"Berry Good for You" Kale Juice

"Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself." - Rumi

Today I had my first vegan pizza. It was kind of an eye-opening experience. Food can taste really good, and reflect my values.

Honestly, my general impression of vegans has been people who live on vegetables and unhappiness. Its hard for me to picture myself being satisfied and eating vegan. But lately, I've really been aware of the impact I have on the world with my food choices. I've also been noticing the impact my food choices have on my body, and my thinking is starting to shift. 

I still don't think I have the discipline to ever go completely vegan, but I'm really interested in cooking more environmentally and animal friendly foods. So, hopefully you will see more vegetarian and vegan gluten-free recipes popping up on my blog. (vegan pizza from Plant Based Pizza)

Speaking of which...yep, I'm still obsessed with juicing. And kale.  This is the fusion of my two obsessions. Perfection in a glass!

Ingredients:

7 strawberries

1/3 cup blueberries

1 1/2 cups kale

13 raspberries

6 blackberries



I'm using the Breville juicer pictured below (links to amazon if you want the same one!):

"It's Easy Being Green" Juice

It's official, I'm addicted to juicing. This is my favorite green juice combo so far! It's easy, nutritious, and tastes great. So naturally I had to share it with you!

Ingredients:

2 apples

1/4 lime (peeled)

1 large stalk of kale, or 2 small stalks

2 stalks of celery

Bottoms up!

I'm using the Breville juicer pictured below (links to amazon if you want the same one!):

Orange Strawberry Sunrise Juice aka My Tolkien Drink

Here is what I'm juicing tonight:

I'm calling it my Tolkien drink, because to me it looks like a sunrise, and when I think of sunrises I think of this quote:

"the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise"

Ingredients: 
4 oranges
1 cucumber
10 strawberries

Serves 2-4.


I'm using the Breville juicer pictured below (links to amazon if you want the same one!):

24 hour Juice Cleanse Results!

I started my juice cleanse last night, with my last light meal being at 2:30 pm and my first juice at 8pm. I went to bed a little hungry but feeling good, and woke up this morning absolutely starving. A juice and a half later, and I actually felt pretty full. And pretty darn good. I’m not much of a water drinker, so making myself drink water has given my body a nice hydrated feel, unlike my usual soda slog. Speaking of which…

The only thing that is bothering me right now is not having caffeine. I know I’m a full blown caffeine addict, my throbbing headache is a testament to that, and this is teaching me more about how much I need to break that habit. I mean, I can’t imagine how bad that shit is for you considering my body is raging against not having it.  Even after I’m done juicing, I’m definitely cutting down my caffeine!!!

I’ve tried a few different types of juices in my 24 hour cleanse, and I definitely have favorites. I made “mean greens” aka lots of kale, spinach, and cucumbers with granny apples to sweeten. The tomato heavy one I made was interesting…it was flavored with basil and was like drinking an Italian meal. I think I’d like that one better in small doses when I’m sick of the greens! I also made a mostly fruit drink—this one was my favorite. Grapes, blueberries, cucumber, and apples, yum! Although this wasn’t the most nutrient rich or healthy, it certainly satisfied my sweet tooth.

Overall, the cleanse was a cool experience but was severely dampened by my caffeine addiction. The one good thing about withdrawing from caffeine is that my headache was so bad I didn’t notice if I was hungry! I want to try the cleanse again when I’ve weaned myself off of caffeine more.

Making myself some tea (soda and I are in a fight right now) since its 7:15pm and the 24 hours are officially over. But since I have a lot of leftover fruits and vegetables, I’m not stopping yet! I’m going to continue on until the morning on my juice cleanse. I can tell my body is appreciating it, even through the caffeine withdrawal!

I think juicing is definitely something I'll continue. Maybe not long periods at a time, but as a way to continue to improve my nutrition. It was surprisingly easy and yummy!

Italian juice!

I'm using the Breville juicer pictured below (links to amazon if you want the same one!):

Taking a Juicing Journey

 This weekend I watched two great documentaries, one was "How to Die in Oregon" which I really can't recommend enough, and the other was the inspiring documentary called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead."

"How to Die in Oregon" really affected me as a nurse, but it was "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" that really got my juices going, pun intended! See, FS&ND is about an Australian man's journey for better health through juicing fresh fruits and vegetables. His body goes under an amazing transformation and, more importantly, he drastically changes the landscape of his personal health (including becoming medication free!).

Usually I'm not a fan of things I think fall into the "fad diet" category. But I really do strive to improve my health (I run a gluten-free blog, for goodness sakes!), and every once in a while I like to try new things to jump start my body.

Some things have stuck with me that I've tried, like meditating, yoga, massage therapy, running ,and eating gluten-free. All these things have had a great, positive impact on my health.

Some things I've tried were duds. I won't name names (I'm looking at you, tapeworms!...just kidding!), but I'm terribly suspicious of anything that makes big promises or quick fixes.

But there is a lot of interesting science behind the effectiveness of juicing and how the nutrients can effectively flood your body. And I don't know about you, but I'm feeling very bogged down from all the holiday food. My belly needs a break.

So I'm basically trying juicing for fun. I've dedicated myself to a 24 hour juice cleanse (which started at 3pm today!). I'm actually really excited because I'm a fan of juice in general, but I'm also NOT excited about not having caffeine. But I think it's worth trying...who knows, it might be my next yoga!

Cheers to you!

I'm using the Breville juicer pictured below (links to amazon if you want the same one!):