thing in the world, but it was filling, and I liked the carrot juice in it.

The measurements I used were:

1 apple
1/2 lemon
2 giant carrots
3 beets (I did not juice the greens)

On Day 2, I prepped my C.A.B. juice to take to Tuna’s. Since I’ve never used ginger before, I didn’t know how much to put in the juice (and was apparently too lazy to google it for some reason).

So, I proceeded to juice about half of the amount shown in the picture above. *See evil.

The kitchen sure smelled like sushi, but I didn’t think much of it. I packed up my juice and headed on over to Tuna’s.

When I got to his place, I stuck a straw into my mason jar and took a huge gulp.

Omg.

Too. Much. Ginger.

That was the first time I considered stopping the juice cleanse. I needed to have something for dinner, and I was not about to drink that crap. I panicked.

Tuna suggested I water it down. Still foul. I tried to put some ice in it and stir it around. Nope.

All I could do was hold my nose, chug half of it, and try to keep it down. The latter was hard to do, but I did.

I brushed my teeth but was still hurtin’. It was time to resort to Tuna’s mint gum.

You’re not supposed to chew gum on a juice cleanse because it supposedly tricks your stomach into thinking it needs to digest something, but that’s okay. Funny how ginger is supposed to be soothing for your stomach, but it upset mine for the rest of the night.

Day 2 lesson learned: try the juice before you take it to go.

I have now sworn off ginger. For life.

Thanks as always to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons for hosting What I ~~Drank~~ Ate Wednesday!

4Jun2013

Juice Cleanse, Day 1

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Health, Recipes by chicken nugget girl

I woke up the morning of Day 1 with a slight headache from the few glasses of red wine I had the night before (dumb idea, I know).

At least I took some initiative of what I ate and drank pre-cleanse. I did some research that recommended cutting back on coffee, chocolate, and avoiding grains in order to prep your body for the juice cleanse. I drank a smaller cup of coffee than usual on Friday, and didn’t have an coffee on Saturday. Saturday I ate healthily – a smoothie, eggs for dinner, etc.

The BluePrint cleanse I’m following consists of 6 juices a day that you drink about every two hours.

Green Juice
P.A.M.
Green Juice
Spicy Lemonade
C.A.B.
Nut Milk

I’ll outline the recipes for all of juices as the days progress!

I’m so glad I got to do the first day on a weekend day (Sunday) because I totally would not have survived through work

Even though I was excited to start the juice cleanse, I really wanted some FOOD. But once I drank my first Green Juice, my stomach did feel full.

Here’s what’s in the Green Juice:

Since I was jacking the ingredients from BluePrint, I didn’t have the exact recipe, but the juice I ended up with was pretty good! Those measurements are:

1/2 cucumber
2-4 celery stalks
1/2 lemon
1 handful parsley
1-2 small heads of romaine
1-2 small heads of spinach
6 large kale leaves
top off with filtered water

That makes approximately 16 oz. of juice, which is suggested amount for each of the juices in the cleanse. It’s perfect – regular sized mason jars are exactly 16 ounces!

I found it helpful to drink the juices slowwwwly [think 30-40 minutes], which made me feel less deprived and kept my stomach feeling okay. I also drank A LOT of herbal tea – about 1 in between each of the juices. After drinking so many cold juices, all I wanted was something warm!

By far, the worst thing about Day 1 was the bad headache I had all day. I’m pretty sure this was due to caffeine withdrawal, but I’m not positive. There was a lot of massaging my temples going on. I even refrained from watching Real Housewives because I absolutely could not deal with any raised voices or yelling. #juicecleanseproblems

(source)

In addition to the headache, I felt tired, had low energy, and kept sweating. It almost felt like I was sick! I was pretty miserable, but wasn’t hungry – even though I missed eating…and chewing.

Despite all of this, I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t feel dizzy and did not feel the need to eat any solid food add-ins. I’ve been carrying around an avocado, banana, and some pecans just in case of emergency.

