Super Juice Me Day Thirteen

Day Thirteen

It has been a week since I have blogged. I went out of town for a couple of days but I juiced before I left to make it easier to stay on track. I had some struggles for many reason but my youngest daughter went with me and she kept me strong. I drank my juices the entire day on Wednesday, although it was later in the evening than I was supposed to due to the family gathering at the funeral home. They went to Whataburger afterwards and I so wanted a burger. But Jenni said, "No, mom. You will be so upset if you do that." So I bought her one and drank my juice. On Thursday, I got up and drank my juice on the way to the cemetery for the service at 10 a.m. We went to the tennis club for a buffet lunch after the funeral. That was so hard. I didn't have my juice for the 1 p.m. juice time with me and I had no idea when I would get to drink it. I talked to my older daughter and she told me to find fruits and veggies that are in my juices and eat those. So that is what I did. I had a great salad with salsa on it instead of dressing and I had lots of fruit. I drank my 1 p.m. juice when we headed home around 4:30 since I hadn't made the 4 p.m. juice. After I got out of Houston traffic I was getting so tired and I knew I had another four hours to drive. I stopped to get Jenni some dinner and I got me a cob salad. Yes, I did have some chicken but I made sure I chewed it well. I also got a sweet tea with lemons for caffeine so I would stay awake. I made the best choices I could with the situations I was in. I could have chosen much worse. I felt fine afterwards and was able to stay awake on the drive home.

I am not perfect but I didn't go too far off the plan as I could have. Extenuating circumstances change things sometimes. Make good choices. Don't eat garbage foods. Eat as healthy as possible. Choose fruits and veggies over other foods. And eat things that don't have a lot of chemicals in them, preferably zero chemicals. That would be your best choice. I am back on track since I am back home. I am still craving meats. I will enjoy eating some healthy meats in a couple of weeks at least once a day. I plan on juicing twice a day AFTER the 28 day program. With this I know I can stop taking a lot of vitamins because I will be getting them from the foods I eat instead. That is the ideal way of getting them anyway. That excites me since it will cost me a lot less money. I really would love to be able to grow all of my own fruits and veggies for my juices someday. What an amazing thing that would be. 

My feet have been bothering me for so many months now. I thought it was because of my new shoes. But I bought some new shoes today, for half the price of my other ones. I got size 8 instead of size 9, like the other ones. I am thinking the shoes were too big. When I ran my two miles this evening they felt fine. As I slowed down to walk a mile afterwards my toes starting hurting pretty badly as if I had run many miles. I haven't run in several weeks because I hurt my toe and couldn't get the shoe on. That is possibly the reason that my feet hurt after only a short time of running. I traded the hot pink shoe laces with Jenni. I am giving her my size 9 shoes since she is going to be taller than me and her feet are bigger. She needed new running shoes anyway. I actually like the look of the other shoes better but I like the price better on these. 

I started a 12 week training program, on week two, for the Rocky Mountain Half Marathon in August 2. I am going to try very hard to stay on track with that program and run what it says to each day until the big race. If I do that, it is my hope my feet won't kill me anymore because it will be used to it. I will be doing feet exercises to help them not hurt, anything will be an improvement over what they feel now.

I have also been letting myself get away with not doing my workout videos. I have a ton of videos with great strength training and cardio. I've just been lazy and giving up. I have tried getting up earlier than 7 and I just can't seem to do it. I need my sleep. So today I did the DVD workout after naptime while the kids were having snack and then watching a video. Then I ran later in the evening. I have to really work hard to get my workouts in. I feel so good when I do them and feel lazy when I don't. I feel so much better when I have gone for a run. It may be a challenging run, but I always feel great afterwards because of the effort I put forth. It's time to build some muscle while I am training for this half marathon. 

My "grand design" for my body is one that I have had before but even better. I don't just want to loose the fat on my body, I want to build lots of muscle, too. I want to be strong as I grow older so that my life will be fuller and more meaningful. I have no clue what weight I will reach or what clothes size. I would like to reach size 6 in jeans but I know that will take a lot of work. I am willing to do the work. I just can't let my thoughts stop me from accomplishing them. My workout goal is DVD workout at least 4 days a week and running at least 4 days a week, if not more. I am not sure what my training schedule is for the later weeks, but it may be running 5 days or more. 

