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Fall Cleanse Green Juice
Onto day 2 of the 5-Day Fall Cleanse and I am feeling great! I really did need this little reset both physically and mentally. This juice was actually breakfast for day 1, yesterday. I should really call it, “Fridge Cleaning Juice” or “I am surprised to find anything healthy in the fridge with all the leftovers, wine and hard cider, juice”. It was a busy weekend and my fridge showed it. Saturday, we drove down to San Diego for the Gluten-free Oktoberfest, which was amazing! Sunday, we had a fun little late-day lunch with some of my favorite gluten-free girls Meg from Beard and Bonnet, Gina from So…Let’s Hang Out and Cara from Fork and Beans, plus Meg’s friend Amber was visiting from Georgia, too. Such a fun afternoon. I laughed so hard, we ate so well, cocktails were had and then just like that, they were all gone and I was sad. I seriously don’t know if I have ever hung out with that many ladies at once, that I had so much in common with.
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Green Goddess Juice
Yup – I am still on a major juicing kick. I am loving it. I am so full of energy, I feel totally content with what I am eating otherwise and I have no cravings at all. I think by cutting back on some things but not going into a full on cleanse or detox, I am able to reap many of the benefits without putting my body through hell of those rough few first days and I am not taxing my digestive system, which is already a bit grumpy. I didn’t want to do that to my body right now.
I am excited because every day my tummy is feeling better and better and I am really able to notice what is triggering it when it does get upset again. The juicing has really given my digestive tract the rest that it so badly needed. This Green Goddess juice in particular is full of so many of my favorite things and it really made me feel great, on top of the energy I am already bursting with, this juice actually made me feel like I had more! That’s why I decided to call it Green Goddess Juice. Truthfully I really wanted to call it “Green Superheroine Juice”, but that just didn’t have the same ring to it, but it did make me feel like I had super powers! I once again included fennel in this juice, I have been trying to include it in every juice I am making right now since it is so great for your digestion, plus I am really loving the unique flavor it adds.
We had a very busy weekend filled with tons of home projects like ripping up carpeting, reflooring our bedroom, moving furniture around and work for clients. While doing all of those things, I have been ridding myself of so much stuff, both in my personal life and my digital life. I have been going through all of my clothes and accessories and getting rid of things I no longer need or wear. I have donated so many bags of clothes and other goodies to the Salvation Army in the last few weeks and yesterday I did the same to my computer. Well kinda. I backed up and removed over 200 GB of files on my computer that I really didn’t need on there, so my computer can perform better. I streamlined my already existing backup system to be even more thorough and easy to manage. I also organized my email inbox and archived old emails. I took my inbox from over 4000 email down to 81! It feels so good to be lightening my baggage in all of these areas of my life, it is instantly therapeutic and cathartic. It only takes a few bags full of stuff and a handful of gigabytes for you to feel that liberation and suddenly you find yourself looking at everything and thinking “Do I really need that?”.
Since we plan to move later this year and we are in the process of finishing up a few projects to the house that we have to do before we put it on the market, there really has never been a better time to do all of this, than now. I have been putting it off because it takes time and some tough decision making to decide what things in your life you don’t need, but once you start, it really gets easier and easier.
Now I can walk into a room in our house and feel the weight that has been lifted. There is still a lot of stuff that we need to go through and I actually can’t wait! It is ironic the timing on all of this, with me deciding to also take out things from my diet that I really don’t need. I think I can say the same for my eating as my house, I was putting off removing certain things but now that I have, I feel great! I honestly haven’t felt as good as I do right now, in years. So, if there are boxes you need to go through, piles of shoes you know you don’t wear, an email inbox that is jammed full of messages, etc – make the time to go through it. It doesn’t take as long as you think, in the last 3 days I have gotten rid of more stuff from my life than I have in the last year plus I still had time to grocery shop, go to yoga, bake bread, make soup, watch a movie and some football with my hubby and more. Don’t talk yourself out of things, don’t put them off, just do them. It feels better to accomplish something than it does to sit down and feel guilty that you aren’t.
I plan to continue purging things from my life this upcoming week and I am looking forward to it instead of dreading it and I also plan to continue juicing, so look for more recipes.
