10 Days of Juicing

10 Days of Juicing: A Health New Us

So today is the 10^th day of our juice fast and I must say it has been a little rough. It has been difficult being around people who are eating food that looks and smells so good. When I say looks and smells good though I am not even referring to things like pizza and hamburgers because this fast has caused me to be somewhat repulsed by such non-nutritional and greasy fatty foods. When I say food that smells and looks good I am talking about healthy foods like lean chicken breasts and salads with avocado. Mmmm!!! I am definitely looking forward to eating healthy once this fast is over. I have been researching different healthy homemade recipes for when our fast is over, which makes me even more excited for a new healthier us!!!

I haven’t posted in a few days because I had to work over the weekend and then went to Alabama yesterday to watch my little cousin graduate high school. That was pretty tough being around all the good food and alcohol. I use to drink alcohol quite a bit, so saying no when offered it a huge achievement for me! Especially when I was around so many people I didn’t really know (my cousin’s dad’s side of the family). Anyways, I did great! Although I was a bit tempted to take a small bite of the chicken, I kept to my fast and drank a fresh juice I had brought with me. Plus, I knew that after being on a fast for 10 days my body would probably spend a lot of energy digesting the food causing me to be even more exhausted on my 5 hour drive home at night.

Here are Saturday’s weigh in results. This is 7 days of fasting! 

Today's Measurements:

Weight: 151.2

Waist: 37.5"

Hips: 41"

Bust: 39"

Thigh: 23"

Upper Arm: 13"

My Progress



Kyle's Progress

Budgeting 101 With Guest Blogger

Today I have teamed up with Angie Picardo from NerdWallet to discuss the most common issues people have when it comes to finances. Read her article below to get some very useful tips on how to make the most of your money and take control of your future and feel free to leave any comments and/or questions.

Budgeting 101

Let’s face it, Budgeting is not a glamorous task. It’s dull, dreary, and depressing, at least at the beginning. It’s nowhere near as fun as actually spending the money that you’re supposed to keep track of.  But, as you may have learned, budgeting is not nearly as bad as one day going to make one of those purchases and finding out that there’s nothing left but some cobwebs and a rather large negative balance on our credit card.

Let’s see if we can’t make this whole thing a little easier. I like to start with a fresh piece of paper and some colored pens to make things a little clearer. Once you’ve got your pens, paper, and a clear space, then we can get started!

If I Had A Million Dollars

The defining aspect of your budget will be your income. So total up all sources of income, which is usually your job’s paycheck and financial aid, depending on your status of a student. We’re going to block out this number somewhere prominent, as this number will guide us through the rest of our decisions. Take the time to download your last month’s bank statement or gather a few receipts – we’ll need to keep ourselves honest when budgeting.

Once you’ve written out your income, it’s time to do a little math. Calculate 30% of your income and write “Housing” next to it. This will be the goal for rent and utilities. Then take 20% of your income and label it “Fixed Costs.” This portion includes insurance, groceries, utilities, and other non-negotiable expenses. This leaves us with 50% of our income accounted for, so what are we going to do with the remaining half? Conveniently, the last portion will be broken into 30% and 20% as well, accounting for our personal purchases and savings, respectively.

Example:

Income	$2500
Rent	$750
Fixed Costs	$500
Wants	$750
Savings	$500

This might seem harsh, but it’s the start of a sustainable budget that will allow you short and long term financial stability. Let’s look at the individual categories to clear up any questions.

Lobster Every Day

Only 30% of my income towards rent? Impossible! And it may be at first, but budgeting is about working towards a goal that will allow you the things you want now while securing financial stability for later. Setting a rent limit of 30% of your income ensures that you won’t be left without a roof in case of a financial emergency. In the case that you absolutely aren’t in the position to make it less than 30%, the extra money has to come out of the wants category. The 20% of income made up by fixed costs includes things that are absolutely essential – groceries, insurance, the phone bill, etc. This does not include your gym membership, which comes out of wants, as well as things like cable TV and filet mignon.  All entertainment spending, all going out money, and similar costs are classified as wants.

The savings portion includes both retirement savings and debt payments. If you don’t have an emergency fund yet, that should be the first thing you set up. Three to six months should be ideal, which works out to about $10,000 in an emergency fund, only to be touched in case of loss of work or other extreme situations. Afterwards, your savings should go to a retirement account, such as a Roth IRA or 401(k). In extreme situations, however, such as large amounts of debt, consider focusing on eliminating that first.

