My Journey through Lent with Juice

I decided that for Lent this year I would do something different. I decided to juice my way from Ash Wed to Easter Sunday. I know you are thinking well she has been doing this for 11 months now why is this something special for Lent.

This past year has been a journey for me. One to better health, family life and most importantly Spiritual health. Last Feb I watched Fat Sick and Nearly Dead and started on my journey. March 21 was the first day of my first ever juice cleanse. I never thought I would last a day much less 96 days (which was the length of my first feast). During this time after much prayer I decided it was time to discover the Church I had been "auditing" for 25 years. So in August I began my journey to become a member of the Catholic Church.

After my first 96 days of juice cleanse or feast as I now call it, I visited my many doctors and they were shocked and surprised at the change in me. My weight was down, my medicines were not  needed as much. My brain fog and left over issues from 3 strokes in 2011 were much improved. Since my first Juice Feast I have followed with a 40 day cleanse and several 2 week cleanses. I have added juice to my daily diet by juicing 2 of my meals and also my snacks. The food I eat is all natural, no processed or meats.

For Lent I pledged to add the nutrients to my body as well as my spirit. Of my daily juices I do less sugars and more of the greens to help my body cleanse. My morning juices have to be less green because of medicines so below is one of my morning juices.

12 oz cranberries (fresh)

5 Sweet Potatoes Peeled and cubed

3 Granny Smith Apples

2 Oranges

1 lime

Juice all items in the order listed. Serve cold or slightly warm less than 110 degrees, 

so all the nutrients remain.

I invite you to follow along here on my blog. Share with me any of your experiences. If you have question please feel free to drop me a note at shweetpotatodolls@gmail.com. I am not an expert by any means but I would love to share what I have learned these past 11 months. 

Til tomorrow

Stay Juicy

Sandi

First Day January Juicing Went Great

Sorry I did not get in here yesterday to post my beginning "shot" and weight but I was kinda busy with Zoe Bug all day long and into the evening. Wanted to re-cap Day 1 of January Juicing and share with you my Riff of Joe Cross's Mean Green Recipe I had for dinner last night and made enough for breakfast and some juicing today.

So here is my beginning shot for January 1, 2013.... Of course I am with my Zoe Bug, she's 15 months 3 weeks. My beginning weight 232 pounds. Pant size 18. Shirt Size 14/16 (some 18 if the sleeves are tight).
Tomorrow I will tell you my illnesses and medicines that I have beginning this year so you know where I am beginning this New ERA. I'll let you know Doctors updates throughout the year and other ups and downs as they happen.

Last night I made up 2 litters of my favorite Juice just to get a head start on Tuesday. Also, I knew that I would be home "alone" today and wanted juice on hand so  I would not be tempted to grab a bite of fruit while making up juice if I got hungry.

This is one of my Zoe Bug's favorite juices and mine too. This is a riff of Joe Cross's Mean Green from "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" movie.

2 bundles of kale 

( clean kale, remove kale leaves from the thick ribs to keep juice from being bitter)

1/2 bundle of spinach or 2 cups baby spinach (cleaned)

4 granny smith apples (large)

2 Macintosh apples

1 bundle of celery

3 large cucumbers peeled

4 oranges peeled (large)

2 large lemons peeled

(you can add ginger if you like ginger about 1/4 inch would be good...add it before the cucumbers)

Juice all the produce in the order they are shown. 

~~Hints~~

Remove the thick ribs from kale, chard, spinach to take away bitterness from juice.

Wrap leaves around apple slices before adding to the slot to juice. This will get more juice from your leafy greens.

Peel cucumbers esp if they are not organic... most cucumbers are waxed, so you do not want that in your juices.

Lemon juice is wonderful and I like to juice the peel as well. It is an acquired taste, so add a small amount of peel at a time and work your way up to the whole lemon. Again organic lemons are best for juicing the rind.

The reason I juice in the order I do is so that the produce with the most liquid will "wash" out any sludge or reside. That way you are not loosing  any of your vitamins and nutrients.

Last but not least, the most important thing...

Taste as you go. Add if you need too. If you don't like it remember for the next time and adjust... if you do like it...write it down. I personally use my cell phone and snap pictures of the produce I am juicing. If I like the juice I keep the pictures. That way i know what was in the juice.

Remember try to keep it 80% Vegetable to 20% fruit and have fun!

Til Later 

I am off to send some recipes to folks

Shweet Sandi

JANUARY 1 2013 START OF A THE NEW ERA IN OUR HOME

Many people many New Year resolutions that some are lucky if they last 1 maybe two weeks into the year before they break them. Not my husband and I. We are beginning a new ERA the ERA of Healthy Living.
Last year in March we watched Joe Cross's movie  Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, joined his community Join The Reboot and I went in search of facebook friends who also might be interested in helping me learn about this journey in Juicing to Better Health.