I literally googled: “What to do if lightheaded during juice cleanse?” before I started, because I was anemic in high school and fear fainting. THIS article warned me, “Light headedness to the point of fainting puts you at serious risk for injury.” Point taken. I’m taking a slow-releasing iron pill and am doing just fine so far.

Plus, during the juice cleanse, I’ve been listening to my body like whoa. I’m hyper-aware of everything I’m feeling because I want to make sure I stay safe!

As the afternoon continued, I started to feel a lot of doubt, wondering if this was the right thing to put my body through. I was poking around my bookshelf, and saw I had a book on juicing that I’ve never even looked at! It came at just the right time, because it helped me validate why I’m doing this.

I fell asleep thinking of pizza and Mexican food (legit images of the cheesy goodness in my head) and crossing my fingers that Day 2 would be easier.

3Jun2013

Juice Cleanse Grocery List

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Health, How To by chicken nugget girl

After our last trip to Eastern Market, I knew I wanted to come back and get lots of produce before my big juice cleanse. So Saturday morning, some friends and I headed on over to check it out!

We found almost everything I needed for a [slightly] cheaper price than Whole Foods and probably a lot fresher too! A lot of the veggies I bought still had the roots on them – and you can’t beat the size of some of this stuff.

Look at the giant carrots!

bigcarrots And I got a huge bushel of beets for $3.50.

My bags started to get pretty dang heavy, so I kept ploppin’ them down while I bought more goodies. Thanks for being my personal photographer for the day, Mal!

I don’t think my fridge has ever been as full as it was after this trip.

Yeah, it’s nice to have really fresh veggies for juicing, but that also meant they were on the dirty side. Solution = wax paper.

I am basing my juice cleanse on BluePrint’s Renovation Cleanse, their three day beginner cleanse.

Making the juices myself is definitely a daunting task, but I’m glad I’m doing it this way. I went to the store to get the last few items and spotted the actual pre-made juices from BluePrint. Look at the prices. Seriously? I was able to get all of the ingredients on the above grocery list for a third of the price that the cleanse would cost if you bought the juices already made.

Here goes nothin’!

30May2013

Fat Sick and Nearly Dead

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Health by chicken nugget girl

Remember how I said I would never do a juice cleanse?

Well, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead made me want to do one.

(source)

Though the documentary could have made its point in half the time, it totally got me amped up about juicing.

It starts off with a big guy, Joe Cross, doing a 60 day (WHAAAA) “fast,” or juice cleanse, meaning he only drinks juice from fresh fruits and veggies. When he started, he was very overweight and had a terrible dermatitis/skin disease that he had to be on lots of the steroid Prednisone for.

By the end of his cleanse, he lost 90lbs and his skin disease was GONE.

After accomplishing his goal, Joe gets hooked on the health benefits of juicing and inspires others to follow suit.

My favorite quote from the movie: 70% of the disease that affects us now are caused by our life choices.

That really stuck with me because it suggests that a lot of the health problems we face can be prevented by the food [and exercise, sleep habits, mental health, etc] that we subject our bodies to.

Just like Hungry For Change, Joe talks about the ridiculous supply of micro-nutrients in fruit/veggie juice and how it nourishes our bodies.

I do wish he told us a little more HOW to juice and what to juice. But I guess that’s what research is for.

Last week I tried adding the juice from a tomato into my green juice. It tasted like shit.

I’ve got my research cut out for me because I am going to try a juice cleanse.

I’m going to the beach in a week and a half, so I might as well try it now! My plan so far is to start on Sunday so that I don’t go brain dead at work, and then see how Monday and Tuesday go. I’m convincing myself that it is not a challenge that I have to complete and am not a failure if I don’t. It might not work for me. So 3 days is definitely all I want to start with!

More details on my cleanse to come – don’t worry, I’ll fill ya in on every little detail. 🙂

If you’d like to watch Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, watch it for free HERE!

Have you ever done a juice cleanse?

