Author Archives: Chicken Nuggets and Elmo

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Deciding to do a juice fast requires advance planning…

After checking my supplies (and to be honest, my willpower), I have decided to cut this short. Yeah, I’m a sucker…but we’re kind of in the middle of a blizzard and I didn’t plan this out well. I bought a bunch of organic veggies and fruit yesterday to have them in the house for the weekend, but deciding to do the 3-day fast was sort of a last minute thing. My bad.

Also… wow… I really want to eat.

Now, I’m a little hungry, not starving, but I just want to chew on something! Joe Cross talked about this in his documentary, “Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.”  And I remember feeling like this when I did the 3 day Kaeng Raeng detox last year.

But… Let’s focus on what I have done since my post earlier today:

Midday: I’m ready to make my second juice — I guess I’m a little behind because this is supposed to be the “mid-morning” juice.

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I’ve made this one earlier this week, so I am going to only use 3 stalks of celery… just my preference….

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This is how many oz that pile of veggies/fruit made

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It looks a little frothy… but this juice is bright green and beautiful. When I made it earlier this week I didn’t have ginger, so I think adding that plus only using 3 celery stalks made this much more palatable for me.

Lunch

This is when I realized I was in trouble.

This is when I realized I was in trouble.

News flash: I don’t like raw tomatoes. Uh… so… I don’t have any tomatoes in the house…. so… I skipped this juice and went right to this one:

Now this I could do... with some adjustments...

Now this I could do… with some adjustments…

I had the Kale, but no Swiss Chard… and I had the cucumber, but no clementines. This is where I was starting to think… uh, I don’t have all the stuff for this thing… anywho. So this is what I used for this one:

8 leaves of Kale, 1 cucumber, 2 oranges (one with the peel and one without), 1 celery stalk, one carrot

8 leaves of Kale, 1 cucumber, 2 oranges (one with the peel and one without), 1 celery stalk, one carrot

This juice looked beautiful.

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before I mixed it all together... it looked tie-dyed or something...

before I mixed it all together… it looked tie-dyed or something…

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When stirred it became a deeper green.

I thought this juice was yummy, but next time I will just put a little of the orange rind in. It was a little too much.

So I finished this last juice after 4pm. How did I feel? Ok. Not bloated or gassy, not running to the bathroom. (It’s amazing how often I feel bloated and I don’t even realize it.) I was a little hungry, even though I had been drinking 12-16 oz of water between juices.

The other juice recipes do look yummy — and I plan on trying them. I will post when I do, and I’ll of course post when I can actually do the full 3 day juice fast.

I have a whole new respect for Joe Cross right now! 60 days is no joke….

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Day 1 of a 3 day juice fast — “Rebooting with Joe”

I’m just gonna go for it. Even though I am hungry… I’m going to push through today.

I just made my breakfast juice after having the hot water with lemon and additional glass of water recommended.

Carrot/apple/ginger = delicious!

I found a PDF for a 3-day reboot plan here: http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/rebooting/plans/

I found a PDF for a 3-day reboot plan here: http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/rebooting/plans/

There is nothing like fresh carrot juice. It’s so much better than what you can buy in a store.

Note: I’m using all organic produce. Except the ginger… I didn’t see organic ginger in my supermarket.

Though I’m not doing this to lose weight, I’ll be interested to see if I do lose anything. I’ll keep you posted on that.

3 carrots, 2 apples, 1" ginger

3 carrots, 2 apples, 1″ ginger

This made about 17-18 oz of juice. My carrots were pretty big...

This made about 17-18 oz of juice. My carrots were pretty big…

It filled up a red solo cup

It filled up a red solo cup

After finishing the juice, I’m not as hungry… but I’m going to have more water as well. Hopefully this part will get easier!

I’m not sure if I will post about each juice/meal or if I will just have time to post once a day… but I will definitely take pictures of everything and post them + a description of how I feel as well.

Cheers!

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“Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead”: a movie review and why I bought a juicer

A health-nutty friend of mine posted a link to this movie on Facebook. It was free to watch on hulu (and I think it still is at the time I write this). The title piqued my interest and I watched the first few minutes right then and resolved to watch the rest later that day.

I wound up staying up until 1:30 that morning to finish watching it.

And I don’t stay up to watch nuthin’.

It’s the story of how one man, Joe Cross, decided to do a 60-day juice fast in the hopes it would help him cure a skin condition (chronic urticaria), lose weight, and jump-start a more healthy lifestyle. He traveled across the U.S.A. and talked to people about their health and what it means to be healthy, and he tried to get people interested in juicing. One of the people he met was Phil Staples, a morbidly obese truck driver who suffered from the same skin condition. Joe offered to help Phil with juicing and lose the weight and get his life back… and he does.

It was very impactful and inspirational… so much so, I bought a juicer this past weekend, and I made the “Mean Green Juice” featured in the movie.

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I have reported previously that I am afraid of green smoothies… and I was a little afraid of the green juice… but it was better than I thought it would be. You can find the recipe here.

