Category Archives: Juicing

I Have A Confession

Posted by ljb in Juicing, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

I do. And I am not super happy about it. I have taken pride in the fact that I made the switch from eating basically anything and everything, to trying hard to stick to a plant-based diet. And for the most part, have done really well. Up until recently that is.

For the past couple of weeks, I have been partaking in meals/snacks that contain cheese. Yep. Not every meal or even every day. But about anywhere two to four times a week, I have been indulging in cheese. I can’t tell you why and I can’t tell you how it happened. And what is worse is that I know my body doesn’t like that I am doing this. How do I know this? It tells me by making my skin suddenly break out and by the awful pains I get in my stomach sometimes after my meals. So why do I do it?

Besides the cheese, I have done a pretty good job with keeping it plant-based. I still juice, avoid meat, eggs and milk in its true form, and try to make sure that I am staying away from fried things (which is a struggle, but has been totally doable). So I feel pretty guilty about it. I think that may have been why I have been avoiding this blog for a while. How could I write about my new “healthy” lifestyle when I was secretly devouring cheese behind my screen? The good news is that I have been keeping it to a minimum. Limiting your intake on dairy is better than nothing I suppose. I did take to the ol’ search engine and found some encouraging things.

1. I am not the only person who has done/is doing this.

2. There are people who are strict about eating a plant-based diet, but still enjoy the occasional cheese slice from time to time.

3. By doing looking at the positives, avoiding meat has still done wonders for my body and the environment.

I’d love to get your thoughts on this issue. Is it ok to eat a mostly plant-based diet with the occasional dairy? Is is possible to indulge in cheese once or twice a week and not feel guilty? Have you been consuming plant-based meals and suddenly found yourself pigging out on cheese? Any advice would be greatly appreciated it for sure.

And I promise my next post will be a little more upbeat. Yep – we are talking bike riding! (Oh ya, I got a bike).

But in the meantime, here is an adorable picture of my adorable nieces. Enjoy :)

kelsey and kaitlyn

 

Juicing Cleanse Recap

Posted by ljb in Juicing, Organic, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

If you have been actively following my posts lately, then you know I just finished a 4-day juicing cleanse last week. Cleanse, fast, feast. Whatever you prefer to call it. So as promised, I am writing up my recap with some tips in case you were interested in doing your own.

I figured the best way to do this was to break it into two sections. If you have never ever juiced before, then I would recommend doing what I did for my very first cleanse, which was juicing until dinner. If you currently juice or want to jump in with two feet, then I say go for it and juice fast away!

Juicing Until Dinner

The very first time I cleansed, Jessica and I did a variation of the cleanse outlined in Kris Carr’s book, Crazy Sexy Diet. We juiced for breakfast, lunch and had a small snack of fruits, veggies or nuts then ate a plant-based dinner. This means, no dairy or meat and at all cost stay away from refined sugars. And yes, no coffee (decaf or not) and no alcohol. Sorry.

The point is to give your body a break from digesting down hard foods such a meat and dairy products, so eating a fully plant-based meal for dinner is essential. Now, by plant-based, I also mean to stay away from the fake cheese and meats that vegans sometimes eat. Try to stick with whole grains such a brown rice and quinoa along with some veggies. So a typical day might look like this:

Breakfast: Kale, spinach, celery, cucumber, apple, lemon, ginger and romaine juice

Lunch: Apple, cucumber, carrot and ginger juice

Snack: 7 to 10 almonds

Dinner: Kris Carr’s Buddha Bowl

Dessert: Almond milk, agave, cinnamon and water drink

Not bad right? It may not seem like much, but after the first few days, your body really starts to thank you by feeling much much better. We did this for 21 days and I think we could have kept going. If I am completely honest with myself, I think this is how I would like myself to eat on most days. I felt incredibly good and satisfied while doing this. Towards the end, I didn’t even have those crazy off-hour cravings for sugar or unhealthy foods like I did before.

Juicing Fast

Ok, so now for you crazy kids that think you may want to dabble in a full-out juicing fast. This means juice for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. No solid foods at all. This is not for the faint of heart. It is hard. Super hard. Especially if you have never juiced before. For at least the first two days, you will feel like complete crap. Your head will hurt and you will want to eat anything. Even the pencil at your desk, will look appealing. But by day 3, your body is adjusting and using all the awesome nutrients you are getting to your benefit. I think this is especially important to those that eat large amounts of meat and dairy products. Your body will have a hard time going without these things since you are used to it. So this transitional period will be extra tough. But remember, it is allowing your body to clean itself of all those nasty leftovers remaining from consuming those types of foods.

