Juice Fast: Update #5

It almost the end of Day 6 and we're still going strong!


In the end, Adam decided to go ahead with our tentative plan to eat a small meal at night and still juice during the day - I'm still doing all juice, all the time, as is V. One of our co-workers came by to taunt us not once but twice with stories of his burrito from Laughing Planet that he had for lunch. This is particularly cruel, as I've really been wanting to go there - I love Laughing Planet, and one just opened by my work! Oh, well. Next week. 


Today seemed easier than yesterday. I feel like I can make it the last four days. At least, that's how I feel right now. I can't thank all of you who read and comment and give me words of support - I'm sure I wouldn't have made it this long without all of you! It's also great that I have support at work and at home, although, now that Adam is eating in the evenings, that dynamic has changed a bit. Still, he is very supportive, unlike certain little sisters who have taunted me with chocolate. 


I've checked out a few other blogs related to juicing, and many of them like to post recipes. I don't really use recipes or make them - I kind of chop up a bunch of stuff and toss it in the juicer until it tastes good. If it doesn't taste good, some apple, ginger, and lemon will fix that! 


Adam made us a delectable treat the other day though - he juiced pineapple and mixed it with coconut juice and a dash of orange bitters. It was a sweet treat that felt and tasted like a regular beverage and not the thick juice we're usually consuming. We've also both been very fond of drinking coconut juice mixed with water and some lemon juice. While I like coconut juice/water (whatever you want to call it), sometimes there is something in the flavor that I can't quite pinpoint, but I don't like. When you water it down and add the lemon, you get the lemon up front and coconut in the aftertaste, which is basically perfect. 


I did just make a juice for tomorrow morning - it was a little more fruit intensive then I generally go (the pineapple & coconut juice concoction notwithstanding), but I felt like it would be a good way to start day 7. It's got papaya, cantaloupe, cranberries, kale, apples, and a big helping of ginger. The papaya, when raw, is a little bitter, but it makes a delightfully thick juice. 


I also have to say that butternut squash makes excellent juice, just on its own. I can't think of many things I don't love about squash - the fact that so many kinds are in season right now, they keep forever, and they produce a lot of juice, I'm pretty happy with all the squash I've been consuming. 


Those of who read this and juice - what are some of your favorite combinations? I'd hate to get stuck in a rut these last few days.

Juice Fast: Update #4

Well folks, day 5 is drawing to a close. Sometime yesterday in the late afternoon/early evening, Adam and I had a bit of a turning point where we both started to feel better. I went to the Tao of Tea with a dear friend who is leaving for Spain on Wednesday and spent a couple hours with a pot of verveine tea (no caffeine!) that was quite pleasant. 


Today was easier. A ten hour work day certainly keeps you distracted from food cravings. It gets less easy when you come home and your sister is devouring a large chocolate bar on your couch, but I've managed. 


The best part probably came when I got on the ol' Wii Fit to do my weigh-in this evening - guess who has a BMI in the normal range for the first time in...well...probably 6 years?! This lady! Adam is also dropping weight - you can check out the Weight & Measurements doc for more specifics. 


We are considering adapting the rest of our fast and allowing for small bits of strictly vegan food in the evenings. Truth be told, the weight loss is so encouraging that it may help me get through the last half of the fast - but, we shall see. I've been dreaming of the valencia almonds I plan to have to break my fast for quite some time now. 

Juice Fast: Update #3

We are just over halfway through Day 4, and not doing so well. I started out feeling good today, then Adam and I went on a 38 minute walk--a walk that went by various restaurants. My sense of smell has definitely been heightened on the juice fast. When we got back, I felt hungry and a little light-headed. I'm sipping on some juice and water w/ coconut juice & lemon and feeling a little better. 


Adam turned on the TV to watch some NFL, and I had to have him turn it off, because watching football makes me want to eat like you wouldn't believe. The food cravings have really started to hit for me - I really want something starchy and hot and delicious. Adam can tell that I'm nearing a breaking point and more or less trying to push me over, so we'll see how it goes from here on out. 


