My Gym Routine - Favorite Kindle Fire Read

My new favorite thing is my Kindle Fire!!  My husband bought it for me this past Christmas and it has been a huge part of my weight loss journey.  I take it to the gym alot, usually to read a good book while I am on the Elliptical, or sometimes I Facebook on it too, the screen is larger than my phone, so it works great for propping on the Eliptical's dashboard.  

I am currently reading "The Everything Juicing Book" By Carole Jacobs and I had an epiphany.  Many people ask me why I juice?  As in why not drink a smoothie, or just eat the vegetables.  While reading "The Everything Juicing Book" I wasn't even two pages into it and this what I read "Although most people understand the importance of eating more fruits and vegetables, they often lack the time, energy, and motivation to make it happen.  For such people, juicing can be the difference between great health and chronic illness". - The Everything Juicing Book

Juicing is the easiest and quickest way for me to get my daily intake of fruits and vegetables.  Am I lazy, do I lack energy, and motivation??  I don't think I am but maybe, that isn't really the point though.  This is what works for me :)  You know that saying "if it isn't broke don't fix it".  Well Juicing isn't broke for me so I am going to continue doing it.  I haven't felt or looked this good in a long time and so thankful to have me back!

Juice Fast down 20 lbs

So here I am!!  Down 20 lbs and feel great, feel like I look great too :)  Still have weight to lose but very happy with where I am at.  Best part of all I fit into my Skinny Jeans!!!!  Yes my skinny size 10 jeans :)  I can't believe that drinking juice is this amazing and am only sad I didn't discover it sooner.  I have alot of family and friends asking me how I lost my weight so I wanted to post the basic steps of where to start here.

• Sign up on Loseit.com (I did this straight from my phone through a Mobile App which is perfect for tracking calories.  It also gives you an estimate of the number of calories YOU need based on your age, height, and weight.  Super easy to use) and no I am not getting paid to reccomend this site.  This what worked for me to achieve my actual results.
• Watch Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (this moving can change your life)
• Buy a Breville Juicer already you are going to need it :)
• Buy lots of Fresh Organic Fruits and Veggies to begin your juicing journey!! 
• Don't be afraid of going to the gym.  Take walks around your neighborhood if you like.  A walk can do wonders for stress. 

What are you waiting for??

Kid Friendly Juicing Recipe Peach, Grape, & Apples

My son is a pretty Healthy Eater, he does not like Meat of any kind, so when we have meat at meals it's a struggle to get him to eat anything.  It is almost like his brain is processing meat at mealtime as the meat fairy sprinkling little meat dust particles all over the entire dinner.  So needless to say we have a hard time with it.  So I have been juicing for awhile now and figured I would give him the option of a Veggie Burger or a Juice.  Surprisingly he went with the juice and asked if he could make up his own recipe.  I agreed with the condition that I would pick one thing to go in it and he had to pick at least two vegetables to go into his recipe.

I was surprised by his choices.  And really wanted to try it.  We got everything ready and he juiced everything himself.  He definitely got a workout after pushing all those fruits and vegetables through the juicer.  There he is above pouring some for me and some for him :)  What a gentleman!! 

And the verdict, HE LIKED IT!!!  Score!!!  He drank the whole thing.  Which was such a relief from trying to get him to eat at mealtime.  I might use this more often :) 

Roman's Juice Recipe:

• 2 Apples
• 4 Celery Stalks
• 1 Cup Grapes
• 1/2 Cup Spinach
• 1 Peach
• Bunch of Kale (mom's addition)

Place everything in the juicer and enjoy!!  Makes two small servings.

This juice was a little on the sweet side.  I prefer more veggies and not as much fruit but for a 7 year old this was great getting those vegetables in a natural juice :)

 

Pineapple, Cilantro, Jalapeno Juice Recipe

Today was a great Day for me :)  I started juicing a couple years back but started a Juice Fast December 30th 2011 after watching Fat, Sick, Nearly and Dead the DVD.  It was so inspiring to see Joe Cross turn his health around and lose all that weight.  When I first started I weighed 189 lbs (almost 190).  I did the juice fast for about 12 days and saw great progress.  Had some ups and down moments which I talk about in earlier posts.  Then in mid January we were heading to Orlando, FL on vacation and I was really sick with what I thought was a cold.  Well after reading this awesome Blog Post about The Different Juice Fasting Stages of Detoxification it helped me to see that it was totally normal.  

I didn't think I would be able to juice on vacation so I put my detox on hold for another time.  I blogged about Healthy Restaurant Choices while on Vacation here, wanting to stick to a diet of mostly fruits and vegetables to keep on track with maintaining my weight.  So when we came back from vacation I kept juicing at least once a day and today woke up and stepped on the scale and smiled :)  I weighed in at 176.4 lbs!!  So happy about that.  Now that I brought you up to date with what has been going on I have a fun Recipe to share.