Aim to drink at least 96 ounces of juice a day. Make sure you get at least that in water as well. If you use the 16 oz Ball mason jars, it ends up being 6 of those. If you want to juice more, go right on ahead.

If you are planning on juicing all day and work full-time, get up about 20 minutes earlier than normal and make about four juices before you leave. Store them in mason jars in the fridge until it is time to consume them. I found four juices work well for me because that means one for breakfast, one for a mid-morning snack, another for lunch and the last one is a nice mid-afternoon snack. Then once you get home you can

Maybe you had done a 3-day cleanse and what to try it again. Go for it! I applaud you! Try 5 days this time or maybe even 7!

Tips and Advice

No matter which option you choose, here are my tips for you!

  • Drink coffee? Start weening yourself off it about a week before your cleanse. You will already have a headache due to your body detoxing, but when you put a coffee withdraw headache on top of it, it is pure hell. So do yourself a favor now.
  • If you are juicing until dinner, I would recommend doing it for at least a week. If you are juicing all day, then start with 3-days and work your way up.
  • By golly, get yourself a nice juicer! I bought mine on Amazon for less than $70 and decided if I keep up with juicing, which I have, then I will by myself I really nice one someday. A gift to myself.
  • Be sure to juice mostly vegetables and add in a piece or two of fruit and ginger to help with the taste. Fruits have quite a bit of natural sugars, so by using more veggies and adding just a few pieces of fruit, you will get the full benefits of juicing.
  • The week before a cleanse, try to cut back on processed foods and sugars. It will make the transition a little easier.
  • WATER WATER WATER. For the love of all things holy, drink your water! It is so so important to remember to do this. You need it daily anyway, but during a cleanse try to up your water intake so you stay full and so you flush out all the toxins you are detoxing from.
  • You can find juice recipes all over the internet. It just takes a little bit of searching. After a few days, you will learn what you like and what you don’t like. Don’t be afraid to experiment with different fruits and veggies. You might be surprised what you end up liking!

One thing to keep in mind, I am not a doctor. Are you shocked? With that being said, I don’t know what is best for your body. Only you and your physician do. Please do your research and talk to your doctor to decide if this is a good thing for you to try.

Other than that, the most important thing is that you try. I don’t care if you do it for 3 days or for 60. I will be proud of you no matter what. The results are totally worth it and your body will thank you. You might even enjoy it and decide to do it once every couple months. Let me know if you do and we can “Cheers” our mason jars virtually.

You can do it!!!

Done Son!

Posted by ljb in Juicing, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , , , ,

All good things must come to an end.

Actually, I don’t think that phrase is appropriate for this scenario after all. While my juicing cleanse was good, I must say, I am not overly sad that it is finished. Yesterday, was my 4th and final day. You can really tell my body appreciates me giving it a break and letting it enjoy all the nutrients that it had been lacking for a while. I was again at about an 8 or 8 1/2 yesterday which is pretty good for a normal day. On top of it, I attended a happy hour after work filled with beer, wine, cheese sticks, nachos, wings and basically all the things that I would just love to devour.

But, I didn’t. High Five for me!!

high five

Thanks.

So overall, day 1 and 2 I thought would be the end of me. Day 3 was much better and day 4 was definitely the easiest of them all. As far as how my body feels – I can honestly say it feels amazing. While I didn’t do this cleanse to lose weight, I did lose 6.8 lbs. Most is water weight which I will gain back shortly, but it was nice to see that number on the scale. Going forward, I will continue to have my juice in the morning as I have normally been doing for the past few months, but I may try to juice until dinner a few times a week just because I know how much my body loves it. Plus, I have heard I am “glowing” more than once from my husband. Who doesn’t like to hear that?!

Tomorrow I will do an in-depth recap of my juicing experience and give some tips if you are interested in doing your own cleanse. Feel free to contact me if there are some questions you have that you want me to cover as I want to make sure I have all the information there that you need! Shoot me an email at fromtheinsideoutblog@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from ya!