14May2013

Toms for Ten

Posted in Clean Eating, Health by chicken nugget girl

Alright, we’re dealing with two realities here:

1. I “need” some new Toms because I love mine and they are so cute and perfect for spring. Mine seriously smell and are getting holes in them because I’ve worn them so much in the past year and a half.

And even though we all know that Toms are awesome because they give a pair of shoes to a child in need, they are not cheap (at 50-60 bucks a pop).

2. I’d like to lose 10 lbs asap. Yeah – and that’s not even my goal weight (though almost!) Yes, I’ve been running, though not as far as I was when I was training for the Shamrock Half. And I’ve been eating healthy and clean during the week, but can’t seem to stop eating junk food on the weekends.

(source)

I hopped on the scale this morning and muttered several indecencies before remembering that I shoveled my face with lots and lots of takeout this weekend.

*Note: Yes, yes, I know weight isn’t supposed to be the only measure of healthiness, yes, my weight is fine right now but not where I’d like to personally be.*

Apparently I need more incentive to lose a few lbs because I’m not really losin’ anything right now.

Sooo, I made a deal with myself this morning.

(source)

I lose 10 lbs, I get my Toms.

Now which ones to get……..

(original via)

7May2013

My First Attempt at Juicing

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Health, Recipes by chicken nugget girl

I bought a bunch of produce on Sunday so I would be all set to experiment with my new juicer. Weirdly enough, buying a ridiculous amount of produce turned out to be cheaper than my usual trip to the grocery store ( when I buy Clif bars, Puffins, etc).

There’s a lot of research out there about the benefits of juicing. This article explains some of the basics. I also learned some tips – like to only drink juice that’s made fresh (if it’s not pasteurized) because otherwise gross bacteria can grow in it. You know OCD me is making my juice for lunch in the morning then, not the night before.

Hungry For Change suggests juicing as a method of cleansing our bodies, and a good way to get the nutrients that we don’t get from everyday meals.

I’m not going to do a cleanse, nor do I think I ever will. I like to chew, so I think a cleanse would turn me evil. I’m currently juicing as a supplement to my diet. It will be interesting to see if I feel a lot better and/or have more energy when I start to juice more and more!

My first attempt at juicing last night:

I based my juice on one of the recipes from Bess Be Fit’s cleanse and it was pretty darn good! The green apple seems to cancel out the kale-ness a bit. I think this juice tastes fresher than the Naked’s Green Machine.

It is surprising how much produce it takes to make about a cup of juice. I don’t mind it though, because that means my body gets that much more nutrients in comparison to eating them! I don’t think I could down that many veggies in one sitting in non-juice form.

Tell me everything you know about juicing!

Have you tried it? What are your favorite juicing recipes?

2May2013

Hungry For Change

Posted in Clean Eating, Food, Health by chicken nugget girl

A few weeks ago, my aunt asked me if I had seen the film Hungry For Change.

(source)

She was surprised when I said I hadn’t! That made me think – maybe I should start absorbing all the current commentaries on food philosophies (documentaries, books, etc.) since I ~~like to think I~~ am a food blogger.

The reason I’ve stayed away from some of these documentaries before is because I haven’t had the best experience with them.

When I watched Super Size Me (omg that was almost 10 years ago?) it actually made me want to go to McDonald’s. WTF is wrong with me.

(source)

Tuna and I watched Food Inc on Netflix about a year ago, and I was officially scarred for life. I couldn’t eat meat for weeks without cringing.

(source)

You get the picture. I don’t like any kind of media illustrations that focus on negativity surrounding food – or how stringently a particular person thinks we should consume it. Like diets swearing off carbs or fruit or something. Before, I’d rather just look the other way and eat my damn fruit.

Now I realize that the only way to be completely educated about food is to study these different philosophies and then make up my own mind how I want to eat in the way that I feel is best for me.

Anyway, here are some of the messages I took away from Hungry For Change. I’m definitely going to consider all of these things as I move forward in my healthy living journey.

Our bodies are starving for nutrition. America mostly consumes a diet based on high calories and low nutrition. This needs to be reversed! Hungry For Change says we are “overfed and starving to death.”

