My 7-day Juice Cleanse (recap)

Juicing prep madness..

Today was the last day of my juice cleanse and let me tell you, I'm so relieved I made it through!

I  plan on doing this cleanse again, probably once per season or twice a year...but it's definitely a part of my regimen now. I'm going to continue juicing though, since it's the easiest way to get my daily fruits and vegetables in without having to eat so much. lol Aside from the fact that some of these juices actually taste good! I have developed a new found love for beets...call me crazy, but I like the sweet, Earthy vibe they have going on. I'm weird, I know. Don't judge me. 

In my last post, I weighed in at 141.5 lbs...today I was 138lbs. 0_0 Gotta gain THAT back...

My measurements today were:

Bust- 34"

Waist-25 1/2"

Hips-37 1/2"

 

Day 1.  Day 3.  Day 7.

I kind of wish my measurements would stay the same once I gain the weight back.

As a matter of fact, can't it just go to my butt?? I'm saying, though...

...i'm lackin in the back end.=(

Anyway...

 

My trip to Produce junction cost me $40, but I got a buttload of fruits and vegetables, though.

I mean, I had so much produce, I literally had NO counter space...AT ALL. 

I don't know about you, but I saw that as being a good thing...cause you'd nowadays $40 is what? A couple of packs of meat and some Lean Cuisine meals? Psshhh...

...I see this as a minor accomplishment.

So, some of my friends want me to post the regimen I tried to follow followed throughout this week, so here it is! Now, I'm not a doctor, nor am I a nutritionist so don't ask me what these combination of juices do and/or how they help..cause idk. Let me just get that out of the way right now...

In the morning, I made sure I drank a full bottle of water before anything else. I drank either the green, cucumber or grapefruit in the morning because I felt as though drinking the things high in acid and/or iron in the morning made the most sense to me. Throughout the day I drank each of the juices at least once whenever I felt hungry (which was always) and also made sure I drank a couple of bottles of water in between to remain hydrated. I did eat some of the fruits that wouldn't juice too well, as well as some nuts, seeds, raisins and prunes (yeah, I eat prunes) to give myself a little bit of fats and some darker "fruits" into the mix. I didn't have a specific order in terms of which juice I drank after the other...the only thing I really remained adamant about was having my green/cucumber/grapefruit juice first thing in the morning. I did tend to drink the more "savory" drinks for my "meal," so I would do the Beet juice for lunch or the Sweet Potato juice for dinner...and have the rest of the juices (along with water) in the mean time in between time. You can choose which recipes you want to do, but make sure you have at least 4 different savory drinks throughout the week so that all of your drinks aren't sweet, because fruits contain sugar..and too much sugar isn't good in any form. Now, you can always research more juicing recipes, but these are just the ones I did this week.

SAVORY

Green 1

1 Cucumber

3 Celery Stalks

1 Green Apple

1 Broccoli stem

1/2 Green Pepper

4 C. Spinach eaves

Green 2

1 Cucumber

2 Celery Stalks

4 Swiss Chard, leaves and stem

1 Green Apple

4 C. Spinach leaves

Swiss Chard

Red Juice

3 Carrots

3 Celery stalks

1 Orange, peeled

2 Peaches, pitted

1 Beet, peeled

Sweet Potato

1-2 Sweet Potatoes

3-4 Carrots

Beet

1 Beet

4 Swiss Chard, leaves and stem

3 Carrots 

Rouge Veg 

1 Cucumber

3 Carrots

1 Beet

2 Celery stalks

1/2 lemon, peeled

Skin Perfecter

1 Cucmber

1 Parsnip

2-3 Carrots

1/2 lemon, peeled

1/4 Green Pepper

Parsnips are on the top. They look like white carrots, basically.

