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.