Juicing the Day Away

Posted by ljb in Inspiration, Juicing, Organic, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , ,

Day 3 has come and gone. And I must say, I was actually feeling really good about it yesterday. Of course, the worst parts for me were in the morning and right when I got home from work. But I think that is just because I have a horrible habit of having a little snack before Andy gets home from work and we eat dinner. I really must must must quit that. And watching Mr. B eat and enjoy his dinner doesn’t help at all.  Regardless, yesterday I was at an 8 on my “How Does Lauren Feel Today” scale which is an amazing improvement.

Once again I made four juices to take a trip with me to work.

juicing mason jars

Hey, lil guys!

Such a lovely collection, right? A few juices I made yesterday were:

  • Cucumber, apple, celery, carrots and kale
  • Pineapple, spinach, carrots, ginger and orange
  • Pear, swiss chard, carrots, lemon, ginger and spinach
  • Cucumber, celery, apple, kale and ginger

The thing I love about juicing is that you are only limited by your imagination. If you see a fruit or veggie you want to juice, just try it! It could be awesome or it can turn out to be a disaster, but you never know until you try. And even if it is a disaster and tastes awful, I promise there is something in there that your body will love. And trust me, you WILL feel better. You just gotta stick with it, you juicing newbie!

Alright ladies and gents, short post today. I’ll write again tomorrow and hopefully have a recap for you soon!

I’ve Got Juice Brain

Posted by ljb in Juicing, Organic, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , , , , ,

Juice brain is what JJ and I lovingly use as an excuse for our momentary lapse in judgement or forgetful moments while we are on cleanses. And I definitely had one yesterday. Monday was Day 2 of our juice fast. It was also my first day at work doing a full on fast, so I had to make about 4 juices in the morning to take with me for the day. In the hustle and bustle of the morning craziness, I forgot to take pictures so I have no awesome visuals for you today. I also forgot to write down a majority of the ingredients that I used in each juice.

Whoops. Total juice brain. My sincerest apologies.

I do have this awesome Google image of a juicer

juicing

It is just me or are Google images getting worse? Ohwell.

What I can tell you is yesterday evening I had two juices and they were both super delish. One contained:

  • Kale
  • Spinach
  • Swiss chard (yes, you can juice just about anything)
  • Cucumber
  • Pear
  • Lemons
  • Blueberries

The other juice was:

  • Pineapple
  • Orange
  • Ginger
  • Spinach
  • Kale

Two random, but surprisingly good juices that really kept me full for the rest of the evening.

So let’s talk about how my day went. Well, the morning was super tough. I was still grouchy and super hungry. But as the day went on and the more water I drank, I felt surprisingly good. The roughest part of the day was once I got home from work and watched the Hubs consume beautiful pasta with marinara sauce from the farmers’ market. But I held my ground. Andy was actually pretty sweet about my grumpiness. He took it well and even talked me into drinking a juice to take my mind off of eating. He also told me I was “glowing”. He has said this before when I have done a cleanse so at this point, I don’t think it is just lip-service. I think he actually feels like I am glowing. Or he is trying to tame my crabbiness. I drank the full 96oz of juice that you are supposed to have during a typical day of a cleanse, and that actually made me feel quite full! Overall, on a scale from 1 to 10, I felt at about a 5 1/2 which is a huge improvement from my -3 on Sunday.

After I finish this, I am planning on writing up a summary for those of you who are interested in doing your own cleanse. I’ll let you know my thoughts on it and tips I may have for someone just starting out. As always, please do your research and make sure doing a juicing fast is right for you.

If you want more information on juicing and its benefits, here are a few other articles you might be interested in:

Juice away lil’ chickadees,

Juice Fasting/Feasting

Posted by ljb in Juicing, Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , , ,

Sunday was Day 1 of my attempt at a juicing fast. Yes, you read that right. Fast. Nuthin’ but juice, honey.

Now before you go and think that Connecticut has officially made me crazy (which is still up for debate I guess), I just want to fill you in on why I juice. Well, we did a mini-cleanse in April for about 21 days which consisted of only juice until dinner and afterwards, I felt amazing. My skin and hair looked better. I had more energy. I slept amazing. I really just felt overall healthier and more aware of what I was doing day-to-day instead of living in that weird fog. But now, we have eliminated all solid foods, which is significantly harder. But I haven’t been feeling great the latest and I know it is because of my diet. I just want to do this to get me back on track.