Homework

At this point, you should have calculated the your budgetary categories and figured out your own priorities. The advantage of splitting up your budget outlined above is its flexibility. What may first seem like an overly strict budget is actually quite freeing – once you control your finances, as opposed to being controlled by them, you have the freedom to buy what you want, when you want, as long as you’ve budgeted for it.

The last step is to check yourself – see where your weaknesses are and prepare to watch out for them. This is where the receipts and credit card statements come into play. Add it all up and sort it into your categories. You may find that those $5 sandwiches eat up a huge portion of your food budget, or that an occasional trip to the mall is costing a lot more than you expected. By budgeting, you eliminate these unforeseen cases.

The corollary is, once you’ve used up your want budget for the month, you’re done. That’s it. Making a budget is only half the battle; the other half is sticking to it. Some months, you’ll do great, others may leave you with an unexpected expense or two. This is to be expected; don’t let a momentary lapse ruin the whole thing. But first, lay out that budget and stick to it for a few months. Once you’ve aced that portion, look out for Budgeting 102.

Angie Picardo is a writer at NerdWallet, a financial literacy website where, after you begin budgeting, you can find advice to answer the question, “am I saving enough?”

Days 3, 4, and 5 of the Juice Fast

Day 3: Juicing Fast

Today I woke up feeling okay. I was expecting to be really hungry and to not feel very good, but it wasn't too bad. After about 30 minutes of being awake I could feel a headache coming on. I decided it was time for breakfast. A juice will help ease the headache feeling.

 Today's Recipes:

 Juice 1:

1/2 large mango

3 to 4 cups organic spinach

1 cucumber

1 organic apple

 Juice 2:

1/2 large pineapple, peeled

1 cup organic strawberries

1 pear

30 mint leaves 

 Juice 3:

1/4 or large wedge from a head of cabbage

3 organic celery ribs

1 cucumber

1 cup organic spinach

2 organic apples

1/2″ ginger (or fennel or parsley)

 Juice 4:

4 organic apples

About 25 cherries

About 60 organic blueberries

By the end of the day I felt great, I was not tired and was not feeling any pain.

Day 4: Juicing Fast

 Day 4 went great. I had more energy than I have in a long time. I noticed that since I began this fast I have not had one episode of GERD! Horray!! People at work started to ask me about the fast and can't believe that I plan to drink only fresh juice for 30 day. I, on the other hand, am extremely glad I began the fast. Just the freedom from GERD from juicing only 4 days is worth it! I am tempted to weight myself, but I don't want to make this about the weight, but about my overall health. 

As the day began to end, I began to lose my energy, I didn't make 2 juices for work today, I only made 1, so this may be why I am having such an energy drop. By the time I got home I was exhausted and didn't even want to juice dinner. But I knew I needed the nutrients, so I made myself something easy.

Day 5: Juicing Fast

Today I woke up feeling great. Still no GERD and I have a ton of energy. I decided to take advantage of the gym at my work on my lunch break. I am so glad I did. I felt so energized and proud of myself after my 45 minutes workout. I think I am going to do that more often. 

I am no longer craving any junk food, in fact, the thought of it is actually starting to repulse me. I began to do some research on how to maintain this healthier lifestyle and weight once I am finished with the fast. I am thinking that I will stick to a diet of 80% fruits and vegetables, 10% whole grain, and 10% lean meat (more poultry than red or pork). Before I began my juice fast, I started to notice that every time I drank milk, my GERD would flare up increasingly more than usual. It made me wonder if I somehow developed a milk allergy. I think that I will refrain from milk and most dairy products in the future. 

No weigh in today.

My Progress



Kyle's Progress

Day 2 of the Juice Fast

Day 2: Juicing Fast

Today I woke up feeling okay. I was expecting to be really hungry and to not feel very good, but it wasn't too bad. After about 30 minutes of being awake I could feel a headache coming on. I decided it was time for breakfast. A juice will help ease the headache feeling.

Today's Breakfast

Ingredients

• 4 organic apples (small)
• 4 organic celery stalk
• 1/2 thumb of ginger
• 1 lemon (with rind)
• 1 orange (peeled)
• 5 cups of spinach

This was a bit different. The lemon and celery are an interesting combination along with the ginger. We could feel a tingling burning sensation in the back of our throats. It is such a nice day out I decided to go outside and enjoy the sunshine with my green juice. After finishing the glass I felt the need to move so we took a walk down the drive way (about a quarter mile to get to bottom). Trust me I was fine going down, but going up was a bit rough. I realized it is something I should probably do more often as it worked a lot of leg muscles and got my heart rate up from climbing back up that hill.

Today's Lunch

Our second juice of the day was a bit too strong, lesson learned, ginger is extremely strong and you don't need much of it.