As many of you know, I juiced a good number of days and lost a good amount of weight. Most importantly I went from 22 medicines down to 6 yes count them ~6~! I am so excited! I am no where close to where I need to be weight or health wise BUT considering where I was 8 months ago when I started this journey I am way ahead of the curve.

Our New ERA
1.So Marty and I committed to no processed foods in our home.
2.Only fresh foods.
3. We cook our own foods or if we eat out it is some place we know it is made from 100% fresh or  Fresh/Raw.
4. Month of January Sandi will be taking part in a Juice Feast. That means I will only eat/drink fresh juices or water.
 I do not do this to loose weight quickly but to reboot my body. This give my organs a much needed rest. While they rest I am taking in high concentrations of vitamins and nutrients from the fresh juices. It is like getting a blood transfusion only this is a nutrient/vitamin transfusion.

I will be posting on here as the days go by and also adding some of my recipes to my recipe blog.
I weighed in this morning so I know where I am starting 232 pounds... gotta find the tape measure and will post that too.
 So if anyone is starting a Juice Cleanse or Feast as we call it on Jan 1 and plan to do to for the whole 31 days, join NOW on Facebook.
Hope you will follow me this year...Share with me your experience in getting healthy both in body as well as spirit too.
Til tomorrow when we start our Journey into our new ERA or Life!
Stay Healthy
Shweet Sandi

Olivia's Blender Sorbet

My niece has been coming over and spending a few days a week with me.  While we enjoy making and drinking fresh juice at my place, I know she doesn't have a juicer at her house, so I want to teach her she can create healthy and tasty food with her blender. This is what she came up on her first try. Let me warn you this post is very PICTURE HEAVY!

Olivia's Blender Sorbet
1/2 Musk Melon (What we call a Cantaloupe in the USA)
2 Cups Strawberries
1 pint Blueberries
1 Lime
1 Orange
1/2 Cup bottled water

Step By Step Directions:
Make sure to have all your produce washed and cut before you start blending. We used a Hamilton Beach Personal Blender. It is safe and easy to use. Let's begin to make our base to Olivia's Sorbet.

Place a handful of musk melon and 2 inches of bottled water into your blender and pulse until it is a liquid. Add more musk melon (cantaloupe) and pulse. As it reaches the fill line remove some into a large bowl, keeping some of the liquid in the blender and continue to process the musk melon.

Follow the Musk Melon with your Strawberries. Process them in the same method as you have your musk melon. Add a small amount of strawberries to your liquid and pulse until it is a liquid. MAKE SURE THE BLADES ARE OFF AND YOU DO NOT PLACE YOUR FINGERS TO FAR DOWN INTO THE BOWL!

Next Olivia said to use the hand held juicer to juice the lime.

Instead of juicing it in half's cut off  a little bit off of one end and place it in the juicer.

Squeeze the juicer and tip it to the side allowing the juice to flow into the bowl of the blender. Flip the the lime over and squeeze this again. Now fold the lime in half place it in the press and squeeze it one more time. NOW you have all the juice out of the lime. WOW Olivia! It really works!

Now on to more fruit for this Sorbet. Now that you have your lime juice in your strawberry liquid add some of your blueberries and blend.

Now you can blend all your blueberries in the same method as you have all your other fruit. Remember to remove it to your bowl as it gets to be to much.

The last thing you need to do is to add the orange juice to your mixture. 

One of the easiest ways to do this is to cut your orange into 8 pieces, insert it into your lemon squeezer and go to town. Simple, easy and super fast.

Now Stir your mix together and pour it into a glass to drink ( yes it makes a great Smoothie)

Or Place in a Freezable Container and place in your freezer for about 4-6 hours.

 Once it is nice an frozen remove from your freezer. Allow to stand out for 15-25 minutes until you can scrap it with a fork.Then do just that. Scrap the surface of the sorbet with a fork and mix it up. Using a spoon or ice cream scoop loosely scoop your sorbet into a glass or bowl. Enjoy.

(You can do this with fresh juice as well. )

Seven Steps to Reverse "Diabesity." from my Friend Wendy Cheek

Sorry I have not been around still recovering from that bad back pain, will fill you in on that in a later blog. BUT today's blog is a post that one of my Support Group Friends made in our group. It says so much to me and I feel like it needs to be repeated here for everyone to read and take note of. Thanks Wendy Cheek not only for this post but for all the Support and Advise you give me and the others in our groups. YOU are so appreciated and loved!

