lean green juicing machine

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Yes.  I believe I am addicted.  Nothing wrong with being addicted to fresh juice though, right?  Today’s mix was seriously this green.  This photo is barely edited.  I think it had to do with the spinach!  Do you like that you can see our grill + hot tub in the reflection?  Classy.

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Really GREEN Juice

  • 1 whole cucumber
  • 1 small orange
  • 1 knob of ginger
  • 3c spinach
  • 1 large green apple

This was sour + sweet with some ginger zing!  I still like the apple/cucumber/lemon/ginger/carrot juice better, but this was good too!

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I actually don’t like drinking the foam.  Still getting used to it.  Quite potent!

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21 Day Detox Overview

  • I finally kicked the flu, except for a cough + head stuffiness.  I haven’t worked out much at all in the past 1.5 weeks because I was sick.
  • I have continued drinking lemon water [1/2 squeezed lemon in 12-16oz water] each morning.  I actually heat it and add in about 1/2t raw honey, which makes is extremely bearable, if not delicious!  It definitely still works..and by works…I mean, helps to clean you out…better than coffee. :)
  • I’ve dry brushed for almost 4 solid weeks now and love it.  My favorite time is after a workout.  workout + dry brushing + shower = fabulous
  • I started incorporating green juice into my routine once a day.  I probably won’t do it every single day, but I’ve been finding cheap produce, so will be keeping it up for the meantime.  I definitely notice a boost in energy after drinking it. 
  • I haven’t had any weird mood swings or cravings this past week, but I definitely miss chocolate!  I’ve used cocoa in a few recipes, but haven’t had a nice hunk of dark chocolate in over 21 days!!  I did find soy + dairy free + fair trade chocolate, but have yet to buy some.  It’s quite pricey.
  • I’m going to start reintroducing gluten/soy/dairy back into my diets, although I’m hesitant!  I’ve been feeling so great, I don’t want to screw it up.  I’m starting with dairy, because I don’t think that is the problem.
  • My bloating + stomach discomfort has tremendously decreased. I would say by 80%.  I’m still consuming a ton of veggies + fiber, so there is no way it would be 100% gone.  I think I can only remember 1 or 2 days in the past 21 days where I had the “food baby” feeling.  Before, I would get that 3-4x/week or more.  It seems if I have any mild discomfort, that it’s not an all-night issue.  It just comes + goes.  And now I’m done talking about gas. 
  • Experimenting with new grains has been really fun and as you’ve seen, I’m a big fan of buckwheat!
  • Yesterday, I even managed to eat out at a semi-fast-food-Japanese eatery, called Tokyo Joe’s.  It’s a local chain, that features a huge menu with gluten free + veg-friendly options.  They use organic tofu + natural chicken.  The hardest thing there was finding meals + sauces that did not contain soy.  I ended up eating a brown rice veggie bowl and found a soy-free sauce to use with it. 
  • I don’t really have cravings for coffee or feel the need for caffeine, but now I’m going to allow coffee in my diet again at random.  I don’t want to get in the 1c every morning routine.  I didn’t even notice a withdrawl from it, but I just dont’ like the feeling that i needed that 1c to start my day.  I don’t think there is anything wrong with enjoying coffee daily, though.
  • I reintroduced sugar into my diet this week, but have kept it minimal.  I’ve used honey + maple syrup.  I definitely feel like I successfully minimized my sugar tolerance that was slowly creeping up!  The sweetest snack I’ve been enjoying [which does not have much sweetener at all] is Love Grown Foods granola.  I take a few small handfuls throughout the day.
  • Sodium intake has easily stayed under 1/4t total per day.
  • This week, I was so glad I found Udi’s gluten free bagels.  They are delicious!!! 
  • For crunchy, non-veggie snacks, I’ve been munching on Lundberg’s sea salt rice chips and their lightly salted or plain rice cakes with nut butter.  They are SO good and GMO free!

Reintroduction of Dairy

Pre-detox, here is what my dairy consumption looked like.  All dairy that I buy is organic, except for the milk, which is local.

  • 1 serving of cheese 2x/week
  • 1 serving of yogurt 0-3x/week
  • on + off with cottage cheese 0-3x/week
  • 1 serving half + half – 1x/daily with coffee
  • local 2% milk – 1 serving 2-3x/month

Some days, before the detox, I would consume zero dairy at all.  I go on and off with yogurt and cottage cheese.  I never feel like I have to include them because of the protein.  I manage to get enough protein elsewhere, but do enjoy them once in awhile.  To reintroduce dairy, I’m going to start slowly, with 1 serving a day and then increase to 2 and see how I feel.  As long as I feel okay, I’m planning on keeping dairy in my diet.  My plan is to continue to buy organic and local but keep my servings to about 3-5 per week.

Catching up on my detox?

A house?

So, in short here is the story.  We moved to Ft. Collins in early September and rented a house.  We set a short term lease [through March] because we knew we wanted to start house hunting.  Yes, we’ve moved a LOT.  Like, 4 times in the past 4.5 years! 

Columbus, OH –> Charlotte, NC –> Westminster, CO –> Denver, CO –> Ft. Collins, CO 

We’re ready to make a house a home!  Finally!!  However, we weren’t sure if it was going to happen or not.  You never know what’s available or if we’d be able to qualify for a loan.  We’ve been looking at houses online for the past 4 months and finally found a realtor a few weeks ago.  Our realtor is awesome, and one that I 100% recommend if you’re in Ft. Collins and looking. :)  We went out house hunting with our realtor twice and saw a total of 12 houses.  There are definitely going to be a lot more homes popping up on the market in the next 2 months, but this weekend we found a great deal and knew it was something we couldn’t pass up.  In no way did we think we’d be putting an offer in SO soon. 

There were definitely cons to all the houses we saw, even the one we put the bid on.  This is our first house, and we were looking for a house that would hopefully be a good investment.  Some of the other houses had issues like being on a street full of college rentals, reeking of cigarette smoke, huge cracks in the ceilings + walls, extremely odd layouts that didn’t work at all, too much work for the money, no natural light at all, etc. 

The house we ended up finding is in the area we most wanted.  It butts up right to downtown, with just a short 7 block walk.  It’s definitely the most desired area to live in around here and we never thought we’d find something we could afford that wasn’t a total dump!  There are a few odd things about one neighboring house and our house, but we saw through that to the potential it has.  It’s move-in ready and definitely livable as is, but we’re planning a lot of updates! 

If you couldn’t already tell by how I’m talking about the house, our offer was accepted!!!!!!!!

As long as everything goes as planned, the house is ours on March 4th and we officially move in at the end of March.  We’re excited to have the 3 1/2 week gap for when we have to vacate our current house to start working on the new house.  I hope you’re ready to see the action.  We’re hoping to do a lot ourselves and I’m about to become 100% addicted to Young House Love.  I’ve already found some ridiculous deals on Craigslist, for thing we know we’ll need.  We’re not buying anything yet, but it’s fun to look right now and see what’s out there.  Now, if I can only not let it distract me too much. ;)

So here is one shot of the house, looking in from the front door.  It’s an open floor plan with 3 bedrooms, 1 full bath [extremely typical for the location we’re in because the homes are so old] and is a total of 1020sqft.  Our biggest issue will be storage.  There are no hallways, which makes the house feel much bigger than it sounds. 

Check back for a giveaway in just ONE hour [5pm EST].  I was going to put it in with this post, but I overloaded this with info + don’t want the comments to get too messy. :)  

All for now!!