Have you gotten rid of anything in your life lately? How does it feel?
[print_this]Green Goddess Juice
Makes 1 large serving or 2 smaller (it makes about 1 quart)
(if you want less juice go with 1 cucumber and 1 stalk of celery)2 cucumbers
1 granny smith apple
1/2 or 1/3 of a large bulb of fennel (stalks and leaves included)
2 stalks of celeryJuice all of the ingredients, saving the celery for last since it is stringy and can sometimes clog the machine. Serve immediately.
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Digest Ease Juice
As I have previously mentioned this week, I have been on a bit of a healing path for the last few days. Trying to ease my digestion woes caused by a grumpy ileocecal valve. In addition to avoiding all dairy, I have also cut out caffeine, alcohol, sugar and chocolate. I am also avoiding roughage like raw leafy green vegetables, raw whole nuts and seeds and spicy foods, among other things. One of the things I have been doing every day is after my morning yoga practice, I come home and make a smoothie or a fresh juice blend. This has been a nice way to get some necessary nutrients and to also give my upset digestion a little rest. I have really been enjoying it. Then I have a light lunch and a light dinner. I have been drinking a lot of water, not really snacking much and making sure to self-massage my abdomen (you can read more about that in my last post).
In my research to find the best ingredients for juicing to help with digestion, the ingredients I used in this particular juice seemed to be at the top of many of the lists. Here is just a tad bit of info about each ingredient from what I have read. I’ve learned that carrot juice is considered the golden juice of healing, it is an excellent tonic for just about every ailment imaginable. It can be consumed in large quantities as well. Carrots are a natural blast of high energy and they are a powerful internal cleanser and detoxifier and they can help an inflamed colon (I dunno if mine is, but it can’t hurt either way).
Apples remove toxins from the intenstines; stimulate peristalsis and bowels; flush kidneys; natural acids for digestion. Apples contain pectin which is a form of soluble fiber. This helps with the detox flush that removes cholesterol and toxins through the liver and kidneys. Apples also contain a substance called malic acid, that helps maintain liver function and improves digestion.
Celery has been known to help in diseases of the kidneys, pancreas, liver and gallbladder. The nutrients in the fiber released during juicing, aid in bowel movements. Celery promotes healthy and normal kidney function by aiding elimination of toxins from the body. While eliminating toxins, it also prevents formation of kidney stones. Celery actually boasts a very very long list of incredible powers, these are just some of the many.
Fennel is probably best well known as a digestive aid. It can help with trapped wind, poor digestion and more painful conditions such as gastritis and enteritis. Fennel is also a diuretic and therefore is very effective when dealing with kidney or bladder troubles and fluid retention. It is also a general pick-me-up and helps to combat general tiredness and fatigue.
Ginger helps to soothe and improve digestion by increasing secretions of digestive juices in the stomach. It also aids blood circulation and metabolism, increases the immune system and strengthens the internal organs of the digestive tract.
When juicing you always want to use organic produce whenever possible and regardless if produce is organic or not, you always want to thoroughly wash it. I am absolutely no expert on juicing so please use your own judgement and do your research before jumping into any sort of juice-only cleanse or detox. Leanne of Healthful Pursuit, a holistic nutritionist, has been doing an enlightening series of posts this week talking about her own journey to healing her digestion. Leanne’s posts have all been very thorough and provide some really great information about what she is going through, how she feels and what she is doing. Yesterday’s post (the third in the series) features some really great information as well as two great juice recipes. Be sure to check it out and follow Leanne along her journey, as I am.
Look for more juice recipes from me over the next two weeks and hopefully in that time my photos of said juice will get better. After I was about halfway done with this glass of juice and was looking at the photos, I realized how boring and blah they were. I need a fun glass or I should have put some of the ingredients in the background. Ah well.
What is your favorite juice combination?
[print_this]Digest Ease Juice
serves 11/2 to 1-inch piece of ginger
1/4 to 1/2 of a large fennel bulb (about 4 oz), I also included some stalk and leaves
3 carrots
1 apple (I used a honeycrisp)
2 celery stalks, with leavesJuice all of the ingredients, saving the celery for last since it is stringy and can sometimes clog the machine. Serve immediately.
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