Juicing Like A Boss

Over the past 26 years I have tried just about every diet, fast and health kick there is out there. Most of the time it was in an attempt to lose weight either for a vacation or I would reach a point that I felt so terrible that drinking lemon juice, maple syrup and cayenne pepper for 10 days was better than feeling fat and miserable. With any of the cleanses or diets I had done before, my thoughts were usually occupied by “when this is over then I can have something delicious that makes me happy” but it turns out, it never really did make me happy. From all of the research I had done on juice fasting, fresh, organic juice was supposed to be one of the most nutritionally dense foods you could consume. I think the more nutrients the food you consume has, the less hungry you are and the more energy you have. It was time for me to put the theory to the test. I just had to convince as many people as I could to join me in the fast because I believe there is strength in numbers and the more people I convince to go on a health kick with me, the better my chance for success. I’m selfish like that. I told Allison it was part of her hazing for becoming a full partner in a health food store. She didn’t buy it. Then I told her I would do all of the cutting, chopping, juicing and cleaning. She was SOLD!

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Kristen was on board right away with the new manager hazing of a 12-day juice fast and Wild Rose cleanse.   Since she had done a juice fast before, she had inside knowledge of how amazing she would feel, so it wasn’t really a hazing at all. Luckily Kristen had a Hurom juicer that she kindly let us use. Now I am a Hurom Juicer fanatic!

 

The first day started without a good plan. Sometimes it's better for me to learn as I go and my first juice was certainly a learning experience. 6 Carrots, including the top, a few apples, 2 large beets, including the top, cucumber, and celery and let's just say it was um, gross. Allison was ready to quit after the first glass and I don't blame her. The other 3 juices on first day didn't get much better. Then I found a good recipe online and then I was off to the races. For Allison it was a lot of fruits mixed with some veggies. Green juice with pineapple, basil and mint or quadruple berry with mint will change your life.

 I go all veggies at night and then take it home to blend in the VitaMix with an avocado. I usually use tomatoes, red peppers, broccoli, celery, orange peppers, parsley, spinach, beet, tomato, cucumber, yellow squash, zucchini and Love.

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Allison's Berry Basil Mint

• 1 1/2 cups of  Seasonal Berries
  
• 2 green or red or 1 of each apple
  
• 1 rib Celery 
  
• 1 medium Cucumber
  
• 1/2 zucchini 
  
• 1/2 yellow squash
  
• 2 or 3 broccoli florets 
  
• 1/4 beet root
  
• 1/4 Lime
  
• Mint leaves
  
• Basil leaves
  

Kris’s Gazpacho Veggie 

• 2 - tomatoes 
  
• 1 - green, red, yellow or orange pepper
  
• 1 - cucumber 
  
• 1 - zucchini 
  
• 1 - yellow squash
  
• 1/4 beet root
  
• 3 broccoli florets 
  
• 1 cup spinach
  
• Handful of parsley
  

Blend with 1 avocado, 1/2 tsp Himalayan salt, 1/2 tsp garlic granules, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp Pepperman (available at WON).  Pour in bowl and eat like soup.  

Tips: use beet to make your juice a beautiful red color. Bonus: Beets are great for your liver, blood pressure, inflammation and they are rich in nutrients and fiber.

And if you want to ruin an entire glass of juice throw in some beet tops…they are beneficial for a wide variety of health issues but I like you too much to tell you to use them. 

This entire juice had to be thrown out because of those disgusting beet tops in right of the picture.

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Also, Kristen and I both learned from one of my experiments that it is NOT advisable to put an entire jalapeno in your juice! 

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We ended up going 13 days. We were feeling so good and there was no meal that sounded better than juice. I know that seems crazy.

What I learned over the next 13 days was that juicing was everything I had been looking for in a "magic pill"...energy (tons), weight loss (lost 12 lbs!), great sleep (other than getting up to pee from drinking soooo much liquid), boost in sex drive (who doesn't want that?), easy digestion (food is a lot easier to digest when the juicer breaks it down for you), and finally I found the secret super magic pill for appetite control (my need to constantly snack is gone). What I discovered at the bottom of every glass of juice was the happiness, satisfaction and fullness that I longed to find at the bottom of every bag of Doritos. 

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