In better news, Adam lost just over 3lbs since the fast started. We'll be weighing ourselves again in a few hours, but that's very encouraging!

Juice Fast: Update #2

We just got back from The Pumpkin Patch, and, as promised, here is a picture of our bounty:

Our total came to $37.29. For that we got:

• 17 apples of various varieties (Gala, Jonagold, and Fuji)
• 5 pears
• 2 bunches kale
• 1 bunch swiss chard
• 10 lbs beets
• 1 giant zucchini
• 1 very large banana squash
• 3 delicata squash
• 1 other squash whose name I cannot remember
• 2 bunches kohlrabi 
• 5 large roma tomatoes
• 2 eggplant

Not bad, right?! I'm pretty excited about it myself. It's about 18 miles each way to get out there, so we're using just over a gallon of gas. The extra expenditure there is definitely worth the cheaper prices -- buying the exact same produce at New Seasons, while three blocks away, would've been over $100.00. 


We're now just over halfway through day 3, and I'm still doing pretty well. Adam & I went running this morning, but it ended up being just me doing the running portion. Adam states he was too weak and didn't have the energy to run. He did walk the whole thing, so I would run back to him and then do the walking portions with him. We struck a deal wherein we will do week 2 of the Couch to 5K over once we've finished the fast, but between today and next Saturday, we need to go on at least five walks. Just to keep us both out there. 


I'm hoping Adam can make it through the fast - he put cheese curds in the cart while we were shopping, he texts me different foods that he's craving constantly, and when we're both home, he whines quite a bit. I'm not going to pretend that doing this is super easy, or that I don't get hungry and/or crave food, but I've been able to get through it without too much difficulty. Dragging another person through it is another story, and it may wear me down much faster. 


For some reason, it seems to be more difficult for Adam - he's complained of headaches and other maladies. I think a lot of it has to do with hydration, but it's also difficult to get him to drink enough water. I can't stress enough how important drinking the water is - it settles your stomach and keeps you (or at least me) from getting lightheaded. 


One thing that has helped us feel more full is having a smoothie. While these aren't technically part of the juicing programs over at JoinTheReboot.com, we're thinking that incorporating them should be fine. The other alteration I've done is allowing non-caffeinated tea while on the fast. It really helps when I'm craving something warm. But, back to the smoothies! Last night and this morning (especially after the run), we made smoothies with bananas, pineapple, blueberries, raspberries, cranberries, baby kiwifruit & coconut juice. They are tasty and quite filling. 


I hope to do another update tomorrow, and I'm hoping Adam will be feeling better tomorrow too. I think he's going through quite a few things - caffeine withdrawal, dehydration, his stomach shrinking quite slowly - that is affecting his sense of well-being. If he starts feeling better and seeing some results, that may give him the will to keep going. I've challenged him to at least give it 5 days. 

Juice Fast: Update #1

We're just over halfway through Day 2 of the juice fast! So far, I'm feeling surprisingly great. We'll see if that continues -- some of what I've seen & read indicates that days 3-4 may be the most difficult. My partners in juicing, Adam and my co-worker (hereafter referred to as V), did not fare so well yesterday. I suspect it was a dehydration issue, as I was downing water all day and felt fine, multiple trips to the restroom due to a smallish bladder notwithstanding. 


There are certainly some logistical things to consider here. For example, juice transport. I have a couple lovely glass pitchers with lids that are great for keeping juice in the fridge--they are those squarish pitchers that fit perfectly in your refrigerator door. Unfortunately, they don't work so well for juice transport. I got juice with beets in it on the floor of the bus, and Adam reports he spilt a little in his co-worker's car. But, I realized the solution! Behold:

That lovely bluish bottle there is glass (I prefer not to use plastic, if possible) and seals at the top. I bought these to use in Christmas gifts, so you'll just have to wonder until then (don't worry, I will thoroughly wash and sterilize the bottles). If you like the bottle and want your very own, here's the link to where I purchased them:

As a bonus, these guys fit perfectly in my reusable wine bags. These are essentially your regular reusable grocery bags, only with dividers to hold wine. Yes, I have reusable wine bags (sometimes called "Booze Bags," if I take them to the liquor store). Yes, I have more than one. Yes, they were given to me, free of charge, by merchants from whom I was buying multiple bottles of wine. DON'T JUDGE. 

