Some delicious wheat-free eats for us tonight! Tri-tip (marinated in apple cider vinegar, balsamic, Bragg’s Aminos, with crushed red peppers), roasted red, green, Serrano, habanero, and jalapeño peppers, and finally baby spinach with garlic and shallots.

Vanessa also had cream cheese/clam dip with raw dipping carrots. Yum! The entire diner was cooked on the Big Green Egg over oak lump coal and soaked mesquite smoking chips and lumps. Smoked at 240 degrees for 2 hours.

We also decided to roast some raw almonds coated in olive oil. We roasted them on the Big Green Egg too to give them a nice smokey flavor. They turned out great! Next we’ll try soaking in some vinegar frist before we roast ’em…then sprinkle with some sea salt.

OK, folks…this is the last post in my juicing series. The fast went great and we continued for almost 13 days until our renovation really got in the way. To sum things up, in the year that’s passed since our fast we have continued to juice as a major part of our eating habits. Fresh juices serve as a major supplement to our diets and we still juice 3-4 times per week, typically in the morning.

I thought you might like some follow-up regarding the “equipment” and information we use for juicing that I’ve mentioned in previous posts. So a year later, here’s how things worked out:

We still LOVE our Breville Juicer. It’s proven to be tough as nails, easy to use, and a breeze to clean up. As I’ve connected with other juicers, some love the Breville and others prefer a masticating juicer and love the increased amount of juice they get from their fruits & veggies and the quiet operation of most masticating juicers.

We also still really like the Whithings wifi scale. Candidly, I don’t weigh myself very often. But when I do, it’s really nice to be able to do easy comparisons on the desktop software or the iOS app. My wife uses the scale more than I do and she also loves the automatic tracking.

I still occasionally watch Joe Cross’s movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead for motivation…not just for juicing but motivation for life in general. As I type this, he’s in production for a follow-up movie.

I also joined a green juicing clinic and had a fantastic experience with that, as well. I’ll do a separate post explaining that entire experience and you can read all about by clicking here: Your Chance to Learn About Juicing, Juicers, and the Benefits of Juice Fasting

In Day 6’s post I discussed the tragedy of cranberries being pulled from our grocery store shelves in the post-Holiday season.  Well, Vanessa was shopping at Central Market and found Cape Cod Cranberries for $1.50 a bag!  There were on closeout, but for now, we’ll take it.  She was worried about me so she rented a U-Haul and bought out every cranberry in the store! Well, I can’t back that up.  Actually, there were only eight bags left so she bought all those.  That’ll have to do until we find another supplier.  There are frozen ones available everywhere but we want to stick with fresh to get all the goodness.  Plus, the frozen one’s are nearly $3.50 a bag. Whoa! So, crisis averted…for now!  Well, Week 1 down and one+ more to go, for a 15-day total.  On Day 15 we plan to begin our transition out by juicing, eating fruit and drinking fresh fruit smoothies.

Day  Morning Stats

This morning I was 181 lbs, according to my Withings WiFi Body Scale, kind of a dramatic loss from yesterday at 183.6 lbs. Here’s the screenshot:

Today’s Juices

This morning’s juice was an experiment…it included apple, kale, bok choy, broccoli, baby spinach and one lemon.  Wow!  I was crazy surprised how good this was! Even my son had a glass and enjoyed it!.  If you like things healthy but just a little sweet, this is a very good juice.  Try it, and let me know what you think.  Here’s a pic:

Today’s Challenges

I drank lots of water and lemon water today, but was late getting a lunch juice.  We had to prep our kitchen for tile removal and after my breakfast juice I was pretty busy uninstalling our dishwasher, wine fridge, and kegerator (don’t judge…but I know now that I’m called to invent a healthy vegetable beer that somehow tastes like Shiner Bock).  As soon as I was done I had to rush out of the house to meet with some co-workers as were got ready to do a photo/video shoot at the home of a veteran who was severely wounded in Afghanistan. We were doing the shoot until around six o’clock and I wasn’t able to juice until I got home.  Luckily, Vanessa picked up some fresh juice for us at Whole Foods because our kitchen is completely trashed.  it looks like it snowed in there because of all the tile dust. So, we’re a little off schedule with our juicing.  It’ll work out though!

Final Thoughts

I’ve gotten a lot of comments about the Withings WiFi Body Scale here on the blog and on Facebook. Yeah, I think it rocks and it sounds like you do, too! Thanks to all who gave some great suggestions to get me through my cranberry tragedy…you’re awesome.  I’m going to cut things short for today and I’ll be back tomorrow!

You can learn more about the Withing’s Body Scale here, too!  very, very cool!

The Internet connected Body Scale. Buy the Withings scale online now.

Happy Juicing!

Resources/Links

When asked if I know of a reference for juicing…a “one-stop-shopping” guide to getting started…I now recommend Farnoosh Brock’s “Your Comprehensive Green Juicing Guide” I really wish I knew about this book before I started my juicing journey. At least I now have what I consider to be the “definitive reference” to refer others to as they begin their own juicing program. At $9.99, it is WAY underpriced!

Withings WiFi Body Scale Fat, Sick, and Nearly DeadDr, Fuhrman’s WebsiteNutritarian Food PyramidANDI ChartFood Density and Scores

Today I hit a major obstacle in my juice fast. This probably won’t impact you as much as it impacted me but…I guess I’ll just come right out and say it…my local grocery stores ALL stop carrying fresh cranberries every year on 1 January!  How messed up is that? Apparently, grocery stores are on a cycle for Holiday fruits and vegetables just like they are for those snow-white sugar cookies with crack in them, smothered in frosting (orange for Halloween and Thanksgiving, pink, green or red for Christmas, etc).  Yep, I asked the produce guy after wandering around for 20 minutes looking like a lost child, searching in vain for my beloved bags of little red tart berries.  He’s the one who filled me in on the secret:  they stock cranberries for exactly 3 months and pull them off the shelf on New Year’s Day.  So now you know.