I have been struggling with my weight for so long and I finally understand why. It is the foods I am eating and my inability to stop eating them. The book I am reading talks about how the BIG FOOD and BIG DRINK companies put additives in the foods that MAKE you want to eat them and make it hard to stop. I was not able to loose the weight no matter how much I ran and worked out because I was still eating badly. I thought I was doing OK food wise but now I realize I wasn't anywhere near it. I have dropped 10 pounds in two weeks because I am juicing. I am eating healthier than I ever have with these juices. I am eating fresh veggies that I wouldn't eat normally or at least very often. I know without a doubt I will be able to loose the weight and inches now. And I will be able to build muscle to help that along as the fat goes away over the next several months. 

 I WILL reach my goal before my 49th birthday in November. Oh, what an amazing day that will be, when I can look at pictures of myself stronger and more healthy than I have ever been in my life. 

Changing my life one day at a time. 

Super Juice Me Day Four

Day Four

The weekends are going to be challenging as far as schedule goes over the next few weeks. Today we did a 5K that started a bit after 8 a.m. I drank my water and my morning tea before I left for the run. Sadly, I was NOT able to put my running shoes on so I did NOT run. I walked it. But I wore my sandals and they ended up making the soles of my feet hurt. I had my toe wrapped to keep it from hurting. It feels and looks much better tonight. It was a small run and they did awards for different age groups. Even though I came in LAST out of EVERYBODY I came in third for my age group. Wow! That means there were three people in my age group running, lol. John came in first for his age group. JC came in third and Jenni came in second for their age groups. Jenni walked with me, so that tells you how many her age were running, too. 

When I got home I made my first juice and then took a nap. The juice for 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. is called Anti-Oxidant King. It was full of wonderful fruits and a small amount of veggies. It was a beautiful rich color and tasted wonderful. 

The juice for 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. is Mineral Medicine. It's pretty good. It has more veggies in it and isn't as thick as the morning/evening one. They all seem to be that way. They give you the really thick ones for those two times and then thinner ones during the day. I am enjoying the different flavors coming from the combinations. 

While I am still having thoughts of foods I choose not to eat right now I am considering the choices I will make after my 28 days is over. That is ever in my thoughts, in a good way. I am thinking of the amazing foods we have learned to make the RIGHT way. And I am thinking of how awesome it will be to just enjoy the good stuff and FORGET about the bad stuff I should never have touched to begin with. I am so happy that we have made all the changes we have because that will make all of this so much easier. We still have a ways to go but I know I am on the right track and can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

I am currently reading Freedom From the Diet Trap: Slim For Life by Jason Vale and it is so amazing. I am not finished with it yet but I plan on finishing it this weekend. I have learned so many thing just in the first 30 pages of the book. I will share what I learn later. It's under $7 so if you want to check it out, go ahead and tell me what you think of it. 

Changing my life one day at a time.

Super Juice Me Day Seven

Day Seven

Today started out like any other day. I got up and drank my tea while doing my morning quiet time. I worked with the preschoolers and then got them situated before making my ten a.m. juice. While the kids were outside I worked hard at making them and my family a great lunch. As they were eating I got a phone call from my sister telling me our aunt had passed away. I went through an array of emotions during that phone call. I won't go into all of them but normally I would have turned to food for comfort. But even after just one week that is no longer what I felt like doing. After we finished talking about our aunt, we started talking about juicing. 

My sister has many health issues and I just felt I needed to share this with her. So as we began to talk about it, I made my first afternoon juice. She was super excited and had actually read some things about it and seen some of Jason Vale's videos. I told her all about the app and how great it was. I feel great that I can pass along some of what I learn to my family and friends. 

