I went to the NEX to take advantage of current sales with hot coupons that were expiring today. 

I used my scratch card and had to ring a few items separately due to the coupon limit. One bubble gave me 10% off and the other 5% off. Sadly, the 10% off was on the smaller transaction. So the figures are off by a few pennies.

Here is what I got:

Dawn soap 24 oz $1.90.  Used $0.25/1 q from paper

Stayfree pads $1.33 each. No sale. BOGO q from paper

Carefree liners $0.44 each. Used $0.50/1 q from paper

Vidal Sassoon Shampoos and conditioners $0.45 each. Used $3/2 Q from paper

Reach toothbrushes $0.08 each. used $2/1 q from paper

Total out of pocket (OOP) - $16.30
Total savings $34.35

I ran into the commissary to check on some prices and picked up some treats for my dogs.

Pupperoni treats $1 each. Used $1/1 q from coupons.com

Iams dog food $0.45 each. Used $2/3 q from coupons.com

Milkbone treats $1.24 each. used $1/1 q from coupons.com

Total out of pocket $6.54
Total savings $6.00

I'm going to try and print out more iams q's cause my rotties need wet dog food.

Last night was my first Domestic Violence (DV) Talk Story session in Ewa Beach with a group of about 15 people. I was a participant in this group, not a facilitator (yet). This is a program being implemented thanks to the Ewa Beach Community Development Organization.  

Tomorrow is the last day of a really good sale that coincided with some great coupons that are ready to expire at the end of the month. I could've waited for Wednesday and pick up my Garnier shampoos and conditioner and applied additional savings with the scratch card, but my time is worth more than a few cents to a dollar. So, here is what I got at the NEX this evening. In case you're wondering why I bought so many, it's because I'm restocking my shelves that were emptied at Christmas time. My total cost before coupons was $140.30. I paid $68.55 and here is the breakdown. I also brought my own bags and got 25 cents credit. 

Tide detergent $4.49 each
Mitchum Anti perspirant and deoderant sticks $1 each
Gilette Pro Fusion shave gel $1 each
Tampax Pearl Tampons $1.85 each
Oil of olay body wash $2.50 each
Garnier Fructis shampoo and conditioner $0.50 each

Those rock bottom prices justify buying as much as I can to last me until the next sale or even the sale after that. Sales cycle every 3-4 months. So, I'll be good for at least 5 months. I only stockpile a lot of items such as these where there is no expiration date and will be used up in 6 months to a year. These items also do not take up a lot of space.

Obviously with two females in the house, we go through shampoo and conditioner quickly. With two males in the house, the deoderant will last us a while. My husbands occupation requires physical labor. So he'll be going through the deoderant faster than my son.

The feminine products, you can't ever have enough of and at that low price, I had to pick up as many as I could. I don't normally use tide because it's always so expensive, but that price just couldn't be beat. And the type I picked up included has fabric softener already in it. No one in my house uses Shave gel, but my cousin does. So, he knows where to shop when he needs more.  

Now, for the civilian shoppers, it is still possible to get low prices almost as low as this out outside stores. It requires timing and planning. So always read your ads and match them up to your coupons. It can be done!

It was little Emily’s 2nd birthday on Saturday! We spent the afternoon with my mom, sister and the kids at the zoo. My sister also has three kids and her youngest is 2 months younger than Emily. This was their first time at the zoo and they loved it! I think the monkeys and the goats were her favorite animals. Of course, she called everything a “horsey”.  At the end of our zoo day we found a photo booth. We love to do this when we’re all together. We squeeze everyone in the photo. The last time we did this was years ago at Fun Factory before we had to two babies and we all fit in the frame. Now, with two extra faces, my sister only got one eye in it. LOL.

Earlier that morning, I ran my grocery errands. That’s where I hit up the stores to pick up specific produce items on sale at different stores. I grabbed my BOGO strawberries at foodland and brought my own bag to get both containers for $3.26 each. I hit up Longs/CVS to pick up toilet paper (4 - Angel Soft 12 double roll packs) , spam (6 cans) and a bag of chips and paid $38. I then hit up Safeway to pick up asian pears, Oranges, romaine lettuce hearts, and a big bag of fresh baby spinach for $20.00.

Sunday was extremely busy for me.

I had 20 coupon inserts to clip and file. I get five Sunday papers every week and this past Sunday was a coupon BONANZA! Super score and the P&G’s came in at the perfect time because I need to stock up on my shampoo and conditioners.

Be on the lookout for my future blog boasting my shopping hauls. 

I then needed to get to the farmers market up the street to get the rest of my produce. I got kale, carrots, cucumbers, broccolli, bananas, and celery. I spent $21. 

Overall, my entire weekend “shopping spree” on fresh fruits and veggies totaled $48.00 (not counting the longs/cvs run). Not bad considering it’ll last us about a week and a half.

