Quick Update: Drink Your Veggies

I was going to wait and do a weekly post about the results I’m seeing from adding fresh veggie juice to my diet but I couldn’t wait that long! Today is day 3 1/2 and I’m seeing results already. I don’t think anything else I’ve ever done except for the 2-3 times I quit smoking over the past 20 years has ever had such an immediate effect. (And yes, I am currently smoke-free and intend to stay that way for the rest of my life.)

My regimen so far has been to make a batch of juice first thing in the morning while Emma gets ready for school. I put this into a reusable plastic (BPA-free of course) cup with a straw (My poolside cocktail “glass” from Hawaii.) and sip it while I’m in the car line dropping her off at school. Tuesday I made another batch later in the  morning to take to work for a snack. I found two small glass bottles that had held Chai Tea Lattes from Target and have repurposed them to store my “snack” juice in the fridge.

My recipes so far have been pretty make shift. For a green drink I typically combine and handful or two of baby spinach, cup of Kale, 1-2 carrots and an apple. Wednesday morning I tried a Vitamin C rich combination of 6 small clementines (peeled), 2 carrots and a celery stalk. The “kitchen sink” combination of a bit of everything I made the other day was a fail. I used whole pieces of pomegranate instead of just the seeds and that made it too bitter and I think my ratios were off and the whole thing was an ugly brownish green color and tasted “dirty”. I mixed it with some Tropicana OJ and it was palatable but not my best effort.

So for the results:

• I’m sleeping better. This may not be totally fair to assess because I’ve been sleeping alone this week, Steve is in Vegas. So I haven’t had snoring and bed sharing to contend with the past few nights. But overall I feel like I’m sleeping more soundly and am waking up usually before my alarm and feeling very refreshed.
• 3pm yawns are gone. Yesterday I worked a typical 10-5 work day. Usually somewhere around 3pm I get very tired and start yawning and wanting a nap or another can of Diet Pepsi. Yesterday I didn’t have my morning pot of tea or any Pepsi at lunch, so no caffeine at all, but at 3pm I noticed that I wasn’t fatigued or yawning. I actually felt very alert and energetic. And even when I got home after 5 I didn’t have that “I just want to hit the couch and veg out for the rest of the night” feeling.
• I feel more mentally alert. I have no way of quantifying this, maybe I should’ve timed my Sudoku solving abilities before and after. Subjectively I feel like I have a better attention span and my cognitive skills are sharper. Last week there were a couple times at work that I made just stupid mistakes and felt very foggy and this week I feel like I am mentally on top of my game.
• I had a chiropractor appointment this morning and my adjustment from last week held and I reported no neck or shoulder pain. My overall pain levels that typically include neck, back, hips and feet in addition to an occasional headache have been non-existent the past few days. That may or may not be a big deal as I’m not one to ALWAYS be in pain. Sometimes you don’t realize how much chronic, low-grade pain you have until it is gone and I’ve noticed a significant decrease the past few days.

Two areas that I haven’t seen any significant changes so far would be my weight and my skin. I think it is too soon for either of those things to be effected. I really don’t foresee my weight going down by just adding fresh veggie juice to my diet. I’m not making any other significant changes or omissions at this time. But I do find myself craving sweets a little less so maybe that will eventually lead to other dietary changes. I do think that by making one small positive change leads to a cascading effect of other good choices. I already find myself choosing water instead of Diet Pepsi when I’m thirsty or feeling tired. I’ve also chosen to make a homemade dinner for Emma and me this week and took homemade stuff for lunches the two days I’ve worked. This has not only been good for my health but the health of my wallet as well.

This was yesterday’s lunch, homemade black bean soup. I made it on Sunday and when Emma didn’t want to eat it I put it in the fridge to “mellow” and then packaged it up into individual servings for the freezer. I now have 5 more servings ready and waiting for me to grab and go. Cheap, healthy and delicious. I also have a few servings of homemade clam chowder ready as well. Sure beats Pizza-by-the-slice from the restaurant next door for lunch!

And not to share TMI but I was a bit worried about eating bean soup for lunch while at work but I can report that I didn’t experience the “usual” side-affects from beans. I’ve been known to be a bit gassy and oddly, adding more veggies and beans to my diet seems to have had the opposite affect. Diet Pepsi and cheese pizza are much worse overall for my digestion in my experience.