Post Cleanse Dinner

To finish my post cleanse day off, Ian and I went to the truly awesome Irregardless Cafe for an absolutely delicious vegan dinner. The service was fantastic! If you're in Raleigh, I highly recommend it.

For an appetizer, we got "Vegan Sex":

Stacked "salad" layering sliced avocado, oranges 

with a shallot dressing, quinoa  tabouli (tossed with fresh 

tomatoes, cucumbers, & parsley), mashed sweet potatoes, and 

lime juice. Served on orange vinaigrette.

My entree was the Portabella Polenta:

Roasted herb portobella mushrooms, over local stone ground soft polenta with wilted 

spinach & carrots, served with oven-dried tomatoes, parsley 

pesto, tomato jam . 

Hooray for Kale!!

As I will explore in more detail in a separate post later, I cannot eat cruciferous vegetables raw because of my hypothyroid disease. That is why I didn't include any kale, broccoli, bok choy, cabbage, etc. in my juices. But now that I'm not fasting anymore, I can eat it again!! I sautéed some garlic in olive oil, steamed some kale in it and added balsamic vinegar. More chewing! Yay!!

Breakfast of fast-breakers

Today, I broke my fast with papaya!! It consists of mostly water, so it won't be a shock to the newly cleansed stomach, and it has great digestive enzymes in it that will help you out for the rest of the day. Hooray for chewing!!

Day 10: Juice 3

1 apple

1 blood orange

ginger

4 carrots

half head of spinach

My second juice was so late in the day (I had to be out of town and on a bus with the symphony for a lot of the day) and messed my stomach up so badly that I only had 3 juices total yesterday. But this one was delightful! 

Day 10: Juice 2 (Holy jalepeño, Batman!)

I made one of my favorite drinks yesterday:

1 apple
1 orange
1 yellow pepper
4 carrots
ginger
1/2 jalepeño
(1/2 cucumber added later)

It was literally so spicy that I forgot to take a picture of it. I felt like I was going to throw up for about 2 hours and had a stomach ache for 3. My roommate tried a sip of it and her lips were still burning 30 minutes later. It got my bowels going (sorry), but I was absolutely miserable. I've made this drink about 6 times and it has NEVER been like that! I probably shouldn't have finished it, but I didn't want to waste it.

In my experience with jalepeños, the firmer they are, the spicier they'll be. Start with too little (no seeds and ribs—I used those), and add more if you want more spice.

Last Day Posts!!

Today is my last day on the cleanse (or "feast" as my friend likes to call it)!! Hooray!! To wrap things up, I'll be doing several informative posts.

Stay tuned for:
-An overview of my cleansing experience
-Thyroid disease and Juicing
-Hives and Juicing
-Which Juicer should I buy?
-What the Hell do I do with the pulp??

I'm currently on the road, so look for these in the next few days.

Day 10: Juice 1

1/3 HUGE Papaya
1 apple
1 lemon
Half a head of red-leaf lettuce

I put a lemon in there because I didn't get to drink my lemon water, but if it was just for taste, I would have opted for something sweeter as I'm not a huge fan of sour things. Still pretty good, though!

Day 9: Juice 3.... & 4 (Worst juice ever)

So, my friend (or so she says—who knows what she's really thinking after giving me this horrendous advice!!! ;-P) told me that you can juice oranges with the peel on them. I assumed this was like so many other things that I don't necessarily like: when juiced, they're actually pretty good! I was terribly... TERRIBLY wrong... This juice was not only by far the worst juice I've ever made, it was literally the worst thing I have ever tasted in my life (including motherwort). I would like to say I highly recommend it—the peel has lots of fantastic nutrients in it—but I really don't know that it's worth it.

Perhaps it was the particular orange I used. Who knows.

Here is an excellent resource for fixing a juice that went a little out of control in the laboratory. (They're updating the site, so it may not work right away.)

I started out with just a peeled orange, a whole orange, half a head of red leaf lettuce, and a pear. After that I basically just started adding things. I added LOTS of ginger, another pear, an apple, a cucumber, and 4 carrots. It's still not palatable, but it's better. Ugh. I will probably never do this again!!!

Day 9: Juice 2

1/2 lemon
2 oranges
1 apple
1/4 bag grapes
Handful spinach

Basically, this is what I had left in my house. Pretty tasty!

Day 9: Juice 1

1 orange
12 oz. Blueberries
1/4 bag grapes
Spinach

Yum!

Day 8: Juice 4

1 beet & greens
1 apple
1/2 lemon
Ginger
2 carrots
1 Kiwi
6 oz. Blackberries
1/2 jalapeño

Pretty good! Ian dubbed it "substantial" ;)

Day 8: Juice 3

2 apples
2 oranges
2 carrots
1/2 head butter leaf lettuce
Ginger

Day 8: Juice 2

1 mango
1 red pepper
1/2 lime
1/2 jalepeño
1/2 cucumber
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup cilantro (including a few stems)
Tiny bit of red onion

Freaking awesome!!!!!!!! Next time, I'll pass on the onion. I hate onion—it was still yummy, but I'd rather not.

