living the all natural life

Smoothies versus Juicing | Week 5 of 52 Weeks to the All-Natural Lifestyle

The joy and ease real-life difficulty of detoxing

The first week of my detox didn’t go so well. I am ashamed of myself to admit that, but it’s truth.

Sunday, the first day, was great. I sailed through the day.

I sailed through Monday too. Until about 3:00 p.m. And then, I was hit with a ferocious headache. Horrid, couldn’t focus-headache. But I kept on with everything.

Tuesday morning, woke up with another killer headache, this time with nausea. The nausea whipped me more than the headache pain did. But I still kept up with everything.

Wednesday. More headache. Downright stomach ache.

By this time, I was feeling pretty weak. Like after I’ve worked out but haven’t consumed enough calories before hand, kind of weak. I wasn’t missing the caffeine or sugar that much, but living on fruits and veggies was making me ravenous—and I finally figured out my headache was a “hunger headache.” I still kept up with everything, just tried to eat more nuts.

Thursday morning, by 11:00 a.m. I was cranky and famished. NOT a good combination when doing daycare. I gave in. I had a cup of coffee and Triscuits and cheese. Fifteen crackers with cheese. From no processed foods or dairy to a plateful of it.Ã‚Â

I was disappointed in myself but I began to feel better. Whether it was the food that did it or the coffee, I’m not sure. But I suddenly felt relief from the headache and didn’t feel so weak.

For lunch I joined the kids with sandwiches (versus salad) and supper that night was venison and rice with vegetables. By Friday I was back to my normal energy levels.

This week? This week finds me being more balanced in my approach than extreme. I have come to the conclusion the only way I can ever do a true-blue detox is have a week where no children need me. Seriously. It takes that much out of me by day 3. This week, I am eating my usual cheese and crackers (procssed) and had whole wheat pasta with pasta sauce for lunch. However, I am incorporating 3/4 – 1 1/2 quarts of some sort of green smoothie each day, which is helping me keep the processed foods to a minimum. I’m also snacking on fruit and/or nuts and/or veggie more than snack crackers.

My goal is to eventually move to a 80 – 90% raw/UNprocessed lifestyle, but I know now, it’s gonna have to be gradual. For now, gradual remains smoothies each day, no caffeine, limited-to-no sugar, and snacking on veggies, fruits, and nuts instead of junk food.

Green Smoothies versus Juicing

Speaking of green smoothies . . .

Last summer it occurred to me one day, that for all the juicing I was doing, I really wasn’t getting much fiber. This wasn’t based on anything I had read, it was just gut instinct.

Then I stumbled across this article

Is blending fruits and vegetables better than juicing for detox?

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After reading this I began doing smoothies more than juicing. And it was hard to get used to. I’m a big texture person and the texture to smoothies wasn’t pleasant.

My blender died a month into doing this and I bought a new one: the Oster Fusion Blender – BRLY07B. It was more than I would have spent on a blender normally ($80) but with six blades, it was worth it!

My smoothies became much nicer in texture. And I could tell I was getting much more fiber from drinking them from trips to the bathroom that increased – which, without giving TMI, was a big deal as I ruined my digestive tract during bulimia-abuse-laxatives years and struggle to use the bathroom without fiber or laxatives of some sort.Ã‚Â As long as I am doing smoothies, I have no need of aids for this part of my life and no longer need IBS meds either!

I actually got to a point during the summer that I began enjoying the smoothies and would use that as my lunch. Hard to imagine now, as I am re-learning to like them, but during the summer, I was easily drinking a quart of them and feeling quite satiated.

What goes into a green smoothie? I have two different combinations I use. One is the yogurt smoothie (my favorite) and the other is straight fruit and greens. For example, this morning I had:

1 cup of kale

1 cup of spinach

2 cups of fresh pineapple

3 squeezed oranges

I blend the greens with 1-1/2 cups of water first until smooth. Then I add the fruit in.