Sweet

Orange Juice

2 Oranges, peeled

1 Granny smith apple

1 Fuji apple 

1 Parsnip, top and bottom cut off

9 Carrots, top and bottom cut off

A 1 inch length piece of Ginger

 

Strawberry Juice

20 Strawberries, tops cut off

2 C. Red Grapes

1 Lemon, peeled

1 Granny Smith Apple

1 Fuji Apple

1 Cucumber

 

Pineapple Juice

1 Pineapple, top and bottom removed, and sliced in 6

1 Mango, seeded 

 

Sweetie Pie

1 Sweet Potato

3 Carrots

1 Orange, peeled

1 Fuji Apple

1 Green Apple

 

Candy Apple Red 

1 Beet

1 Cucumber

4 Carrots

1 Green Apple

1 Fuji Apple

White Out

1 Jicama, peeled

2 Green Apple

1 lemon, peeled

This is a jicama, peeled and unpeeled

Tart

Grapefruit

1 Grapefruit, peeled

1 Orange, peeled

1 Lemon, peeled

Cucumber

1 Cucumber

1 Lemon, peeled

Now, you don't have to do the whole 7 days like I did; you can do a 3 day cleanse...but the first two days are the hardest. I'm tryna tell yall that this isn't for the faint hearted. I'm gonna say this for the last time- make sure you drink plenty of water throughout the day because you still need to stay hydrated even though you're only drinking juice. I cant stress that enough. 

Well, I hope someone found this helpful! If you plan on doing this cleanse, please be careful and remain aware that I am not a doctor. What works for me may not work for you, but this gives you the chance to find your own groove!

HAPPY HEALTH!

=D

My 7- Day Juice Cleanse!

I've been telling myself since Christmas break that I'm going to do a juice cleanse to "calibrate" my body, in a way. I'm on day 3 right now and I've got to say that this is harder than I'd imagined. The level of hunger I felt on day 1 was absolutely DREADFUL...then I made the mistake of eating some Greek yogurt thinking that that may ease my hunger. No. It just made me nauseous. Day 1 was full of nausea, headaches, dizziness all combined with being unexplainably tired. I took a nap and woke up feeling like I had the world's worst hangover...ugh. It was terrible, but at that moment I had realized that this cleanse is not for the weak spirited. Althogh, I think that the fact that I was out in the sun for 70% of the day didn't really help my case, either. So if it's your first day juicing,  make sure you either stay inside or limit your sun exposure to maybe 30 mins- an hour. 

Now, I haven't gone totally cold turkey off of food; I still eat about 3 solid fruits a day plus a few nuts (peanuts, sunflower seeds) to give myself some fats. What I eat are the fruits/veg that are too soft to get a good amount of juice out of like bananas, strawberries, mangoes, spinach and peaches. I've also been drinking a lot of water because even though you're drinking juice all day, you still need to remain hydrated. 

Why am I doing this? 

Because....who DOESN'T need a cleanse? LOL. 

I feel as though I do so much to try and make/keep myself healthy but why not take another  step and do a cleanse? I'm flushing out my system and it's almost acting like a reset button..giving my body the chance to heal from the inside, out. Ridding me of toxins I may have collected that haven't been disposed of and basically allowing my body to balance itself, naturally. It's kind of like calibrating a ruler or thermometer. 

I mean, come on. Who doesn't want to be calibrated? =)

Day 1 my measurements were:

Bust: 35"

Waist: 27"

Hips: 39"

Weight: 143.7

Day 1

Today my measurements are:

Bust: 34 1/2"

Waist 26 1/2"

Hips 38 1/2"

Weight: 141.5

So I lost half of an inch and some water weight that I had from my monthly. No biggie. lol

As for my juices....

 I just call my juices by color (not creative)..and if I have two of the same color, I just call it by whatever fruit/veg is prominent (still not creative). lol 

The juices I've made aren't unbearable, but if you're not used to eating fresh produce, it would probably be nasty to you. lol 

 

The only juices I have a problem with are the Green juice and my Cucumber Lemon juice.

<--The Green juice tastes....well.....green. lmao. My mom makes it because she knows the recipe by heart, but I know it's broccoli, spinach, celery, green apple, and a green pepper.....so i don't think it gets more green than that. lol

And the Cucumber Lemon, although I thought it'd be refreshing, is more lemon-y than I'd hoped..which isn't a good thing. lol -->

My Orange, Pineapple and Strawberry juices are my favorites. These are what I typically drink for either lunch, mid-afternoon snack, or "dessert" because they are sweet. The Red juice is more of a savory sweet because it contains beet, so I typically drink that for either lunch or dinner. So far, my regimen is to drink  every juice 1-2x per day, depending on how hungry I feel, as well as a bottle of water in the mean time in between time...