After my farmers market run, I had to get ready to teach my coupon class while reading the new ads  for the week. We were in desperate need of diapers and low and behold, Target had some hot deals on diapers and other things. Those other things had coupons available AND cartwheel too. So I saved a TON of money this weekend and stocked up on items. 

After teaching my 1 hour long coupon class in Ewa Beach and wrapping up a small cash and carry thirty one bag sale, I headed to Target.

So here’s what I scored. 

Four bulk packed boxes of diapers (156 count each). With every two boxes, Target gives you a $10 GC.

I also picked up SIX large digiorno pizzas. The target sale was buy 2 for $14 and get a free 2 liter soda. The coupon from that Sunday’s paper was Buy two pizzas get a 3rd free. On top of the sales, there were cartwheel savings for both the diapers AND the pizza. And I brought my own bags to get additional bag credits (5 cents each).

So, for the 4 boxes of diapers, 6 large pizzas, and 2 – 2 liter bottles of soda, I paid $105. That comes out to 14 cents per diaper. That’s the cheapest I’ve ever gotten them for! I’ve already stocked up on baby wipes. I bought cases of them for $6 a case. Yes, couponing DOES save a lot of money, when done correctly.  If you want to learn how I do it, contact me to attend a class. I’m having one this Saturday at 9 am if you’re free. Share and inform your family and friends! I’d love to teach them!

My husband and I had a long overdue date night. Dinner and a movie. Dinner was ok. See my yelp about it here. After our two hour dinner, we went to watch Lone Survivor. I'm not big on military war movies.  When you've endured deployments and have family and friends who have lost their loved ones in combat, those kinds of movies are difficult to watch.  Romel really wanted to see it, so we did. I wanted to watch the Ride Along, because I wanted a good laugh. But I was willing to see what this Lone Survivor was about. I had no clue.

I won't give the movie away. All I'm going to say was it was one of the the most difficult war movies I have ever had to watch. And I've watched many. The only other movie that came close to this for me was, We Were Soldiers with Mel Gibson. That movie was utterly gut wrenching. Lone Survivor was beyond gut wrenching. It literally tears you up inside. Watching this "based on true events" movie, I had to turn away from the screen many times. Just the sound effects made my stomach turn. I can't believe I didn't cry at all. It's probably because I chose not to watch a lot of parts.

As a military wife, seeing what these guys endured, their sacrifice, and their hardship really ripped my heart out. All I could think about was their families and the aftermath. You know, the stuff that movies don't show you. The PTSD, the family trouble after coming home, the transition from being away for months (even years) at a time and trying to reconstruct your family back together again when they come home.  Those families who lost their spouses, they have to carry on. The wives who get their husbands back damaged from the war, that part is never included in movies. 

The fight doesn't end when they come home. Hollywood should make a movie about that. The reality of war and what it does to the soldiers and their families. So, if you have been affected by the war, lost a loved one, are currently going through a deployment, etc., I don't recommend you watch this movie. It's very gut wrenching.

Last night I attended Domestic Violence Facilitator training. As a member on the Board of Directors of the Ewa Beach Community Development Organization, I want to participate and facilitate talk story sessions in the Ewa Beach community to help raise awareness of Domestic Violence (DV).

DV is not just a black eye, a broken bone, or bruises. DV is also psychological which is the worse of the two and takes the longest to heal. No one sees the damage and the scars of Psychological DV so it’s very easy to miss. I’m hoping that people will come out to these talk story sessions. Not just because there’s a stipend, but because it will help families.

A lot of victims don’t even realize they are until someone opens their eyes and their mind to what they experience on a daily basis. Controlling, coercing, and manipulating their behaviors to the point where they have lost themselves as people. Until someone stands up and tells them it’s not the way it’s supposed to be, they just don’t know.

I hope to be able to reach a lot of people and help assist families in becoming a stronger unit.  My first talk story session will be at the end of this month. We’ll see how it goes!

What a long day! But it was a good one. I did eat today. So I only juiced for 3 days. Today resets me for another week. So I have today on to be able to get my momentum back and shoot to possibly lose another 5 lbs by next Saturday. 

My 14 year old daughter and I had so much fun with Alicia Jones and Johanna Harbottle doing Arbonne facials and make up today. My skin feels FABULOUS! I do want to start using their products, I just need to plan for it financially. It's easy to walk into a department store and pick up mascara loaded with bat shit or lipstick made with animal fat. When someone actually walks you through the process and explains what their made of and why their products work, it's a different story.

Of all the products I've used, Arbonne has really made a difference in the way my skin feels, instantly. Their makeup is very light and looks very natural. I was once a MACaholic. Now that I'm getting close to 40, I am ready to put the theatrical makeup away and get "real".

My 14 yo daughter has some acne problems. What teen doesn't? And of all the products I've spent money on, Arbonne was the only thing that worked. Eventually, I know I will join the Arbonne team. Just not right at this very moment. When I do, my motivation and intent is not to build another business. It's to fight off the aging process and get our skin taken care of. Not just mine, but my daughter as well. And to do it the way that would save me the most money, which is to sign up so I can get discounted products. 