I quickly decided I was going to make a trip for the funeral. The family viewing is tomorrow at 3 in the afternoon and the actual funeral is Thursday morning at 10. I am only taking my youngest daughter with me on the trip. My mind started trying to figure out how I could manage to keep juicing while I was away. Part of my mind said, "You can't. You are going to have to eat. This is a great excuse to stop at that Sam's Restaurant either on the way there or the way home." Ugh. I actually was going to let my mind get away with that. I want to be honest here because if I can't share my struggles then what good is this to anyone? I was all set to eat dinner somewhere with them or whatever and I was all set on stopping to eat at Sam's on the way home. I meant to eat as "clean" as I could, mind you. But really, I NEED to finish my 28 days and stay strong through it. I really do. 

I went to the store to buy some containers for my juices. I "planned" on bringing SOME of my juices and just eating food a couple of times. But as I was looking at containers I started to really think about what I was doing. I decided that I would buy three containers. I have a shaker bottle already and it will hold two servings. My two afternoon ones tomorrow will fit in that container because they are the same thing. I am going to drink my 10 a.m. juice before I leave. I made my 7 p.m. for tomorrow and my 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. ones for Thursday. I am bringing ALL of my juices that I will need with me. I may get home past 4 on Thursday but I will be OK to make and drink that one a little late. I am so proud of myself. They are in the freezer and I will move them to the ice chest before we leave in the morning. Now, I just need to stay on track and NOT fall off the plan while I am gone. 

As I start week 2, I am happy to say I made it all the way through week 1 and I am ready for this week's challenges. 

Changing my life one day at a time.  

Super Juice Me Days 5 and 6

Days 5 and 6

Day 5 was Mother's Day. Some might wonder if I threw in the towel and went out to lunch with my family because it was a holiday. I'm proud to say the answer to that would be no. In fact, I went home after church and made my family a nice meal and drank my juice. I have NOT gone off the plan at all except to miss one of the morning "shots" or forget to drink my evening hot tea. 

Day 6 is a typical Monday for me. Back to the normal daily schedule. I did everything right on schedule today. I made lunch for the kids and for John. I have added a daily salad for my family at lunch to make it a more balanced meal. I look forward to eating them when the 28 days is up. I'm making sure we have a variety of fruits and veggies during the meals, too. Tonight when I was making a simple sandwich for the kids it was almost overwhelming. I only buy the Simply chips these days with few exceptions. I opened a bag of the Simply Cheetos and the smell was so tempting. I put them on their plates and shoved the bag in my daughter's hands and said "clip it fast". She was so funny. She rolled it closed and got a clip very quickly. That is one thing about anything I do, my family is super supportive. They understand to a certain extent how hard it is not being able to eat the things they are eating right now. But they have tried my juices and really like some of them. I am looking forward to making them juices at least once a day when I am done with this, if not before. They get me to juice them things from time to time already. 

Tonight instead of juice I had what they call a special guest. It was an almond milk smoothie. I made my own almond milk and added free trade cocoa, honey, tahini past, a whole ripe banana and a little ice. It was the first chocolate anything I have had in over a week. It wasn't bad. I made sure not to put too much tahini and I added a tiny bit extra of cocoa. The honey didn't dissolve all the way, some stuck to the side of the blender. I wonder if it would have tasted much different if it had mixed up better. I have a feeling it is something I might really like AFTER I haven't had a chocolate bar in a really long time. 

I am still reading Jason Vale's book "Freedom from the Diet Trap" and loving it. It is changing the way I look at food and the food industry, plus the whole diet industry. He is pretty cut and dry about stuff but funny, too. I want my whole family to read it when I am done. I am thinking of making it a reading assignment for my teens and get them to give me their "report" on what they think about it afterwards in the form of "oral book reports". 

Overall, I feel great. I am sleeping pretty well and feel like I have plenty of energy during the day. I do get sleepy and ready for bed pretty early. Sleep seems to be key on this journey. It is also a mental battle. I have set my mind that I am NOT going to eat the foods I put in front of other people right now even though I am making theirs. Because of that I am able to do it without sticking the stuff in my mouth. I do have to watch myself because I am one of those ladies who will take a bite here and there while she is cooking a meal. I have caught myself several times. At least I caught myself BEFORE and not AFTER eating it. You just have to decide what you are going to do and then do it. If you mess up, don't stop. Keep going. One mistake doesn't make the whole thing void. It just means it might be a bit more challenging to resist the next time. Every time you make the choice to NOT do something you decided you wouldn't, you give yourself power to keep going. Don't give up. If it is something worth doing, it will always have challenges. 