This regimen is working out pretty good for me. I still feel hungry, of course, but I know how to curb it now which is good.

Orange Juice

2 Oranges, peeled

1 Granny smith apple

1 Fuji apple 

1 Parsnip, top and bottom cut off

9 Carrots, top and bottom cut off

A 1 inch length piece of Ginger

 

Red Juice

3 Carrots

3 Celery stalks

1 Orange

2 Peaches, pitted

1 Beet, peeled

Strawberry Juice

20 Strawberries, tops cut off

2 C. Red Grapes

1 Lemon, peeled

1 Granny Smith Apple

1 Fuji Apple

1 Cucumber

Cucumber Lemon Juice

1 Cucumber

2 Lemons, peeled

1/2 inch piece of Ginger

 

Pineapple Juice

1 Pineapple, top and bottom removed, and sliced in 6

1 Mango, seeded

I just put everything down in the juicer and it basically does all of the work for me. 

I don't generally peel anything unless it has a thick peel like anything citrus (lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit, etc). 

I soak all of my vegetables in a 1 part vinegar, 3 parts water bath for an hour, let them air dry and either put them in the fridge or leave them out. So all of my fruits/veg are clean before I juice them cause...I don't play that. LOL

If you DO decide that you want to do this, PLEASE be careful. 

1.You MUST stay hydrated- drink about your 8 cups of water per day

2. Thoroughly wash ALL of your fruits and vegetables. 

3. Refrigerate ALL of your juices, don't let them sit for more than 1-2 days

4. Clean/ Sanitize your juicer THOROUGHLY between uses ( I do not recommend putting the parts through the dishwasher.)

Time to Play Catch Up: So Many Updates!!

Alright, first thing's first I have to tell yall how much I LOVE this Lemon Vinegar that I made.

Granted, I left the lemons in there for 3 weeks instead of 2...the vinegar still smells like vinegar with a slight hint of lemon, but it's all good.

It cuts through grease like nobody's BUSINESS though. I wish I'd taken a picture of our stovetop before I wiped it down with the lemon vinegar, but I wasn't thinking about it at the moment. =/

The vinegar smell is pretty strong, but it goes away once it's dry. I guess I should dilute it w/ some water...but, why? lol I need it at its strongest potential for this kitchen...

(I.E. If you absolutely hate the smell of vinegar, do not attempt this. Soaking the lemons in the vinegar doesn't really get rid of the vinegar smell)

I plan on using this stuff to cut through the disgusting blackness that is our kitchen floor sometime next week, I don't care who doesn't like the smell of vinegar..they're just gonna have to deal cause I don't see any of THEM tryna clean it up soooooo....

Anyway..

The infused water I made week before last? Yeah. I didn't really like it that much. 

My water came out really bitter because of the rind of the lemon, and even though it was kind of refreshing..I don't like bitter ANYTHING. 

The Strawberry  Rosemary one just tasted like watered down strawberries

Lemon Rosemary tasted like lemon rind and rosemary

Strawberry, Lemon Mint was watered down strawberry, lemon rind and mint

And Lemon Mint was lemon rind and mint...but was my favorite out of all of them. 

I think that next time I'll use more fruit and I'll cut wedges from the lemon, omit the peel completely and try fresh mint because the dried mint is a no no.

 ..aaaaaand

I'M ENGAGED!!!!!! =D

Omgosh, right???? I'm STILL buggin about it, but it's true! Aaron popped the question last Saturday! I have officially been engaged for a week and 2 days. Yes, I have been counting how long we've been engaged since he proposed. Do not judge me. It was crazy because he caught me COMPLETELY off guard. We were at his church's couple's picnic and we had just finished one of the games we had to play. 

Each couple had a sheet of paper which represented an "island," and we both had to keep each other on the island together without "drowning." The trick was that each level we had to fold the paper in half and it kept getting smaller and smaller. He wound up putting me on his back and on the last round he wound up just throwing me over his shoulder. lol

So anyway, his mom asked the two of us and two other couple's to stay behind and explain how we were able to communicate to each other in order to win and blah blah blah. So the other two couples went before us and when it was our turn, I explained that he said from the get-go that he was just gonna throw me over his shoulder. And then he was like, "Of course. I would carry her on my shoulders for the rest of my life. I can honestly say that she is the one girl I can't see myself without..." and he said some other stuff, but I can't remember. And then he dropped to his knee.

MAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN, when I tell you I started BAWLIN?! 

I was lookin a hot mess, tennis shoes and his aunt's jacket on (it was chilly out) getting ready to go play kickball and he's out here proposing...lol!

Oh my goodness...that was the HAPPIEST moment of my LIFE, hands down. 

What made me mad was the fact that EVERYBODY knew that it was gonna happen except me...my mom and dad knew (they're all the way up in Jersey, mind you), his parents were in on it, his aunt and uncle, people from the church, his brothers, my friend Trina, everyone from his job knew..I was like, WTF!!

But it was awesome...I'm still smiling about it. 

He is the greatest thing that has happened to me so far and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life w/ him. God has blessed us so much and I know the blessings won't stop just as long as we keep Him first.

But I love yall so much, that I decided to share the video w/ yall! 

Enjoy!

=)

The Infused Water Wave!

I've officially joined this infused water craze that's going on...I couldn't resist!

What mainly sparked the idea was the fact that Harris Teeter has strawberries on sale 4/ $5 which isn't bad for Teeter, AT ALL. So, I divulged in the sale and I now have a buttload of strawberries that idk what to do with.

I cut up 2 containers of them and I poured my honey lemon dressing over them and put them in the freezer, and I did the same with the second container but I put that one in the fridge. 

Now that I'm thinking about it, I should have bought some yogurt....hmmmm...

Moving on.

So, I'm a water bottle hoarder. 

At work, we're allowed to drink as much water as we need to and you know my Greenpeace-in-the-making behind saves all my bottles and re-uses them! 

I currently have 6...

4 bottles,

and each bottle is a different flavor combination!

I decided to use my last lemon, some rosemary sprigs that I have and some dried mint I've had since last summer that I FINALLY opened today!

So the flavors are:

Strawberry Rosemary

Lemon Mint

Strawberry, Lemon, Mint

Lemon Rosemary

I boiled my water first since I used tap water, so I had to wait for it to cool before pouring it into the bottles...don't wanna release any toxic gases up in my healthy water!

So I'll let these puppies sit for a couple of days before I test them out...I'm really anxious to just drink them all, but patience is a virtue.... 

*my face as I typed that* ->  -___- 

Be on the lookout for the update!

HAPPY HEALTH!

=D

April Progress: Minor Set-back...

Hey guys!

I had to chill out with my workouts for a week because I hurt my hip 2 Saturdays ago at the gym. I guess I squat too low or had too much weight on the bar, but when I was done working out and I was walking around the city running errands, my left hip was giving me some pain near the joint. 

I bought some Epsom Salts and took myself a bath and the pain started to dissipate by the next day, but I decided to lay off on the squats for a week to let whatever it was heal. I'm STILL not finished with the squat challenge even though it's been a whole month (and some change). I'm only on day 25...so I still have 5 days left!

 I just started working out again on Monday doing this month's workout challenge every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, along with hitting the gym Tuesdays and Thursdays lifting and squatting. I've incorporated another squat into my regimen: the jumping jack squat. 

F.Y.I I don't go as hard as the chick in the video...cause she is doing the most. LOL! 

But what I do IS very similar to this, minus the excessive arm movement. 

So my squat interval is currently the standard squat, plie squat, jumping squats and jumping jack squats (all of that is probably why my hip gave out on me..lmao)

But here are this week's pics.!

There's no real change from my last update..except for the fact that I feel like my booty deflated =/ 

...maybe it's just me.

Right side

Left side

Back side

Right cellulite

Left cellulite

 HAPPY HEALTH!

=D

Mom Jeans and Lemon Vinegar

I believe everyone who's ever been thrifting says the same thing I'm about to say......I'm hooked.

