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.

I love the holidays. Peg me as one those people that has to hold back from setting up their Christmas decorations until after Halloween. The lights, the apple cider, the extra family time (so often in pajamas). It's lovely. I would want it go on forever, except for the pure fact that by the end of it, I feel terrible. Bloated. Tired. Unmotivated. Weighed down - emotionally and physically. This has become even more pronounced since I've changed my eating habits, normally fueling my body, giving it what it needs to function well and efficiently. I'm familiar with what I'm supposed to feel like.

It's only December 19th and I already feel far from my body's optimal performance.

So I'm planning a reset. A fresh start. That is what January is about right? Even my husband, ever so resistant to change is on board. (I think he too has eaten one too many pieces of pie in the last month. So as a family, we are committing to it, and I think you should join us.

Food plays such a powerful role in our health. Everything we put in our mouth either helps, or hurts us. Truly, there is no in between. Let's start the year by fueling our bodies with the nutrients it needs to properly function. I think you'll find it changes things in ways you never thought possible.

The Plan:

1. We'll begin our journey to health on January 3rd by doing a 3 day juice fast. No, I'm not talking about orange juice.. Aka nature's version of soda. I'm talking about green juice. Vegetable juice. Don't throw in the towel yet, it's delicious, I promise. It takes some re-framing of your concept of juice but after that (somewhat intensive) re-framing (and recipes from me), you'll enjoy it. Obviously, some things must be considered before doing this: like pregnancy, high exercise demand, etc, and it never hurts to ask your doctor (though they may look at you kinda funny) but for the vast majority of people, short term fasts have many health benefits. For example, it is one of the most powerful tools for resetting inflammation in the body. It helps prevent aging of the brain and maximizes brain function. Fasting facilitates the breakdown of toxins stored so deeply in our body, they would otherwise be left to continue to propagate damage, sometimes for decades. It kicks in the mechanisms that repair our genes and DNA which play a role in disease and cancer prevention. HGH or human growth hormone is activated, this activates our bodies repair mechanisms promoting healing and the breakdown of fat. One of the most important byproducts of fasting is the break it gives your gut. Allowing it to heal and better absorb nutrients and protect your body from harmful pathogens.

2. After the 3 days of fasting we begin 30 days of pretty hard core healthy eating. January 6th-February 4th. For this we will follow the guidelines of the Whole30 diet. The Whole30 diet consists of, well, exactly what you would think, whole foods for 30 days. It goes further than that and restricts you to only whole, unprocessed foods that are low inflammatory foods. This is the kicker, your body can do amazing things when it isn't inflamed. Another interesting property of this "diet" is that is changes the way you want to eat. We did this earlier in the fall, my husband, Casey and I. You could say that my husband has never had ANY self control with food his entire life, and I wouldn't tell you that you were exaggerating. The man used to eat Reece's Cups like potato chips before falling asleep. Nightly. He is one of the lucky ones who can eat anything, anything, and not gain weight. In short, this leads to no need for (even the slightest) bit of self control. After our first round of the Whole30 he doesn't even want sweets. He wants to eat a salad for lunch each day. To watch that evolution, has been nothing short of remarkable. Find out more of the details on the Whole30 here: http://whole30.com/whole30-program-rules/

If you are saying to yourself, "this is too hard," I want to say this to you (as taken from the Whole30 site): It's not hard. Don't you dare tell us this is hard. Beating cancer is hard. Birthing a baby is hard. Losing a parent is hard. Drinking your coffee black. Is. Not. Hard. You've done harder things than this, and you have no excuse not to complete the program as written. It's only thirty days, and it's for the most important health cause on earth-the only physical body you will ever have in this lifetime.

I believe in this. I've seen it change the lives of my patients and in my own home. It can change you, from the inside. Join us, you only have one body, one life time, nourish it. Nourish it better.

Keep up the momentum by joining us in our plan. Subscribe to the blog for recipes, as well as juice and meal ideas throughout the month. We are excited to share this journey with you.