Starting Over

It's been 6 years and I went back to my old tricks and finally ended up with diabetes. Looking back at my blog I see that there were big changes with juicing. I have decided to go completely Vegan and I have finally purchased my Vitamix. Got it at Costco on sale for only $299, great find! I am determined to make healthy choices and change my life. If you would like to see my progress, please stay tuned and follow me by entering your email. 

Learning and following:

• A Vegan Diet: Eating for the Environment A plant-based diet can have a significant positive impact on the environment and your health. Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (pcrm.org)
• Start Your Journey to Health The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart. 21-day Vegan Kickstart (pcrm.org) The 21-Day Vegan Kickstart is supported by decades of research showing that a plant-based diet can help you reach a healthy weight and lower your risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and other chronic diseases. Our low-fat plant-based recipes, developed by chefs, dietitians, and experts in vegan cuisine, provide nutritious meals that are both healthy and delicious. Within 21 days you will start to see results and won’t look back!

The Best Smoothie

You will not believe how good this tastes!

Try this:
1 frozen banana
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1 cup of almond milk
1 tsp peanut butter
1 tsp cocoa

Add some spinach for the greens!

Diet Comparisons

I have tried several diet plans, to include:

• Low Calorie (lose-it) lost about 20 lbs but always felt hungry and found myself eating a lot of carbs, and thinking as long as I stay under calories I can eat whatever...but this does not help me in the least bit to stop eating junk.  
• Weight Watchers - same as the low calorie diet above, only now I have to think harder to calculate points.
• Atkins - last time I did this plan didn't lose any weight.  I don't know why. Another time lost 5 lbs.

Not sure which diet is the best, but can I can tell you, that I really only lost a real good amount of weight in a short time on a juice fast.  Mind you this is a very restrictive diet, but  you will find amazing health benefits!

Yes, I fell of the "wagon" a lifetime of eating behaviors and addictions is not an easy battle.  I am going back on the juice/smoothie fast to lose my target weight.  Then I am going to design my own diet called "Real Food". Over all what I am finding out and learning is it really is about "what" you eat and how many calories daily and about exercise.

Stay tuned to the adventure.

Smoothies

Started smoothie fast today.  Bought a new blender from Amazon. An Oster Fusion ($49.95).  It works very well and I love how easy clean up is.  Eventually I will get a Blendtech or a VitaMix.  But at a price tag of $500 it's a little pricey.  But if you plan on doing it for life, than it's not.  Okay this morning I am having:

• 3 handfuls of spinach
• 2 handfuls of pineapple
• 2 handfuls of strawberries

Spinach...the worlds most nutritious food.  Popeye was right!  Better than a vitamin and there is more in it than we even know about.  Notice it has protein!  Look below and tell me what fast food does this?

• Pineapple fruit contains a proteolytic enzyme bromelain that digests food by breaking down protein. Bromelain also has anti-inflammatory, anti-clotting and anti-cancer properties. Studies have shown that consumption of pineapple regularly helps fight against arthritis, indigestion and worm infestation.
• Strawberries have significantly high amounts of phenolic flavonoid phyto-chemicals called anthocyanins and ellagic acid. Scientific studies show that consumption of these berries may have potential health benefits against cancer, aging, inflammation and neurological diseases.
• Strawberry has an ORAC value (oxygen radical absorbance capacity, a measure of anti-oxidant strength) of about 3577µmol TE per 100 grams.
• Fresh 100 g of spinach contains about 25% of daily intake of iron; one of the richest among green leafy vegetables. Iron is an important trace element required by the human body for red blood cell production and as a co-factor for oxidation-reduction enzyme, cytochrome-oxidase during the cellular metabolism.
• Fresh leaves are rich source of several vital anti-oxidant vitamins like vitamin A, vitamin C, and flavonoid poly phenolic antioxidants such as lutein, zea-xanthin and beta-carotene.Together, these compounds help act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a healing role in aging and various disease processes.
• Zea-xanthin, an important dietary carotenoid, is selectively absorbed into the retinal macula lutea in the eyes where it thought to provide antioxidant and protective light-filtering functions. It thus, helps protect from "age-related macular related macular disease" (ARMD), especially in the elderly.