After the facials, we got to play with makeup. I'm not a big fan of wearing makeup. It takes too much time to put on. Then I have to worry about it during the day. I go to the gym at lunch. I sweat. Will my face melt off? Well, the makeup Alicia put on me today lasted all day and it was a very nice and light coverage. I knew the eye shadows were good when she swiped the very light brush on my lid and everyone went, "OOH!" immediately. Geez. With my MAC, I have to pound that brush in my shadow pot and go over my lid like a painter on crack. Yes, it's heavily pigmented, but in my experience, MAC doesn't go on that easy and is definitely NOT that easy to take off either. Not for me anyway.

After the makeup fun, we had our thirty one bag cash and carry sale. No one physically showed up, but the internet sure does make shopping easy! The bags sold online!

I taught a super fun group coupon 101 at the end of the day and it was an absolute blast! 

In between these events, I DID eat. I had a few pieces of cheese, pepperoni, honey wheat ritz crackers, tuna dip, veggie dip, and chicken dip, and carrot sticks. I know, not all the best food. But I didn't engorge myself. I did finish my juice for the day and drank lots of water!

When I got home, I made a juice of cucumber, apple, ginger, and calamansi. It would've been good if I didn't go buck wild with the calamansi. It was tart and had a slight bite due to the rind and seeds of the calamansi. I drank it none the less and now I'm full for the night. No grumbly stomach. 

After I showered, I applied my sample Arbonne RE9 products and my face feels sooo good!!! I have used their eyeliner (pencil) and its the only brand I've ever used that does not lift and stick to my upper eye lid even in the worst humidity. 

I'm spent. Today was a good day. Good night!

Today was hard to get through without eating a bite. But, I managed to get through it. Another day gone. Day 3 is now under my belt. Thanks to horrendous traffic, I got home an hour later. I was famished. I ran straight to the kitchen to start juicing my dinner so I could fight off the strong hunger sounds from my stomach.

My dinner mix was very yummy. I had a little bit of a larger serving than usual but I was STARVING!! Here's what in this cup of liquified nutrients:

Kale - 2 branches
Spinach - a handful
Broccoli - 4 trees
Cucumber - just half a cuke
Ginger - a small tiny piece
Carrots - 3 
Tomato - 1/2 a fruit
Clementines - 4 fruits
Fuji apple - 1 small fruit
Calamansi - 4 fruit

Here's what it looked like up close and personal. I gave it a quick stir and drank it like a voracious vampire in dire need of blood.

After I gulped every drop down, I felt a blimp. I was so full. Seriously.

Then my husband and daughter came home with JUNK FOOD IN TOW! Stop the madness!!!

I managed to just say No. 

Tomorrow will be even harder than today. I just know it. Because I'm so close to the end and I know that I can eat solid food very very very soon.

I knew that this juicing kick wasn't going to be easy. I just didn't realize it was going to be this hard! I give those guys who do can do 15 days or more huge props. Cause I've only been doing this for 3 days and I think I'm ready to throw in the towel. 

One day at a time......

Here’s what we got for today. I listed the recipe to my juice in last nights blog. For the fruit smoothies, I ninja’d:

Overnight Oats - click here for the recipe
1/3 cup of blueberries (frozen)
1/3 cup of raspberries  (frozen)
1/3 cup of whole strawberries (frozen)
1 banana
½ cup of fresh pineapple

That recipe made exactly the amount you see in the picture.

I have continued to make salads for my husbands lunch every day and he just told me that he lost 8 pounds from last week. He hasn’t really exercised, but he’s a mason. 


His job requires physical labor. It was the eating that was making him grow bigger. So yay. We’re both losing weight. This motivates me even more to keep doing what I’m doing. As long as I do the prep work the night before, the actual blending and washing of equipment only takes me 5-10 minutes.

As far as surviving day 3, it 
What are you waiting for? Follow our lead! If we can do it, so can you!

Day 2, down. Whew! Today was a LOT harder than it was yesterday. My mind and body wants to CHEW food!!

As soon as I got home from work, I went straight to the kitchen to make a pint of juice to satisfy my hunger. Surprisingly, it filled me up quick and I was fine.

I had defrosted these chicken breasts prior to deciding to get juicing. So, I have to cook it up before the meat gets wasted. Last night, I put some lemon juice on it and then seasoned it with Kirkland's Organic No Salt seasoning and black pepper. After letting it marinate overnight, I grilled it. No oil. I just threw it in a non stick pan and cooked it up. After cooking, I squeezed fresh calamansi juice over it while the meat was still hot. I'm not going to lie, I DID take ONE tiny little bite. I was curious as to how it came out and it was FABULOUS!! You could NOT tell that I did not salt it. The flavor of that seasoning was outstanding! UGH!! It killed me to have to stop eating. But after all the progress I've completed, I wasn't going to give in now.