Moving on. While I don't always like to use plastic, I did find these lovely tumblers to use, and I know I've posted them before. But seriously, they are pretty great:

The straw makes it easy to stir up separated juice. They also sell these at Fred Meyer; V came in to work the other day and said "look what I got for juice!" and lo and behold, it was the same thing (in a different color) that I had. It's working out very well for all three of us thus far. 

When I'm at home, though, I prefer to drink the juice out of one of my fancy juice glasses:

Looks like I grabbed the one with the tiny chip in it. Oh well, I still love you, Fancy Juice Glasses. 

So, that's pretty much it so far: we're juicing along. Later today I plan on going up to the store and getting some bananas and berries and possibly more melon to make smoothies in the morning (all fruit smoothies, obviously--no yogurt or anything). I'm also thinking about getting some coconut water to add to smoothies/juice. Adam has been mixing his juice with water, to help him take in more water. 

I did have a cup of non-caffeinated tea yesterday, which is excellent when I want something warm. I also bought some Pellegrino, because sometimes I really crave carbonation. 

Tonight we're going for a run, so we'll see how our energy levels are on the juice. I've been feeling pretty good, but I haven't tried anything super active yet, so we'll have to see how it goes. Tomorrow we go back to Sauvie Island for more cheap produce! I'll post pictures of the haul and how much it cost when we get back. 

Finally, if you're interested, here is a list of all the things I've put in our juices thus far:

• carrots
• zucchini
• acorn squash
• other random squash
• beets (and beet greens)
• kohlrabi (and kohlrabi greens)
• apples
• pears
• grapes
• watermelon
• pineapple
• strawberries (I thawed them from our frozen stores we picked back in June)
• kale
• ginger
• oranges
• lemons
• limes
• rutabaga

Article Review

I read this article in the Washington Post on Sunday and I knew I had to share it. 


The article focuses on a series of reforms implemented at the Cleveland Clinic, which employs about 40,000 people, making it the largest employer in Ohio. They've managed to do an amazing thing: reduce health-care costs for their employees. 


I'm pretty sure we're all familiar with the rising cost of health care - as much as I'd like to complain about my premiums, my health care provider has paid about $74,000 in medical costs this year, leaving me with under $1,000 to pay out of pocket. I'm pretty sure I've just covered the premiums for the rest of my life, more or less. While things like broken arms are not easy to anticipate, the Cleveland Clinic looked at a rather startling statistic from the CDC - according to the article, 

70 percent of all medical costs are related to smoking, physical inactivity, food choices and portion size, or stress. Cut smoking, increase physical activity, persuade people to make better dietary decisions, and help them manage their stress, and you can reduce health-care costs before an employee ever steps into a hospital.

That's kind of amazing, if you think about it. Seventy percent. That means things like Adam's $45,000 broken arm aren't included in that seventy percent. You could assign most of that seventy percent to poor personal choices. 


So, how did the Cleveland Clinic change some of those choices? By giving their employees less of a choice. They offered free tobacco-cessation programs, free fitness classes, and free stress management classes. They took every deep fryer and sugary drink off the campus. They also raised insurance premiums for employees, then offered them an incentive - if they agreed to participate in healthy initiatives, they didn't have to pay the new rates. 

That left enforcement. The clinic tracks its employees’ blood pressure, lipids, blood sugar, weight and smoking habits. If any of these are what the clinic calls “abnormal,” a doctor must certify that the employee is taking steps to get them under control. Otherwise, no insurance rebate. The idea is to force employees to have regular conversations with their doctors about wellness. If they participate, they can lock in the rates they were paying two years ago. The savings amount to many thousands of dollars.