 I have been wanting to juice a jalapeno since I started juicing but wasn't sure just what to put in it to pull it all together.  I think I may have found it.  This Healthy Pineapple Juice Recipe is really good and for those of you who might be scared by the jalepeno, I only put half with the seeds into the Juicer and I couldn't pick up any spice but my husband commented on the smokey flavor of the jalapeno in the juice.  Next time I will add more to see if I can get that extra kick in there :)

Pineapple Cilantro Jalapeno Juice Recipe:

•  1/2 Pineapple
• 1 Cup Cilantro
• 1 Cucumber
• 1/2 Lime
• 1/2 Jalapeno w/seeds

Add everything to your juicer.  I juiced the Pineapple first, then loaded the cilantro and then the cucumber.  Pushed those down half way and added thejalapeno and the lime (skin removed)

Check out Affordable Juicers here!

Linking Up At:

Recipe - Juicing Carrots & Parsley

This morning, I was cleaning out the produce bin in my fridge before my next trip to Fresh Market to restock.  I had Carrots, a Cucumber, an apple, an orange, and some parsley left over.  So that was the inspiration for this juice.  I wish I would have had some Ginger since it was a breakfast juice and that is when I need the most pick me up in an energizing juice.  But for today Carrots and Parsley were the main ingredient.  Most people look at Parsley as just a garnish but there is much more to it. 

Carrot & Parsley Juice

•  5 Long & Skinny Carrots
• 1 Orange
• 1 Cup Parsley
• 1 Apple
• 1 Cucumber

Push all ingredients through your juicer, add a straw, and enjoy :) 

Health Benefits of Parlsey Juice: via GreenMuze

Parsley juice is great for the blood vessels.  However raw parsley juice is most potent and shouldn't be taken alone in quantities of more than 1 or 2oz. at a time unless you are mixing it into a sufficient amount of carrot or other juices.

Parsley Juice can help with:

• Expelling watery poisons
• Excess mucus
• Flatulence (gas)
• Reducing swollen or enlarged glands.

Check out Affordable Breville Juicers Here

Purple Juice Recipe - Energizing with Red Cabbage and Ginger

I have been feeling a little sluggish the past couple of days and really needed a pick me up (hold the caffeine) this morning.  This Pretty Purple Juice did just that :)  This Purple Juice Recipe was not only pretty looking but tasted good as well.  That was mostly due to the fact that there was alot of fruit.  Way more than I usually juice but I needed it! 

Pretty Purple Juice Recipe

• 3 Oranges (Skin Removed)
• 1 Apple
• 1 Cucumber
• 1/4 Head of Cabbage
• 1/4 Head of Red Cabbage
• 2" of Ginger
• Drinking Straw (Optional)

Put all ingredients (except for the drinking straw of course) into your Juicer and Drink and enjoy :) 

This juice was the perfect pick me up drink, check out my other Energizing Juice Recipe here!

Have Leftover Red Cabbage from this Recipe and don't know what to do with it??  Check out this other Red Cabbage Juice Recipe Here!

Wondering where to get an affordable Juicer like the one pictured above??  Check out this Affordable Breville Juicer Here!

Healthy School Snacks for Kids - Fruit Kebabs Recipe

You will need:

• 1 Bag Green Grapes (seedless)
• 1 pack of Blueberries
• 1 pack of Strawberries
• 3 Oranges
• 1 pack Coffee Straws

My youngest daughter, Emma who is 4, was in charge of Snack all week at Preschool.  Instead of the normal snack choices of Animal crackers and a huge jug of Red Fruit Punch that most Mom's would send in, I chose to do Fruit Kebabs. 

Most Mom's would choose something other than fresh fruit because it's expensive and their child is picky, right??  Well I wanted to prove that Healthy snacks could entice kids, even the picky eaters to try them.  These fruit kebabs didn't even use a whole bag of grapes or even a whole container of strawberries or blueberries and took about three oranges to make them.  Plus these Fruit Kebabs were a huge hit!  All the kids loved them and they turned out so bright and colorful. 

I started with Coffee straws that I bought at our local grocery store.  Added a grape, a blueberry, a strawberry, an orange, then a strawberry again, a blueberry, and finished it off with a grape.  My Preschooler even helped.  She thought the pattern was so fun and kept asking...now a strawberry Mom....and now a blueberry...it was cute and alot of fun doing it together.  I only needed 30 (2 for each child) so the leftovers I packed in my older two children's lunch boxes.  They were a hit for all.

This idea was inspired by Pinterest, check out my Board full of other Healthy Kid Snacks and start following today :)