Oh Dear

Dear former juicing self--

I doubt that you will recognize me, but I used to be the girl who juiced religiously. You might not believe who I have become, but I have fallen so far from my beloved juicing habits. What happened? How did I ever come to this? How will I ever be the person I once was?


It all began with jury duty. Now, I am not one to blame my life on certain events or situations, but a couple of weeks ago, my life and stress level went into overdrive. While on jury duty, the judge bought us lunch and we had many very nice meals. That was the beginning. After my service was complete, then came the game of playing catch up with my life. I had piles of papers to correct (at school), a house to be cleaned, laundry to be done, tickets to issue (at the box office), interview potential counselors (at camp), grad school, and yes...a new puppy who had surgery. I think I forgot to mention that we also sold our house and now only have 40 days to find a place to live. This all happened in 10 days. 

After one major meltdown I found comfort in some of my closest friends; Gertrude Hawk, Samario's, and Cara Mia's. 


Last night, I was so disgusted by my recent eating habits, I made a glass of fresh orange juice. It tasted to good and pure that I don't think that I can ever let myself get to this point of stress again. 


So, I am sure you have been here too. This is the moment where you look at yourself in the mirror and say, "Common, you can do it. I know it's not easy but you did it before and you will feel much better." It is also a bit comforting to know, that when you say this to yourself, you mean it, and you know it is true. 


I'm not perfect, and I don't expect anyone in my life to be. I don't expect myself to only drink juice for the rest of my life. But what I do expect, is to pull myself up once I fall, and get back in gear. Feeling stress is bad enough, but coupling stress with unhealthy foods just leads to a very unhealthy life and body. My body is my temple and I should let the stress out and healthy goodness back in. 


See you soon, juicing self. I've missed you.


Love,
Michelle 

The Goodness Continues

I knew my mind could make it to day 15, but at times, I wasn't sure about my body.

Yes, there were times I could murder a tray of pizza, but, let's face it. It takes time to adjust to any new routine. I am here on day 15 and I am 7 pounds lighter. My skin looks so fresh and healthy. My breath is not sticky and gross. I feel like my insides went through the car wash and are sparkling clean. Many people I work with are sick, and other than a quick case of pink eye, I have never felt healthier! 

The key to juicing is just to keep doing it. I have decided to extend my cleanse until the end of January. I am going to keep going forward in 2 -4 week segments. Juicing is not a diet for me, it is a lifestyle. The alternative, for me, is to be fat, sick, and nearly dead.

My Great-Grandmother's Juicer (Little Nana)

Last night I was a little hungry after dinner. I did not feel like messing up my juicer for a small glass of juice. I decided to break out my grandmother's juicer. Pressing the juice by hand and drinking the juice reminded me of all the days my dad and I would make juice together. During the middle of winter, he would bring home large bags of oranges or grapefruit. We would spend the mornings juicing our fresh fruit from Florida waiting for the sweet reward. 

After all of the recent reports on what actually is in your orange juice, from concentrate or not, I am so thankful that my body was raised on goodness. While other kids were drinking SunnyD and Tang, my dad and grandmother were using it to clean the dishwasher. Don't believe me? Read HERE

*Update- my father called to tell me that my juicer actually belonged to my great-grandmother, Little Nana Leggat. I guess juicing really is in the family! Let the love of goodness continue. 

Juicing Side Effects May Include:

It is the dawn of Day 7 of my New Year's Resolution. Before I begin, I ask you, how well are you doing on your resolution? Did you join the gym? Did you exercise yet? Have you been kinder to your neighbor? Did you scale back your family budget? Did you learn to say "no" to your child, boss, or spouse? I believe we all start the new year with good intentions and then fall quickly back into our former-less admirable- selves. Not this girl.


I have had 7 days of juice and clean food. When I try to explain to others what I am doing, I am always greeted with a furrow of the brow and and question; usually something like, "So, all you eat all day is that juice?" or "Don't you eat real food?" I love it. While in the lunchroom, someone might say, "That can't be healthy for you?" --as the questioner is munching on a sugary snack or a leftover casserole. I guess we all have our own interpretations as to what is or is not healthy. For me, this lifestyle works.


Today, instead of listing my juicing recipes, I thought I would tell you some of my "side effects" from juicing from the past few days.