It was just three chicken boobs and it sure did yield a lot of meat! So, with one boob, I topped Romel's lunch salad with it. Again, I put the heavier items at the bottom.
Green bell pepper
Carrots
Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Then topped that with fresh spinach and romaine lettuce. I also put 2 boiled eggs in there and some fresh chopped mushrooms. That delicious chicken is at the very top. 
Dressing on the side: Kraft Low fat asian toasted sesame.

Just looking at that picture is killing me right now. But it's ok. I got this!

So for MY drinkable meals tomorrow which looks utterly disgusting but tastes GOOD consists of the following:

Kale - 2 leaves/branches
Spinach - handful
1/4 of a Green Bell pepper
4-5 "trees" of Broccoli
1/2 a Cucumber
1 tomato
3 Carrots
4 Clementines
A small fuji apple
Fresh pineapple (I juiced the core and about 3/4 cup of the fruit)
1 small garlic clove
1 small piece of fresh ginger

The flavor was OUTSTANDING. I'm getting better at this. When I juice, I usually start with the green stuff first and then the fruits. I juice them into pint glasses and then pour them all into my 32 oz bottle. Shake it up when completed and sip to taste.

I'm looking forward to drinking my meals tomorrow. Day 3, let's go! At this pace, I just might be able to lose 50 lbs in 15 weeks? Challenges? I love them!

I'm logging my intake and fitness into livestrong and decide to dig deeper and look through the breakdowns of my calories, fats, sodium, etc. I figured since I'm drinking straight up veggie and fruit juices my caloric intake will be low and so will the fats and sodium. Well, ho ho ho, I was shocked to see that I had approximately 200 grams of sodium in the juice I drank today. WHAT?! 

So, I looked further. The celery and carrots have sodium. Did you know that? I sure didnt. I should've been an archaeologist cause digging is my favorite past time. Go here to read about sodium rich foods that are GOOD for you. Boy, all this turning over a new leaf with healthy habits and I'm getting a rude awakening. 

Thanks to food manufacturers and processed foods, when we hear the term "sodium" its like the knife that goes right into our hearts. It's bad bad bad. Saturated fat? I picture a fat guy clenching his chest and falling over from a heart attack. Well people, like all things in this world, we have good and bad. 

Coconut milk = good saturated fat -------> Crisco = BAD saturated fat.

Fruits contain sugar. How bad is it? Well, I probably would suffer if I drank straight up apple juice for days straight. Just put me in the bathroom with a pillow! 

A friend of mine is suffering from hypoglycemia. When we both did some reading, we found that everything she was smoothing was contributing TO IT! Stick a fork in me, I'm done. SAY WHAT?! 

Kale, is not good for someone with this condition among a bunch of other healthy veggies that we were taught to eat to grow big and strong. Go figure? If you or someone you know suffers from this condition, go here to learn more.

If you find any other useful information, do share. 

I'm straight up juicing for the next 2 days. Obviously, I'm not getting much protein in my diet. Here are my approximate standings for today:

Calories 471
Fat 2g
Cholesterol 0 YAY!
Sodium 202 mg
Carbs 87g
Fiber 5g
Protein 9g
Sugars 63g

This is from just that 32 oz jug of juice and my hot green tea which is a total freebie cause it has 0 calories in it and IS caffeine free.

So for Joe Cross to juice for 60 days straight, I am now wondering if his body was severely depleted of much needed nutrients from actually chewing and swallowing food? Reading on, I almost feel like jumping off this juice ship and diving into a chicken breast soaked in lemon juice and no salt organic seasoning prepared on the george foreman grill. OK OK OK. Its just cause I'm HUNGRY!!! Shoot me. 

But seriously, is it bad at ALL to juice only? One has to wonder. I did consult my doctor and he's all for this great change. He doesn't realize at this point that I'm replacing all meals with juice, yet.

I asked for a physical and blood tests so I can set a baseline and then continue to test again in the next few weeks.

I'm very curious to see my results.

P.S. I'm hanging on to this juice ship till the very end. It's just TWO MORE DAYS!! I'm half way there! Just keep swimming!

Since last week Friday, I have lost 3 pounds. Exciting!! Despite my one jack in the box dinner and my Mexican last supper, I still lost weight. Yippee! After reading up at Joe’s site, I have now changed how I juice and what I put in it. For my juice today, I tried to put more veggies and less fruit.

I carry my juice to work and I drink 12-16 oz for breakfast. When I start to feel a little hungry, I’ll sip at my juice or drink water. I drink 12-16 oz for lunch and if there’s any left, I finish the rest as an afternoon snack. In the middle of the day, usually after lunch, I drink a mug of hot green tea. In between, I’m drinking water. Lots of water.

