Breakast day 1-travelling

We'll see how hard or easy it is to do this while travelling...

What we do with all the stuff

So as you probably know, there is a lot of pulp that comes out of the machine. The mango pulp gets eaten by Alex - and Phoebe - but the rest of the stuff gets given to the neighbor chickens.  Yes, we do live in So. Mpls and our neighbors have chickens.  The neighbors are awesome and their chickens are great.  Our neighbors have moved out of their house because they're doing a big renovation project - so they probably don't know how much we're feeding their chickens - but it's all good stuff!

Here are the chicken ladies loving up the veggies.

Day 8 Breakfast

Very Simple mangoes and apples....and tasty!

Where the Juicer came from...

So here's what really happened.  We bought U2 tickets 2 years ago for a concert that was supposed to take place last year.  Well, they rescheduled and I was extremely sad...but got over it.  We'd have just as much fun (probably more cause last year I was pregnant) going this year!  Then...work interfered and I found out I'd have to go to Philadelphia the morning of the concert...which totally sucks.  So....today is the day that I am leaving on a jet plane.  But this is the story:

Day 7 - Dinner

It was a random one - we put in swiss chard, cucumbers, carrots, apples, ginger and lime. 
We tried the swiss chard as we had gotten some from our CSA and figured we'd throw it in for the green leafy vegetables part.

Alex didn't like the smell of it - but I actually thought it wasn't very flavorful.  Not bad, not great, just normal.

Day 7 - one week in!

Breakfast was good - mango, pineapple and nothing else.
Very much tasty like a drink from Jamba Juice or Odwalla.  Again, Zoe wanted in on the action.  Although it just means less juice for my breakfast!  I tell ya, kids make you give up everything!

Day 6

Today's breakfast was Mango and Orange - it was tasty! Even Zoe wanted it...

For dinner we got some good veggies finally!  And a good recipe!  beet, carrots, celery, ginger, cucumber, and parsley - called Tropical Envy.

The beet and ginger flavors were the strongest...prob. not my favorite - but maybe put in a bit more pineapple and it would have sweetened things up.

Random thoughts on why we're doing this...

So a lot of people have been asking why we are doing this.  I think it's to lose weight, Alex wants to lower his cholesterol...I think we just thought it'd be interesting and we wondered if we could do it. 

Others have asked if we're worried about our blood sugar spiking.  I am not a doctor, nor do I pretend to know what's going on within my body - but I'm confident that eating fruits and veggies CANNOT be bad for you....

What about protein and grains? Well, I will mostly eat a 1/2 a sandwich for lunch and that would include some deli meat.  We also have been eating some protein at dinner too...so, if anyone is reading this and is a dr...you can advise us of whether or not we should be doing this.  And...give us any pointers.  Thanks!!

Day 5

Breakfast was ready to juice - Mangoes, apples, kiwi and 1/2 a lime.  This tasted like an Odwalla, the thickness clearly came from the mangoes....but the lime was the winner on the flavor side.  Zoe even liked this one...she hasn't really been a fan yet of any of the juices that she's tasted.

Because the mangoes didn't really produce a lot of "juice" we didn't get much actual volume...so we had little glasses.  However, it was very filling.  I didn't have to eat my snack until about 11am!

Alex was adamant that the pulp that was extracted from the mangoes should not go to waste...so he scooped it out, fed some to Phoebe and brought the rest to work for a snack.

Dinner was a salad and grilled chicken...so we actually didn't have juice tonight either!!  I can definitely tell my stomach is finally adjusting to the amount of food I'm intaking.

Day 4

Breakfast was Apples, oranges, carrots, and 1/2 a lime.
It was good - we thought the orange flavor would come through stronger - but the carrots definitely won out  there...

I do know someone who adored it though....I literally couldn't get the glass from her grip!

Dinner we had some sauteed vegetables and we were going to finally use some mangoes but we ended up cleaning the fruit pretty late (at 9'ish).  As we were cleaning the fruit up, the power went out - so that went the plan for juicing!  We cleaned up the rest of the fruit by candel light (very romantic, I know) and saran wrapped it and went to bed.

Day 3 - yes, we're already behind

So, first I'll apologize that I have been delinquent in my posts.  It's something I'll work on, I promise. 

A few anecdotes before we start.
Juicing isn't as hard as I thought it would be.  Mostly cause we are allowed to eat fruits and veggies at any time...so sometimes, I feel like we're cheating when we have a juice and a meal.  But hey, it's only us...

For the most part, I'm really not starving.  I thought, for certain, that I wouldn't be able to last very long after drinking juice.  For example, in the morning, after having a juice - I figured I'd for sure need to eat at like 9.  Really I can make it till 10, but then I do like (read, need) to have a snack then. 

