Journey through juicing

Most peoples posts about their "juice cleanses" and such, and they all go somewhere along the lines of "I just feel sluggish" "I want more energy" "I feel depleted" "I don't even care about the weight loss".

While I do feel sluggish, depleted, and in want of more energy, the primary reason for this cleanse is weight loss. I won't lie. Swimsuit season is coming, and I plan on spending a bit of time at the beach. And at the moment, the last thing I wanna put on is a swimsuit(Thank you, Thunder Thighs!).

My mother started juicing again a few weeks ago. She had about a cup of juice(like, 1 measuring cup) with her breakfast each morning for about a week. That's it. And she lost 3 pounds. 

I know that's not a lot, but a cup of juice isn't very much. You want more drastic results? You need more drastic actions. 

I decided to ease myself into a juice cleanse. Replace breakfast a few days, then replace a second meal, and then get up to where I'm just juicing for 3 days. 

Here we go...

Day 1: 

A full glass of juice. This was plenty enough to fill me up. I drank it at about 8:00 am, and I wasn't hungry until about noon. The taste wasn't phenomenal by any means, I was pretty sick of it by the end of the glass. I think it was the chard. 

Recipe: 

1 cucumber 

1 red pepper

2 leaves of green chard

Day 2: 

For some reason, my veggies must have been less juicy today, because it made significantly less(to be fair, my mama made me save a cup for her). I drank it at about 7:30, and wasn't feeling hungry until about noon. Right after finishing it, I took my preworkout and I was in the gym shortly after 8. That's a lot of liquids slushing around. I took it slow at first, though, and it was fine. 

Recipe: 

1 cucumber 

1 red pepper 

1 small head of fresh broccoli 

3 carrots 

Day 2(juice 2):

This one tastes very "green". My mama wasn't a huge fan. 

1 head of celery

1 cucumber

1/2 green pepper 

2 kiwis 

2 handfuls of spinach. 

I drank this along with a small plate of salad(with a vinegar/olive oil dressing) and I didn't eat again until my very solid dinner that night. 

Day 3: 

This one was incredibly bitter. I drank my mom's portion as well, because I didn't want to force her to drink it. 

1 head of celery 

1/2 cucumber 

2 kiwis 

1/4 apple 

I drank this juice for lunch, rather than for breakfast. 

Day 4: 

In an attempt to steer away from the last two juices that were very bitter, and also upon my mothers request, I made this one mainly with carrots. It was sweet and delicious and I was kinda sad when I reached the end of the glass. 

This was breakfast, along with a quarter of a gluten free waffle.. 

1 head of celery 

1 red pepper

3 carrots 

1/4 apple 

Day 4(juice 2):

1/2 cucumber

1 red pepper 

1 apple 

This one was my lunch. I are breakfast so late that by the time my family was eating lunch, I was still stuffed. So I had lunch a few hours after them, with this juice. It wasn't bad, but definitely a little more sweet than I had wanted. 

Day 5:

This was probably one of the best ones I've had so far. I drank myself beyond full on this one cuz I liked it so much. 

1 head of celery 

3 carrots 

5+ handfuls of spinach 

Spinach is kinda a struggle to juice. You just have to patiently feed it into the juicer. You don't get a ton of juice from it, so you have to use a substantial amount. 

And thus ended my juice cleanse. I had planned on making one last one the next day, but I ended up not having enough time.

So, I ended up not doing any complete days of juicing, although that was my original plan. None the less, simply drinking 1-2 juices a day, I lost 5 pounds. Which was crazy. And, I did have more energy, had that "glow", yaddiya, all the stuff everyone else claims.

I think I would've had a different experience if I was doing a strict juice cleanse, and the results probably would've been more drastic. However, I was also eating relatively clean throughout this cleanse.

Let me know if you have any questions :)

Blackened salmon

Growing up, my parents cooked all fish the same way: with orange juice concentrate, until it was rubbery.

So I always thought I hated fish. 

