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 

Day 4 Morning Stats

Still making progress!  Here’s my morning shot from my WiScale App from my Withings WiFi Body Scale.  Not bad…184.6 lbs!  You can click on the pic to get a closer view

Geez I Like this Juice!

It’s New Year’s Eve  day and we decided to treat ourselves with a sweeter breakfast drink.  Unfortunately, I didn’t take a picture of the ingredients but they included pineapple, oranges, kale, and bok choy.  It was pretty tasty. For lunch and dinner we made the same drink as yesterday (yep, that’s the same picture from Day Three…I’m a slacker).  Again, I make this with apples, bok choy, ginger root, kale, cranberries, grapes and carrots.  This is my favorite juice so far.

New Year’s Eve Challenges

Challenge Number 1

We had a really nice “family” day today and decided to take some juices and visit our land out in the Texas Hill Country.  We plan to build our home there in the next few years and we just pulled in, drank a bit of juice and tried to take a nap in the truck.  The weather was amazing; sunny and 74 degrees.  After that we decided to take a drive to Castoville, Texas, about 20 miles away.  I had done some research earlier in December about where to find fresh meats and sausages without any added nitrates/nitrites. I found a place called Dzuik’s Meat Market there in Castroville and we decided to check it out as a source for my long-term post-fast meals. Vanessa has been vegetarian for about 4 months so this was a selfish destination.  Well, as soon as we opened the door our mouths started to water.  This place was full of beef jerky, turkey jerky, chunk jerky (which is probably an inch thick and coated in pepper), fresh beef, sausages, you name it.  The place was a meatatarians’s dream!  I asked a few questions about their meats (in between swallowing my drool) and we left, foregoing any samples!  Honestly, it was tough, but it reminded me of the scene in Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead where Joe walks into the Famiglia Pizzeria in New York.  Sometimes you have to face your demons head-on. It was all the temptation I could handle for the day.  Or so I thought…

Challenge Number 2

Usually we stay home on New Year’s Eve night.  I’m not a big fan of driving on what my ex-wife Katie calls DUI “Amateur Night,” when people decide to party it up and then drive home. This year, though, we were invited over to some friends’ house and thought it would be a nice change.  Well, the minute we walk in the house we are blasted by these absolutely phenomenal aromas! See, our friend is a chef and owns a huge bakery. The smell of searing these big ol’ beef tenderloins, and naan bread (a personal favorite) covered in garlic and sun-dried tomato flakes…it was torture!.  And here we are walking in with our juices! Well, all of our friends were very supportive (many of them also juice or are getting ready to start) and we stuck to our juices as they enjoyed the feast. As fellow juicers, they were able to give us some great advice and explain some of the effects of the detox cycle to us as well.  So, overall, a great New Year’s Eve. Once again, demons faced and beaten.  We had a terrific time and didn’t compromise our goals.  Thankfully, there was no Challenge Number 3!

Some Final Thoughts

Being totally candid, Day 1 through 4 weren’t easy but no one said they would be.  One thing that was on my mind all day was that I know I’m entering 2012 in a much better state than I entered 2011.  We are incredibly blessed with amazing family, friends, careers, and now I’m finally following my wife’s example of taking care of my health. So bring on the challenges…I know I can face them and overcome them.  I was so inspired by Joe and Phil in the movie and I’m following suit.  One thing we’ve all faced as humans is that we’ve likely let ourselves down lots of times…failed to really achieve our potential.  How many times have you thought “If I would have stuck with ______, I probably be _____ by now.” But we didn’t stick with it. For all the things I feel I’ve accomplished in life, taking control of my health is not one of them. Well now I’m doing it.  There was a scene in the film where Phil was a few days into his fast and said “I’ve broken a lot of goals, but for my health and for my life, this is a goal I’m gonna stick with.” That’s what it takes.  Well said, Phil.

Happy New Year and New You to all who have found their way to my posts.  I wish you all the best. Please don’t hesitate to leave comments below. I’m also linking these posts to a few of the groups over on the Join the Reboot website and you can reach me there, too.

Last thing before I close…should I start taking pics of all the ingredients for my juices and posting them every day? Would any videos help? Let me know!

 Resources/Links

Withings WiFi Body Scale 

Day 3 Morning Stats

Morning weight was 186.5 lbs…amazing. I decided to start posting the screenshot from my WiScale App from my Withings WiFi Body Scale for transparency’s sake. I’ll explain more about the scale and app in a bit, but here’s a screenshot (you can click on the pic to get a closer view):

My Juices

I’m not feeling as hungry in the morning but I did get a little hungry around lunch time..tells me it’s time for a juice. Speaking of juice, this is a pic of the ingredients for used for both my breakfast and lunch juice.  Yep, it was so good I made it twice! It consisted of apples, bok choy, ginger root, kale, cranberries, grapes and carrots.  Absolutely delicious!

Today’s Challenges

My family and I went with my in-laws to a hockey game.  If there’s one thing about San Antonio, Texas, it’s that it must be nearly impossible to swing a dead armadillo without hitting some amazing food.  That holds true at our sports arenas, too!  Once again, I spent the evening drooling like the oil boy at the Swedish Bikini Team try outs…pizza, burgers, fajitas, tacos…you name it. Vanessa snuck (sneaked, sneeked?) a couple of our juices in in her purse.  So, at least we didn’t go totally without and the juices were delicious.  But damn, those chicken fajitas looked good!  It helps to be going through all of this with someone else.  Vanessa and I are a good team and we keep each other in check.  I make it out to sound worse than it really was, though.  We both know our goals and we’re well on our way.

Withings WiFi Body Scale

OK, so on to this super cool wifi scale.  So, I’m a tech guy…so there’s no reason I can’t include a little high-tech gadgetry in my fast, right?  Well the Withings WiFi Body Scale certainly fits the cool gadget bill! Here’s some info about the scale:

• Records weight, fat mass, lean muscle mass, and BMI
• Monitors your data on a private, password-secured website
• Free iPhone application increases data access
• Accurate graduation of 0.2 pounds; maximum weight of 396 pounds
• Multi-user monitoring allows up to eight users

I also included the video below so you can get the complete picture.  Do you need a seriously cool scale to do a juice fast?  Nope!  Did I want one?  Yep!  I was terrible about tracking my weight stats so I figured I’d put tech to work for me.  So now I have instant access to my stats on my iPhone, iPad, and laptop.

Withings WiFi Body Scale 

Withings WiScale iPhone and iPad App (Free iTunes Download)