Green yogurt smoothie

For the yogurt blend I will often do:

1/2 quart of homemade kefir (article coming soon on kefir)

1 cup of yogurt

1 tbsp of ground flax seed

1 cup of blueberries

1 cup of spinach

a banana

some protein powder

Since the straight fruit/vegetables ones aren’t my favorite I do those in the morning to “get them out of the way”. By afternoon, when I’m tired and craving sweet, I’ll do the yogurt one.

It varies day to day, based on what I have on hand. Sometimes I may add avocado to one of them for more caloric intake. Some days it’s apples. I may use coconut yogurt other days for new taste and leave out the banana. Pretty much anything goes when making smoothies. It’s up to you to find your favorite combination.

My dream some day is to own one of these:
Vita-Mix 1700 Turbo Blend 4500 Countertop Blender with 2+ HP Motor

I’ve heard they blend fruits and veggies into a dream smoothie mix with hardly any pulp whatsoever, which would help a big texture person like me! In the meantime my Oster Fusion Blender works great for the budget I have.

In summary:

In keeping up with our 52 weeks to the all natural lifestyle, it’s about going slowly but not going backwards. Gradually incorporate 1, and then 2 smoothies into your day. The next time you eat up your chips, don’t buy a new bag but buy some nuts instead. The next time the Chips Ahoy run out, buy some fresh bananas and eat those for a sweet tooth craving. Going extreme may not work for most of us, but gradual is doable!

Let me know how you’re doing!

Juicing | Week 4 of 52 Weeks to the All Natural Lifestyle

Have you ever seen what they recommend for a daily intake of fruits and vegetables?It’s pretty darn overwhelming, and that’s with the normal food pyramid. Forget it if you’re trying to eat 80% fruits and veggies in your daily diet!

That’s where juicing comes in.

Now, I want to say right off the bat, juicing isn’t everything. I once thought it was, but I now know it’s not. Juicing does just that–gives you juice. There is no pulp, no fiber to what you’re getting when you juice.

You do however, receive vital nutrients such as vitamins in their potent form, from juicing. Just drink some fresh apple juice mixed with carrot juice and you’ll feel an energy charge similar to that as a grande Starbucks.

Later in the series we will take a look at the benefit of smoothies in addition to juicing but for those just starting out, drinking juice is more palatable than spinach smoothies.

What Should I Juice?

Pretty much anything goes–except beets. Don’t juice beets alone! Always juice them in a small – very small – ratio compared to whatever else you are juicing. Beet juice is exceptionally potent stuff and can cause your heart to race, hives to break out, and even your vocal chords to become paralyzed. I had a friend experience this first hand. It terrified her! Beet juice is a great toxin eliminator but your body must become used to it over time, so please, start out small!

Other than that, juice anything you can find in your produce section. My favorite combination is:

2 – 3 cups of greens (kale, spinach, bok choy, parley, etc)

3 apples

2 oranges

2 large carrots

1 cup of pineapple

half lemon (detox)

Mmmmmm! That is some good stuff!

Higher Fruit to Vegetable Ratio

When starting out, you’ll want to have a higher fruit ratio to your vegetable ratio. If you have more apples and pineapple than spinach, you’ll never even taste the spinach. With time, you may not only get used to the greens taste, some days you may want to taste that more than the sweet fruit taste.

If you don’t have a lot of fruit, carrots are just as good of a sweetener for your greens as fruit. Carrot juice alone is amazing in fact!

What is the best juicer

Here is where hot debate comes in. Some people swear that the high priced machines are the only way to go. Those of us on a much tighter lifestyle swear that cheap works fine.

Here is the biggest difference between the two as I understand it. The cheaper juices generate more heat, thus destroying vital nutrients as they push through the juicer. The juicers that can run in the $1,000′s do not generate heat, keeping the nutrients and also getting more out of the vegetables *the pulp is much dryer after the juicing process, indicating more was taken out*

I use the well-known Jack LeLanne’s Juicer, which can be found for less than $100 on sale at your local Target and after five years am still going strong with it. Would I buy a power juicer that runs in the $1,000′s if I had the money? Yes. I do believe they are better. But for where I am, what I have works for now.

Some juicers on the market include the following

Omega 1000 Juicer