Changing my life one day at a time.

Super Juice Me Day Three

Day Three

Today's schedule was different from my usual one. We went to the homeschool book fair so I knew I would not be home at 10 to juice. I drank my juice an hour early. But the rest of the day was at the regular time. I had my tea at normal time. I had the Ginger Shot at 8:45. 

The 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. juice is called Sweet 'N' Smooth Veggie Blend. It has half of an avocado in it but I don't think it was ripe enough because it didn't blend well. I had chunks of it that I had to chew as I drank. That is NOT the point in this drink. You are supposed to be able to save your stomach the trouble of "chewing" the food. It did not make for a pleasant drink. Make sure your avocado is ripe so it will blend well. The one I had on a different day was great and added so much to the drink. 

My 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. juice was called Digestive Aid. It tasted good but had the kick after taste because of the ginger that was in it. I am hoping I can learn to "like" the ginger kick more than I do now. I know it has wonderful things in it for my body. THAT is the reason I am doing this. That is the reason I am changing the way I eat and drink. This is NOT short term. Yes, I will go back to eating whole foods and not just juices. But I will be eating ones that don't have additives and chemicals in them. I am working on my mental image of how I will eat even now.

At this point, how I see myself eating AFTER is this: 

Breakfast: My Healthy Smoothie, possibly some toast and an egg with a slice of tomato or something like that. 

Snack: Giddy Up and Go Granola or some fresh fruit

Lunch: This will be our large meal of the day with some type of meat, chicken or fish plus fresh veggies and healthy bread. Possibly a healthy dessert, too.

Snack: Fresh fruit and peanut butter or other healthy snack

Dinner: One of the thick juices from the Super Juice Me plan

I will adjust it as I see the need. It is my hope that as my stomach shrinks to hold less food I will be able to handle my portion control during the day much better than I do now. That is the main issue. I eat too much at meals and tend to want to snack, too. I want to eat a good sized meal at lunch with many healthy foods in it that taste wonderful to take care of my want to chew and taste each day. But I need to keep my portions small enough to keep the weight off and to continue to loose after I am finished with the 28 days. I am confident I will be able to do that as long as I keep it in the forefront of my mind daily. I have to remember my WHY for the change. 

I didn't really have craving struggles today. I let my family go eat a burger while I stayed home and drank my juice. And I really felt OK with that. I wasn't wishing I could go with them and eat. I remembered the scales that showed I had lost weight already after only a couple of days on the plan. I got on the scale again tonight, I don't recommend that but I just couldn't seem to stop myself, and I am just barely under 180. I never would have thought I would be so happy about that because I hate being in the 170's. But when you get past the point of what you hated before it doesn't seem to look so bad. With extreme effort and willpower I am confident I will loose a good amount during the 28 days on this. How could I not? I will be eating only healthy foods and I do NOT plan on going OFF the plan during this 28 days for any reason. I will find a way to make it work the entire time. It would be lovely if I could loose a whole 28 pounds but I am not sure that is realistic. I will be happy with whatever I am able to loose as I learn to take better care of my body. My final weight goal is not clear in my mind yet. I don't know if it is realistic to WANT to weigh what I did before I ever had kids 27 years ago. I was 120 pounds before I got pregnant the first time. Can I get to that weight again? Should I even consider it? I really don't know. What I know is I am going to eat healthy and exercise. Whatever comes from that is what I will weigh and be happy with it. If I know I am eating the right foods and staying active then I will be happy with the weight I am at. 

Changing my life one day at a time.

Super Juice Me Day Two

Day Two

It is the end of day two and I feel pretty good. The drinks today were pretty good. The "shot" for today was called Natural Electrolyte Sodium Shot. It had cucumber and celery. I don't mind either of them but they aren't my favorites, either. I drank it as quickly as I could. Again, forgot to take a picture.