Lastly, I definitely think having lunch in the middle of the day helps.  If I only had juice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...we might be in trouble, and I would have definitely fallen off the bandwagon by now.

So, now we'll get to the juicing part.

Day 3 was pretty good.

For breakfast we had grapefruits, pears and blackberries.  This was TASTY!!  May be my favorite thus far. Again, the grapefruit was very powerful - so I really do think that we'll have to cut it down to 1 grapefruit per recipe....

Monday lunch for me was TWO Odwalla juices.  I did start with one - but we've been drinking at least 24 oz of juice and when I picked up the Odwalla bottle, I knew I wouldn't last till our reservation time at 7:30. I was heading out to celebrate one of my good friends' birthday at Al Vento.  So I wanted to be able to eat.  I knew I had to be good while out, so I was...I also took pictures of my dinner - mostly because Alex was living vicarioulsy through my going-out-to-eat.  So here's what I ate (please note, I thought I was really good):

just a tiny bit of bread

calamari - not fried...but it did have some bread and a chipotle-aioli-like sauce on top.

A beet salad with greens and some blue cheese

And while I ate that....Alex ate this (will insert picture soon)

Day 2 - Breakfast and Dinner

Today we tried two more recipes from the breville instruction manual - seriously, we're nearing the end of them...

For breakfast we had apples, strawberries, pears and we threw in a few grapes we had left over.  It was quite refreshing - and a good morning pick me up!

Dinner today was an adventure.  The recipe was sweet potatoes, celery, ginger and oranges.  Alex LOVES ginger...and he has converted me so that I now cook with it...but fresh ginger is a little strong for my liking. He was CERTAIN that there would be no way to "juice" a sweet potato - but that little sucker surprised him.  He also shouldn't have been allowed to measure the ginger.  Now I know....  So 1 inch of ginger, was in his mind about 3 inches of ginger....

Here's a picture of the goodness:

I truly wish I had a picture of my face when I tried the green goodness.  I'm fairly certain it was horrific...it was like drinking wasabi. Because Alex does truly care about me, he knew he would have to adjust my juice....so he brought out a few carrots...and voila!

I left to feed Phoebe her night bottle, and came back to this:

Alex seems to think that picture is disgusting and would make people not want to drink it...I, on the other hand, think it's pretty fascinating that it separates and so quickly.  I also wanted a cute picture of Zoe to be posted.  :)

Day 1 - Dinner

I won't always bore you with the details...but I will tell you what kind of juice we had and whether I liked it or not.

The dinner juice must not have been attention grabbing - as I don't have a picture of it - nor can I remember what it was.  I'm fairly certain it had celery and carrots in it though! 

Day 1 - Saturday, July 16, 2011 - Breakfast

Another thing I didn't note was that we are trying to use as many organic ingredients as possible.....so before starting, Zoe and I took a trip (my first trip) to Mississippi Market on Friday Night.

After $60 of mostly fruits we were ready to start...
We purchased a book online to help us with recipes for this juice experiment...however it hasn't arrived..so we are depending on the Breville instruction manual - it comes with a handful of recipes. 

The first one we tried was grapefruit, peaches, and apples.  Very good - but the grapefruit we purchased were rather large so it mainly tasted like grapefruit.

Here's a picture of the team - as Zoe now insists on being part of the juicing process....

And so it begins

This all began by watching a documentary called, "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead".  It's about a guy who goes on an all-juice diet for 60 days.  It's kinda what you expect...he loses a ton of weight, becomes healthier and begins his journey to a healthier lifestyle. 

Now, don't get me wrong, it's a great documentary - and it is amazing how much it transformed his life.  But, it was something we watched...not something we would DO.  Little did I know that my husband would jump on the bandwagon.  And boy did he ever!

Now if you know me, you know we live in an average South Minneapolis home.  The kitchen is small, there is absolutely no counter space and with two kids and all of their gadgets...we've got lots packed into it.  The absolute last thing we needed was another large appliance...yet, we got a new fancy-dancy juicer.  It's the kind of machine that my husband has yet to let me touch...it's got a lot of parts, is shiny and yeah, it does a damn good job of juicing! 

Once we got said juicer, we set some rules.  Here they are:
   1. Juice for breakfast and dinner (some extenuating circumstances) for three weeks.
   2. Light lunch (I fought for not being a vegetarian...I mean, let's not get crazy)
   3. Consumption of an unlimited amount of fresh fruits and veggies is allowed
   4. The homemade morning cappuccino is still allowed - other than that, good ol' water
   5.  Saturday night is date night...and we are allowed to eat/drink what we want (alcohol included)

I'm not totally sure why or how I agreed to do this...but I figured it would be a good experiment.  I think I mostly agreed to it to see if I could lose a few inches before heading to our summer vacation in Italy...

So...wish me luck!