Thrifting is the answer to all of my style prayers! I've always been an admirer of "vintage," old school type style.  I HATED wearing skirts/dresses when I was younger...jeans were my life. But  I've slowly but surely become obsessed with cute vintage style dress and high waisted ANYTHING...if it has a high waist, I'm gonna wear it! I've already told everyone that I'm gonna be the "dress lady" when I grow up...&owning about 40% of all of the dresses [that I like] on ModCloth.com is one of my pipe dreams/ long term goals LOL

But until then...I will embrace the power that is the high waisted "Mom jean."

They make my booty look fabulous.

They make my waist look fabulous.

They make me....look fabulous.

WHY did these ever go out of style???

 What's funny about my Mom jean fixation is the fact that this is the second pair that I've bought and they're both from the same maker...

...I didn't even notice this when I bought them! LOL

I've been trying my hardest to find some high waisted Levis but I can't! 
It's like they're extinct! 
I bought some Levis during this past trip, but they don't fit! They're a size 7...I wear a size 6, THEY SHOULD FIT!!!

But anyway, if any of you wear a size 7, please let me know because I am selling them. 
Thank you. 

In other news..

As I mentioned in my Cheap, EASY Lemon Scrub post, I'm attempting to make lemon vinegar. 

Why? Because Pinterest. 

That's why.

Hahaha!

 

According to this pin that I read on Pinterest,  lemon vinegar is great for cleaning ANYTHING. Once I read that, I was down for the get down, cause I love recycling! So I made it on Sunday so I have to wait two weeks until it's ready. It's REALLY hard cause I want to clean something with it SO BAD, but I can't =/

*impatient*

So, I took the four lemon rinds I had used to scrub my face with and placed them in one of my Tupperware containers ( I don't have any jars =/ )

and I just filled the container with about 2 cups of vinegar...just enough to submerge the lemons.

So in two weeks I will have my lemon vinegar ready to clean with!! 

YAY! 

I'll check back with you guys later!

=D

April Workout Challenge & March's Workout Progress!

Alright ladies! I'm only on day 21 of my squat challenge, but even though March is over I'm still going to finish it. I've been noticing a definite difference in the overall shape of my thighs, as well as my butt lifting! hooray!! I still don't notice a significant difference in my abs, but I think that's mainly because I haven't been doing much cardio. I think I'd only be able to tell that they were gaining more definition if I were actually burning more fat. 

So, here is my progress from the first day of my workout to yesterday!

Left side

Right side

As of yesterday, I started doing this NEW workout challenge in conjunction w/ the squat challenge. 

PROS

• It kicks my butt
• It's not long; I usually finish in about 30- 40 minutes, and that's including the 30-40 second breather I take in between each move. 
• It provides me a new challenge w/ the bridges, burpees and jack knifes. 

CONS

• Burpees are the devil
• I wouldn't label this as being a "beginner" workout. It's more of a medium level workout. 
• There's a lot of getting up and sitting back down, so if you have bad knees/hips, I recommend grouping together all of the standing workouts (jumping jacks, squats, lunges, etc.) and then grouping together all the floor workouts (crunches, pushups, bridges, etc.)
• And......burpees are the devil.

I plan on doing this workout 2-3x a week since I'm not really trying to lose any weight, and I plan on continuing my weight lifting at the gym. 

Feel free to join this month's challenge if you'd like! 

But if not...

HAPPY HEALTH!

=D

Easter Twistout! (a brief look at my difference in textures)

As I was taking my twists down today, I noticed that my twistout was more popping than usual..so I decided to share! I didn't separate it out because..well.....I don't really feel like it. lol ;) [It's one of those days]

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but the textures in the front of my head are a very loose texture in comparison to the texture at the back of my head. 

The ends become very stretched out and seem to lose the little bit of "curl pattern" they have, so it's really annoying doing twistouts/braidouts, etc...cause the front will lose definition DAYS before the back does.

 Some people try to say maybe it's heat damage. Yea...no. It just grows that way. lol

I do protein treatments and set my ends on rollers and blah blah blah, but the ends will return to their stringy selves in the next two days....

The back and middle your typical 4 a-b textures. No complaints other than the fact that it grows slower than the hair in the front..and my hair in the middle of my head doesn't seem to grow at all. I've been hoping that the castor oil has been helping but, in all honesty, I haven't really been documenting any progress (oops =/)

Welp, there it is!

Have a Happy Easter everyone!!

=D