Ingredients

• 5 organic apples (small)
• 5 carrot sticks
• 1/2 thumb of ginger 

About an hour after this juice, my head began to scream at me. I had one of the worst headaches I have ever had. I had to do everything I possibly could to fight the idea of taking a pain reliever. I am doing this to clean my body, why put more toxic chemicals in there right? So I did the only thing I could to, drank a lot of water, distracted myself by playing a video game, and then when that stopped working, I took a short nap.

Today's Dinner

Our third drink was a bit more delicious and very pretty in color, a very nice bright orange.

Ingredients

• 1 organic lemon – unpeeled
• 1 orange - peeled
• 4 carrot sticks
• 1/2 pineapple
• 1 orange bell pepper

This had a bit of a sour tropical taste to it. A few hours after drinking this we decided to drink a cup of tea for something a little different. I guess you can call that our desert. Haha.

By the end of the day, we each consumed 4.5 apples, 2 celery sticks, 1/2 ginger thumb, 1 lemon, 1 orange, 2.5 cups of spinach, 4.5 carrots, 1/2 bell pepper, and 1/4 pineapple. Plus the herbal tea and 70 oz. of water I consumed. I split the produce count in half since my boyfriend and I have been splitting the juice. As I look at this list, I am starting to feel like we should be juicing more. I am going to try to juice at least 4 times tomorrow.

No weigh in today.

My Progress



Kyle's Progress

Day 1 of the Juice Fast

Day 1: Juicing Fast

So today I begin my journey to better health and a better weight. 

Today's Measurements:

Weight: 157.6

Waist: 39"

Hips: 41"

Bust: 41"

Thigh: 23"

Upper Arm: 13"

I began my day by getting up really early to purchase my upcoming meals. I decided last night what recipes to use for the next 3-4 days and made a list of everything I will need. 

Here is the list I ended up with:

Organic Apple: 20
Avocado:1
Banana:2
Organic Blueberries:40
Cabbage:2
Carrot:17
Cherries: 25
Cilantro: 1/4 cup
Cucumber:6
Organic Celery:13
Ginger:4
Organic (if imported) Grapes: 30
Honeydew:1
Organic Lemon:3
Organic Lime: 1
Organic Orange:6
Organic Orange Bell Pepper:2
Parsley: 1 bunch
Pear:8
Peas:1 cup
Pineapple:3
Mango:5
Mint: 30 leaves
Organic Romaine Lettuce: 1
Organic Spinach: 2 Bags
Organic Strawberries: 7
Watermelon:1

So my first destination was to a local farmer's market that just opened up this week. However, it was a huge disappointment when I got there, as there was only about 5 cars and most people there were only selling flowers, I assume because of Mother's Day tomorrow. So I decided to go and check out a fruit stand I had passed a couple of times that I have always been curious about. However, I ran into another disappointment as the one day I decide to go, on a Saturday, they are closed on Saturday's. So with no other options available off hand, I went to a local market where I knew of some really good deals on produce. 99 cent pineapples!! Yum!! I also found some fresh mint, thyme, and parsley plants to begin my garden.

When I got home my boyfriend helped put everything away and we got the juicer cleaned up and ready to use. I was so excited about my first juicing experience, I forgot to take a picture of everything being juiced. I also had a little trial and error using the juicer for the first time as I ended up with more pulp than I probably should have. But after my first taste, I was very pleased and did not even care about anything else. I was surprised how good it actually was, as I was a bit concerned at first. But it was delicious! 

Here is the recipe for the first juice I made today:

4 large carrots, 2 cored apples, 1 cored pear, and 1 big mango.

This juice is filled with great antioxidants. The mango is what really helped the taste of this juice!

About an hour after drinking the juice, the hunger started to kick in some. Kyle is already getting a headache.


The second recipe we made around seven o'clock (about 4 hours after the first juice):

Ingredients:

1/2 pineapple

1 cucumber
1 lemon 

2 apples

2 handfuls of spinach

It's funny because Kyle and I both have our different ways of drinking the juice. I like to enjoy the drink and drink it normal, he likes to chug it and "get it over with". After chugging the second drink, he said he feels like he gets a burst of energy for a few minutes after he drank each juice.

By the end of the night my body begins to realize it's hungry for some type of solid food, water helps this feeling some. Am I crazy for doing this? Haha. Maybe, but I know in the end it will be worth it. I should not feel as old as I do at my age!


I am so glad my boyfriend has decided to do this fast with me, as we can both be support for each other as well as reap the benefits to better health together.

We created these tickers to help us stay on track that we'll update at least weekly.

My Progress



Kyle's Progress