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Ingredients for the “Mean Green” juice

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Now I’ve resolved myself to doing at least a 3 or 5 day juice fast, and Joe (the guy in the movie), has a great site set up to help you choose the right juicer and guide you through a fast.

I really felt inspired by this movie… and now I am going to make some carrot juice with apple and ginger… =)

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Day One of No Sugar, Again

Yeah, I haven’t stayed away from sugar yet, but today I am.

Some things I am trying to keep in mind today to help me focus on this goal for today…

I’m not back to the gym yet, but I thought this was a good slap in the face:

One of my favorite bloggers posted this the other day and it makes me want to eat raw kale (um, I don’t think I’ve ever said that):

Chop-It-Up Veggie Salad with Tahini Garlic Dressing

I was looking for a link to a tofu recipe I have in my mental recipe box that I wanted to try…I can’t find the link at the moment, but I am still looking… but I did find this tofu cooking inspiration. I do try to eat tofu at least once a week and I want to learn how to prepare it in different ways. I usually get it in my Thai food — like yesterday, I ordered Pad Kra Tiem — the sauce is light and broth-y rather than heavy, and it’s loaded with veggies (garlic, broccoli, baby corn, carrots, red bell peppers, garnished with sliced cucumber). With brown rice and steamed tofu it’s enough for a lunch and a half.

I am planning on going vegetarian for Lent again this year, but I also like to experiment with vegan and raw vegan cooking. I found this graphic and thought it was a good thing to keep in mind about all the food/nutrition sources available on a vegan diet:

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Another 3-day detox is in my future….

Ok, so it’s January 4 and it seems a lot of people are interested in my previous post, “I just completed a 3-day detox / raw vegan diet and LIVED.”

(It was a 3-day Kaeng Raeng detox and actually kind of liked it.)

This blog doesn’t get more than a couple hits a day, and while that one has consistently been one of my most popular posts…  yesterday that post alone got 141 hits.

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That’s a lot of people feeling the need to hit the reset button.

I wanted to do the detox last year to help jump start me on my weight loss and kick start some better eating habits. Did it work? Yeah, for a while… but I am back on “the sugar” again, and I am feeling the need for another detox. I tried doing it a couple months ago without quitting sugar first… and I had to stop after the first day because I had such bad headaches!

Tomorrow is my birthday, and I am sure there will be some kind of confection involved to celebrate… but on Sunday I am going to try the no sugar thing again. Last time I detoxed I did 3 days with no sugar leading up to it — I’ll do that again and go for Kaeng Raeng detox #2!

I’ll keep you posted.

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Refocusing on the clean green — and my 2012 annual report

In the last couple of months I’ve revisited my “about” page and my eating and exercise goals. I haven’t quite done what I said I would do here. I know a lot of people make fitness goals around the first of the year, and I’ve never been much of a New Year’s resolution kind of person… but getting my WordPress “Annual Report” yesterday is making me think about refocusing on cleaning up my diet and finding time for regular exercise. (Here’s a link to that if you’re interested.)

Light green curry I made recently with brown rice, tofu, carrots, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, potatoes and chick peas

Light green curry I made recently with brown rice, tofu, carrots, sweet potatoes, Brussels sprouts, potatoes and chick peas

I’ve been a bit side-tracked on the exercise bit for the last month because I was rear-ended on my way to work on Tuesday, November 27… I have to get a MRI on my neck/back to see if I have whiplash/disc damage. I’m hoping I don’t… but I can’t work out again until I find out. And…I can’t say I have been sticking to eating well most days these last two months.

BLARG!!

BLARG!!

Here are a couple things I’m doing to try to get back on track with my diet and exercise:

  1. I’m making an appointment with the registered dietitian at my local supermarket. I’m hoping I can come up with a 3-4 week meal plan. I’ve done this before but not recently — I think if I can have a mindset of what my meals are each day, there will be less of a chance that I will say screw it and eat whatever. This does, however, involve planning ahead, something I’ve not been so great with lately!
  2. As soon as I can get back to the gym I’m going to… I have to! I’m going to ask my doctor if there’s any kind of exercise I can do right now…
  3. I’m going to attempt to post at least once a week, probably over the weekend, with a brief eating plan and recipe links. I’ll also give a brief update of my exercise.

I’d also like to give a shout out to my top five commenters. I really appreciate your support and suggestions!

  1. Dangerously Daydreaming
  2. My friend Paula =)
  3. Rant and Roll
  4. In Her Chucks
  5. AgriGirl

~ I wish you all a Happy and Safe New Year’s ~

Quick Vegan Breakfast: Raw Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding
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Quick Vegan Breakfast: Raw Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding

I never plan ahead for breakfast during the week, so if I’m lucky I’ll grab a banana and a Greek yogurt on my way out the door. It’s the healthier and cheaper option.

If I’m not lucky and I’m running out the door I’ll try to stop on my way to the office for a breakfast sandwich. Not so healthy or cheap!

