We have one day until our ny2 begins and let me tell you, I have been preparing. Not in the sense of making shopping lists and meal plans for each day but more in the format of eating-everything-I-possibly-can. Otherwise known as having no self control. I'm certain this will make my venture towards better health increasingly more difficult but I'm telling you, those gluten free donuts were worth it.
Tomorrow is two things: prep day for the increased amount of work required to get the nutrients you need and also the last day you can eat terrible, bad, unhealthy things. Not that I am promoting your doing so, because I'm not, and I most certain did not eat (GF) pizza tonight. Getting back on topic, tomorrow, you'll want to have food available so you're able to hit the ground running. Below is a list of necessities. Feel free to expand from there. Again, during this time, everything must be organic.
General Info:
1. Juice base: This gives the bulk of the water content and make up a large portion of the juice itself.
- Buy plenty of these products, they will go fast and you will need more than you anticipate.
- Good examples are cucumber, romaine lettuce, and celery.
2. Nutrient dense foods: These are the foods that potently affect your body.
- A variety of these are ideal and this list is by no means, all inclusive. If it looks good, (and of course has a low sugar content) juice away!
- Examples of these are kale, spinach (I use baby), collard greens, swiss chard, bell peppers of all colors, tomatoes, zucchini/squash, and sprouts of all types. Use as much of these as you can handle, taste-wise. Spinach is very mild in taste and you can use a significant amount before it dominates the taste.
- If you struggle with a chronic inflammatory condition of some form, use fresh turmeric and ginger consistently.
3. The taste factor: What makes your juice delicious. (I mean that, I love my juice!)
-This is what will add sweet or spice to your juice, altering the taste and making it (more) tasty.
-These are used in moderation. For example, I only use about 1/2 of a green apple for 2-3 people per (large) serving of juice.
-These include green apples, lemon, sweet potatoes, ginger. I think an occasional 1/2 orange is fine as well. Jalapenos can keep things interesting if you begin to bored.
Tips and Tidbits:
Juicing can loosen up toxins that may have lied dormant in fat cells for years. While this is good for your body, it's also important that your body has the ability to mobilize these toxins and flush them out. Drink water and drink plenty. Try to keep this separate from your "meal time," allowing the nutrients from the juice to be potently available for absorption.
Juice fresh. Unless you have a masticating juicer you need to be juicing for each meal. Obviously this is more complex for those of you who will be working during the fast. Juicing during lunch at the office is (semi) impossible. Can you imagine the memo's you'd be getting??? In those cases I suggest picking up a cold-pressed juice from a local distributor or worse case scenario, you miss out on some the nutrients during lunch and drink one from a centrifugal juicer that you had made that morning. Worse things have happened.
Ultimately, don't stress yourself out trying to determine the hard, fast rules of juicing. Relax and think of it as more of an art with one underlying component: what is the most amount of nutrients that I can pack into this juice I'm about to drink. When I started juicing years ago, I began with quite a simple recipe and added from there. It was this one from Joe Cross:
http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/mean-green-juice/
For links to some more tasty juicing recipes, head over to my Pinterest account by clicking the link at the very bottom of this page.
Please feel free to share any insights, questions or comments you come across on your juice journey.
Most importantly-you CAN do this.