Juicy Juice

The day I watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead on netflix was the day I was converted to power of juicing. Did I think I needed to strictly juice, no! Just supplement. I'm not a fan of store bought juice, at all. My kids drink a lot of water...so once I began supplementing with juice religiously they were so excited- as was I because they're getting raw juice filled with enzymes and an abundance of nutrients from both fruits and vegetables! Parker LOVES his carrot apple juice! 
Juice is so wonderful because it is loaded with goodness and is quickly absorbed. Think about it...it takes at least 4 large carrots, 1 large apple, and 1/4 a lemon to make enough juice for a single person...that's a lot of nutrients in a single glass. Our bodies are able to completely absorb that and put it to work within 15 minutes! Imagine how healing that can be for our bodies. I have read stories about people who juiced for a 2 weeks period and were able to completely heal cysts and ulcers, and rid all symptoms of IBS. And Joe from Fat, Sick, and Nearly dead was able to completely heal his autoimmune disease and come off all medication.

So as I begun my research on raw foods as I discussed in my last post I realized that perhaps a 3 day detox would be a good idea. I fed my body nothing but junk for 21 years of my life...Our bodies have natural ways of ridding itself of toxins but as a society we put SO many toxins in our bodies daily that it is near impossible for it to completely cleanse itself of these. So what does it do with it? Well, it stores them. The average American has 5-10 pounds of toxins stored. THAT IS GROSS! Although I have been eating clean for 2 years, that doesn't necessarily mean that my body has been able to thoroughly rid those stored toxins. That's what made me decide to try a detox- I knew it wouldn't be fun but I was pretty convinced of it's benefits. So a couple of months ago I embarked on my first detox. I juiced a variety of juices 3-4 times a day, and munched on the occasional raw whole fruit or vegetable as a snack for 72 hours. I lost 5 pounds in 3 days- taking me from 110 to 105. My mother who I dragged along with me lost 8 pounds by the end of day 2! AWESOME!

Here was our experience...I will not sugar coat it..it is not exactly enjoyable at all times. The first day and a half my mom and I both were dragging, and suffering from a mild headache. Not to mention the bazaar bowel movements. All I wanted to do was chow down on my oatmeal, and peanut butter, and honey, and chicken, and wheat toast, and you get the idea. But I stayed strong and munched on my apples and celery when I needed to chew on something and guzzled down my juices as well as LOTS of water. By the end of day 2 though, the fatigue and headache subsided. Day 3 was filled with energy and a sense of lightness. I felt clean, new, and refreshed. It was fantastic! 

I wanted to ensure that I avoided a gorge on day 4 and 5 so that I didn't undo all my hard work and sacrifice so I slowly started to introduce more raw whole foods and clean sources of protein. And I still regularly drink juices and smoothies along with my diet. I also decided that I would do this again on a quarterly bases so that I don't accrue toxic waste. Here are a few of the concoctions I created.

By day 2 I was sick of drinking juice so I got creative and made a Tomato soup juice and tricked my mind by eating it with a spoon instead of drinking it. IT WORKED!
2 tomatoes, 1 stick of celery, 1 nappa cabbage leaf, 1/4 of a bell pepper, 1 large carrot, 1/8 of an onion, 1 clove of garlic, parsley and cilantro.

Beet juice...it was quite pretty and a great post workout juice because ginger works great as a natural anti-inflammatory! 1 beet, 1 carrot, 1 apple, 1/4 lemon, 1/4 inch of ginger root.

Cucumber melon! This was a favorite! 1 cucumber, 1/2 canary melon (honey dew or cantaloupe would work great too), and some soaked chia seeds.

Strictly juicing is quite extreme and not an easy thing to endure but in my opinion it is worth it. If you don't think you could do it I would advise incorporating more of these detoxing juices into your regular diet and continuing to eat as clean and organic as possible to avoid over consumption of toxins!

Here are a list of a few foods that really help aid in the detoxifying process so they're important to add into your juices.

-Cilantro: Removes heavy metals from body
-Parsley & wheatgrass: Detoxifies the kidneys by flushing out toxins and boosting cell regeneration
-Lemon: Flushed toxins and burns fat naturally
-Celery: Stimulates digestion and removes excess fluids from the body
-Ginger & tumeric: Anti inflammatory
-Apples: Cleansing for the colon and binds with heavy metals and toxins
-Other green leafy vegetables that are rich in chlorophyll all aid in the cleansing process as well! Fruits and cucumbers work great as a base for juice due to their high water content which assists in flushing the bad stuff out.
DON'T FORGET TO DRINK A LOT OF WATER!!!