Day 5: That which shall not be spoken of needs to be spoken of.

     I'm a regular kinda guy. I make my deposits, drop the kid at school and I make all my decisions like any King of his Castle, while sitting on his throne. Yes, these are all euphemisms for bowel movements. A topic I've been avoiding since I started juicing but suuuuuch an important topic that I knew I'd have to tackle it at some point. So here it is,

   I never had a problem in this department so I didn't expect to see/feel much of a difference when the juicing kicked in. I was warned that the drinks will make me gassy, they have not. I was warned that the drinks would give me cramps,they have not. The first two days I noticed more activity, more visits to the bathroom but nothing explosive. I was also amazed at some of the lengths I was greeted with. Impressive two flushers! Funny story, me and a few friends of mine used to take pictures of our "Events" and text each other with our impressive results, always trying to one-up the next guy(guys will be guys!).  I tell ya there's nothing like sending your best bud a pic of something that could double as a child birth while he's in a meeting at work. Classic.

So, back to what I was saying,  I didn't have any emergencies as others have experienced when juicing. I've heard stories of people having sudden emergencies and those people must be doing something wrong. They must be using too many different recipes or not letting their body adjust properly or forcing their body to take more liquid than its prepared for. As much as the sun loving hippies would suggest the body isn't designed for an all liquid diet.

   So take it easy with the juicing. Do what I did and test your recipe first. Don't be a dummy and go ," man this drink makes me gassy! I think i'll drink two more glasses!" change it up, find the veggie that's doing a number on you and just remove it from your recipe. This is why I've taken it slow with juicing before I dive into a full 10 day challenge. I can't be having no emergencies while in a crowded train in Manhattan. I'll be on the news with the title "Man ruins commute for hundreds!". So just take it slow and do it right.

   Day 5 I've taken a step back on the juicing for two reasons.One reason was to get some calories in me. I didn't want to crash, I wanted to take this slow from the beginning and do this right because I want this to a part of my lifestyle not just something to get attention. The second reason was because I kind of messed up. I didn't keep up with the shopping. I didn't have healthy food in the house and I didn't have veggies to replace the juice. So when hunger pangs kicked in I had to go out and make some choices and I think I've been clear on how difficult it is to make good choices outside when you're surrounded by great food like I am. I mean, right on my corner I have a pizzeria that makes the BEST pizza I have ever eaten EVER. Their sauce is one that I would gladly bathe in, I mean it, I would drop my trowsers and swim in all that glorious sauce like Scrooge McDuck in his money bin back stroking and all. It's THAT good. When hungry, it's easy to cave in, you convince yourself "oh one slice won't hurt" and then next thing you know you're eating your son's slice as well (he's a slow eater so if anything I'm teaching him a life lesson)

Get BEHIND ME Pizza! 

      I need to get on point with the shopping and create a better schedule so I have enough veggies that I can make the juice but not SO much that the veggies will go bad. I also can't make so MUCH juice because those jars only stay good for about 2 days then the juices loses their nutrients. Juice oxidizes the moment it comes out so if you jar it up it's only going to be good for about 24 - 48 hours but honestly, after tasting the green juice after two days in the fridge I'll never drink one passed 24 hours again. Fresh juice just tastes appropriate.

         One final thing I've noticed, even though I've eaten food and stopped juicing as much for a day, my digestion is in overdrive and i'm still using the bathroom about 3 times a day. All that juice has kind of coated my stomach and things are just flying right on through. I better watch out, any faster and someone might get hurt.

Day 4: Steady as she goes !

   I almost fell off the wagon again last night!  To briefly explain, I work the night shift which is 12:00 am to 8:00 am. This shift does something terrible to your metabolism. You're hungry when you should be sleeping and maintaining a stable diet/weight has been extremely difficult because of this.

Every Weds (which is my Friday since I work Sat - Weds) I used to treat myself to a Subway Sub that's located about a block away and open 24 hours. This was my spot man, You know you have a problem when you go in and everyone knows your name. I haven't been there in weeks and I've been avoiding the place to keep from temptation but last night I got a call to one of the buildings I work in and to get there I have to pass...The Subway!

