Vegan Shortcake

Day 1

started with 16 oz water with 1 lemon from the front yard up in it.

J.1. 16 oz of water with lemon during workout then – Cantaloupe, watermelon, kale, lemon split in two. One with BCAA’s in it post workout. Workout was epic legs, and abs. Linda and I killed it and were wrecked after so I’m feeling like my greens are going to have to be WAY up to keep up my protein and stay on top of it. I found these totally cool huge jars, somehow this makes me hella more stoked on juicing. Hoping for Dragon fruits at the asian market later.

Decided one of the things that I’ll need to complete this as painlessly as possible is to stop with my addiction to food blogs. So much good food, creates mental cravings.

J.2. Protein shake of 1/2 banana, fresh almond milk, 4 strawberries, 1 scoop protein and 4 ice cubes.

J.3. Cuke, kale, a little watermelon

J.4. Cuke, kale, a huge red grapefruit of awesome

Today was rough, I was emotionally a roller coaster, felt so up and down and all around. It was bad. I stuck with it though and day two felt good, even though I went to work on my car at my parents house and ran out of juice, went and bought one but was only about an hour before I was hungry again. I am feeling a lot better, the sweet cravings have subsided and I feel way more in control of my body and mind as far as food is concerned. I am still really sore from the workout the other day though which is very unlike me and I’m craving protein like mad. Super clean, not sugar, but protein of some kind. Trying to workout if this is a physical craving or a mental one before I possibly deviate to fix it.

Day 2

Started with 16 oz of water with lemon

J.1. Cuke, watermelon, lime, kale, greens, kiwi

J.2. Cherry, water. (Ran out of food at my parents house and improvised)

J.3. Celery, spinach, orange, ginger

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So tomorrow begins a 5 day juice fast, a notorious endeavor in the healthy vegan community, and one that’s riddled with conflict on whether or not it’s healthy. I find that it is, for multiple reasons. First, it restarts everything, your taste buds in addition to your body. It gives your body a rest from digestion and flushes toxins that you’ve built up, it also flushes out mental toxic habits because you can’t go to the kitchen and snack on junk or find ways to justify unhealthy behavior. There is only one thing to eat, it’s juice, and that’s it. My reasoning for this one is my recently acquired snacking habits that are quite healthy but are adding fats from unchecked almond and seed consumption, constant sugar cravings and the abundance of sodium in my diet. I want to reset, realign with my body and re-prioritize. I’ll be joined by a few friends who will hopefully be talking about their experiences as they go through it as well. I’ve done a few so I know what to expect but many of those virtual companions haven’t, so it’ll be fun to experience it with them. I will be having a shake with juice, a scoop of protein powder (Chocolate Plant Fusion) and half a frozen banana post workout however. For anyone interested here’s part of my Pre-Juice Cleanse Email to those involved….

I dislike veggie juice. I feel like this should be gotten out of the way right off the bat. I also am not affected by the “sugar” issues that many people have, I feel so amazing when I eat lots of fruits so I do so on juice fasts with tons of greens and veggies underneath. Fruit has gotten a real bad rap due to sugars and carbs and I think it’s stupid. Fruits are supernatural, and have hella amazing health benefits of their own and especially in this setting aren’t bad. There’s roughly 8 million conflicting ideas about nutrition, this, is mine. I am not alone but you’ll find plenty of information supporting or disproving anything you could think of. That being said, you know yourself and if you’re hella sensitive to the ups and downs of sugar then put less fruit in your juices. I also like to incorporate herbs into my juices to make them have better healing and cleansing properties and also to make them more interesting. I usually blend these in after the juice is done (not ginger though, always juice that shit, it’s got hella fibers that suck in blenders). I often do this with greens as well to get the most of them (if you pulse it it’ll taste better and be more nutritious, just a tip). I will also blend in a frozen banana from time to time, usually mid day post workout when I start to feel not stoked and the frothy thickness of it really helps me stay with the juice and feel full. I use apple as my general sweetener, I add like 1 apple to the end of many of my veggie juice recipes not only because they have a high water content and make my juice more voluminous, but also because it helps going down. My favorites are lime, lemon, ginger, and apple to make things taste better with the first three being the best due to their strong flavors.

Rough Shopping List -

Get LOTS of greens! Get a solid amount of veggies, I try to put as much greens and veggies as I can stand in every juice. Then a variety of fruits, with an emphasis on the apples and oranges as they’re cheaper and higher in water content so I use them a lot. And some of the herbs. This ratio will help you save some cash in this process and keep you healthy. If you can’t afford all of these just look at the recipes and plan for a few days and get what you need.

Kale, Spinach, TJ’s Power Greens (if you live near a trader joes) Romaine, Watermelon, Apples or/and Pears, Oranges (mandarins and easy peel stuff is great), Celery, Cucumber, Ginger, Parsley, Lemon, Carrots, Broccoli, Lime, Grapefruit, Blueberry, Pineapple, Papaya, Melon, Grapes

My roommate and I will be visiting the asians store she often goes to and raves about while holding many cheap young coconuts and flats of mangos for like a dollar. She is the master of the hustle and says this store has more interesting produce as my go to is Trader Joes, which rules so much but is quite reliable. Watch out for posts of crazy dragon fruit and epic exotic produce juices!

PS. I’m not down for any kind of “fruit is bad for you” or “juicing will kill you” or any other junk. I am quite well educated and feel solidly in my decisions, they aren’t up for debate, but if you’re interested, here’s my experience.

PPS. Here’s a little inspirational video for yall. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gpLQwWKb3l8

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