Now I'm on Day 4 with Sweet Grapefruit Juice Recipe

I was ok most of the day today after getting only six hours of sleep. I was having a bad morning until one of my students made me laugh. I was asking him why he was pretending that another space ship was shooting at his spaceship, he didn't really know so he said "actually that's just how they roll."
Food went ok today, I enjoyed my juices and didn't really crave anything until I had to skip a juice and got really hungry. I was craving cookies today though, because I made two amazing kinds. This week my theme in my classroom is fall so today we made pumpkin cookies and I used a gluten free recipe from kibbysblendedlife.com that I absolutely love. The kids loved the cookies too and it was so difficult not to eat one (actually I did lick the bowl, but shhhhhh, don't tell). Besides the pumpkin cookies my first and second grade class earned a reward and so did my preschool class so I had to make them a treat (I started making homemade treats so that I could regulate how much sugar they ate in class.) My first and second graders chose gingerbread cookies of all things so I convinced my preschoolers to choose the same treat. I ended up making PB Gingerbread Chocolate Chunk Cookies from chocolatecoveredkatie.com because I could make them gluten and dairy free (there are some allergies in my classroom) and the kids just loved them. I was very pleasantly surprised, but that didn't make it any easier not to taste a cookie "sigh".

Yummy Juices:
12 oz hot lemon water
lots of tea
16 oz dandelion, kale, apple, cucumber, parsley, lime, celery
12 oz beet carrot dandelion apple
16 oz Pearfection by thevegetablecentrickitchen.com
16 oz Sweet Grapefruit Juice (Recipe below)

I dislike grapefruit very much, but I love this juice. It has the pleasant taste of grapefruit without the bitter taste.

Sweet Grapefruit Juice

4 leaves dandelion (optional, will make the juice a little more bitter)

2 apples

1 grapefruit

8 carrots (adjust to your liking or until you get 16 oz of juice)

Juice all ingredients and enjoy!

Happy Juicing!

Day 3 Cheating?!?

Today went really well! I felt really happy this morning and I was energized and playing with the kids. I was not even very hungry for my first juice, but drank it anyway because I knew I needed it. I thought, "This is my juicy high!" Then the state representative showed up and everything got messed up. The state sends someone to all the preschools to make sure they are following state standards each year and we have been waiting for this. I was super nervous, but the worst thing was I didn't get to drink my juice at snack time! and by the time she left I was starving! Not good. I drank a huge carrot juice and thought everything was fine, then the weirdest thing happened. I was picking some groceries up at Natural Grocers and I suddenly felt super shaky and really hot. I can't explain it, its never happened to me before and I don't know why. So I quickly drove home and ate some "emergency" food that I am now feeling a little sick over. I finally came to the conclusion I had been drinking to much caffeinated tea! Oh well, tomorrow is a new day and I am excited for some yummy juices!

16 oz dandelion leaves, celery, lime, apple, chard, ginger juice
12 oz dandelion leaves, carrots, apple, beet
12 oz pear, celery, kale, parsley
24 oz carrot, grapefruit, orange, cucumber, ginger
1 pear (emergency)
12 oz broth from last night blended with 1/2 avocado
other 1/2 avocado with Himalayan pink salt, pepper, and lime juice (emergency)
 1/3 cup homemade coconut butter mixed with bee pollen and peppermint stevia (emergency and I don't think coconut butter is even on the diet, oh well)

Happy Juicing!!!

(Hee Hee, sorry everyone who read this post before this morning, yesterday was only the third day. I guess I was tired last night )

Cleanse Day 2

Today I was REALLY hungry. I learned that I need more juice otherwise I may cave in and eat something I shouldn't, I was craving anything and everything today. So tonight I made more juices to take with me in the morning and now I am exhausted so here are the juices that kept me going today...

16 oz kale, chard, lemon, apple, ginger juice
12 oz beet, kale, apples, spinach, lemon, ginger
16 cucumber, pear juice
12 oz green kombucha (store bought because I was so hungry)
24 oz tomatoes, green onions, poblano pepper, carrots, celery, cilantro, parsley, lemon juice mixed with warmed veggie broth kept frozen from last spring.

Well goodnight

Happy Juicing!!!

If you are also following this cleanse let us know how you are doing in the comments below or on my facebook page!

30 Day Cleanse

After I finished my raw month I went a little crazy for one day and ate things I don't eat all the time, like Seitan Wings from City O' City. But then I started Jason Vale's 3 lbs in 3 days juice detox because the Big Juice Reboot starts on Wednesday and I wanted to join, but had something else in mind so I did it early. I lost about 5 lbs in the three days, which I assume about 3 of them were the water weight and bloating I gained from the raw food.