Our bodies are not designed for working under florescent lights in an office with absolutely no exercise. We’ve forgotten our instincts as natural human beings, and we need to go back to that version of health.

If you want good skin, you’ve got to eat healthy – it’s the last thing your body nourishes.

Stress = famine to your body. When you’re stressed, your body is trying to protect protect you by going in to fat storage mode. A good way to be less stressed is to sleep more.

We need to analyze why and how we eat. Where does the food come from? What went into the food in terms of attitude – are you eating out of boredom or because your body needs to be nourished?

You can watch Hungry For Change HERE!

Have you seen Hungry For Change or any other food related documentaries? What are your thoughts on them?

25Apr2013

FitKit Guest Post: Running With Allergies and Quiz Review

Posted in Guest Posts, Health by chicken nugget girl

Remember that thing, I’ve talked about before – FitKit?

FitKit is hoppin’ right now because not only can you check out my latest guest post, “Running With Allergies,” you can also take their sweet diet and fitness quiz.

Today, in the day of monogrammed iPhone cases, everyone loves to have everything personalized. And what better way than to have a customized experience that teaches you how you can improve your health?

The quiz is 16 questions and they are super easy to answer.

Whoops.

At least I know I’m good to go in this area!

Here were my results:

I was actually quite proud of my diet results!

My mouth opened when I saw this one:

Your weight is great? Seriously?

That’s a nice reminder that skinny isn’t necessarily what we should want to be – we should want to be healthy.

See if you’re healthy HERE!

15Apr2013

Weekend Update

Posted in Adventure, Food, Health by chicken nugget girl

This was necessary after work on Friday because my poor car got a flat tire:

After an episode of slight panic, Tuna helped me drop my car off the gas station and now I am praying to the car gods that the tire just needs to be plugged.

On Saturday morning, I went with my aunts and cousin to a nearby thrift store. I wasn’t prepared for how HUGE it was!

We founds tons of little clothes for my five year old cousin, including these adorbs “running” shorts that I insisted she get!

I ended up having some good finds too – I got a clutch, blazer, flats, and two pairs of shorts for a total of $22 bucks!

Before I threw my new clothes in the washing machine, I doubled checked the pockets to make sure there wasn’t any weird crap in them and found…..

…a $20 bill! Woo hooo! Now I can say I got all those thrift store goodies for $2! I’m totally going to do all of my x-mas shopping there next year.

Before I knew it, I found myself waiting in line at a bar with my girlfriends at midnight – eatin’ a Clif bar!

I told you I always have one in my ~~clutch~~ purse. 🙂

The Shamrock Half crew cleans up pretty well!

During the week, Tuna and I made big plans to go hiking at Great Falls on Sunday after a family b-day brunch. We ~~bragged~~ told everyone about it, and I even brought my Camelbak and my Merrells with me.

Besides my slight hungover headache, (only a few drinks does that to me now!!!) it was a perfect day for hiking.

Too bad everyone else in the D.C. metropolitan area had the same idea as us.

After 20 minutes of waiting to get into the park, we pulled a u-ie, and decided to go home and take a nap instead. #healthylivingfail

It’s the thought that counts, right?

I got some energy after a nap, and had to pull a different move than I normally do for my usual Sunday afternoon Whole Foods trip.

Walking!

Being car-less and grocery shopping for healthy foods for the week meant I had to see how many things I could shove into my backpack and still force it to zip shut.

Thank goodness I am lucky enough be able to walk to a Whole Foods/healthy grocery store.

I was definitely surprised how different grocery shopping is when you don’t have a car to plop all of your bags in.

Walking home, I couldn’t help thinking about how hard lugging healthy groceries home like this would be all the time, especially for people who have to walk way longer or carry food for multiple kids, etc. I was just carrying stuff for one person and for only half of the week, since I only have a three day work week this week (yay)!

What did you do this weekend?

Do you ever go thrift shopping?

How do you transport your groceries home? By car? Bus? Walking?

11Apr2013