Orange Grapefruit Juice and Banana Nut Breakfast

Of all the juices we've made, simple plain orange juice has really been my favorite.

I started adding one grapefruit for every two oranges because I like the added bitterness, phytochemicals, and lycoprene.

We've had a glass most mornings this week for breakfast.

I've been keeping it to 8oz because of the sugar.

The Carnivore and I also started running again this week. And, with the added exercise I felt we needed something more than juice to get us going in the morning.

Normally, I'd just eat a banana. But how many mornings can you eat a banana before getting bored?

For me, it was two.

So today I added a tablespoon of peanut butter. The peanut butter makes all the difference!

super simple breakfast

Grape Kale Juice

Breakfast this week is grape kale juice.

I was skeptical about this juice at first but it was love at first sip!

I love that I get the nutrients from both the kale and the grapes and when the two are combined it makes a very sweet juice.

8oz a day does the body good

I've always found grape juice too sweet by itself but fresh grape juice tastes VERY different than anything you can buy in a store. And I think the addition compliments the kale juice without over powering it.

I've played with the amount of kale to grapes all week. I've found that I prefer a mix of about 4 kale leaves to roughly 1 cup of grapes.

7 Day Juice Cleanse

After purchasing a juicer and discovering that I loved all types of fresh juice I decided to do a 7 day cleanse.

Carrot/Apple/Ginger=Breakfast

My goals with the cleanse were to give my body a detox, end my terrible sugar cravings, and hopefully lose a few pounds.

I worked my way to the cleanse gradually by replacing one meal a week with juice until I was only consuming juice.

In addition to the juice I also had an 8 oz glass of nut milk mixed with a vegan protein powder.

I know some people would say that this addition takes away from the cleansing aspect I was after. However, this was my first juice cleanse and having the nut milk each day gave me something to look forward to-almost as a treat.

I also think the protein powder was necessary to make sure that I was getting enough protein and it also contained some fiber and other important nutrients.

Daily Juices

A Day of Juice

Breakfast: Carrot/Apple/Ginger or Orange/Pineapple/Carrot
Lunch: Green Juice
"Snack": Green Juice
Dinner: Green Juice
3 Hours Before Bed: Nut Milk with Protein Powder*
Plus a minimum of 80 ounces of lemon water



*On day 3 I moved the nut milk to the "Snack" slot and found I had more energy in the afternoon.

During the cleanse I had tons of energy and only felt hungry two or three times. I lost 4 pounds this week but I know a portion of that loss was due to not having any food in my system.

Green, Green, and More Green!

I did exercise two days during the cleanse. I had planned to walk more but we had a freak snowstorm here that ruined being outside for a few days.

After the cleanse I notice that I no longer crave sugar or carbs and I feel like I'm finally back in control of the food choices I make.

 I did start incorporating some raw veggies back in to my diet Saturday evening and during the day Sunday to help my body transition back to solid food.

I did this because I could start to feel my body really need more calories and nutrition.

My First Post Cleanse Meal-couldn't finish it

I think that I'll continue to juice for breakfast. Further, if I feel myself getting off track (which I'm working hard to prevent) I know that I can work in a shorter cleanse, maybe 3 days, to get back on track.

Juicing! Orange Pineapple and Mean Green

If you can have love for a physical object, then it is safe to say I LOVE my juicer!

So far we've made two juices. The machine is really easy to use, super quiet, and clean up take me about 90 seconds.

Juice #1: Orange Pineapple 

 I bought the juicer primarily to juice leafy greens and veggies but I wanted to start out with something sweet. Also, I wanted to see how the juicer handled citrus and soft fruits. I used 3 oranges and 1/2 of a pineapple.

Making the juice took about 15 minutes total including prep, juicing, and clean up. The yield was somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 cups.

Sooooo tasty and so easy to make! I'd drag myself out of the bed early to make this juice. But, it does have a lot of sugar so this is a juice that will be a treat, not a staple.

Juice #2: Mean Green

Since I was dying to try a more "hardcore" juice we made a green juice next. I was very worried about how this juice would actually taste. I love vegetables. Like I really love them. There's not a single vegetable I hate and I can spend hours just talking about them. But I read some very unflattering reviews about green juices online while researching juicers.

For this juice we followed a basic Mean Green recipe that I found online-kale, celery, lemon, cucumber, ginger, green apples.

so much Kale!

The Carnivore was surprised by the juice yield from one leaf of kale. And I was amazing by it's wonderful bright green color.

We also developed a good system where I prep the veggies while he juices them. It made the juicing marginally faster but made it a team activity. I was glad he wanted to help since I think he still has a bit of sticker shock over the price of the juicer.

I'll add more ginger next time and less lemon. Overall I was surprised how sweet this juice was and how little I tasted the kale. I might add more kale and take only use one apple because I really love the taste of kale and all things cabbage.

The final juice is a bit darker because the celery I bought turned out to be terrible so we replace it with a few carrots.