Oh Subway, how I loathe you and love you at the same time. You're disgusting...yet fresh. You're expensive, yet affordable. You are an enigma my friend and I ..just...can't! Not anymore. I walked passed the Subway,The owner looking at me like if I was cheating on him. My stomach growled loudly. I stopped , turned around and extended my hand in a final farewell. 


   Ok, onward to some updates. I finally got info on the Juicer I use. It's the Breville Ikon Juice Fountain and here's what it looks like.

 

It's a BEAST

      You can find it here.  This juicer was a gift from my parents and it's definitely a tad pricey if you're looking to get into juicing but unsure if it's something you want to keep doing in the long run. I had a juicer once that I had to get rid of. We had a horrible roach infestation thanks to our lovely reincarnation believing neighbors and the roaches had made the juicer their club med. After a massacre (A Massacre I tell ya!) we were roach free and ready for another juicer.

      The Breville has digital settings for your vegetable or fruit choices. I think I've stated this before but the amount of juice I got from a relatively small grocery shopping was pretty darn impressive. Also, the juice is almost all pulp free which has made drinking it down a lot easier for me. I dunno about you guys but I can't drink down thick pulpy stuff...

  This Juicer has been my foundation. I have worked my diet around this bad boy and that's what I needed because as I have discovered, juicing is easy. I have successfully replaced two of my meals with juicing which means (to me) I am currently living well under a 2500 calorie diet.  Again i'm horrible with details but I promise as I move forward with this lifestyle change I will get the exact numbers and how many calories I'm taking in a day.

    But the point is, I feel it. I feel lighter and I feel more focused . I'm going to go to the grocery store where I have begun to establish my name in a new place. I will video log the veggies I buy and how much it all costs and detail the recipe we have been using. Stay tuned.

Day 3 Juicing: Some surprising results.

Can you guess what this is? If you said a belt then pat yourself on the back because you are a GENIUS! I took this picture in the morning because I noticed something when I was at work. My jeans kept falling down. I was looking like one of them hop hip kids with their Nike's and loud music. Actually with my work clothes I looked more like the Hobo that asks for change around my neighborhood.

This is no exaggeration, but I started this Juicing 3 days ago and my belt buckle would fit at around the second mark. I now need to tighten this belt at five holes/sizes down. I suppose I should be a little more detailed when it comes to these results. I know it helps some people to see the numbers but I was never much of a numbers person so saying I dropped from this size to this size in this amount of time under these conditions using these materials  while these stars were aligned was something I didn't really want to focus on because frankly... it's exhausting. I'll have Dez take official measurements today.

  I finally regulated my sleep pattern and I finally feel great this morning. No headache and most importantly no ravenous cravings. At this time I'm usually hungry for a bagel from this delicious bagel hole across the street from my job. I'm not even sweating it now. Sipping on the juice throughout the night has kept my hunger pains in check better than I thought it would. I really thought they would find me at work curled in a fetal position with my stomach growling loudly yelling out random foods. Nope, I am in control of this ship.

    When I get home I'll have enough energy to implement some of the cardio I do. I have the X-box 360 kinnect and I recently purchased Your Shape Fitness. It's a great program that tracks your body movements and provides some really good workouts. I've seen a bunch of work out programs on and off the Xbox and most require you to just jump in place as fast as you can like an idiot (I'm looking at you Shaun t!) but this game/program provides everything from Yoga to Zumba. I especially like the Shadow Boxing part. I'll usually drop the music and turn up the great Rocky soundtrack and pretend up punching slabs of meat in a freezer...but in my underwear.

Probably the best workout game ever for a console.

      I will be implementing more green juice today with two more protein shakes. My arms are swollen from the weight lifting and my chest burns from the push-ups. But I don't feel sluggish and I feel like I can handle another workout easily. I like this feeling.