Some tips for those who want to do this: ALWAYS have a bottle of water with you at all times. If you know you’ll be away from home for a while and you don’t know of any juice bars near by, (I don’t think Hawaii has ANY fresh juice bars) try to have some juice packed for your outing.

My husband is trying to live healthier and maybe do a reboot also. Last night he had things to do after work and then he picked me up to head to the store to get more produce for my reboot. While we were shopping, he said HURRY UP I WANNA GO HOME AND GET A JUICE IM STARVING!!

Well, while in the store, he went straight to the poke place and picked up poke and kim chee tofu. Now, Poke overall is healthy. It’s fish. But the SALT! The kim chee…the SALT! I walked away and waited by the registers. He caved. I didn’t.  It was at that point that I understood that hunger is ALL IN THE MIND.

To eat, masticate, chew, and swallow solid foods is a conditioned behavior. Think about this, as infants, we’re on liquid diets. When we get OLD, and we can no longer chew our food, we will have liquified food. When we get hungry, our body “craves” chewing and swallowing food. I am training my body to understand that hunger can be tamed by drinking a juice, water, or hot tea.

When I got home from work yesterday, I went straight into the kitchen and juiced up fruits and veggies into a pint glass for dinner. It filled me up and I was all good. I drank water. I drank hot tea. I was fine.

I finally got to bed at 11 pm and it was at that point that my tummy started to grumble. I felt a hunger pang. I ignored it. I drank more water and went to sleep. It’s all in your mind. Just as Joe Cross said in his movie, “those falafels I ate two months ago,  they’re still here.” So, all the food I ate already, my body has yet to burn off.

Today, I did pack my workout pants and top. I will be spending my lunch hour in the gym for another walk. And at least this time, I’ll be more comfortable.

Another thing I am also doing that I don’t remember sharing with you is I’m logging my intake and fitness on livestrong.com.  If you are on livestrong, add me. Harleylady808 and we can track and support each other along the way.

Here’s what I’ve got in my nalgene bottle today:
1 cucumber
1 tomato
A small piece of fresh ginger (about the size of the tip of my thumb)
A handful of kale
A handful of spinach
4 small “trees” of broccoli (not a whole crown)
4 carrots
2 celery stalks
2 small fuji apples
1 navel orange
1 pear

The flavor is much nicer and lighter with the cucumber juice. Although you might have a super mighty motor in your juicer, be kind to it so it will last longer. Don’t force the food into the juicer. You do have to put a little pressure but don’t jam it in there. You risk burning out the motor and busting your machine. 

My suggestion is to try to cut your produce us smaller. For broccoli, I cut each tree in half and trim the stems and juice all of it. The stems are pretty tough and thick go easy. The apples, I core them and juice the rest of it, even the stem if its still attached.  Use fresh ginger sparingly and add more if you want more punch. That small piece I used gave a nice kick to my 32 ounces of "Maria's Mean Green" 

In the two pint glasses above, are my hubby and daughters breakfast smoothies.

My overnight oat mixture. Soak the following in the fridge overnight:
1/3 cup of non fat plain yogurt
1/3 cup of non/low fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup of almond milk
1/3 cup of oats

Add that to blender with:
a handful of kale
a handful of spinach
1/2 cup of strawberries (frozen)
1/3 cup of raspberries  
1 banana
1/2 cup of mango (frozen)

Blend till smooth. That recipe yields two full pint glasses.

Day 2, I'VE GOT YOU!

Oh My Gosh! I did it!! I survived a full day of no eating. Here is my dinner juice. Apples, an orange, carrots, celery, romaine lettuce, spinach, and a tomato. It actually turned out quite good. If only I had a tiny piece of ginger.

So today I was able to find Carico online and ordered replacement parts for my trusty old juicer. I regret treating this machine like crap and discarding its vital "organs". I am currently using a wooden or plastic spoon s as a food pusher and macgyvering bowls to catch the pulp that flies out of this sucker at high speeds.

I feel great. I don't feel hungry. I feel satisfied and truly believe I can do four days of this. Saturday will be my last day and Sunday I will celebrate by making GOOD food choices at the Leeward Community College Scholarship breakfast buffet in support of my son.

Now that I've claimed victory over day 1 which is supposed to be the hardest. It wasn't that hard, until someone brought malasadas in the office!!! I am now ready to tackle day 2. But first, I need to get to the store and get more juicing material! Ikimashoo!

OK. So, I’m surviving day 1 quite well. A co-worker brought in fresh hot malasadas into the office. I was able to fight it off and NOT partake. Thank you.  I finished up my juice for lunch and have been drinking lots of water. So far, so good.  At lunch, I decided to take a walk. I was originally going to walk around the area like I did yesterday but there’s so much construction, it’s hot, it’s muggy, and the homeless people are littered all over the place. So, I went to my gym, The UFC BJ PENN gym.