Not only are the employees paying less, but the employers are also paying less. That's pretty amazing. But it also raises a lot of questions: Would this program still be cost-effective at a business that didn't have cheaper access to things like blood sugar tests? Is the labor force at large willing to accept these restrictions on their personal lives from their employer? Could this be applied to Medicare and Medicaid or even a future public option? Are people willing to have their choices restricted? 


What I like about the program is that, other than smoking, nobody got fired for not participating in the reforms. They simply had to pay more. Monetary incentives are pretty successful when you're trying to get people to change habits, but I imagine you could find more than a handful of employees who were not happy about the changes at work. 


Personally, I would love to see my employer do more to encourage a healthy lifestyle. My current building used to have a gym available to employees, but it got shut down. We've asked to use another room to exercise in if employees brought in their own equipment, but that was denied too (probably for insurance reasons). Our HR web site doesn't have much in the way of promoting a healthy lifestyle. This is surprising to me, given that my company is one of the largest employers in the country. Those of us who are bargained employees enjoy low premiums and great health care, and I imagine some of these initiatives would save the company a lot of money. While I'd be all for it, I can see the other side of the argument as well. What do you think - would you be okay with this much interference in your life from your employer?

Goals Wednesday - Juice Fast

It's that time again! I'm very excited to announce that tomorrow, at long last, Adam & I are starting our juice fast. Anybody who would care to join us--or just have more juice in their life--I will be blogging more frequently throughout the fast, I've finally started updating the blog's twitter (@mersereaux), and if you're friends with me on Facebook, expect lots of status updates. You can also find me on Reboot Your Life, username is rahnia. 


Adam and I are aiming for a 10 day juice fast. I am allowing non-caffeinated tea whilst on the fast, although a strict fast is just juice and water. Speaking of no caffeine, I got sentimental and took a picture of my last pre-fast coffee this morning:

That's a tall double soy latte, if you were curious.

Sigh. This juice fast comes as I'm one star away from earning a Starbucks Gold Card! Maybe I'll stop in and get some non-caffeinated tea sometime. Or, you know, just wait until the 10 days are up.

Most of the programs on Reboot Your Life have you eat as well as blend, or do a 15 day program. I am considering doing 5 days after the actual fast of a vegan diet - just fruits, veggies, nuts and grains. But, if I'm really craving something at the end of 10 days, I'm not going to say no to myself - I'll be extremely proud if we can make it the 10 days. For some extra motivation, one of my co-workers is doing it with me - I'm making the juice and bringing it in. I'm excited to experiment with new juices, and if anybody reading this juices and has some favorite recipes, please let me know! I've seen some awesome ideas around the web, like adding coconut water to some of the juices. Sometimes Adam and I will add a little processed, store-bought juice (like Knudsen's or Martinelli's) to thin out the juice we made just a little bit. I also find that ginger root and lemon or lime is a must in almost all juices! I'm thinking of experimenting with some fresh herbs as well. 


Since it's fall, I'll be juicing a lot of squash and root vegetables. I love beets, carrots, eggplant, and almost any squash in my juice, so that's very exciting. While I already posted a picture of our produce haul over the weekend, I went to my neighborhood farmer's market today to pick up a few more things (just one bag's worth). I spent $13 and got a melon, a rutabaga, 2 lbs of grapes, a bunch of beets, and a pound of beeswax:

The cats were very interested in the produce.

Not bad, considering the other sources I looked at for beeswax would have me paying more than $13 just for a pound. A pound of beeswax from my friendly local farmer was $3. 

In other goals-related news, Adam and I start week 2 of the Couch to 5K program today! I cheated and added it to the fitness log already. I haven't taken our measurements yet this week, but we both did a weigh-in on Monday and we have both lost weight. Adam has also been using a small 3lb weight to work out his previously broken arm - he's hoping to be able to paddle next summer and possibly do some winter sports in the next few months, to say nothing of no longer embarrassing himself when trying to play basketball.

I think that just about does it -- I appreciate the support already shown for our juice fast, and your continued support will help us get through it. I'm confident we can do this.