Alright, I’ll stop my whining and learn to embrace the taste of green a little more than I have.

Day 6 Morning Stats

This morning I was 183.6 lbs, according to my Withings WiFi Body Scale, down one pound since yesterday.  I’ll take it!   Here’s the screenshot:

Today’s Juices

I started this morning with some green tea to try to get “get things moving” internally.  Didn’t work.  I know, probably TMI for most people but let’s face it, juice fasting does tend to cause a few bodily changes!  Then, Vanessa and I tried a new “off the cuff” recipe that included apple, carrot, kale, bok choy, broccoli, my beloved (but now no longer available) cranberries, and persimmon.  Never heard of persimmon before but they are a sweet, but slightly tangy fruit and look like a tomato. It was a really good mix and we enjoyed it.   So here’s a snapshot of our ingredients:

Today’s Challenges

I don’t think I drank enough water or juice today.  Usually, I’m pretty good about that but today I was at meetings with my business partner and the team and, no excuses, I just didn’t drink enough water.  We met at Starbucks and I picked up a Tazo Green Tea (Passionfruit) and then we moved over to EZ’s Restaurant.  Everyone ate at EZ’s but I just sipped my tea and should have ordered a water, too, but I didn’t.  Lesson learned.

Good Stuff for New Juicers

I mentioned yesterday that I’ve been doing some exploring over at Dr. Fuhrman’s site.  If you’ve seen Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead you’ll recall that he’s the doc who supervised Joe’s fast.  There is a ton of great info there; specifically, more info on the food pyramid and chart he discusses in the movie and food density and micronutrient scores.   If you’re familiar with Whole Foods stores, you may know that they adopted Dr. Fuhrman’s food density scores to develop the ANDI, short for Aggregate Nutrient Density Index, which he expanded from his earlier chart. You can find out more about the ANDI Chart here.

Final Thoughts

Both Vanessa and I really are realizing, and trying to understand, the power that food has over each of us.  Good and bad. I think I’ve been pretty candid about my irresponsible eating habits in my previous posts and I’m learning so much as I go through this process. I’m feeling changes in my body already and know that all the fresh nutrients and live enzymes are working hard to repair years of damage I’ve caused.  That’s good.  But we’re also seeing the negative effects that eating habits have on us through this fast. For example, our daughter came over with a little baggie of Cheez-Its to sit on Vanessa’s lap. Vanessa told me she “just wanted just one of those Cheez-Its to sit on her tongue so she could savor the salty flavor and then crunching on it.  She cooked pork loin for the kids and was tempted by that, too!  And she’s vegetarian! I, on the other hand, almost put a Triscuit in my mouth as I closed up the box for our daughter.  Not out of temptation or hunger (I wasn’t even hungry), but out of habit.  Those are things we’re becoming more and more aware of.

Finally, as I’m no longer going to be able to indulge in my tart little berries, I’m open to suggestions.  I was so used to those cute little round red bastards cutting into the flavor of the kale and spinach, leaving me with a little tart-induced smile on my tongue.  They say it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all. We’ll see…

Resources/Links

Withings WiFi Body Scale 

Day 5 Morning Stats

As I mentioned in my initial My Juicing Journey post, I have been watching what I eat and supplementing my diet with juice since 7 December 2011.  I didn’t actually begin the fast until 28 December 2011 (I wanted to get a jump on my resolution and my wife Vanessa jumped on board, too).  Since Christmas I have lost 13 lbs! That blows me away!  That said, today’s morning weight and yesterday’s were the same.  We’ll see how tomorrow goes.  I’m not in the least bit discouraged, though.   Here’s my morning shot from my WiScale App from my Withings WiFi Body Scale.   You can click on the pic to get a closer view.

Today’s Juices

Happy New Year!  Started out the morning with a delicious green tea with acai berry. This tea is absolutely delicious and plays right into my love of things that are tart. I typically start out the day with cold lemon water but have been reading that I should be drinking hot lemon water in the morning to aid with digestion.  Trouble is, I’m not a big fan of hot lemon water.  Plus, I drink cool lemon water all day long so hot lemon water isn’t really much of a treat for me.  This tea, however, tastes like a treat.  It’s sort of weird, but with an empty stomach you can feel the warm tea all the way through your down your throat and it instantly warms up your stomach.  After tea, we made our breakfast juice with bok choy, pineapple, orange, and broccoli. Once again, I forgot to take a picture. I got one of lunch, though! This one includes apples, bok choy, baby kale, cranberries, carrot, and broccoli.  Although it’s not in the picture I did include a little bit of lime juice after I made the juice to cut through the little bit of broccoli taste.  Here it is:

New Year’s Day Challenges

Gotta admit, no major challenges today.  None for me but Vanessa had some headaches throughout the day.  However, did the lunch she made for our daughter smell good?  Yep!  Did the smell of a warm whole wheat tortilla lead us away from our goals?  Nope!  All in all a great day to welcome the New Year.  I did do a little bit of research on Dr. Fuhrman’s site and will be posting some links to that info tomorrow.  Also, I’ve been keeping up with the boards on the Join the Reboot website and want to say hello to my new “reboot friends” over there!

Resources/Links

Withings WiFi Body Scale