Category: Cleansing

This morning, I made a lovely vegetable juice with dark leafy greens and beets. I’m drinking it now…  it’s so good!

It’s not sweet and I imagine many would turn there nose up at this drink, but I’m not most people. I must say, that I’ve been enjoying my non-sweet drinks for years.

Vegetable Juice: Greens & Beets

• 4 cups of kale
• 5 beets
• 3 celery stalks
• 2 carrots
• 2 lime
• 1/2 medium sized yellow onion
• 1 habanero pepper

 

This is not a sweet drink, in fact when I gave some to my father he drank it and let out a “WHOO!” just like a train whistle, but I told him if he slowly incorporated juices like this into his routine, he’d get to the point where he could drink them straight… just like me!

Some of the produce came from the garden, but the bulk of it came from a local farm. Saturday, my daughter and I went to  the farm and I purchased a three dozen sweet corn, several beets, celery and a large amount of greens; collards and kale. The cart was overflowing and my bill was less than $23.  I thought that was a great deal with the amount I purchased. Since it’s at a local farm, I know the freshness is much better than what I get from the local grocery store.

For your information…

Remember, if you consume beet juice your urine and/or bowel movements might turn red in color.

 

This watermelon came from our garden, it wasn’t overly sweet like some watermelons are, it had a touch of sweetness but the juice was great

Last week, I made this delicious juice. It stood out from the majority of the juices I made from dark leafy greens. I filled up my Green Feet canteen, and off to work I went. I still had enough left over to drink a few glasses when I returned home.

Watermelon is a natural diuretic (removes excess water.) Don’t be surprised if you have to urinate a lot when drinking this juice.

This morning, I ate some solid foods. Well I should say it was pureed and I drank it as a smoothie. It tasted good. I could have gone much longer than twelve days, but I decided to break from the cleanse to see what type of reaction I’d have consuming something differently. When breaking a fast most cleansing/fasting experts recommend that you transition back into solid foods slowly by consuming whole unprocessed foods (preferably uncooked fruits and vegetables.)

I will be going back on my juice cleanse tomorrow. This morning, my daughter and I headed to the local farm where I stocked up on fresh dark leafy greens (collards, kale, mustard and spinach.) I’m actually thinking about doing longer than 12 days on a juice cleanse this time around, but we’ll see. I do know mentally and physically I’m more than prepared. I did see a cleansing reaction after about the fifth day (via my bowel movements) from drinking mainly dark leafy greens for every single meal and I thought that was amazing, more on that in another post.

I still have a lot of photos to upload of the different juices I drank, including watermelon juice, also I have to upload a few of the meals I prepared for my daughter, such as the creamy crab chowder I prepared for her yesterday. Since my mother was working, I made enough to share with my father. While he is a man of few words, when it comes to complimenting the food that is prepared for him he did make a point to tell me the creamy crab chowder was really good. I eat vegetarian/vegan meals, but I still receive compliments on the “regular meals” I prepare too. Just like my veggie meals, I make sure they are nutritious and delicious.

Over the past few years, juice cleanses/fasts have become increasingly popular the main draw seems to be weight loss. I didn’t need to lose weight, juice cleanses & water fasts have always been part of my routine. I simply like taking a break from eating solid foods. As I mentioned repeatedly while doing this cleanse, since I’m drinking food in a very concentrated form, I’m added benefits while on the cleanses that I do. There is no way I could consume that amount of food within a day.
I will say the way I eat, definitely has a lot to do with my overall health. I realize food is only part of the equation. Staying healthy mentally and  spiritually are equally important too.

Early into this fast, I stumbled upon this womans YouTube channel. I really enjoyed listening to her positive take on her juice cleanse, so I thought I’d share it here. Enjoy!

This marks day 11 of my juice cleanse and I’m still feeling great!

Last evening I got a jump start on today and prepared my juice early. Isn’t it a pretty green color!

This made more than enough to take a thermos to work today. It holds 2 liters/78 ounces.  I still have about four cups left over.

I will say this is not a sweet juice, I think at times, that people juice too many fruit juices and ignore the awesome benefits of vegetable juices.

Years ago (when I first started juicing) I did the same thing. I liked vegetables, but tried to sweeten the non-sweet veggies by adding sweet vegetables or fruit to my juice blends. After a while I realized that I really shouldn’t do that, and started slowly increasing the non sweet juices to my juice blends. In time, my taste buds changed. Now, non-sweet vegetable juices are my go to juiced drink.

Today marks the tenth day of consuming only liquids.

No, I’m not hungry at all and while I do get the occasional craving for something “solid” I’m really liking getting all the nutrients I need in liquid form.

I’m getting more nutrients than I could possibly consume from solids or even smoothies  since the “foods” I’m drinking are the concentrated juice derived from vegetables and fruit! I feel amazing!

Since I’m drinking only liquids, I feel “lighter” than normal. My body doesn’t have to work harder since the nutrients I’m supplying it with aren’t solid or a pureed liquid. Yesterday afternoon, I developed a sore throat. I don’t think it was cold related since I didn’t have any more symptoms. Today, it’s almost gone.

The mind is extremely powerful I realized this as a child and have already set high goals for myself, many of them I was able to achieve simply because I refused to quit.

“Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Matthew 26:41

The few times that I had cravings I thought about the above verse. As I already mentioned, my body is definitely not deprived since the vegetables and fruit I consume in juice form is more than I could consume during one day.

I also realize that…

I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Philippians 4:13

Sounds easy enough, right? But often times many of us Christians forget about this and attempt to tackle things on our own. Are we surprised when we stumble? Remember, “The Spirit is Willing, but the fresh is weak!”