Friday, August 15, 2008

Juicing for Life

Ok. So I admit it. I'm hooked.

And I never, ever, ever thought I'd be hooked.

I'm talking about juicing. My friend Channah got this hairbrained idea a few months ago to do a "vegetable juice detox thing" through the PCC of Seattle. She was slimming down for her wedding, and had ultra-motivation to lose just a few pounds. I was on board, too, but a little more skeptically. I'm not the biggest fan of vegetables. (Scratch that: I hate vegetables.)

But I wanted to lose some of the baby weight. (A year and a half later, mind you. Urgh.) More importantly, however, I wanted to feel healthy. Even if I didn't lose a pound, I just wanted to eat foods that were good for me and eat less junk. Sounds like a good plan, right? Less junk? I thought so, too. I was getting headaches everyday, and just felt sluggish. I was exhausted at the end of the day and short tempered. I was always tired.

So, I bought the juicer. The Juice Man. I went to Whole Foods and bought Organic produce and juiced my little heart out. I was so excited that I didn't follow the recipe, I just threw in EVERY piece of produce I bought. Carrots, beets, cucumbers, celery, grapefruit, lemons, apples and an entire root of ginger. Don't laugh. I didn't know. I didn't know you aren't supposed to put in all the ginger. I'm a rookie, remember?

Needless to say, the juice was horrific. It was spicy and sour and horrid. I dumped it out in the sink, washed the machine and put it away in the cabinet. Bye bye, Juice Man.

Fast forward a few months. I see Channah. Her skin is clear, she's healthy and radiant, and she says shes still "on the juice." (note: you don't drink just juice. You get to eat. You just eat live, raw foods and minimal refined flour, sugar, blah blah blah.)

I decided to give it another go. Only this time, I'd follow the recipes. Honestly, I wasn't fond of the taste at first (I chugged it down and then ran to brush my teeth) but thats only because I needed to "retrain my palate" if you will, after all these years of eating garbage. Sure enough, just like Channah said, you start to *seriously* actually like the juice. After a few weeks, I pretty much craved it.

My headaches are gone. I've been on the juice for a month. I'm down five pounds. And I'm soooooooooo much healthier. I even have Joel (hubby) and Olivia (baby) drinking the juice. No kidding. I put it in Olivias sippy cup, and she wolfs it down.

The gal that introduced Channah to the juice is a local nutritionist - Cherie Calbom. She is literally known as the Juice Lady, and she offers 75 juice recipes to help you do it. I've met her, and shes great. She's a Christian - and has spoken with me about the way God designed our bodies to live and eat and heal. She gave me a few copies of her latest book "Juicing, Fasting and Detoxing for Life" and I would love to pass on a copy to you. If you're interested, email me with your address. I'll put you in the drawing. My email is sarah@spirit1053.com.

Just don't put the whole root of ginger in the juicer. *wink.

3 comments:

Josh Lauritch said...

i laughed out loud when i read that you used the entire root of ginger. fantastic! i just started a detox thingy today. here's to changing habits and feelin' healthy!

josh

McMahan family said...

I so want to juice. I have a random book I bought like eight years ago before I realized you can't really juice without a real juicer. The Juice Man is the one you bought? And you like it? Are the recipes you're using in the book you're giving away? I'm sending you an email right now. Emma is nearly seven months old now and I still have 12 pounds to lose to get back to my pre-baby weight. I need to kick it up a notch and juicing sounds like such a good idea. And like you said ... I want more energy, too. And less headaches.

And sorry about the blueberry story. :) They are so good for you and usually delicious ... WITHOUT the extra "protein." Ha!

Eva said...

I am in the same boat, I HATE VEGGIES. HATE THEM. Occasionaly I'll try to eat one of those baby carrots but ick. I think it's rubbed off on Mac too, she won't eat them either. Thanks for putting me in the drawing, you have inspired me. How is the cloth diapering going?