Juicing

So far, my juices have either come from www.jointhereboot.com or have just been random concoctions that I have thrown together.  I started this whole thing after watching the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" by Joe Cross.  He chronicles his 60 day juice fast in which he loses over 80 pounds and basically cures himself of an autoimmune disease by consuming nothing but fresh fruit and vegetable juice.  I think I like chewing too much to do something that drastic, but I thought that replacing one meal a day with juice would still provide beneficial.  For the most part, I have been drinking juice for breakfast every day.  For the first few weeks, I drank Joe Cross's "Mean Green" which is:

1 bunch Kale
1 whole cucumber
1/2 lemon
1 inch ginger
2 green apples
4 stalks celery

I added either 1 orange or 2 clementines at first because it wasn't quite sweet enough for me as a breakfast.  It definitely tastes like you are drinking a salad, but after a few days, I really grew to enjoy the flavor of this juice.  It made about 32 oz of juice - which was a lot more than I expected.  Because of the sheer amount of juice, I found that it kept me pretty satisfied until lunch as long as I drank it slowing over the course of the morning starting at about 8.  Some days I am hungrier than others and will sometimes eat a snack of veggies and hummus or peanut butter with my students around 9:30 or 10:00, but a few days, I would just be too busy and not feel the need to eat anything.

A new favorite for me is the Apple, Carrot, Ginger from jointhereboot.com.  This juice is just as easy as it sounds - a few green apples, a couple carrots and a chunk of ginger.  It's a little spicy from the ginger and very refreshing.  This recipe only makes about 1 normal sized tumbler full of juice though so it doesn't hold me off until lunch without a snack. 

Last week, I tried the Gazpacho juice from jointhereboot.com.  Here is the recipe:

4 plum tomatoes
1 large cucumber
2 celery stalks
1 red bell pepper
1/2 small red onion
2 cups parsley
1 lime

While it isn't getting the best reviews on the reboot mesage boards ("WORST JUICE EVER!") I kinda liked it.  It is pretty ugly - an odd brown color, but it "smells like a salad" according to a friend of mine.  I accidently left out the onion, but it tasted like gazpacho. I would make it again, but might add some jalepeno for a bit of a kick next time per the advice of a message board poster.

That's it for tonight.  I'll post whatever I come up with for breakfast tomorrow and maybe some pictures.