For 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. I made a Pure Raw Energy Smoothie. It was really good. It had a lot of my favorites like pineapple and avocado. Everything was juiced that could be, then put in the blender. I added the half avocado, half a banana and the hemp protein. Really thick and delicious. 

For 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. I made the Chlorophyll Cleanser. It had a lot of greens and it smelled and tasted very strongly of cucumber. It was better chilled. I found I like the drinks on ice. It makes them more of a treat.

I did experience some times of struggle today. I LOVE food. I LOVE to eat. The smell of food make it challenging. But something I am changing is loving food so much that it consumes me instead of me living my life. I want to pick foods that will help me be strong and healthy. I don't want to pick something just because it appeals to my taste buds that are all warped anyway. They don't know what is good anymore. But I am smart enough to read a label and figure it out. I am smart enough to choose to change what I eat for a better and longer life.  

I have already started thinking about how I am going to eat AFTER the 28 days is over. I am NOT going to put a bunch of processed foods into my body. We are going to cook a lot of meats, chicken, fish and the like on our own, baked and grilled. We are going to eat as much organic and chemical free foods as we can. I want these changes to be long term. I am going to find healthy ways to make foods we love. I am hoping we will all learn to love more foods in healthy forms, too. It is a life style change that I want for my whole family. That is what keeps me going each day.

Changing my life one day at a time.

Super Juice Me Day One

Day One:

My routine is not exactly what I want it to be yet, but I will be working on getting it on track each day. Today when I got up I drank about 8 ounces of water. I have the 16 oz. Flylady stainless water bottle that keeps water very cold. I fill it up before I go to bed and put it on my night stand. During the day I put a hair tie around it each time I fill it up. That helps me keep track of how much water I am drinking every day. My goal is between 1 and 2 liters a day, which would be 3 or 4 times. 

I made some herbal tea in a large mug around 8:30. Sometimes that will be earlier, when I get up earlier. I used my k-cup Lemon Zinger. I'm glad I can still use my Keurig even though I am not drinking my cafe mocha anymore. I then drank the other half of my water.

Around 9:45 I headed into the kitchen to start my morning juices. I forgot to take a picture of the first one. Every morning I will have a "shot" which is a small amount of power juice to kick start the day followed by a regular glass of juice. The one for today was called a Ginger Shot. It contains an apple and ginger. The ginger is like a kick in the pants, spicy. But good. You just drink that down pretty fast. 

Then I made my Protein Rich Powerhouse "thicky", as they call it. It is thick like a smoothie but it's not full of any thing but fruits and veggies. I actually made and drank this one twice today, once at 10 a.m. and once at 7 p.m. I decided I would use my special Disney glasses that I purchased long ago just to make it more fun. They are very sturdy glasses but we never use them because we didn't want them to get broken when the kids were little. The GLASS works great because plastic cups retain the smell of the juice from smoothies and things like that. Glass cleans up very well. This one tasted great both times. I added ice to them to chill it a bit more. You can also put it in the blender and crush it like a smoothie but I think this works fine. This one had things you needed to blend in the blender AFTER you finish juicing. So you pour your juice in the blender and then add the ingredients like avocado and banana plus hemp protein and seeds. 

I have to tell you that the pulp from it is a LOT. And I didn't have my bucket exactly right so it flew out all over the place. I corrected it by pulling the plastic bag OVER the spout so it couldn't fly out between the two. Worked GREAT. I juiced four times today. I am counting the shot and the first full glass of juice as one because I did not clean it between the two since there was really no need to. It was very easy to clean. I think it would be extremely difficult to clean if you did not do it right away. It would give the food a chance to stick and it wouldn't rinse off like it does fresh. So my advice is to make sure you take a couple of minutes to clean your juicer and blender after you finish using them, before you drink your juice. It really is quick so you don't have to worry your juice will get old before you're done. 