See the table below for in depth analysis of nutrients:
Spinach (Spinacia oleracea), raw,
Nutritive value per 100 g.

(Source: USDA National Nutrient data base)

Principle	Nutrient Value	Percentage of RDA
Energy	23 Kcal	1%
Carbohydrates	3.63 g	3%
Protein	2.86 g	5%
Total Fat	0.39 g	1.5%
Cholesterol	0 mg	0%
Dietary Fiber	2.2 g	6%
Vitamins
Folates	194 µg	48.5%
Niacin	0.724 mg	4.5%
Pantothenic acid	0.065 mg	1%
Pyridoxine	0.195 mg	15%
Riboflavin	0.189 mg	14.5%
Thiamin	0.078 mg	6.5%
Vitamin A	9377 IU	312%
Vitamin C	28.1 mg	47%
Vitamin E	2.03 mg	13.5%
Vitamin K	482.9 µg	402%
Electrolytes
Sodium	79 mg	5%
Potassium	558 mg	12%
Minerals
Calcium	99 mg	10%
Copper	0.130 mg	14%
Iron	2.71 mg	34%
Magnesium	79 mg	20%
Manganese	0.897 mg	39%
Zinc	0.53 mg	5%
Phyto-nutrients
Carotene-ß	5626 µg	--
Crypto-xanthin-ß	0 µg	--
Lutein-zeaxanthin	12198 µg	--

Update

I'm back to give an update.  Since my juice fast for 8 days, I lost a total of 10 lbs. My joint stiffness has left.  My inflammation in my knee is gone and my hands do not ache. As we can surmise, we don't know all of the nutrients that are available in fruits and veggies.  They are good for us and we have traded them for fast food and junk food.

What I learned:

1. We make food decisions everyday at every meal.
2. When you get ready to eat something, ask yourself "is this real food?"
3. If this food does not have nutrients my body needs, then it's going to harm me.
4. By doing a juice fast, it helped me to brake some addictions to foods. 

You wouldn't put pop in your gas tank would you?

Here is something else I have discovered.  I used to be a believer in nutritional supplements. Because I don't always eat right I should take them.  Why not just eat right and save your money.  A lot of these supplements are not even good for you and can cause serious damage.  Folks, we can't beat the REAL thing!

Read this shocking information from the FTC ... Click Here

At the end of this week, I will be starting another juice fast.  Only more on the smoothie side to incorporate some fiber as well.

Day 9

Continuing on with the modified juice fast.  What I have been doing is having juice/smoothie in the morning and salad for both lunch and dinner.  Today, I will have a smoothie for both breakfast and lunch and large salad tonight.  I can tell you I am very satisfied, I am not hungry or craving something all day long.  The other thing I discovered is that if I do crave something to eat, it is usually a salad with all the veggies I want, plus sunflower seeds, fruit etc.  I feel great and for the first time ever, I feel that when I eat, I am feeding my body what it needs, in return it is working hard at keeping things healthy.

Day 8

Phase 2 Modified Juice Fast: This evening I had a salad with my daughter.  I know that a juice fast is not something you can do over a long period of time, but it's very similar to rebooting your computer when it crashes.  I simply needed a reboot and it worked wonders.  I lost 10 lbs, lost my cravings for junk foods and diet soda, my inflammation is gone in my hand and knee and I just simply feel better!

Going forward, I am going to follow the "Eat to Live" program by Dr. Fuhrman which is an amazing healthy program.  As noted in previous entries how Americans eat a mere 7% of fruits and vegetables and 93% processed foods.  I am going to change that.  I have learned somethings.  The reason I or anybody gets hungry is because your body needs nutrients to perform it's everyday functions.  The only place we get those nutrients from is fruits and vegetables.  Meat and dairy has very little nutrients that our bodies need.  Not to say you can't eat some of it, but it should not be the main course.

If you would like to know more about a re-boot or if you have any questions about this, let me know.