New to Juicing

This is my beautiful friend whom I will refer to as "K," who also has a blog called Journey to Conquer, where you can read about her story here.  

She has inspired me through my gluten free conversion as I see her improving her health through her journey of juicing, cleansing, eating 80% RAW, dairy free, sugar free, alcohol free....and I have to admit, I have been reticent to get on board with her system due to plain old stubborn habits and a general selfish unwillingness to fully commit.  I struggle, as any woman I think does, with cutting out sugar and soda, so I rationalize sugar free dark chocolates, diet sodas, gluten free cupcakes - when in reality - those foods are not doing me any good.

K knows me, and she also knows from experience how juicing has helped her.  And sometimes when you don't want to hear the truth, you need a good pep-talk from your true friends who will tell it to you like is, no sugar-coating (pun intended).   And that is exactly what K did - she told me this past weekend that if I was going to really give this holistic health thing a go, I need to commit, not half-a** it like I feel I have been doing.

And what I mean by that is I have been slowly converting to purchasing organic fruits, adding supplements like Krill oil and Probiotics, cutting out gluten, trimming back soda and candy...and to give myself some credit- these are good changes!

But if I am honest with myself...I have not made the full on conversion, because IT IS NOT FUN!  What else is not fun, however, is waking up feeling like you got hit by a big rig, or someone replaced your 28 year old bones with a geriatric skeleton.  See, I have been operating on caffeine since law school, and placating aches and pains from an old high school volleyball injury with NSAIDS (Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs).  And, I have this bull-like drive within me that I will keep pushing and running on nothing but adrenaline until I drop.

Switching from artificial stimulants that exist in altered foods and drinks (read: Monster energy) to obtaining all natural energy from live fruit, minerals, vitamins and enzymes is a full-blown culture shock for my cells.  I was slowly sampling juice blends from Robek's or Mother's as I would grocery shop, or replace a lunch or breakfast here and there with an all-fruit smoothie, but I started to wonder, how much good can those antioxidant and nutrient boosts do me if I am not 100% consistent?

I figured now is as good a time as any to jump into juicing - So I trekked to Costco and purchased our very first Home Juicer! (see below).  B and I read all about it and watched the introductory video, and juiced our first oranges last night! Then I made my first juice cocktail with an apple, ginger root, an orange, and two carrots, poured over ice because I enjoy cold juice much more than room temp - it was fantastic.  I am excited and hopeful for my body to start feeling the effects of juicing.  And though 80% Raw is not exactly convenient or cheap to implement, I am giving it a shot.  80% raw means most food comes from pure organic raw ingredients, as you find them in nature, in their original state. (i.e. NON processed)

The other 20% comes from the occasional cooked Quinoa, meats such as chicken, turkey, steak and fish.  I also spread Valencia Peanut Butter with Flax Seeds over sprouted grain bread (not gluten free, I will switch to Udi's when I run out of the Ezekiel bread in my fridge)...the point is, you have to make it work for you, but be honest with yourself and give it a good shot.  I will be updating and reporting on how the progress is coming along!