You might have noticed my little absence her (or maybe you didn't) but that's right. I took a little break for myself. And the reason being... this blogging stuff can be hard!
It's definitely not as easy as any other social site. Truth is I wrote out this post 2 previous times and both times when I went to publish it had deleted itself!!!
Now more than likely it was a user error, but who cares! I was irritated to say the least. So I chose to back off for a month.
Anywho, I did have some exciting health news!
We got a juicer!!!
(Do you like that graphic there? I'm probably the last person on the planet to find picmonkey.com and turned into a kid discovering paint for the first time on a pc. It was a very exciting 20 minutes!)
I had secretly been wanting one for a while now, but was trying to convince myself I didn't need it due to the cost and lack of cabinet space. But now that we have one I love it and am so glad that it came when it did!
The best part of it all was we didn't have to pay anything for it! A sweet family friend had an extra that she was hoping to find a new home for and thought of us. (Amazing right? Such a thoughtful friend!)
When I got the text that she could send it my way if I just said yes I was beyond excited! I immediately started to look up juicing recipes.
I had read about juicing benefits over the past year and had heard from friends about all the great things it can do for your body during allergy season (Jason's an allergy sufferer). I couldn't wait for it to get to my house and let the juice start flowing.
But then it came. And it sat there. It was intimidating and looked so complicated. I knew the first step would be to take it apart and clean it, but how? It didn't come in the box, or with any instructions, and the last thing I wanted to do was break it before I ever figured out how to use it.
After a few days of allowing it to taunt me as I walked by, I finally put my foot down and decided I was either going to learn how to use that thing or break it trying.
So I did what any self respecting wife would do.
I went and begged Jason to help me.
As he figured out how to take it all apart and put it back together, I prepped the fruit and veggies and we made our first batch of homemade fresh beet, carrot, and orange juice.
It was good!
Now I'll admit I was really nervous that I wouldn't like it, or any other juice containing veggies. As a previous world's pickiest eater I wasn't sure that Jason wouldn't kill me for making him go through all this trouble just to have me turn up my nose. But I was so pleasantly surprised!
And as it turns out I must have passed all of my pickiness onto Mr. Hubs when we exchanged wedding vows because this man who use to eat pretty much anything, didn't like it. And that's not too uncommon these days. I have become very adventurous in my menu choices, and Jason has narrowed things down. A lot.
However, I liked the juice so much that I set out to try more recipes! I decided to try a different kind of juice as a meal replacement for most days of the week.
This was not an easy task. I looked through the recipe book that the same sweet friend had sent with the juicer and found 5 recipes that I thought would suite me well and that incorporated some of the same foods so that I wouldn't waste too much money purchasing an overabundance of produce.Then it was off to sprouts I went to collect all of my goodies. When I came home I washed, cut, and prepped each juice recipe's ingredients, and stored it inside it's own bag to make for easy pull and juicing later in the week. (<-- this proved to be a great time saver.)
I chose to replace my dinner with juices for a few reasons.
1. I couldn't do lunch since the juice doesn't keep as much of it's nutrients after being stored.
2. I really didn't see myself waking up even a bit earlier to have time to clean the juicer before heading out the door.
3. I'm a stress eater. Let's face it, my job can be stressful, and I enjoy snacking as much as possible throughout the day. So when I get home I'm not typically hungry enough for a large meal.
Now that I have tried several recipes I can say with certainty that I love juicing my veggies and am so beyond thankful that I got this juicer when I did.
If you have been thinking of purchasing one, I would definitely encourage you to do so. It's NOTHING like store bought juice. NOTHING.
It's amazing.
And you won't regret it.
Do you juice?
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