Day 53: Back on Track?

Now that I think about it, I never said that my 365 days would be continuous days or consecutive. :)

Yesterday (4-6-11), I juiced two apples, 1/2 a head of romaine lettuce and a carrot. Then, I blended it with a heaping handful of spinach,1/4 tsp. of ginger and a 1/4 cup of soy milk.

It was a refreshing lunch juice that rejuvenated my soul.

Day 52: A Refreshing A.M. Delight

This morning, I decided to juice about 3/4 of an apple and 1/2 of a celery stalk. My goal is to allow the juice to assist in making the blended veggies/fruit more liquid. I added the 1/4 of an apple and the remaining celery stalk to the blender with a handful of blueberries, 3 strawberries, about 15 spinach leaves, an 1/8 of a tsp of ginger and 1/8 c. of almond milk. I blended it for about 30-45 seconds and consumed all of it.

After about an hour, I completed breakfast with two breakfast burritos that included: an egg, one slice of cheddar cheese, turkey sausage (2)...shared between the two tortilla shells. A delicious juice and burritos are wonderful ways to begin a morning.

Day 49: A Breakfast Juice

After a small bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats cereal, I made a fresh and delicious morning juice. It consisted of two organic celery stalks, two oranges, 1/2 of a tomato and 1/2 of an organic cucumber...all juiced and blended with about 15 spinach leaves, 10 small red grapes and a pinch of fresh ginger root. It was simply delicious.

Day 34: Grape-Spinach Fantasy

Today's juice included a juiced apple with about 4 celery stalks blended with about 15 small spinach leaves, about 15 small grapes, a hint of ginger root and about 1/2c. of almond milk. The concoction turned a brownish-green color in the blender with the kick of ginger, it was delicious.

I only drank about 1/2 of the 16 oz. Mason Jar filled with juice. The remainder will be consumed in the morning as a pre-breakfast/post workout drink.

Day 33: Three Veggies & a Fruit Juice

Tonight's juice included juicing an apple and romaine lettuce, then blending that juice with collard greens, sprouts, ginger and soy/rice milk. Believe it or not...it tasted good. Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Day 20: Home Sweet Home & Juice for Dinner

I spent yesterday afternoon between the grocery store, the airport and my Mom's house. I stayed the night with my Grandmom and Mom. My reward was a breakfast with an old-fashion, southern ho down of grits, cheese/eggs, biscuits and salmon croquettes...and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I attempted to repent with a late lunch that included lemon-pepper chicken wings and a romaine, spinach and tomato salad. I drank sweet tea.

Finally, for dinner, I had a simple juice that included grated ginger root, 1/4 of a cabbage, three strawberries, kale and an apple.

With the exception of breakfast, today was a good day. (My breakfast was GREAT!)

Day 19: Introducing My GINGER GREEN GODDESS Juice

This morning got off to a wonderfully slow start. I slept 'til 8 a.m. and started juicing about 9 a.m.
I decided to try some a new ingredient for this morning's juice...cauliflower (chou-fleur in French).
I juiced about 1/2 cup of cauliflower (stem and all) with 3 strawberries and one Granny Smith apple. The cauliflower juice only made less than an 1/8 of a cup of juice and it looked like low-fat milk. I was surprised to find that it had a slightly sweet taste to it. After checking my vegetable wheel, I found out that cauliflower has 5 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of sugar. I never thought that it contained any sugar, until now.

Along with my base juice, I blended 1 strawberry, a handful of spinach leaves, 1 plum, 1/8 tsp. of ginger root and 1/3 cup of almond milk. It made about a cup and 1/2 of liquid. I'm officially in LOVE with this juice! The taste made me return to the blender to get every delicious drop!

The first enticing thing about this juice was the alluring smell of the ginger that greeted my nose(and cleared my nasal passage), even before my first sip. It provided a smooth tingling feeling, as I drank this juice. All of the ingredients created the perfect green juice that I dubbed my Ginger Green Goddess juice, since it made me feel invigorated, beautiful (from the inside out) and alive! It will definitely become a staple (regular) juice on the weekends.

Breakfast is the best meal of the day for me because it is truly a break from my overnight fasting. It gives my morning the boost that I need to have a wonderful day. This Ginger Green Goddess juice satisfied my hunger until breakfast can be cooked. This morning, I am simply having pancakes and fruit, which should get me to lunch.
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P.S. - I timed my juicing/blending this morning. It took about 1 hour for me to prepare the fruit/veggies, take pics, juice/blend/drink and wash dishes. That is comparable to preparing a regular meal; however, FOR ME it was so much more FUN and rewarding!!
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Off- schedule today--Family business will cause me not to blog anymore today.

Day 18: End-of-the-Week Juicing

"The best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry." What a very prophetic quote. After visiting my nutritionist, Chandra Carty**, this afternoon, I thought I would come home, juice, eat dinner and blog...blog...blog. Well, after leaving Chandra's office, I managed to bypass the local restaurants (unlike after my last visit with her...see SATURDAY, May 1, 2010 blog entry) and return to work/school. I ended up in an evening meeting with another teacher without stopping for any "real" food. Just so happen I remembered that I stashed a nutrition bar (Nature Valley Apple Crisp) in my classroom. It gave me the much needed energy to continue with my day AND it had zero trans fats!

**See tomorrow's entry for a blog about my visit with Chandra and my latest nutrition/exercise goals.

During the after-school meeting, I checked the time frequently because I knew that IF I stayed at school too long, I would get hungry and irritable. Luckily, that bar allowed me to stave off hunger until I made it home.

As soon as I made it inside my little townhouse, I dropped everything and prepared to juice. Because of the nutrition bar, I didn't feel jittery or anxious to eat. My stomach held out until the juice was ready. Halfway through the drink, I remember that I was suppose to take a picture of this last concoction. That's the reason the photo for this blog entry only shows a half-serving of the juice. (The rest was heading for my stomach...LOL.)

Tonight's juice consisted of 2 carrots, 2 celery stalks with leaves, 1 roma tomato, a large green bell pepper and about 1/8 tsp. of minced ginger root. These ingredients made for a slightly sweet spicy drink. (If you are new to juicing, I would recommend an apple to add a little more natural sugar to this juice.) This mixture allowed me to prepare my dinner without the slightest bit of hunger.

Friday night's dinner included: four (left over) Mardi Gras chicken wings from Publix and a tomato/cucumber salad. It was all that I needed for the night. The last thing that I wanted to do was to over eat before preparing for bedtime. This quick meal was over by 7:30 p.m.

Mid- afternoon snack was a small to-go-cup of Mott's cinnamon applesauce.

Lunch was a California Pizza Kitchen Margherita pizza from the frozen food section and Green Giant veggies.

Breakfast included: 2 mini bagels lightly buttered with two Jimmy Dean's turkey sausage links and water. Oh yeah, I had a small helping of grits and three small bite-sized pieces of Salmon croquettes.
*Once-a-month, we have breakfast for our faculty and staff at school. There was NO WAY that I was going to miss out on Ms. Shaffer's grits and croquettes. :)

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Today, I only drank about 16 oz. of water.