I made the Breath of Fresh Air juice at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. That one has a strong aftertaste because it has ginger in it. It also has beets. Make sure if you have large beets you cut them down to size and don't use a whole beet or it will be overwhelming. I had large ones so I cut them into four pieces and used one each time. The juice is a pretty deep red color and tastes good with the exception of the kick at the end of a drink. I drank lots of water during and afterwards. It helps get the taste out of your mouth pretty easily. The drink wasn't horrible so I won't dread it when it is time to have it again. 

At 9 p.m. it is time for an evening hot herbal tea to help with sleep. I am going to bed early tonight, as soon as I finish drinking my tea and going through my evening routine of washing my face, brushing my teeth and putting lotion on my dry skin. I also take the time to put some Thieves essential oils on the bottom of my feet to help me ward off illness. For me, fitness is a whole body experience, inside and out. It is time for me to start taking care of my body the best I can. It is the only body I will ever have. If I don't take care of it then I won't be able to walk around much longer.  

Speaking of walking, I got up late this morning because of being up late last night. I didn't get my morning workout in but fully intended to workout this evening. I didn't expect to break my little toe this morning and render myself unable to even walk without serious pain. I have it wrapped and that seems to help some. I am applying ice, too. It is my hope that it will be much better even tomorrow. 

I hope this encourages you to follow whatever plan you have decided is best for you. But do something that will help you get/stay healthy and live a more productive life. It isn't really about being super skinny or being on a diet. It is about only putting GOOD things in and on your body so that it can be the way God intended it to be when He created us.

Changing my life one day at a time.

Super Juice Me 28 Day Super-Juice Detox

My oldest daughter and I have started a 28 day super juice detox in order to flood our bodies with all the good stuff to heal it from the damage we have done to it with all the chemicals and bad things we have put into it over the years. We are really excited about the results we are going to see when we are done and how it is going to change the way we live and eat. 

I purchased a juicer and it arrived yesterday! It is pretty quiet compared to the one my daughter got but they both work. Mine is stainless steel. I just felt it would be better quality than plastic. I have heard the one I got gives you more juice than most others. We will see how it holds up.

Juicing gets pretty messy but it was very easy to clean up. I am doing the juicing and drinking it right away instead of making it ahead of time and storing it. Since I am at home I feel that is a good option for me. If there are times when I won't be at home, like on Sunday mornings, I will juice my 10 a.m. juice ahead of time and take it with me. My daughter does her juicing for the whole day the night before. She is at work all day so this helps her be ready to go in the morning. Do what works for you and your schedule. 

We watched the whole documentary on Super Juice Me's website. They no longer have the entire thing to watch for free. It was a real eye opener. It is an hour and a half long. We decided to give it a go. After all, nothing about the plan was chemicals or things unhealthy. It has ALL the vitamins and nutrients we NEED to live and thrive, despite people thinking otherwise. We looked at the different options for purchase of the program and felt the app for our phone was the best and most cost effective. It is a GREAT app. It has everything; videos, menus with times, shopping lists for a week at a time or the whole 28 days, and a lot more. The videos help SO much. I use the video while I was making my juices. I am sure I will get to where I won't have to use it while I am making it but for now, it is a great thing to have. I watch the videos the day before, too. There are so many great tips that you need to spend some time watching them. And if you are like me, take notes. 

If this is something you are interested in, check out the documentary on their website. You can even download the app, it is just over $15 with tax. You can follow my progress on here or on my fb page where I will post links to my blog posts and other tips. Make sure you clean out your fridge before you go to the store so you have room for all your produce when you return. It takes up a LOT of room. But just think how wonderful you will feel after eating all of those healthy foods. 

I am super excited to be super juiced. I am picturing myself well on my way to a GREAT summer, feeling and looking better. I have so many great summer clothes that I "out grew" that are practically brand new. I will be spending the next 85 days working on not only my eating habits but training for my next half marathon. It is my goal to be in super shape and much stronger than I am now in time for my race. It is my goal to post each days foods and my struggles on here daily along with pictures. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me here or on fb. But please, no negative comments. This is a blog about positive change. Thanks!

What are your goals for summer? 

Changing my life one day at a time.