I Died....It's Been a While

Well,  I realize that this post is almost 2 weeks late but it's been a crazy 2 weeks. I went to visit family last week and have been trying to play catch up since then with work. My last day of my juice fast was Sunday November 18th. I lost a total of 40 lbs on the juice fast in 3 weeks. My BMI dropped 6 points, lost 10 inches total, and my pH increased slightly.

This week is my second week back into eating. I have eaten mostly whole foods. I have had several setbacks though. Being at home with family was quite a challenge for myself to eat health. It was easier than I thought but my brother was there who only eats raw vegan so that was beneficial. Now, that I am back home and able maintain a routine it's much easier to make healthy decisions.

My brother gave me a bunch of awesome recipes and advice while I was home. Right now my goal is still to do one green juice a day, a salad, and a smoothie. Typically for dinner I eat whatever, which I need to work on. Tonight I'm going to attempt some raw vegan squash soup, recipe courtesy of my brother. I have been working out more and I feel even better than I did while I was juicing and working out .I actually went for a run with my dad while I was home. It's getting too cold outside go for a run though, I'm going to have to change things up a little.

I can't really think of anything else exciting. My friend, Brooke, has been making a lot of raw vegan recipes. I'm way pumped to start making things with her. I am going to attempt keep writing here, with new recipes and fun stuff because I like to. So, I will let you now how my soup goes tonight! Also curious is anyone has ever done a heavy metal detox? Any good recipes for juice on a heavy metal detox? Something I am thinking about doing.

~Gotta Love Green Juice & Coconuts!!

Juice Shots, Sassy Water & Dulled Senses

 I made Sassy Water!! It's really probably not that exciting to everyone else but I'm pumped. The one on top of the pic is lemon, cucumber and ginger. The bottom one is apples, pear and cinnamon. They are suppose to sit over night. I can't wait to drink them tomorrow.

Update on my juice fast. I have lost 35lbs so far and it's only day 18! I have tons of energy. I only have 3 more days left. The juicing is easy peasy now. I don't even crave food but I have been dealing with some emotional/stressful stuff. It's hard because I used to eat to suppress my emotions. I can't do that anymore and it feels odd and good all at the same time. In addition, I feel the stress in body a lot more predominately now than when I was eating. It was almost as if food dulled my senses, which sounds about right.

I have noticed many odd things about myself since I have started juicing. In all the books I have read on nutrition, fasting, juicing, and detoxing they never told me these things. #1 My eyelashes are insanely long! I wear glasses and they now rub against my glasses. It annoys the crap out of me all day. I need to learn how to curl my eyelashes. (I suck as a girl, sometimes.) #2 My fingernails are growing rather fast as well. However, they are strong and shinny so that's a plus. #3 My hair also seems to be growing faster. Juicing=Everything grows faster! Although, it could be all the nutrients and the rate that they are growing is actually normal. My lack of nutrients on S.A.D. perhaps didn't let them grow as fast as they should have been.

Everybody Let's Take Shots!! Shots! Shots!

Girl's Juice Night was a success. Everybody let's take shots! Shots! Shots! Everybody! (16x) Every time I hear the word I think of the song by LMFAO and Lil' Jon, called Shots! Anyway, my friend made us pumpkin pie juice which was really good. Then we all tried shots of juices. I made wheatgrass shots (1st row in pic), and pineapple and pomegranate (last row in pic). My friend made carrot, apple, and orange (middle row in pic). They were fantastic! I love having girl's night!

Cheers to the freaking
 weekend & health!

~Gotta love Green Juice & Coconuts!!

Two Weeks & Juice Drunk!

Ghazi's Soccer Field!! A.K.A. My Wheatgrass

Whoooo!!!!!! I have made it two weeks. Today is actually day 16!!! I have lost 32 lbs all together. I measured myself as well and lost about 4 inches everywhere. My BMI has also dropped about 4 points. I feel freaking fantastic. My energy levels are high! My sleep has been sound and great. I no longer feel groggy when I wake up, but refreshed and ready to start my day.

My plan is ease into eating next Monday which will be the three weeks. I originally wanted to go a month but my brother is coming home on Saturday!! As I mentioned in an earlier post he is a raw vegan chef, so I'm going to utilize him with making my transition back into eating and food. Plus, he's going to teach me how to make all types of raw vegan goodness!! Life is fantastic!! I'm not sure if it's the juicing and I can think clearer or losing weight but life just seems better in general.

A good friend of mine Brooke, started a juice fast on Saturday! Raw in Iowa is her blog site if you guys want to read it. My other friend has been incorporating a juice a day into her diet! Tonight is girl's night and we are going to juice!!! I think we might also watch a documentary about Raw reversing diabetes. I love how because I started a juice fast other aspects of my life have become healthier as well!

Juice Drunk on Saturday Night!

My wheatgrass is finally long enough to cut and juice!! Shots of wheatgrass tonight for girl's night!! Ghazi will be upset that I'm going to mow his soccer field but he'll get over it. There have been several people that come to my house and ask me why I have grass growing in my kitchen. haha.

Saturday I got what I'm calling juice drunk! I was double fisting juices. My green juice was straight greens (collard greens, bok choy, green pepper, rainbow chard, spinach, kale and a little garlic and ginger root). My second juice was sweeter with fruit and celery and cucumber. My plan was to make one juice but by the time I finished juicing my greens I ran out of room in my bottle so I made two juices and used the sweet one as a chaser. About 30 minutes after I finished both juices I had a euphoric feeling. I was so happy and giddy for no reason at all, other than the juice. It really almost felt like I was tipsy or drunk. It was a really phenomenal feeling. I wonder if it was the overload of nutrients. Has this ever happened to anyone else, gotten juice drunk?

