Juicy McJuicerson

So my New Year's resolution two years ago was to take meat (not seafood) out of my diet. I honestly thought that after a couple of months I would feel like my body was clean again and go right back to it. BUT two years later and I can list about 3 times that I've eaten a meat other than seafood.

I chose to take most meat out of my diet for dietary reasons (how my body was reacting to it) not animal rights reasons (but those are pretty great reasons). However, I still cook meat for my husband (although minimal, he says), but I only use organic meats. Meaning cage-free-grass-fed-all-that-jazz-kinda-meat. Is it the cheapest option? No. But I like to think of higher quality food (all foods, not just meats) as a long-term insurance plan. Are those organic apples 33 cents more than the non-organic apples? Yes. But this article from 2010 notes that a less-severe heart attack can cost you upwards of $760,000. Holy cow.  <--pun intended.

So all of that being said I wanted to spend this new year getting the other parts of my diet up to a higher standard. My parents did a great thing when I was about 13 and completely cut us off from fast food. No more running through McDonald's on the way to practice. It was the best decision for my health the could've made. If you don't eat it on the regular or stock it in the home, you. will. not. want. it. (this goes for healthy food too!). So no meats (for my specific diet needs), check. No fast foods, pretty much check. No bad snacks in the house, check. Ok, so there were a lot of things I wasn't eating and putting in my body, but what good am I actually putting in? When you take meat out you really have to readjust what you eat and how to get full. It's a complete mindset change.

Insert this:

It's the Breville Compact Juicer. Small, easy to clean, does the job. Now I'm not talking about going on a juice cleanse or fast - these have been shown time and again to be ineffective. And hello, I'd rather not starve or be super grouchy. I'm talking about drinking a nice cup of fruits and veggies with my already healthy breakfast. This particular juicer and many of the newer styles let you pop in the entire fruit with skin (if edible). So all that produce with vitamin packed skins goes right into the juice that you drink. It also collects the pulp of the juice separately which can then be used in recipes or composted. 

So after waiting patiently for my juicer to arrive (it'll be here tomorrow!) I've collected recipes and even gotten my BFF in on the fun. We are starting Thursday with a 30-day juice challenge. This challenge is just meant to get us used to juicing and not meant as a diet or cleanse or fast. It's just simply there to help us introduce fruits and vegetables that we aren't getting. 

I've got my grocery list all prepped for the week and we will see how I feel about all this after 7 days of celery, ginger, and oranges. Oh! And I told my husband I'm bound and determined to find a recipe that he likes, so we will see about that - he's pickier than a 5-year-old.