• Detox headache - around day 2 I had a very annoying, hangover like, headache. 
• Bloat- all of the badness leaving my body
• "The runs" - yes, literally from my couch to the bathroom- on day 2/3
• Hunger - not consuming enough juice, smelling food. (add jealousy)
• Clean palate - I can taste everything clearly. I didn't realize my palate was to dirty! That slimy, gross, sticky breath, "I need a mint" feeling is gone. 
• Vision- my eyes seem to be focusing better and more quickly
• Calmness - No more afternoon sugar crash or jittery feelings. Constant energy
• Clarity - Brain fog is clearing.
• Awareness - time, relationships, environment, and self. This is difficult to explain but the juice has made me understand that the health of my body does not just include the food I eat, but everything that goes into it: how I spend my time, having meaningful friendships, positive conversation, location is everything, and taking care of myself is a priority. 

The most important lesson learned so far is that I have let my life get in the way of taking care of myself. No matter what your resolution is, if you have not started your resolution yet, start today. Try your new life for 1 week and then let me know how it turned out. You just might find that you like the New You.

The Hunger Games

There is no way to describe Day 3 of juicing other than "detoxing." Last night I had a pretty annoying headache. Today, for the most part, was good, other than feeling a bit tired. Hopefully tomorrow will bring a renewed sense of energy.

Tomorrow's breakfast

I started today off with my Morning Goodness, the same recipe as yesterday but I added some mango. Delish! I also had the same juice for my lunch. My morning routine has improved and I am getting pretty good at ironing out this new schedule. 

Here is my line up for tomorrow morning.

As you can see, a lot of food goes into each juice. 

7 small apples (or 4 regular)

2 small cucumbers (or 1 regular)

2 romaine 

2 oranges

4 stalks celery 

The interesting thing about juicing is that you never need to feel like you are hungry. Once you feel the hunger, drink some juice or have some veggie/fruit snacks. Drink as much as you want! 

Joe Cross and Reboot your Life was featured on the Williams-Sonoma website. 

Check it out HERE

The new page is filled with recipes and video tutorials. The site does seem to be crashing a bit, perhaps because of the heavy online traffic from other people starting to juice as their resolution! 

I'd juice in the morning

"Don't mess with my morning routine." I think that was my response to Jonny's suggestion to buying a house with one full bathroom. My morning routine is sacred. Don't mess with it.
Wake-bathroom-teeth-shower-makeup-hair-coffee/dogs/banana.

I have been performing this way for years, and my system is down to a science.

Enter juicing.

Ah@$nalkh!!!***##&!*!

Juicing after-school is a cinch. I can choose my veggies or fruit, leisurely chop, and relax in my big cozy chair as I sip the goodness. Juicing during the summer is even better - no schedule, no hunger! I can juice whenever. Juicing with a job - not so fun.

I am working on creating a better morning routine to get the freshest juice possible. Although I can make my juice the night before, sometimes I like to make a large batch in the morning for my breakfast and lunch.

Here are some Juice Routine-Buster tips:

• Pick out your ingredients the night before
• Chop and peel anything that needs it
• Put everything on 1 plate or in a big bowl so you do not have to keep going back into the fridge
• Have your clean juice cup near your juicer 
• Put the bag in the reserve tank so clean up is easy
• Put a dry towel on the counter so when you wash the juicer, you can just set the clean parts out to air dry 

I timed myself with this process this morning. It took about 9 min. in total. If I can avoid hitting the snooze button, I will have fresh juice every morning. 

Day 2 Juice Recipes

Morning Goodness

2 grapefruits

2 oranges

1 banana

4-5 strawberries 

Yum. 

Green Grass
2 apples
2 long carrots
1 large handful kale
2 small red potatoes

Tastes like I licked a lawnmower, but not offensive. Maybe skip potatoes next time and add another apple.

The Resolution- 15 days

Ok, so here is the disclaimer: I am by no means an expert at juicing. I am not a nutritionist. I am only a huge fan of consuming my daily caloric intake by the form of juice. Why? I'll leave that to the other non-expert to explain. Read about Joe Cross. So, why blog about my juicing experiences?

Many people are striving to "start the new year right." Every year, we make resolutions and quickly slide back into our former-less admirable-daily routines. Juicing is the kind of lifestyle change that can change with you. The cleanse is the most challenging part. My first attempt at the cleanse brought about a roller coaster of mixed emotions and experiences. You can read about it on my blog. I only documented days 1-4 but you should know that I lasted 10 days before I had to go to North Carolina for nearly 3 weeks. I wish I never had to stop.

