Friday, January 3, 2014

Day #1 of my Juicing Journey

It’s just now 2pm and I’ve had three of my six juices for the day (breakfast, mid-morning snack & lunch). So far it’s going ok. The juices don’t make me feel completely full. I have to admit I can out eat my husband so I know I have a problem with portion control. Like I said food is my LOVE. Other people who have done this journey say the first three days are difficult but once you get over that hump it becomes a bit easier. 

My goal in doing this isn’t to lose weight although losing a few pounds would be nice. I’m doing this to detox my body and also train it to crave healthier foods. My hope is that once this seven day journey is over I can incorporate juices for snacks and maybe a meal here or there.

I’m not going to lie juicing takes some work and diligent planning. If you were juicing for snacks it wouldn’t be so bad. In my family’s case I’m juicing for two people, 4-6 juices each. That is a lot!

Here’s a break down for those of you that like details.
  • I’m coming to the realization I will have to juice twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening. If you will be juicing as much as I am you may want to consider that for the sake of your machine to give it a rest. Here's my Omega Juicer. So far I'm loving it! Don't worry there's more pieces to it they are just being washed.
  • First I wrote out a menu of what drinks I wanted to have and when. I only got ingredients for 6 different juices just so I wasn’t spending an over abundance on buying different produce. By the end of my journey I will make sure to incorporate how much this detox cost me so you can have an idea.
  • For this morning’s juicing I only made 3 kinds of juices for both my husband and I for a total of 6 drinks. These juices will be for an afternoon snack, dinner, and dessert.
  • I then cut up and separated the veggies for each recipe into three different bowls. This process for 6 drinks took me 40 minutes. 

  • Once all the cutting was done I started to juice one bowl of fruits/veggies at a time. The juicing process itself for 6 drinks took me about another 40 min. The juicer I own is a slow masticating juicer. A single gear motor or auger is utilized in masticating juicer so it means slower operation. It squeezes and grinds fruits and vegetables placed in a chute and because of this, plant fibers are being retained. The auger acts like a screw or drill bit that cuts the items into smaller sections. When the auger turns, it crushes the fruits and is squeezed against the wall of the juicer. 

  • My juicer comes with two containers. One for the juice and one of all the pulp. Once I was done I poured the juice container into a pitcher to mix it all then I poured them into two mason jars, 16oz. each. If I had any extra I put it aside for the kids to drink. Which by the way they love, especially the Morning Glory drink. Go here for the recipe.

So now you know this process takes some time. I did all of this during my 7 month old’s nap time so it worked out great. Hopefully the evening juicing won’t take so long if I can get my husband’s help. To see how this evening's juicing goes make sure to visit my blog tomorrow for an update.


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