Detox and Chew

I have made it through 3 days of Juice!  OK, confession, I have had a few celery and carrot sticks along the way.  Today I didn’t drink nearly as much juice as the 1^st and 2^nd days.  I really am not very hungry.  I have had lots of water and herbal tea.

I made this juice this morning:

Fruit Salad Juice

Fruit Salad Juice

¼ pineapple

1 orange, peeled

1 kiwi, peeled

1 apple

1 pear

10 mint leaves

1oz Aloe Vera juice

So what’s next?  I have to chew – and I am going to add some Carbs, Protein and Healthy Fat.  Tonight I am making a few salads to have for the week. I am basically going to eat veggie this week: veggies, salads, vegetable soups, whole grains, seeds, beans, eggs, and tofu with a smaller amount of fruit.  Maybe I will have some tuna?

I will have no refined flours, sugars, processed foods, red meat, or dairy.  I am also going to stay away from the caffeine and alcohol for a while: continuing to eat clean. 

These are the salads I am making tonight:

Kamut Salad

Quinoa Tabbouleh

Lemon-Dill White Bean Salad (I am using small red beans ~ cuz thats what I have).

It is my plan to top a large green salad with ½ cup of one of these grain-bean salads for lunch and dinner.

Breakfast will be a Fruit Juice and a Hard-boiled egg

I will also incorporate small quantities of nuts as snacks (10-15 nuts), along with more fresh vegetables and an afternoon Vegetable Juice. 

Stay tuned for menu plans and recipes. 

Find me on Facebook: Lara McNeil on Nutrition and Food

And Twitter@LaraMcNeil

Juice detox day 1 onto 2

I made it through the 1^st day of my 3-day detox.

Here’s a few notes for those who may want to try this:

1. Some of the recipes make quite a bit of juice, maybe even enough for 2.  However, I am reluctant to change the recipes because I believe that my new masticating juicer is much better at extracting juice then the centrifugal one (read the juicer post for more info).  I suggest following the recipes the first day and see how you do with your juicer.  You can always jar leftover juice for day-2.

2. I did add/alter a couple of the Recipes:

Morning "Orange"

         Morning “Orange” – I reduced the ginger a bit, the piece of ginger that I purchased was quite fresh and gave a very spicy flavor.  For day-2 I am going to include the Aloe Vera shot into this juice.  It wasn’t offensive in the water but I like to sip plain water.

Mean Green

         Mean Green – this juice is HARDCORE.  I have leftover from day-1 for today; I will most likely reduce the kale to 3 stalks tomorrow.  I added the spriulina to this today.

Purple Power

         Purple Power – I added fresh dill to this juice which I think really freshened it.  I tend to like beets and beet juice, so this was a good one.  I skipped adding the pear: the beet and carrot adds plenty of sweetness.  I had some radishes in the fridge so I added 4 of those.

         Almond Date Banana – I added 1 tablespoon of chia seeds to this drink, reduced the almond milk to 1 cup, and added 1 cup of coconut water.  This was pretty delicious.  While I was a little skeptical about the chia seeds they developed a tapioca-like texture that was not at all unappealing.  I later found a recipe for chia-seed pudding, I will try this next week and post.  I think this juice is paced at a perfect time of the day when you are looking for something sweet.

         Tomato Gazpacho – I loved this juice!  I even put it in a bowl and ate it like a cold soup.  I will be using this one frequently in the following weeks.

         Pineapple-Kiwi – Another delicious juice.  I ended up adding an apple at the end to clear the auger.  The harder products help to clear out the juicer from the pulpy/soft fruits.

*** Please see the original Juicer Recipes post for more about ingredients. ***

3. But what about all the pulp?  Well, I save mine and make stock with it.  If a juice recipe contains both fruits and vegetables, then juice your vegetables 1^st so you can start a freezer bag with the pulp from the vegetables.  In a future post I will give you some ideas for the stock.

4. At the end of day one I felt the need to chew so I did have some celery and carrot sticks.

So far I didn’t felt deprived at all, and haven’t had any major withdrawal symptoms…. but I am not a huge coffee drinker (only a cup ~ maybe 2 per day).  If you are going to try a detox you may want to wean down on your caffeine for a few days so you do not experience this withdrawal.