Day 8: Juice 1

2 apples
4 carrots
Ginger
Half bunch spinach

Still no papaya... Argh!! Quite good, though!

Day 7: Juice 4

2 tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
20 leaves basil

Last time, this made enough but this time it didn't... I didn't have time or supplies to make more, so it had to suffice.

Day 7: Juice 3

1 pomegranate
12 oz. blueberries (thanks, mom!!)
Ginger
Half head butter leaf lettuce
1 cucumber

No too bad!

Day 7: Juice 2

My favorite!!

1 apples
1 orange
2 carrots
1 orange pepper
1/2 jalapeño
Ginger

So yummy!!!

Day 7: Juice 1

2 apples
4 carrots
Ginger
1/2 bunch of spinach

No papaya today :( 'twas good, though!

Day 6: Juice 4

2 blood oranges
1 apple
1/2 head of lettuce
Ginger

Quite good, actually!

Day 6: Juice 3

1 mango
1 red pepper
Ginger
1/2 jalapeño
1/2 orange

Delicious!

Day 6: Juice 2

1/2 pineapple
1 1/2 oranges
Ginger
Kiwi
1 1/2 cups Red grapes

Yum!! Pretty, too. (like my finger?)

Day 6: Juice 1

1/3 of a HUGE papaya
1 kiwi
1 orange
1/2 head of romain lettuce

Good stuff! Ian dubbed it "creamy". :)

Day 5: Juice 4

2 oranges
1 lemon
Ginger
2 kiwi

This was pretty tart, but pretty good!

Day 5: Juice 3

Pear
Half head of butter leaf lettuce
Sweet potato
Carrot
Ginger

This was ok. I would definitely put another pear in and skip half the sweet potato next time...

Day 5: Juice 2

12 oz. Blackberries
6 oz. Blueberries
2 oranges
Ginger

Hooray.

Day 5: Juice 1

Papaya
2 oranges
Apple

Forgot to take a pic before drinking some... Oops!

On the road...

I'm out of town so things may not be posted on time. For instance, I'm posting my "Day 4 Observations" tomorrow. Happy weekend!

Day 4: Juice 4

2 apples
2 oranges
3 carrots
Ginger
6 leaves red-leaf lettuce

Standard awesomeness

Day 4: Juice 3

2 rather large tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
Half a bunch of cilantro

A variation on the bruschetta juice. Was good, but I think I like the other better... Definitely will put more cilantro in next time!

Day 1: Juice 2

1 Asian pear
Half a bag of grapes
1 lime

This was super frothy and very sweet!

Day 1: Juice 1

1 asian pear

1/3 HUGE papaya

lots of spinach

Not bad...

Day 3 Observations

After having a bit of a hard time waking up, I had a lot of energy!! My practicing was great (it's about time...)! After my last juice I crashed a bit, but mostly my energy was up. Hooray!!

Day 3: Juice 4

2 oranges

1/2 bag of grapes

1/2 sweet potato

ginger

Super yummy!!!

Ian's 2nd Juice

1/2 bunch of kale

1/2 bag of grapes

6 oz. blackberries

2 small apples

1/2 sweet potato

ginger

Ian called this the kitchen sink juice. It was delicious, though!

Day 3: Juice 3

1 small beet with greens

1 bunch rainbow chard

2 apples

ginger

I was amazed at being able to put the whole bunch of chard in this! It tasted amazing!

before stirring

Pretty!

after stirring... YUM!!!!

Ian's 1st Juice

1 grapefruit

1 red pepper

3 carrots

1/2 jalepeño

2 apples

ginger

I tried to make Ian my favorite juice, but he didn't have oranges, so I made it with grapefruit. It was extremely tart, so I had to add the apples...

Day 3: Juice 2

2 oranges

3 carrots

1 yellow bell pepper

1" piece of ginger

1/2 jalepeño

This is probably my favorite juice. I was in a hurry when I took the pic, so it's not focused properly, but there are orange specks in it.

Spicy!!

Day 3: Juice 1

2 apples

1/3 of a HUGE papaya

1/2 a lemon

lots and lots of spinach

Standard. Functional. Delicious.

Day 2 Observations

Day 2 was not so great. I had an incredibly difficult time getting up this morning and yoga was painful. I'm trying to get to bed earlier tonight, because I think that was part of it. (Yet here I am at midnight... ftw) I was pretty sluggish, mentally, and practicing my horn was pretty rough. Cravings were pretty bad, especially when my Cuban roommates got home and started cooking what you see in the picture below. I have no idea what it was, but the spices in it smelled fantastic...

