30 Days Done

So I wrote here, here, here, here, got super lazy and finally remembered to write here and it finally brings me to now.

I finished my 30 days juicing challenge today and am proud of myself.
I didn't fast - because the main point was to just try to make juice everyday.
There were also days I didn't juice and therefor felt like crap without.

It's something I'm going to continue and because I'm not noticing a huge weight loss - about 2-3kg give or take - I'm going to keep going and keep my portions of regular food as healthy as possible, minimum cheating and small.

What I did notice?

• Better use of the bathroom - my body is doing its thing regularly and I'm no longer going 2-3 days without having used the bathroom (the oh so mighty "#2").
• More energy and alert - I don't drink coffee or tea often - so for me, this is a nice alternative.  (Caffeine from coffee gives me headaches I've learned!)
• Drinking more water and eating better.  I had McDonald's once (maybe twice) this whole time, didn't eat out as much and cut the kebab out too.  And if I did eat out, especially with my kids - I didn't consume my whole portion and shared a lot of it.
• Seeing as I used to eat out every weekend when taking the kids out to do errands - this is a huge step up for me!
• Bought more vegetables and fruit and experimented a lot more with combinations!
• I actually look forward to juicing.

So, I'll keep juicing once a day and try to push for twice a day - especially in class (the wait for the microwaves is annoying)...we'll see how this goes! :)

Time to go to the post office!
Take care,
BIMU

My Juicing Journal: 5 Days Left!

25 days ago (and then some) - I started on a 30-day Juice Challenge and while I had cheat meals once in awhile (along with regular meals but smaller portions) - I wanted to share some things that have happened!  And I still have 5 days left!

1. It was super hard at first.  Mostly on my bowels.  I wasn't expecting this at all and am grateful I had a few days off from school at the time because there's no way I could sit in class or get to the bathroom quickly enough.
1. Then again - since I haven't had such horrible "sessions" since then - I'm guessing I'm feeding my body better and that makes me smile.
2. I no longer juice at night out of fear.
2. I have more energy.  On days I didn't get enough sleep - I drag my arse out of bed and have my juice and feel loads better.  Ginger really puts a bit of kick into it!
1. I don't drink coffee or even tea very often - so I don't have that wake-me-up that coffee-lovers have in order to actually wake up and be civilized.
   Juicing has become my coffee.
3. I feel better.  I feel more alert and sharper when I've juiced.
4. I juice only breakfast despite wanting to juice 2/3 meals a day (and I'm okay with that)- but had a much smaller portion at lunch time and drank more water in between meals and felt just as satisfied.  
1. Sometimes I juiced supper if I wasn't in the mood to eat.  This way I have something in my belly.
5. I'm wearing jeans I couldn't wear 6-months ago - not even the month before I started.  I know and I'm sure - if I had strictly juiced and didn't eat meals (regardless of portions) - I'd be a twig.  But I didn't want to lose weight too fast nor feel as if (or give the impression of) I was starving.  I know it's not easy to go from a regular naughty eating habit to just juicing and it's what makes a lot of people quit making juice.
1. I've lost some weight - I'm guessing about 2-3 kilos.  I just stood on my scale and the batteries are nearly dead apparently.  And it takes those flat disc-style batteries - which I don't have.
6. I washed my juicer immediately before drinking my juice.  Instead of putting it off and having the fruit bits stick on (forever) - I just did it.  It also helps that my dishwasher is on bed rest for awhile.  
7. I have found ways to bond a bit more with my children.  I do NOT encourage my children to juice fast whatsoever.  What I DO encourage is that they get to make juice with me and drink some with their meals.  It's the funnest way to see a cause and effect (push the fruit or veggie in and out comes juice!) and also a great way to get them to have some veggies and fruits in their diet.  All three of my children have tried making juices and only V-Man and M-Girl seem to enjoy drinking them...usually a couple sips here and there - that's it.
8. I'm spending more time in the produce section of the grocery store than ever before.  Not a lot of my family members like fruits and veggies - so I'm alone in that category and buying one or two apples for me alone seems so silly.  But with juicing - I need more than that - and have been buying fruit by the kilos (especially when on sale).
9. I'm not enjoying pop/soda anymore at all.  Once the buzz is over - I feel like a train wreck and it just sucks.
10. I'm drinking more water.  I'm not a fish by any means - and I have a lot of friends that drink a lot more water than I can imagine to drink - but my water drinking has increased and I think it's doing my body good!

M-Girl helped me out today and sweet girl saw me pop in a carrot and immediately imitated me.  In the third photo at the top - she tried to push the black tube in but was doing it upside down (and machine was off anyway). :)

Testing!