When I returned from NC I fit in another 5-day fast before school started. I have maintained a juicing lifestyle since. Typically, I juice for breakfast and lunch. Lunch is challenging because I don't eat until 1:00pm and it is impossible to tote my juicer along. I will either pre-make my juice the night before or bring store-bought juice. I realize that this situation is not ideal, but there are a few very good pre-made juices out there. I enjoy Jamba Juice coconut water juices (Amazon) or Bolthouse Farms juices (Wegman's). Along with fresh veggies, it is enough to tide me over until I get home.

I've not been perfect. I fall off the wagon from time to time. I might go a few weeks without a total cleanse and then I notice how sluggish I feel. It is very rewarding to start fresh and feel the goodness. I use that word a lot, goodness. Drinking fresh juice is like drinking the sun, literally. Don't laugh just yet. Try it, and you'll agree.

I am starting the new year off with a 15 day cleanse. This will be my longest stretch (think marathon of juicing). If you are not sure what you should do as your resolution, just read. Encourage me. Maybe, together, we can have a happier and healthier new year.

Day 1 Juice Recipes

Carrot-Mango-Ginger

7 long carrots
1/4 pineapple
1 mango
1 grapefruit
1 thumb ginger

makes 2 servings

Tastes like the carrot-ginger dressing you get at Japanese restaurants.
Next time, I will use less ginger. Because mango is so expensive, I am a little disappointed I can't taste it.


Cucumber-Kale-Carrot

7 long carrots
3 cucumbers
handful of kale, about 7 stalks
1 thumb ginger

makes 2 servings

Jonny says, "It tastes like the garden." Again, I'd add less ginger. But honestly, the veggie juices are just a little harder to get used to.

Overall, today felt like day 1.

Another trip around the sun

It is a very quiet and relaxing New Years here at the Summers' residence, other than soundtrack of Jonny learning to play "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" on the ukulele. The dogs, Jon, and I indulged in a feast of shrimp, cheese, and kilebasea. If that isn't exciting enough, we watched HBO until about an hour ago. We chatted about our favorite moments of the year and then ranked our favorite and least favorite holidays. This conversation was sparked after seeing so many negative posts about 2011 on FB; so many people wishing 2011 good-bye, saying it was the worst year of their life, and hoping to never see it again. Jon and I had an ah-ha moment last year after we watched "the decade in review." At the end of it, we looked at each other and one of us said to the other, "we didn't just have a bad year, we had a bad decade." Could it possibly get worse? Of course it could, but looking back, I can't say that I have the same feelings that I had last decade. How could I? This year I did lose my last grandmother, my house was appraised less than the value (contributing to the ripple effect of us staying in Scranton longer than we ever intended), and we had several minor financial setbacks, like when our chimney ended up in our driveway and Jon's car needed some work. But, are our circumstances any different than any other American? I highly doubt it. The difference this year is that we have decided to turn our setbacks into something positive and to learn from our hardships and challenges. When our chimney fell, we realized we needed to invest in our house if we were ever to sell it. Although the appraisal came back low, we realized we could wait out the housing market a little longer. This gives us time to finish our Master's degrees. And not long after my grandmother passed, my family was suddenly in touch with an entire clan of our family we never even knew existed. We met with them in Texas and now have more family than ever. Some other beautiful moments in 2011: FaceTime - for bringing me so close to so many far away, the birth of my beautiful cousin Boston, adopting a juicing lifestyle, ABC news recognizing my students and me on Made in America, making in through a year of grad school, visiting family, planting flowers with my mom in my garden, watching my friends realize their dreams -Marissa goes back to Italy, Kelly starts her business, and Jonny is learning to play the ukulele. Just being a part of their joyous moments makes my heart swell with happiness. I am not the most religious person, but I believe myself to be spiritual. If these hardships we all endure are placed in our lives only to provide more beautiful and loving ones, than I am ok with having them. No one deserves to be unhappy or mistreated, but the reward of having a hardship is knowing there is a lesson to be learned. So, as you look back at 2011 don't just think about the hardships as bad events in your life, what lesson can you take from it? I wish you a healthy and peaceful 2012. Love, Michelle Ps I'm still juicing. Starting a 15 day cleanse on new years day. Join me!