A few "interesting" observations I had were that after the ridiculously huge pitcher of juice I accidentally made and had to drink midday, I felt rather sleepy, similarly to how I would feel after eating a meal that was way too big. However, after waiting it out for about an hour, I was able to go on a half-hour bike ride with no problems! (What is UP with this crazy warm weather?!) Also "interesting" was that, after eating quite a lot of beets, my pee was very pink... haha

Off to bed. More of the same tomorrow!

Awesome-smelling Cuban food...

Day 2: Juice 3/4

2 apples

1 orange

1" piece of ginger

beet greens from 2 beets

half a head of red-leaf lettuce

I guess this is technically juice number 3, but my tummy is saying it's number 4!! Whew...

Here it is in its brilliance before stirring...

...and after. Delightful.

Day 2: Juice 2... and 3?

1 large sweet potato

1 medium carrot

1 red bell pepper

2 large red beets

2 apples

1 orange, optional

I found this recipe on the www.jointhereboot.com website and followed it exactly, but instead of producing 16 ounces, it produced about 30!!!! I would be totally fine with this (it was really tasty!), but my juicer is one that creates too much heat while juicing to save the juice, so I had to drink it immediately. I was SO SO full. But I suppose I'll be good for a while. :)

Next time, I think I'll just do 1 beet, half of a bell pepper, and not include the orange. Hopefully that will suffice!

It was so much, I had to put it in a pitcher!

Day 2: Juice 1

1 apple

1/2 large cucumber

1/3 HUGE papaya

10 leaves red-leaf lettuce

1" piece of ginger

Pretty standard morning juice. One tip for juicing this one: juice a piece of the papaya first, then a piece of the apple. Then do a pattern of papaya, leaves, apple repeating. The apple makes sure all the thick papaya juice get washed out of the filter and the hard to juice leaves are pushed onto the blades. Bon Appétit!

Here it is before mixing...

...and after.

Day One Observations

Day 1 really wasn't too bad. The two main things I noticed were that I felt a little out of it mentally, and my olfactory was heightened. Every once in a while I would get a craving for something and realize I couldn't have it (for instance, I really want chocolate right now...). Eventually, I would forget about it. That's been the hardest part.

To make this totally accurate, I'll include a few things that might be a bit TMI, so if you don't wanna know, stop reading! ;)

Unfortunately, I got my monthly visitor yesterday, so I didn't feel great this morning. What I thought was interesting was that by the afternoon, my cramps were totally gone! Also of note but totally expected was that I had to use the restroom quite a bit throughout the day...

Off to bed. More of the same tomorrow!

Day 1: Juice 5

1 apple

1 large cucumber

1 lime

4 leafs red-leaf lettuce

LOTS of spinach

(I meant to put ginger in it, but forgot)

This is just a standard, easy green juice to round off my day. Pretty tasty!

Day 1: Juice 4

2 large tomatoes

2 cloves of garlic

20 basil leaves

I was a bit scared for this one, too. I'm not a big tomato juice drinker, and I generally prefer my juices sweet, but this isn't bad at all! I freakin' love garlic, and 2 cloves was plenty. As I suppose you would guess, this is a rather pulpy juice...

Here's some info on the benefits of garlic:

Garlic is well known for its bold flavor, but it does a lot more these days than just taste great or ward off vampires. Research is highlighting garlic’s natural antioxidant, cholesterol lowering and anti-inflammatory properties. Recent studies show its benefits range from keeping blood cells from becoming too sticky to interrupting prostate cancer cell growth and signaling breast cancer cell death in test tube and animal models.

source

Day 1: Juice 3

6 oz. blueberries

6 oz. rasberries

2 apples

1 lemon

I think next time I'll get more berries. I needed the last 2 to make enough juice! Was pretty good, though.

Day 1: Juice 2

2 oranges

2 carrots

1 beet

1 (locally grown) red pepper

1/2 jalepeño

I was a bit scared because of the beet, but this juice tasted freaking AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here it is before stirring. So colorful!

...and after. NOMNOM!!! 

Here's a bit about the benefits of this kind of juice:

Carotene is a pigment that causes many vegetables and fruits to have the orange, red & yellow colour characteristics such as carrots, orange, capsicums, tomato, beetroot and pumpkins. There are approximately 600 known carotenoids found in foods.
Beta-carotene has been shown to improve the immune system and how it will fight infections. Carotenoids offer antioxidant activity, reducing the risk of certain cancers such as lung, skin, uterine, cervix and gastrointestinal tract. It offers protection against macular degeneration and cateracts. 

The beneficial actions of carotenoids are optimal when a variety of carotenoids are consumed together, so a juice mix is ideal.

source 

Day 1: Juice 1

2 apples
1 orange
1/3 of a HUGE papaya
Lots of spinach

I accidentally took a big gulp out of it before I remembered to take a pic... YUM