I didn’t have work out clothes on besides my gym shoes. I was in my dress. I brought my water, my phone (thank god for the keyring app), and my hanky to pat any sweat off my face and neck.  I checked in and went straight to the treadmill. I did a 30 minute walk. I wouldn’t consider it brisk but when you’re overweight, brisk is anything higher than 2.0. LOL! Shut up.  OK. So I did my 30 minute walk while I sang, checked facebook, vine, instagram, and watched Frozen. I love my iphone. Tada! It was over before I knew it. I hopped off, went back to the office which is a 2 minute walk from the gym and finished up the rest of my break.

I feel GREAT. I decided to look Mr. Joe Cross up to see how he’s been since. I found this site http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/

That site is FILLED with very good information on juicing and rebooting your system.  If you have seen the movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, you must visit this site for a better understanding of what it is that Joe did for 60 days and what YOU should do to reboot. Now, Joe literally drank juice for 60 days because his situation as well as Phil's, was extreme. For me, not so much. A reboot does not mean you drink only juice for X amount of days. You could, but really, a reboot is essentially giving your body a break from working to digest foods down. 

With that being said, I have a clearer understanding of what a reboot is and what I can do to reboot. As you can see, the past 24 hours I have been such a fickly doo da. I'm going to do this, no, that, no, this. ugh. As long as I  make better food and "intake" choices, it doesn't matter which road I choose. As long as its on the road that's surrounded with green leafy things and fruit trees.

Now, for all of you that want to join in "my" rebooting team, PLEASE go here to read more information on what it is and how to do it.  http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/rebooting/

And for those, who like me, are complete virgin juicers, go here to read on how to prep your goods before shoving it into the machine.  http://www.rebootwithjoe.com/juicing/produce-prep/

Read more on that site for even deeper information and how to become a juicing guru.

Let's get JUICY!!!

Lesson learned: Taste your juicing mixture before leaving for work. I’m stuck with this mean green drink for the entire day and it’s not as apple-ley as I expected. I went buck wild with Kale and should’ve added more apples or oranges.  It’s not entirely horrible but it does have a bite. I never had that bite when I added yogurt, cottage cheese and banana to the mix. LOL! But, I want to stick by the rules and do just juice, water, and hot green tea.

As I packed my things up to head out for the day, I stared at my crunchy green salad. I took it out of the fridge and was about to pack it in my lunch bag. Then I looked at it again, thought about Joe Cross and Phil (watch Fat Sick and Nearly dead) and said to myself, “if THEY can do this, so can I”. I put my salad back in the fridge. I sucked it up and told myself out loud. I CAN DO THIS. *affirmation*

I get to the office and take a swig of my mean green and cringed. OMG not enough orange and apple or pear! That’s when I remembered, I gave my apples and pears to Emily because she was crying.  A mothers sacrifice. LOL  I put some ice cubes in my mean green with the hopes of keeping it cold for the rest of the day in my Thirty One thermal bag and to help dilute the mixture a bit cause the mean in the green IS strong.

Walking through down town this morning a little tough. I could smell the subway bread baking and the food scents coming out of Jamba juice and starbucks as I walked by. Inhale and exhale. It’s calorie free to smell it. I’m good.

People, it’s only been an hour since I started my day. I’m gonna need all the encouragement I can get. My first baby step is to try and juice for at least four days. I know I said 10, but not with the birthday coming on Sunday. I am going to eat! Then, I’ll get right back on the juicing wagon. I’m not making a documentary. I’m not trying to prove a point. I’m just trying to make realistic lifestyle changes that will help me lead a healthier and longer life. So bear with me while I try to figure all of this out.

Thanks for reading and subscribing and keeping up with me through this adventure. This surely won’t be an easy one.  


Stay tuned. Cause blogging helps me keep my thoughts in order and also keep me sane. Expect a lot of blogging in the upcoming weeks. 

Aloha!

I took my "last supper" tonight. I wanted to do a grilled chicken salad but with the busy schedule I have, I caved and went to taco del mar. Two reasons.  One, I had to rush home to pick up Shelby to take her with me to Tmobile to get her cell phone moved from Sprint. They've got a promo running where tmobile will REIMBURSE you for your current carrier's ETF. I wanted to get that done ASAP. Well, that took longer than expected and I saw the special at Taco Del Mar right next door. I was running late, RJ hadn't made anything for dinner and we had to hurry home, eat something for dinner, and then head out to church. So, I picked up dinner. It was DELICIOUS! I had the platter. A small enchilada, a crunchy taco, black beans, rice, pico, guac, and a dollop of sour cream. Thanks to my healthy eating during the day, this meal only put me over my caloric intake for the day by 250. Boy was I glad I took a 30 minute brisk walk at lunch and another brisk 1 mile walk to the transit center to catch the bus after work. 