Today I started a new 30 Day Cleanse :) I like doing challenges, they keep my diet interesting. This cleanse is really special because my mom designed it. She has been a health nut for as long as I can remember, always weighed less than me, and has taught exercise classes since I was born. She is currently in school so she designed this diet to help people lose weight and start eating healthier (I will let her tell you more about it later). It is not perfected yet so I decided to make her 30 Day Cleanse my next challenge. The first 3 to 5 days are juicing or raw days and I decided to juice for about 4 and a half more days so today was my first day continuing to juice (and I am starving right now!)

I decided to document what I eat this month. So here goes...

8 oz. Hot Lemon water
Lots of tea (with caffeine, sorry)
16 oz My version of Green Lemonade (courtesy of Natalia Rose)
12 oz Beet juice
32 oz Green everything juice with spirulina
16 oz Carrot, orange, ginger juice
12 oz beet juice mixed with homemade kombucha and a little stevia
Lots more tea

Happy Juicing!

My Month Eating Raw

I finished my month of eating raw on Tuesday! I went through so many interesting experiences during September I wanted to share them with you so if you every want to do something like this you may have a better idea of what you are doing than I did. The one thing that really surprised me was that eating raw was so much easier than I anticipated. It was also full of amazingly good food (I ate way too many nuts:)

When I began eating raw I really didn't know what I was doing. I made some yummy raw biscuits and a yummy Apple Sauce smoothie that I shared with you. But during the first week I started to get these really weird dizzy spells, one of them happened while I was driving and I felt so disoriented I had to pull off into a parking lot and wait until I felt better. So when I got home I called my dad (the doctor) trying to figure out what I needed. He said "I never thought I would have to be telling YOU this, but you need to eat more!" Well I didn't think anyone would ever have to tell me that either, I love food a little too much! but I started counting my calories and realized that I had only been eating around 1000 calories a day--not good. So I made some yummy raw cookies full of almond butter by the Detoxinista and started watching Fully Raw Kristina's videos. I found out that a fully raw vegan and someone who is following the 80/10/10 diet eats around 2000 calories in fruits and greens a day. So I amped up my calorie intake and began eating a whole lot more fruit. I was not exactly following an 80/10/10 diet because I ate quite a bit of nuts, especially those first two weeks, but I did what I felt I needed to keep eating raw. By the end of my second week of eating raw I was feeling so good, eating less nuts, and most of my cravings for food had gone. I felt very peaceful about food and I didn't feel I needed chocolate, which was great!

My menu during this month included some super yummy things such as figs--my new fav! raw cupcakes, raw lasagna, raw cheesecake, raw almond butter oreos, lots of raw kale chips, and lots of raw pasta :) I will be posting a few more recipes when I get pics.

One of the things that didn't sit so well with me during this month is that I became incredibly bloated with all the fruit and extra fiber I was eating. It was very uncomfortable, but I found out that one day of juicing takes care of the bloating. If I ever go raw again for any amount of time I will do a three day juice cleanse every ten days and be very intentional about eating less nuts and a whole lot more veggies.

I am now starting a few more goals which I will share with you in a couple days, but until then I hope this post helps guide you if you are thinking about going raw. I did give some fun blogs in this post, but if you want more either connect with me on Pinterest via lifeandveggiejuice.blogspot.com or just ask in the comments.

Happy Juicing!!!

Applesauce Smoothie

Another smoothie recipe thanks to my all raw month, which I am absolutely loving even if I have made a few slips. I will write a post when I am all finished so that if you decide to do something similar hopefully you will know more about eating raw than I did when I started this month. 

Ok, ok, smoothie time! This smoothie is amazing--I wanted to follow someone's apple pie smoothie and ended up making my own. When I tasted the smoothie it tasted so much more like yummy applesauce than a pie. I even poured it over a raw biscuit I had made and my husband smothered a piece of toast in the appley goodness :)

Applesauce Smoothie

                    6 red delicious apples, cored (you could use any type of apple, but I like the 

                         softness of the red delicious apples for this smoothie)

                    1 handful baby greens

                    1/2 cup nut milk

                    2 tsp apple pie spice

                    1 leaf Aloe Vera

                    a handful of ice

Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Enjoy!

Happy Juicing!!!

Snickerdoodle Smoothie

Since I have been eating raw I have been eating heavy treats probably more than I should be, it helps me stay on track. One night I was really wanting Snickerdoodle cookies which are my absolute FAVS, but the version I want to make needs to be dehydrated overnight and I wanted them RIGHT NOW--So this smoothie came out of my craving for Snickerdoodle Cookies and it tastes AMAZING!!!

Snickerdoodle Smoothie

1/2 avocado

1 cup homemade nut milk (or milk of choice)

1 heaping tsp cinnamon

3 Tbsp honey

2 tsp vanilla

pinch of salt

12 ice cubes

Place everything in a blender and blend until smooth. Makes two servings. Serve, sprinkle with cinnamon and cacao nibs and enjoy! 

Happy Juicing!!!

What is your favorite cookie?