I realize it's a bit premature to celebrate 25-days of  juicing and because I should probably have finished 30-days by now (missed some days) - but I'm quite proud of how far I've come and I'm at that point in my juicing experience where I honestly miss it if I don't juice.
You feel miserable without your latte or coffee or donut in the morning?  Me too - juice version.
You need to vent at the gym and you miss your gym time and get all crabby?  Yeah same here...I also get crabby when I haven't juiced.

On Saturday (oh tomorrow) - I'm going to my first sport event in Finland ever.  For the sake of participating.
Badminton.  Seriously.  It's a tournament - so that's a bit nerve wrecking, seeing as I haven't played competitively in ...*count my fingers...dig out the calculuator...JEEZE 15 years.

15 YEARS

I'm hoping that playing every now and again (it's obviously not an everyday club) will help me sleep better because I'm still battling with insomnia and waking up between 3 and 5 am (when I don't have to!).
I figure I'll play once a week or once every two weeks - because it'll take me that long to recover from muscles burning and so on.

I'm done for the day blogging.  Everyone is back home now and I think I'll just go crash with them.
Have a lovely weekend and Happy Easter if you don't hear from me again via this blog this weekend...I'll be quite busy prepping food for guests. :)

And thanks for your support - near and far.  Every word means a lot.
<3
BIMU

My Juicing Journal: Days 3 + 4 "Friday 13th edition"

Oh Juicing Community:
Forgive me for I have sinned.  I didn't juice last night.
I (and SH) dealt with screams, fights and protests last night until about 9pm.  On top of running around to do several errands, study and so on.
I slept poorly thanks to M-Girl cutting about 4-6 teeth at once (honestly) and woke up running.  Not jogging running - you KNOW what I mean.
I excused myself from school today because of it and am thankful as it was a hell of a day.

No idea it was Friday the 13th until our friends mentioned it at dinner!

1)  My toilet was tired of seeing me after 7 visits...pretty sure I heard it crying.
2)  My dishwasher decided to not work.
3) My kitchen sink was clogged up as all get out- but I fixed that.  Took me a couple hours of un-screwing pipes and scraping crap out of them - but I did it! *flexing my muscles
2.5)  My dishwasher didn't care that the pipes are now quite healthy and clean looking and still refuses to work.
4)  I had boiled sausages last night for today's spaghetti sauce (which I was going the slow cooker route for saving time purposes and flavour!)...forgot to drain the grease.  My sauce ended up super thin and greasy (in my opinion).  But thankfully the sausages are awesome and they pack a lot of flavour  - so that helped.

So this morning I decided if I have 2 glasses of juice (prior to finding out my dishwasher was going on strike) - that'll cover yesterday and today.
I had strawberries, an orange and 2 apples in my juicer and felt energized, calm and not as nervous, compared to when I have celery or loads of carrots in my juice.
I don't feel bad for skipping last night either.  Our juicing machine is rather loud and if the V-Man wakes up - it's the end of the world.  I'd rather he and the whole building sleeps instead. :)

Tomorrow I have a yarn dyeing course but will try and have some juice in the evening afterward (just in case).

Time to go say some bloody Mary's....
BIMU

My Juicing Journal: Day 2

Hey you.
It gets better.

Or maybe it's because I used some Chinese medicine to counteract the diarrhea/detoxing...and maybe it's because I didn't use as much celery as the recipe called for.
Yesterday was oranges, apples and celery.  I also made sure to make a little less.  So I drank about 600-750ml of juice last night instead of nearly a liter and held my breath.  (It was a hideous shade of barf green - but went down smoothly.)
I didn't toot like a crazy lady (like the first night).

But I also didn't sleep in PURE FEAR of crapping myself in my sleep (when the aim should've been a toot...a blast at most...).

I did use the bathroom this morning in a rush before class and hoped and prayed to the detox gods to cut me some slack because I can't afford to miss ANY more school.  (I have a ton of meetings coming up and other stuff that is mandatory for me to go to - so really...I can't miss school!)
The detox gods were kind to me today.  I made sure to not even fluff in the empty aisles of the library...not at the empty bus stop...nope. 
I tested myself before going out the door with the kids.  I had a banana and perhaps that helped because so far so good.
I'm currently snacking on salted mixed nuts and doing alright.

Tonight's juicing menu says 2 apples, 2 oranges and you know...14 FREAKING CARROTS.
And of course it's the "Eye Opener" recipe.
Yeah no frigging kidding...

Not a typo - the site even said so.

I'm going to be swapping those 14 carrots for maybe strawberries instead.  14 strawberries (frozen - I'll take them out to thaw first) is a lot more manageable than 14 carrots.  Sure, I can shove 3-5 at a time into my juicer but I also could use those carrots for meals.

Although, considering the load of my homework - maybe it'd be worth to get ill again....

I found I'm still energetic and not as hungry - but made sure to eat small meals still - and healthier snacks - just so I don't mentally think I'm starving and end up eating something ridiculously un-healthy for me.