Now, I want to tell you about a documentary that I watched years ago and this health kick made me watch it again, this time WITH MY HUSBAND. Well, if you have never seen the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead", you must. It's a story of an overweight fellow who decided to "reboot" and give his body a break and detox for 60 days. How? By only taking in juice. Straight up raw juice from fresh fruits and vegetables. Let me tell you, when I saw that he managed to lose 47 pounds in 30 days, I was amazed. He wasn't depleting his body of nutrients by not eating. In fact, he was supercharging his body with micronutrients in the fresh fruit and veggies he was drinking every day.

After 60 days, he lost over 70 pounds. Mind you, he wasn't doing a ton of exercising aside from walking. It's not that I DON'T want to exercise. I just want to be healthier and reboot my system. So, with this challenge ahead of me, I decided to try to juice. I will start by juicing for 10 days. Just 10. If I can manage 10, I will aim for another 10 and so forth. If I can handle doing 30, I can't wait to see the difference in my body. Obviously, I have events to attend and I may have to start over. LOL! But, regardless of what the case may be, the mere ability to juice at all and give my body a break can only do me good.

So, after we get home from church a huge wave of guilt overcame me. All that FOOD I ate tonight. ugh! So, because we didn't have a juicer, I wanted to try to ninja kale, oranges, apples, and pears and try that out. It's the closest I'll get to "juicing". Well, it was hard to swallow, literally. What came out of it was a pulpy, thick, slop that you had to glub down and chew. It wasn't completely horrible, but taste was excellent. It was the texture that was hard to swallow. So, it sat in my glass mason jar. I glubbed on it while I chopped veggies for the two salads I was making for lunch for the hubby and I.  That's when the light bulb flipped on in my head. "ROMEL!! TRY LOOK IN DA GARAGE IF DA JUICER IS THERE!"

Now, here's the real story I want to share with you. When we got married 19 years ago, the very first purchase we made as husband and wife was Durotherm pots and pans, a Carico knife set, and a Carico "nutrilite" juicer. All in all we paid $2500 for the entire package. Crazy, I know. But I've got to tell you, 19 years later, we STILL are using those pots and pans, we are STILL using our same knives, and the juicer.....I'll get to that soon enough. We kicked ourselves sideways for dropping that kind of dough on kitchen tools. But, after almost 20 years, do the math. We've spent less than what most people spend on their kitchen essentials.

Now, back to the juicer. Ah, the juicer. I attempted to juice long ago and the clean up was miserable. The darned thing juiced so good that the pulp literally came out DRY and the strainer was a bitch to clean! The motor is very strong in this juicer. I never saw the value in it because I had no desire to juice. Well, 19 years and 50 lbs later. I was crossing my fingers and hoping the juicer was still stored in my garage. Romel went out to look, and there it was in all its glory. We were both STOKED! YES! FAT SICK AND NEARLY DEAD!!! LET'S JUICE!

So, it's 9 pm and I'm juicing every damn thing in my kitchen. Salad? who needs to eat!? Dammit! I just built two salads for our lunches and now I'm gonna opt to go on a liquid diet.  Ok. Maybe I'm biting off more than I can chew. But after making my first glass of juice which consisted of kale, spinach, celery, carrots, apples, oranges, and pears, I was hooked. This stuff looks utterly NASTY but it tastes so good! Here's the trippy part. So remember that concoction I made in the ninja? That thick slop I was glubbing down out of a mason jar? Well, I took a clean pint glass to catch any juice, and dumped that slop into the juicer. I nearly fell to the floor. That pulpy mess juiced up to nearly a full pint of juice. Now, if that's not a bad ass juicer, I don't know what is. I mean WOW! So, I quickly shot that juice down like it was going out of style and was so refreshed. Man that went down so much easier then that pulpy mess! 

So, last night I didn’t make my tomato smoothie like I had planned. A friend brought dinner and I didn’t want to insult him by saying no. So, I ate it. It was bad food.  Rather than kick myself for it, I exercised after resting for an hour. I did interval workouts and danced for 45 minutes with the BEP. I love the Black Eyed Peas game on the Wii. It incorporates a LOT of arm movements, jumping, and hip swishing. It’s exercise hidden behind FUN!

For breakfast this is what my WHOLE family enjoyed.

1/3 cup non fat plain yogurt
1/3 cup non fat cottage cheese
1/3 cup of oats (raw and uncooked)
2 cups of almond milk
Let mixture soak overnight in the fridge.

1 small fuji apple
1 navel orange
1 banana
¼ cup raspberries
¼ cup blueberries
½ cup pineapple chunks

All fruit except the pineapples were frozen to make the smoothie a little thick.

Put everything in the blender. I topped it with a handful of kale and a handful of spinach and blend till as smooth as possible. Because all the fruits are frozen, this mixture is VERY thick and requires a little help with a spoon in between blends. I did add a little bit of water to help loosen the concoction.

It was DELICIOUS!

