PART-TIME JUICER

I DON'T JUICE 100% OF THE TIME. I can't because of a strange work schedule. But I do see myself heading toward a more healthy lifestyle because of juicing. One advantage juicing has given me is more sensitivity to how foods affect me. I ate pizza a few days ago, topped with a few pepperonis and lots of cheese, and I felt a heaviness in my gut for two days.

Before juicing I wouldn't have noticed. After inhaling the pizza I didn't sleep well for a couple of days either. So as much as I love pizza I'm reassessing how much pizza I want to eat. I'm not banning pizza it's just that my healthy eating mentality seems to be taking over because I just want to feel good. It's as if my body is giving me a choice between feeling good while eating or feeling good while not eating.

I think juicing is going to be the backbone of my dieting strategy, not because it is so delicious, but because of how it makes me feel. Time will tell.

VEGGIE RECIPE

THE TOUGHEST PART OF THE JUICE DIET is making drinkable vegetable based drinks. A good basic drink is 1/3 apples, 1/3 carrots. and 1/3 celery. You can use fewer carrots if you find they are too strong (I find they have a strong, earthy flavor I don't like much). I am going to experiment next week by adding tabasco sauce and curry into this basic drink.

The fruit drinks are much more palatable. This morning I had a drink of 1/2 green grapes and 1/2 red grapes to which I added a peach and an apple.

Another obstacle for me (I tend to be a bit lazy when it comes to food) is having to clean the juicer a lot. My remedy last night was to juice my morning fruit drink first. I put it in a glass, sealed the top with cellophane, and stored it in the fridge for my morning meal. I then juiced my veggie drink for the evening (the recipe above).

Juice your fruit first as any residue won't matter in the veggie juice (since I often add fruit to veggie drinks anyway). Veggie drinks taste better when they are fresh and don't store very well. They turn slightly brown and get a strange texture. I definitely don't recommend pre-juicing vegetables.

JUICE DIET

I RECENTLY SAW THE MOVIE Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. I immediately ordered a juicer. This is the one I bought:

SO FAR I have lost 11 pounds in two weeks and I haven't been juicing every day. It really is an amazing diet although I am sure I will be getting sick of it fairly soon, especially the veggie drinks. But if I juice two weeks a month, and maintain the other two weeks using the Goji-Walnut diet, I think I should keep the weight off and feel better for it.

I am sleeping better and feeling better in general than I have in years. If I could find a truly delicious veggie juice combination I think this diet would be the killer app of diets. My daughter has the same ailment as the guy in the movie (she has chronic hives) and has been able to cut her antihistamine dose in half after three weeks.

I am currently experimenting by adding a bit of agave nectar to the veggie drinks although this adds calories. Leave comments if you know where to locate good veggie juice recipes.