Seven steps to reverse "diabesity."
#1: Get tested. 
(You can do this with your doctor, or you can do the mirror test: stand in front of a mirror and take off your shirt. Jump up and down and if your belly jiggles, you're probably affected with "diabesity."
#2: You must learn how to EAT your medicine. You can HEAL with MEALS. The most powerful medicine is at the end of your fork. 
#3: Get a metabolic tune-up with supplements (We need Fish Oil, a good Multi and Vitamin D and PGX)
#4: Get moving and get relaxed. (You need to move....or you won't.) And you should relax every day...stress makes us fat. Relaxing makes us lean.
#5: Get clean and go green. (If you hit a plateau, you might be toxic) Drink tons of water. Empty your bowels every day. Sweat a lot. And do deep breathing. These are the ways your body gets rid of toxins. 
#6: Get personal. (Sorry...I missed the details on this one.)
#7: Get together. Find a buddy. Join a group or create a group. Support is a powerful strategy to create change in your life.




If you are looking for a good support group and you are FACEBOOK and juice...PLEASE JOIN OUR REBOOTER BUDDIES.

If you are interested in living VEGAN or ARE VEGAN please join the VEGAN VEGUCATION  Facebook Support Group.

Looking for a great healthy way for you and your family to live? I would suggest Dr Fuhrman's EAT TO LIVE Support Group on FACEBOOK.

Now Guys if you are juicing ONLY, that means no smoothies, no bites or nibbles of anything else, and would like to commit to 30 days of STRAIGHT ONLY JUICING... PLEASE Feel free to email and about the current Monthly Challenge. We hold monthly challenges with an AMAZING SUPPORT GROUP who is there to lend support, offer recipes and any advise you might need. I can send you the link to the current month where you go and join us in our private group.

My email is livingtheshweetlife@gmail.com

Your Tongue Tells It All...

Are U surprised that the one little thing that gets us into so much trouble, can also be the one thing that can can help diagnose illness by simply grabbing a mirror and a bright light?

Take a good look at the chart below and your tongue.

Do you see something that looks familiar?

Amazing things are body.... What we put in them good or bad has to come out of them. Sometimes it will take many years and many diseases later for it to show up. By changing your eating habits to that of a raw diet you can reverse the bad and remove the toxins from your body.

I have been amazed at the changes in myself and my husband, Marty.

I have been on a total Juice only diet since March 21, 2012. 

My husband has been on a Juice and healthy food diet. 

No fried food, dairy and eating as much raw as 

possible. No red meat either. 

One little  ~ToNgUe~ hint before I close this post today. When you are juicing be sure to brush your teeth, gums and tongue after every glass. The juice tends to set in your mouth. Also, remember from the chart above, your body is releasing toxins through your tongue so your will want to get those nasty toxins out and of your mouth and gone as soon as your can.

That's all today.

Til Tomorrow.

~Sandi~

Photo from Judi Finneran 

Cantaloupe as BIG as a Basketball!

Just the other day we were walking into Kroger's to pick up our nightly kale for our Mean Green. Now we go get our kale there because it is always beautiful and the produce guy saves it specially for me each day. As we approached the store we saw the biggest cantaloupes I have ever seen in my life. These cantaloupes were bigger than personal watermelons. WERE THEY CANTALOUPES EVEN?

Into the store we went to check out this monster size melons.So we discover the name of these basketball size beauties...*Athana Cantaloupes*. Yes they are a cantaloupe! In fact they are a hybrid of a regular ole cantaloupe they are quite a bit bigger and on so much shweetier! They are mainly grown in the South and Eastern US and have a very short growing period so you have to grab them when you see them. They have a salmon colored flesh, about 125 seeds that can be removed and planted once they are dried, and the flesh melts in your mouth (so my husband and grand baby says).

We decided we just had to show you the difference this melon was so we took a picture of it beside a regular cantaloupe and a personal watermelon. See what we mean?  

 My first one weighed in at 7.5 pounds and the cost was only $2.00. So you get a whole lot of melon for a little bit of money! and boy does it make a bunch of juice too! This is how much juice one melon made....

So for this next juice we added the personal melon and 2 kiwi to the Athana. Turned out quite nice. (Yes I know i tell you all the time no all fruit juices but every now and then you can treat yourself and this also makes a great treat as a frozen pop.)

Athana Cantaloupe Watermelon Kiwi Juice

1 Athana Cantaloupe
1 Personal Watermelon (all the watermelon rind and all)
2 Kiwi peeled
Juice all the above together. Stain well and serve nice and cold.

To make as Popsicle
Need:
Paper Solo Cups smallest size I use the bathroom size.
Wood Popsicle Sticks
(or you can purchase the store made plastic Popsicle containers.)

Pour your juice into the cups til about 1/2 inch from the top of the cup. Place the cups on a flat surface that will fit into your freezer. Place into your freezer. Check on your cups, when they have reached the point where they are at the *slush* stage, place a wooden Popsicle stick in the center of each one. The stick needs to be able to stand in the cup and then place them back int the freezer to freeze rest of the way. Once they are frozen you can place them into a large plastic Ziploc bag, storage container or peel off the paper cup and eat one!

Enjoy these while you can!