Find me on Facebook: Lara McNeil on Nutrition and Food

And Twitter@LaraMcNeil

          

Juicer Recipes

I have chosen the following recipes to provide a full spectrum of phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals for my own 3-day juice detox.  Nothing here is set in stone so feel free to substitute ingredients.  Some products are linked to backup information about their health properties - just click each one to read. 

A blog provided by WilliamsSonoma offers 30 days of juice recipes; like the recipes found here many are adapted from Reboot your Life (Fat Sick and Nearly Dead movie), if you would like to find some substitutions.

“Orange” Morning Juice

         3 Carrots

         2 Apples

         1” Ginger

Mean Green Mid-Morning Juice

         1 Cucumber


         4 Celery stalks


         2 Apples


         6-8 leaves Kale

         6 sprigs Parsley


         1/2 Lemon


Purple Power Lunch-time Juice

         1 pear

         1 beet

         1 carrot

         1/2 cup red cabbage, coarse chop

         3 sprigs chard with stems

Almond Date Banana Mid-afternoon Smoothie

         3-4 Dates

         1-1/2 cup Unsweetened almond milk

         1 Cubed frozen banana

         ½ teaspoon cinnamon

Note: cube your bananas when you get home from the store and freeze them on a cookie sheet before transferring to a baggie.  These will be your ice cubes and will thicken your smoothie.  

Incorporate the ingredients for this smoothie using a standard household blender. 

Tomato Gazpacho Dinnertime Juice

         4 Plum Tomatoes


         1 lg Cucumber


         2 Celery stalks


         1 Red Bell Pepper


         1⁄4 sm Red Onion


         2 cups Cilantro, leaves and stems (or Parsley)

         2 cups spinach

         1 Lime

         ½ Jalapeno (optional)

Delicious Pineapple-Kiwi-Mint Dessert Juice

         1/4 large pineapple, peeled, cored and cut into cubes

         1 orange, peeled

         1 kiwifruit

         1 pear

         20 mint leaves

3-Day Juice Detox

Some call it a fast, but with all of these nutrient-dense and beneficial produce ingredients I feel it is more appropriately called a detox, or even a diet jumpstart.  I have chosen the following recipes to provide a full spectrum of phytochemicals, vitamins and minerals.  Recipes for the juices that I will be using can be found on the Juicer Recipes post.

I will personally follow this plan beginning on Friday thru Sunday.  Nothing here is set in stone so feel free to substitute ingredients.  Some ingredients are linked to backup information about their health properties.  

A blog provided by WilliamsSonoma offers 30 days of juice recipes; like the recipes found here many are adapted from Reboot your Life (Fat Sick and Nearly Dead movie). 

Friday is a great day to start this 3-day plan so you can have time over the weekend away from everyday temptations to detox.  Pamper yourself: Take naps, Epsom baths, get a facial.  Try these at-home spa ideas from Whole Living. Drink LOTS of water.  Stay away from caffeine, alcohol, and OTC medications.  Before you bathe or shower use a dry skin brush or loofah to assist in detox through the pores and skin.

For some additional tips on juicing read the Reboot Juicing tips by Stacy Kennedy MPH, RD, CSO, LDN - the nutritionist at Join the Reboot.

Days 1 through 3

Hot Water with a wedge of lemon and dash of cayenne

“Orange” Morning Juice

Large glass of water

Mean Green Mid-Morning Juice

8oz Water with 1oz Aloe Vera Juice

Purple Power Lunch-time Juice

  

8oz Water with 1 teaspoon Spirulina

Almond Date Banana Mid-afternoon Smoothie

Large glass of water

Tomato Gazpacho Dinnertime Juice

Large glass of water

Delicious Pineapple-Kiwi-Mint Dessert Juice

After this 3-day detox we will move into a DASH diet that includes juices and meals that are careful not to cause food insensitivities.

Click for a link to the ShoppingList for a 3-day juice detox

Any questions feel free to ask below.

Find me on Facebook: Lara McNeil on Nutrition and Food

And Twitter @LaraMcNeil