For tomorrows breakfast smoothie, I will not freeze all of the fruits. That should help keep the mixture lighter. And I seriously need to use less ingredients. The recipe above made 9 CUPS of smoothie. It was enough for all four of us to have a big breakfast and there was still about 2 more glasses left over that I put in the freezer for the kids to have as an afterschool snack.  What I’d like to invest in are popsicle makers so I can freeze the excess and make little popsicles for Emily to snack on instead of ice cream.

I have been taking blood pressure medication for about five years now. I have had high blood pressure since my 20’s and never did anything about it.

I honestly believe my high blood pressure was exacerbated by the Xenadrine RFA-1 that I used to pop in my early 20’s to stay thin as well as taking birth control pills. Those things combined with the history of high blood pressure in my family equated to an overworked heart. For those young people out there looking for a cheat way to stay skinny, do the weight loss pills. Just know that in the end, you lose.

 I regret taking those pills for so many years. I was addicted. When I heard that the FDA was banning RFA-1 from the market, I went on ebay and bought as many bottles as I could. As soon as I ran out, I searched for an alternative. I tried their Xenadrine EFX, as well as any other pill out there to keep me thin. It didn’t matter how little I ate. Nothing worked and I was gaining weight FAST.

 When I had an abundance of those pills, I could take FOUR and still go to sleep. Most people take 1 and get the jitters. THAT should have flagged me that my heart was overworked. I could feel it thumping heavy in my chest and I could still nap.  But, I paid it no mind and kept popping them like a druggie.

We all live and learn. I now deter my friends and family from taking weight loss supplements. In today’s world, it’s not the pills anymore. It’s the monster, rockstar, red bull, and “energy” drinks that will induce high blood pressure among other things. If you’re tired, get more sleep. If you need a pick me up, eat an apple. Don’t pound yourself with those caffeinated drinks that have 5 lbs of sugar in them or even fake man made sugar that can’t possibly be good for you.

Cut out ALL soda and excess sugar. Make that one goal to start. Do you know what I call diet soda in my house? FAKE SODA.  It tastes horrible and just cause it says diet, it doesn’t mean its any better for you than regular soda. Drink water.

Enough with the laziness people! Let’s get moving! Let’s get healthier together. The more the merrier and if changing our ways is “misery”, then join me. Cause misery loves company!  Once we get past the first few days of misery, we’ll feel better inside and out. Are you with me?

My mom got us a Ninja for the holidays. When I saw it I wanted her to return it because we already have a blender that we rarely use. Well, I am now glad she did. With the competition ready to start, I wanted to give myself a kick start and begin “smoothing”. Friends on social media sites gave me the inspiration to give it a shot. I watched the documentary, “Fat, sick, and nearly dead” again and it gave me even more motivation to start eating more raw vegetables and fruits. If he can lose 50 pounds in ONE MONTH simply by juicing, the benefits for me are endless!

I am no smoothie expert by any means and honestly, anyone can “smooth”. Throw a bunch of stuff in a blender and turn it on.

Here in this picture this is what  I mixed:

Kale – a handful
Spinach – a handful
4 whole Frozen strawberries 
5 Frozen mango chunks
A small fuji apple
Almond milk original (unflavored)
1 carrot – cut in chunks
1/3 cup of pineapple juice

I made sure to buy frozen fruit that did not have any sugar added.

It turned out pretty good. It was very pulpy with the apple skin and carrot in there but that’s all fiber that would’ve gotten dumped if it were juiced. This recipe made enough for me and my daughter to drink for dinner.

For breakfast the next day this is what I prepared:

1/3 cup non fat plain yogurt
1/3 cup non fat cottage cheese
½ cup of original unflavored almond milk
1/3 cup of oats raw and uncooked

Let that sit overnight in the fridge

In a separate container I put the following in the freezer (because we don’t have ice, I use the frozen fruit in its place):

 1/3 cup of frozen raspberries
1/3 cup of frozen strawberries
1/3 cup of frozen mango
1 whole banana
1 small fuji apple chopped in chunks
½ a pear chopped in chunks

The next morning I dumped all the frozen fruit in first, followed by the almond milk oat mixture then topped it with 2 cups of kale (chopped) and 2 cups of spinach and blended it.

It was very thick because of all the frozen fruit so I added a little bit more almond milk to help loosen it. This recipe made enough for FOUR people. So, I need to go easy on the recipes and make a little less. However, by making so much, it encourages EVERYONE in my household to join in on this healthy change.

For lunch, I packed a healthy green salad for my daughter and I.  I pack it with the “heavy” veggies on the bottom and top it with the lettuce so it doesn’t get crushed during the day. In our salads we have:

Cucumbers
Tomatoes
Carrots
Green bell peppers
Fresh mushrooms
Celery
Romaine lettuce
Dressing: Krafts low fat asian toasted sesame (yum)

For dinner tonight we’re doing another smoothie after we work out as a family. We are planning on going jogging and doing some interval training or maybe even some wii dancing competitions. 

We’re on our way!