So how did I rate on a scale from 1 to 10 yesterday? I was at about a -3. Yep, I felt terrible. I was so hungry. And when I get hungry, I get super grumpy and when I get super grumpy, I wonder why my beautiful husband decides to even be within 10 feet of me. But based on my past experience with a juicing cleanse, I know it will be worth it.

Take a look at some things I juiced yesterday:

pear apple spinach cucumber ginger carrot juice

Pear, carrots, apples, cucumber, spinach and ginger

bok choy lettuce apples cucumber kale ginger

Cucumber, bok choy, kale, lettuce, apples and ginger 

I added a pear to this later, due to overwhelming bok choy taste

orange carrots ginger lettuce cucumber

Oranges, ginger, lettuce, carrots and cucumber. 

apple pear carrot ginger

Apple, pear, carrot and ginger

As you can see, I have been using similar ingredients that I love and just switching it up slightly. This is a great way to get started, especially if it is your first one. Then you can start experiment with different fruits and veggies! I also was able to use quite a few things from my CSA share which made me happy :)   

JJ found this article about the benefits of juicing and I think you may be interested in it. You can do a juice fast for as long as you want really. I mean I think 3 days is an accomplishment whereas people have gone for over 70 days without solid food.

I really suggest you do some research to see if you would enjoy doing a juicing cleanse. Not gonna lie, the first couple days, you feel like completely crud and you feel like you could eat scraps out of your trash (no, I have not actually done this…yet). But the end is so worth it, and it makes you want to eat healthy from here on out so you don’t “undo” all the good you just created in your body!

Now if you will excuse me, I am going to go dream about eating a portabella burger with roasted rosemary baby red potatoes. Yep, juice brain has officially taken over.

Juice, juice and be merry,

CSA 2012: Week 2

Posted by ljb in CSA, Juicing, Organic, Vegan, Vegetarian and tagged with , , , , , , , , ,

It is already week 2 of our CSA share and we definitely got our money’s worth!

CSA share

Look at all the GREEEEEENNNN! This is the perfect CSA share for me right now, because JJ and I have decided to do another juice cleanse. Just a mini-one, but it is definitely needed. I’ll share more about this later with you.

So let’s see what I got:

  • 1 pint of Jones Family Farms strawberries (Yay! More strawberries!)
  • 1 head of red deer tongue lettuce
  • 1 head buttercrunch lettuce
  • 1 head of green leaf lettuce
  • 1 bok choy
  • 1 kohlrabi
  • 1 head of escarole
  • 1 bunch of Toscano kale
  • 1 bunch of swiss chard
  • 1 bunch of radishes
  •  1 bunch of hakuei salad turnips
  •  1 Sage herb 2 inch pot
CSA share, strawberries, kale, lettuce, sage

Can you say juicer’s delight? I mean come on, almost everything in here is perfect for juicing! Especially the kale. And you all know I just adore that leafy green and all the good things it has to offer my body.

While I won’t have any cool recipes to share with you from this share, I will have some awesome juicing ideas so be sure to stay tuned for those!

Eat, juice and be merry,

I’m So Lost Without You

Posted by ljb in Juicing and tagged with ,

I finally did it. I knew it would happen sooner or later. I left my morning juice at home. This wasn’t just any juice, this was a brand new experimental juice filled with cucumber, celery, pear, ginger and carrot. I am honestly at a loss because I look forward to my morning juice every day and now, I sit here with my tasteless glass of water thinking about what could have been.

Let’s all say it together: First World Problems

Sorry about your first world problem

The Green Monster – My Morning Juice

Posted by ljb in Juicing, Recipes, Vegan and tagged with , , , , , , ,

It’s a little dreary here in CT today. I decided I needed a lot of extra help to get me going this morning. Since I have dramatically reduced my coffee intake to almost zero (gasp), I have tried to find alternative things to give me the extra boost I need when I wake up. Enter The Green Monster, as I affectionately call it. Also known as an intense green juice that is so unbelievably healthy for you, your body will be giving itself high-fives all day.