I found this recipe when it was first posted over at Fork and Beans. (If you haven’t visited her yet I highly encourage you to do so.)

I’m not a vegan but I am trying to eat healthier, and of late I am trying to “get back on track” with my “crappy eating.”

Since I’m working from home this week (what with the apocalypse ’round these parts), I thought I would try this. It does require advance planning since it has to chill overnight, but as long as you have the ingredients and a seal-able container (and electricity!), it literally takes 4 seconds to prepare.

I was unsure how I would like “pudding” made from chia seeds… but let me tell you… it was absolutely delicious. And chocolate-y. And really filling.

This one is a keeper, folks.

(BTW…If you don’t know about chia seeds… see what it says about them on Dr. Oz’s site… here.)

Raw Chocolate Chia Seed Pudding (for One)

Raw & gluten, dairy, egg and refined sugar-free

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 Tbs chia seeds
  • 1 c. non-dairy milk (I used unsweeted vanilla almond)
  • 1 Tb cocoa powder (or raw cacao powder)
  • drizzle of agave for sweetness (optional, but i did)
  • Toppings of choice (fruit/nuts — I used bananas)

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Place all ingredients into a mason jar or other sealable container. Screw top tight and shake vigorously.
  2. Place in refrigerator overnight (chia seeds will expand as they set).
  3. Mix with a spoon and pour desired toppings on top.
  4. Eat.

A close up… the consistency was kind of pudding-y, and the chia seeds were soft yet smooth… if that makes sense.

Hurricanes are bad for your sugar intake
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Hurricanes are bad for your sugar intake

I have been hearing from a lot of my friends that they’ve been eating like CRAP all week. Some people have had to rely on non-perishable food due to Hurricane Sandy (I live in Central NJ), and many people still don’t have power today, a full week after the storm hit.

We didn’t lose power, so I can’t blame my eating on the storm. For the most part I have managed to stay away from the Halloween candy I have yet to give out (they’ve postponed trick or treating in my town until they can finish cleaning up downed trees and power lines). But I have not been eating well, and I have not been eating enough green things. Or vegetable things.

I did, however, make a root vegetable soup on Monday the 29th, in my “I have to do something” panic before the storm hit that night (sort of a variation on this one, which I’ve made before).

soup preppin

The aftermath of the storm has been so bad that they cancelled my CSA pickup this past Thursday. Hopefully those shares were donated and didn’t go to waste, but I’m not sure.

My gym has also been closed for the last week… which also is no excuse for my lack of exercise over the last week.

I’ve just been really off lately. In a rut. And now that we just turned the clocks back there’s more darkness. I love this time of year for so many reasons but the lack of daylight is not one of them!

Hopefully things will get back to normal soon with power and gas… and hopefully I can get myself in a better frame of mind.

I think I am going to try to go without sugar for a few days too… and do another 3-day detox. I had tried to start one the week before the storm and I had to stop after less than one day because I had such an incredibly bad headache (which I think must have been me detoxing from sugar/caffeine).

CSA Share 15 and a vegan soup recipe
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CSA Share 15 and a vegan soup recipe

As I just wrote in my other blog…

A brief note:
Thank you, readers, for sticking with me! I know my entry schedule has been sketchy at best. I have to try to manage my time better so I can find the time to blog. I have started several posts in my head in the past couple of weeks but I think you would enjoy the posts more if I actually wrote them. Lately, Sleeping. Always. Wins.

CSA Share 15 — October 11, 2012

That’s a lot of greens!

I’ve been frustrated in the last few weeks because some things from each week’s share weren’t getting used, even though I split this share with a friend. So when I got home Thursday afternoon I decided, rather spontaneously, to whip up a quick soup using a recipe from my trainer. Whipping up a “quick soup” might sound like no biggie… but I always try to limit my food prep time during the week. I’d rather be hanging out with my daughter than cooking, and I love cooking.

My trainer went vegan for Lent this past year and she kind of made up this soup recipe. She gave me some notes… so I’m kind of making up the amounts here…

“Super Vegan Soup”

  • 1 onion, diced
  • 2 shallots
  • 1 full head of garlic
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 2-4 cups of greens, washed and ripped into smaller pieces (I used kale and Swiss chard, but you could also just use anything you have on hand)
  • olive oil
  • seasonings you like… I used salt/pepper, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, basil, mint and sage

Basic directions: in a large stock pot add about 1 tbsp olive oil and sauté the onion, shallots and garlic. After a few minutes add the carrots and greens and cook a few minutes more. Stir in seasonings and add 6 cups of water. Cook over a low heat for at least 20 minutes, but more if desired. The longer it cooks the more flavorful it becomes.

Instead of water you could also use vegetable broth. My soup came out pretty good, but I added a little Parmesan cheese to it… making it not vegan. I went a little light on the spice, so next time I would also add more seasonings, like at least 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon of each one.

kale and Swiss chard… prepped and ready for the soup

I finished the rest of the soup leftovers today for lunch