~Gotta love Green Juice & Coconuts

Mint Chocolate Coconut Body Scrub

Finished Product! 

I thought I would change the pace a little and write about something else today besides my juice fast. Mostly, because I'm so excited about it! I made Mint Chocolate Coconut Body Scrub. I love to make my own things from cleaning products to beauty products. I have been making a Coconut Lime Sugar Scrub for several months now and I really love it. However, I wanted to change things up for the winter months and came up with my own creation.

Ingredients 

Mint Chocolate Coconut Body Scrub

• 3/4 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup of coconut sugar
• 1/8 cup carob powder
• 10 drops peppermint essential oil 

Mix them all together in a bowl. 

Put in airtight container until use. 

 (Yields about 2 cups)

This scrub can be used to shave with or just to make you skin soft and fantastic! I'm going to make more and give it away as Christmas gifts this year. I used all natural and organic products, although it doesn't have to be. Part of the reason that I enjoy making my own things is because I can use natural products and reduce the amount of chemicals I put on my skin. You can substitute coconut sugar for regular table sugar but the raw sugar has bigger granules which I felt did a better job exfoliating. Carob powder could also be substituted for cocoa powder.

Hope you enjoy it!
~Gotta love Green Juice & Coconuts!!

Election Day! Or Day 9 for ME!!

My Frig after 9 days of juicing!

I have made it 9 Days!!!! I have lost 25 lbs so far!!! I'm pretty excited and proud of myself. I manage to juice just about everything that was in my frig over the last 9 days. All I had left were cranberries, oranges, and mint. Although, I went shopping today and stocked up again!!.

My goal is to continue juicing until my brother comes to visit for Thanksgiving, which is about another 2 weeks. He's gonna help ease me into raw vegan. I am going to keep doing one juice a day though even after I start eating again.

I am going to start exercising, tomorrow. I am going to start slowly and just go for walks. I don't want to overdue it while I am juicing. I will have to watch my electrolytes. I can't wait until I start eating again because I want to work out! I never thought I would say that but I feel good and have lots of energy and working out actually seems enjoyable.

Bought more Groceries!

                             
                                                           That's all I have, short post but wanted to update everyone!!

Everyday I'm Guzzlin'

I can't believe I have made it a week!! I thought after the second day I would give up but I didn't. I have lost a total of 23 lbs. I lost a lot of weight at the beginning but I assume my body was just adjusting. Now, I have been losing about 2 lbs a day. I am really excited! I have set a new goal for myself. I want to drop another 3 dress sizes before New Years; then a friend and I are going to buy new dresses for New Years!

I think both of my friends are going to start their juice fast tomorrow. This is awesome because I will have someone to juice with everyday. One of my friends doesn't have a very good juicer, so I told her that we could just make juice together. 

I have to go grocery shopping today. I never thought I would make a grocery list that was composed only of vegetables and fruits. My wheatgrass has finally started to grow. I don't really have a green thumb so I was worried it I wouldn't be able to grow it. 

This one is by my sink to remind
me to drink lots of water!

I have, also, motivated my apartment! I put my weight scale in my kitchen. I have a notebook in my kitchen so I can keep track of how much I'm drinking everyday. I have put up signs all over my apartment to keep me going strong. I know I can do this!

I made some really good juices. My last success was V8 juice, that was fantastic. I have been making a lot of green juices. It's cold outside thought and I'm really getting sick of not having anything warm to drink or eat. I can do it though! 

~Gotta love Green Juice & Coconuts!

Green Machine

Today, is day three! I have lost 10 lbs, already!! It's much easier now. The first day was pure torture for me. Yesterday was better because I was distracted most of the day. Today was easy peasy. I even went to the gas station today and the smell of the food made me sick! The same thing happened two days ago except I wanted to eat everything in sight, so this is definitely an improvement. The only problem I am having now is I'm not sure I am drinking enough juice. I feel full all the time time and it's really hard to get more juice down. Anyone have this problem? I have been reading a bunch of forums and juicing websites, but alas they are zero help.

Green Juice!

My brother told me I wasn't drinking enough greens. So, today I had a green juice. I definitely prefer the fruit juices because they are sweeter. I had greens with the fruit juices the first two days but the ratio favored fruit. Today, the ratio favored greens. It was all greens (kale and bok choy) plus an apple and jalapeno. Lesson learned, one jalapeno burns tastes buds; tomorrow less jalapeno.

My wheat berries finally started to sprout so I will plant them tomorrow! I am hopefully going to grow enough for 3 people. I have two friends that are going to start a juice fast this weekend and wanted to give them some wheatgrass. I believe they are only going to do it for 10 days but not 100% sure, either way I am excited to have fellow juicers to hang out with!

Girls night was really good. I made Apple Pie Juice for everyone and it was fantastic!!! It really tasted like Apple Pie! It's by far my favorite juice so far. The recipe is below.

Apple Pie Juice!

Apple Pie Juice Recipe

• 5 Granny Smith Apples
• 1 medium size cucumber (Original recipe called for zucchini but I didn't have any.)
• 1 carrot
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1 tsp of nutmeg

Makes about 24 oz of juice depending on vegetable size. 

Juice apples, cucumber, & carrot. Mix in spice! Enjoy!! Flipping Fantastic!