Your juicing warrior-in-training,
BIMU

My Juicing Journal: Day 1

So I just finished this other blog post and figured I'd keep on trucking since I'm not in class now.

Warning: My experiences may contain "too much info (tmi)" - however...I'll keep writing and you can keep reading if you wish!  
(PS Everyone poops...there's your hint.)
I had lent my juicing machine to a friend and just got it back recently and while I love the idea of losing weight easily and I know a lot of people do this the juicing route - it's not what I had in mind.

For me, I love food - a lot.
But what I loved even more was not having to lug home 4 liters of juice (no car) at a time because my boys are juice slurping monsters and I found most of it too sweet sometimes.
I just love the idea of making my own juice when I want it and knowing what it's really made of and that's that.  Also, it's a lot cheaper for me to make it myself and not that time consuming and the kids love turning the knob or choosing the fruit or veggies to put in the juicer (with supervision of course).

So I lucked out at the second hand store and got a copy of Jason Vale's "The Juice Master" (Book Depository link - not sponsored) at my local second-hand shop and thought this could be handy, not because my first goal is to lose weight but then so I can have a guide or a recipe book handy, instead of having to scour the internet.

My first goal?  Well, I'm back to sitting in a classroom for about 5 hours a day plus lunch break and a coffee break and because my school is located downtown (awesome location for the bus routes and all that) - I'm in a danger zone.  I'm not working out as much as I should be and...
The yarn store is down the hill and with the ice quickly melting...it's becoming easier to access.
I've used most of my gift card to purchase yarn for a dyeing course I'm taking soon - but otherwise have gone 2 months without purchasing yarn!!  (Part of my New Year's Resolution...)
Also there are several restaurants nearby and already this week - I had a kebab roll twice for lunch.
Pretty much pizza dough wrapped hot and snug around a lot of kebab meat and some salad, mayo and some sauce.
Last night I was so sick and just felt like a bloated brick wall (I realize they can't bloat but pretend with me...because that's what I felt like!).  I couldn't move, I was stuffed up (bowel speaking here) and felt miserable.
I still have two kids to play with and entertain (Mr. V-Man is away for overnight care currently) and still had to cook supper somehow.
I remembered my juicing machine waiting to be used and couldn't find that book I JUST bought...so I scoured the internet quickly and came across this "30-days juicing challenge".
It's free and the grocery lists are included and guess what?  It turns out I had everything available for the first day!
(I tried uploading a photo via USB cable and my phone and it's not detecting anything.  Will try another time or just follow me on Instagram!) So last night I had nearly a liter of juice for supper (not sure of exact amount but almost a liter) and I had a child's sized portion of Singapore vermicelli (as opposed to nearly 2 adult-sized portions and water for my drink).

I'M SO F-ING GLAD I JUICED AT NIGHT.

Have you seen "Bridesmaids" and they all (except one) get food poisoning and are vomiting their guts up?!
Well, I wasn't vomiting but I went to bed alert and happy and very full (without the pain of having eaten too much or having had junk food like Mister Kebab Rolls above) around midnight.
Here's where the TMI part comes in.
Practically right away, I was tooting away and my toots were reeking.  Moreso than normally.
So I figure that, "Great - my juice is busting down Mister Kebab Roll and his twin brother and I'll finally be able to crap and sleep well."
No.  Didn't happen right off the bat.  But there was a lot of gas passing and that was surely a good sign - although my husband did nothing but complain.

I did manage to fall asleep only to wake up at night to realize I need the bathroom - like yesterday.
I ran to the bathroom just in time because:
 

Yeah that's what I meant by TMI.  (Don't ask me about that huge gap...technology isn't my friend today!)
So I decided I'm not going to school in the morning in case this happens again and low and behold - I've been counting tiles in my bathroom at least three times today.

I had planned to go buy myself some new jeans (second hand stores weren't so helpful the last few times I checked!) and look at a winter coat for next winter, hoping one would be on sale - but I'm staying at home...and blogging.

I checked with a friend who is a juicing fanatic and she said it sounded familiar for her too but to keep trucking and what my body is doing is "de-toxing".  I just had a case of Norovirus two weeks ago and am still exhausted from my trips to the bathroom...
I think I'll just keep juicing at night.  And perhaps not a full liter.
It was just so tasty - day 1 was celery, apples and carrots - and I drank it out of a huge plastic cup from the movie theater with a straw and next thing I knew - Breaking Bad was over and so was my beverage.
I felt pleasantly full and full of energy (and gas) and managed to do my homework and then y'know...I became a key player in the Game of Thrones (Juicing Edition).

Happy juicing if you dare.
BIMU

PS Sorry if my text is massive - it shrunk on "normal" size and I think Blogger hates me today.