A few months ago, back when I worked at the Market Street Grill, I had some of their blackened salmon one night, in an attempt to be gluten free. I figured I would soldier through the nasty fish. Plus, that served it with snap peas, so at least I could enjoy that. 

And it was so good. 

Turns out, fish tastes really great cooked(I'm a big fan of sushi), and my parents were just murdering it every time they made it when I was growing up. 

So when my mom bought a big salmon fillet earlier this week, I begged her to let me cook it, because I hated to see that beautiful fish go to waste. 

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons paprika

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder 

1 tablespoon oregano 

1 teaspoon sea salt 

1/2 teaspoon black pepper 

Dash of cayenne(to taste)

1 salmon fillet 

4(ish) cups of snap peas 

2 tablespoons of butter 

I scaled my fillet, and then patted it down with a paper towel, to soak up some of the extra moisture. You don't want it to be entirely dry, but you wanna draw some of the moisture out. 

Put a cast iron skillet on medium heat and warm up a few tablespoons of oil(I use coconut). 

Mix up the spices, and then gently rub into either side of the fish. 

When the pan is hot, plop the fish into the pan, and then DON'T TOUCH IT. Seriously. Leave it until it's cooked about 2/3 of the way up the fish, and then flip it, cooking the second side. 

While that's cooking, heat up 2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet. Once it's melted, add about 4 cups of snap peas(I just eyeballed it, I'm not sure how many cups it was...).  The peas are done cooking when they're tender, but not soggy. 

My little brother, who is an INCREDIBLY picky eater, sheepishly asked for seconds. I gave my mom my recipe so (hopefully) no one ever has to eat the rubbery orange fish ever again. 

I apologize for the crappy pictures. It was a spur of the moment meal, so I didn't have time to grab my camera(I thought I was cooking tomorrow night...) so these were all from my iPhone. 

Happy cooking! 

Bacon, anyone?

If you pack your breakfast full of sugar, your whole day is gonna go downhill. I promise. 

Protein for breakfast? Now we're talkin. 

If I'm going to punish myself with scrambled eggs(sorry, not sorry), I'm gonna do them right. 

Ingredients: 

3 eggs 

1/2 red bell pepper

2 strips of nitrite free bacon 

Olive oil(if needed) 

Salt and pepper to taste 

Dice the bacon. My pops home cures his bacon, so it's actually healthy. Best of both worlds. Just make sure there's no nitrite. 

Dice up the pepper, and then cook that and the bacon in a hot pan. 

While it cooks, mix up your eggs. Once the bacon is almost done, add the eggs. 

I usually top mine with Hatch Green Chile, which adds an extra 3 calories, I believe? 

Ta da. The end.

Caloric content: 343 calories. 

That may sound like a bit, but really, it's way less than you'd get eating pancakes, and the protein from the eggs and bacon will keep you going way longer. :) 

Roasted Asparagus and Chicken

Okay. This sounds like the most boring food alive. It probably is.

I used to hate asparagus. Until about two months ago, when I went to sprouts and saw that Asparagus was crazy on sale and I figured I could do something to it to make it taste good.

I fed this to my roommate's fiancée and he asked me to teach her how to cook. So, I'm guessing that's a victory.

Roasted Asparagus and Chicken

So. Cook that Chicken up however you like. Sometimes I stick this on a cookie sheet with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and onions, and bake it at 350. Or sometimes I pull out a skillet and do it that way.

In all honesty, my favorite part of this meal is the asparagus.

1 bunch of Asparagus
Olive Oil
2 cloves of garlic
Salt
Pepper
Balsamic Vinegar

Preheat the oven to 400. Snap the ends off the asparagus and lay it out on a baking sheet. Drizzle it with the olive oil, and then season with salt and pepper.

Mince the garlic, and then sprinkle that on top of the asparagus.

Drizzle the vinegar overtop(Usually about 3 Tbs.). Bake until tender and a bit crispy on the tip, about 7 minutes. 

Serves: 1

Calories: chicken- about 55. Asparagus-about 30.