Here is what you will need:

  • 1/2 to 1 head romaine lettuce
  • 1 cucumber
  • handful of kale
  • handful of spinach
  • fresh ginger (to taste)
  • parsley (to taste)
  • 1 to 2 apples
  • 1 lemon
  • 1 celery stalk
  • 1 carrot (optional)
Be sure to wash all your ingredients well. Peel the lemon and ginger. You can also peel the cucumber, but since I buy them organic, I wash them well and leave the skins on just to give me a little more “green”. As mentioned above, depending on how much juice you want, you can use half a head of romaine or a whole. You actually get quite a bit of juice out of romaine so it is totally up to you. As far as the carrot goes, I have been really into putting a carrot into every juice I make. They add a little extra sweetness and are packed full of yummy stuff your body needs so where’s the harm in adding one right? You can also use a pear instead of apples. Depending on the size of the mouth on your juicer, you may need to cut the apples in half. Cram them into your juicer and watch the magic unfold.
Now if you are new to juicing, this might be a little much for you. And that is ok. I totally get it. The first couple days I made this, I literally thought there was no way I would be able to get used to it. It tasted like I was literally drinking a garden. Maybe use more cucumber or apples to soften the blow of all the green flavor. As you get used to it, add more kale and spinach. Eventually, you will be able to drink it no problem and actually enjoy the taste of it!
Aside from the taste, I also find that my body just loves, loves, loves this juice. I mean look at what it has to offer:
  • Leafy Greens (Romaine lettuce, kale, spinach) - Vitamins A, C and K, calcium, folate and potassium
  • Cucumber - Vitamin A, B and K, potassium, calcium, phosphorus and magnesium
  • Ginger – Vitamin A, C, and E, anti-inflammatory benefits, digestive aids, can lower cholesterol, high in potassium, manganese, iron, zinc and beta-carotene
  • Parsley - Vitamin A, C and K,  beta-carotene. decongestant, anti-inflammatory benefits
  • Apples – fiber, vitamin C, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory benefits, calcium, postassium
  • Lemon – Vitamin C, antioxidants, digestive aids, B-Complex vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium
  • Celery stalk – Vitamin A, C, and K, riboflavin, Vitamin B6, calcium, magnesium, fiber, folate, potassium
  • Carrot – Vitamin A and C, beta-carotene, B-6, folic acid

Something to keep in mind: these are just a handful of the health benefits. There are so many more! Who can honestly turn this juice down when you see all that? So what are you waiting for! Get juicing – your body will thank you :)

Happy Juicing!

It’s Juicin’ Time! Apple, Ginger and Rhubarb

Posted by ljb in Juicing, Recipes, Vegan and tagged with , , , , ,

Good morning (or afternoon/evening depending on when you are reading this)! It is a rainy day in CT. Trying not to be too upset about it since we desperately need the rain and because my parents are a little jealous as they would love it to rain back in the Mother Land. I’m learning to be thankful even during the stormy times.

So I’m heading to work soon, but needed to do some juicing before I took off. I thought about doing my regular green juice which you can read about here on my friend’s blog, but instead I opted for the new juice I discovered this weekend thanks to green well Organic Tea and Coffee in downtown New Haven: Apple, Rhubarb and Ginger.

The last time I had rhubarb, I think I was about 7 years old in my neighbors/adoptive grandparents kitchen eating a piece of strawberry-rhubarb pie. I remember thinking it tasted slightly different, but once I found out it had rhubarb it in, I was a little grossed out. For no reason other than I had no idea was rhubarb was and assumed it was healthy which automatically meant it was disgusting. But now, here I am juicing it for my mornings and liking it! Marguerite would be proud :)

If you were like me, you aren’t really sure what is so special about rhubarb. Silly, you knew I was going to fill you in. According to The Rhubarb Compendium (oh yes, there is a whole site dedicated to rhubarb), it is a vegetable that has many different uses. Also unbeknownst to me, is that the rhubarb leaves are actually toxic! Yep, straight up toxic. Now apparently, you would have to ingest a large amount of them, but still. Rhubarb is hardcore! But it is packed with Vitamins A and C, potassium and fiber. So while eating the leaves may not be in your best interest, the stalks are pretty good for you.

So back to my juice. You will need: two or three apples, fresh ginger (to taste) and a couple stalks of rhubarb. You can even add a carrot or two if you want. Again, all the amounts depend on how you want your juice to taste. Put it all in your juicer and BOOM! A delicious way to start the day. And depending on how much rhubarb you put in it, it looks pink! Who doesn’t like a pink drink?

Make it a wonderful day,