What is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner?

What is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner? What will I be doing?

First off, if you are new here, Hi, my name is Aubrey and I went through schooling to become a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and then also went to school to be a Restorative Wellness Practitioner- Level 1. I also am the founder/owner of Real Peel Juice & Nutrition. You can read more about my story, here.

Back to it…

The NTA program develops on a few important foundations, Nutrient-Dense Whole foods, Digestion, Hydration, Blood Sugar Regulation, Dietary Fats and Minerals. Our approach is focused on the individual. The idea of bio-individuality, meaning that each person is biologically unique, guides us away from one size fits all programs. Each person’s body functions differently, so I dive deeper to develop a unique diet and lifestyle plan to get their body functioning optimally, as it should be.

To be an NTP, we train on 3 levels. The first is like any other schooling. We read, study, do homework assignments, etc. Then, we start on the Functional Evaluation and then end with the Lingual-Neuro Testing.

To be a Restorative Wellness Practitioner, we go even deeper into the clinical side with lab testing, like the GI-Map, which is a very comprehensive stool test that I use with clients and then also food sensitivity testing, that I definitely use less often.

These two programs are like a perfect marriage to give a well-rounded clinical experience, but allows me to look at your health from different aspects. It’s not JUST “oh, eat healthy and you’ll be good.”

What’s It Like to Work Together?

So, yea, all of that above is good and well, but how does that help you?

My main focus is Gastroparesis and Digestive Health.

Most of you know that I have Gastroparesis and went through my own healing journey, but there are SO MANY people out there that suffer and the doctors have no answers. Or the answers are just trying every medication on the shelf. So, I went through my own journey and then condensed all of the best parts of it to help those suffering, start their own healing journey, and give them hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

We start with a comprehensive nutritional assessment, GI-Map testing to get a good idea of what’s actually going on inside with values we can physically see, not just feel, and then everything is customized from there.

We have calls to continue to tweak and adjust your healing plan, we address the ROOT cause of your issues, not just put a bandaid on the symptoms and call it a day.

We work on mindset around healing, living healthy and how to live a life that feels right FOR YOU. Not my idea of a good life for you.

When something isn’t working, we pivot. (insert giggle here because it always makes me think of Friends) It’s truly all about you and how we can take your health back.

The best part? I’m not here to judge you, test you, talk about your weight (unless that’s something you want to do), make you live like me or anything in between. We are all doing the best we can when it comes to our health, and so I am here to be your guide, to point you in the right direction and give you the tools to get there. I am your partner in this healing journey. I am the person I wish I had when I was at my lowest.

My family and friends were amazing, but to have someone who has gone through what I had gone through would have been amazing. They get the ins and outs, truly.

Are You a Good Fit?

You might be thinking, this sounds good, but is it truly right for me? Well, let me help you out. Here is who I work with:

• Both men and women, however I truly mainly work with women, as they are the ones who mostly suffer with digestive issues. But honestly, men seem to like to try things on their own most of the time, but when they do want my help, I am here!

• Diagnosed with Gastroparesis or suffering from any of the slew of Digestive Issues (IBS, Crohns, bloating, unexplained weight gain, you name it.)

• Willing to make changes to their life, not just wanting a quick fix

• Needing someone to be there for them, guide them and know that they can do this

• Someone that knows that this is a journey, and that after the first week, you will not magically be cured. It didn’t take you a week to get sick, it won’t take you a week to get better.

And the best part is, if we aren’t a fit, THAT’S OKAY! I will always offer help any way I can, but sometimes people just don’t jive lol

On the flip side, does this sound like you?

Do you want to chat more to see if we are a fit and to learn more about the processes we go through together? Let’s Chat!

You can request a free consult call. And no matter what happens, it will be the most valuable 30 minutes of your day. Click here.

Until then,

Keep it Fresh. Keep it Simple. Keep it Real.

Love, Aubrey

Juicing Cured My Gastroparesis

Juicing Cured My Gastroparesis

A lot of people ask me the same question “Why did you start juicing?” and I never thought so many would, because I figured they would just chalk it up to me wanting to be “trendy”.

This is not the case, though, and I find it pretty cool that people are so interested in my story. So, I am going to lay it all out there. Maybe it will help you find some peace in something you’re dealing with. Maybe it will give you hope for your health. Or maybe it will just be a little extra layer of info about me. Whatever it may be, here it is.

I Wasn’t Eating

You read that correctly. Let’s take it back to 2014. As each month passed, I stopped being able to eat more and more. I would always sit down to try, and sometimes I would force myself and then end up being really sick afterwards. It was not a good direction I was heading, nor was it a good lifestyle to be living. I could literally eat a piece of apple and be full for 2 days. That is not normal and that is not healthy.

I was running out of hope and ideas on why I was feeling this way. I tried everything, cutting out lactose, cutting out gluten, cutting out even certain fruits and vegetables. Nothing was working. Every trendy diet you can think of out there, I tried, and it failed me. Finally, I decided it was time to go to the doctor.

No One Knows

From October 2014 until May of 2015 I endured test after test, pill after pill and plenty of heartache. Doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me. By all standards, I was a perfectly healthy 22-23 year old with a tummy ache.

We did tests for colitis, Crohn’s, IBS, IBDS, cancer checks and many more. Finally, my mom and I sat on her bed one night scouring the internet for any possible answer, and that’s when it came to us. We clicked on the link for something called, Gastroparesis. Sounds scary, but more than that, it was confusing. The only thing we could find, at first, was that it was for diabetics. I am not diabetic.

With more digging, we found that you can get Idiopathic Gastroparesis. This simply means they don’t know why it happens or what caused it. AWESOME. Gastroparesis technically means “paralyzed stomach”, but it has everything to do with your stomach not emptying the food in an appropriate amount of time and not being able to digest and then all the repercussions that follow that. EVEN MORE AWESOME…

The next appointment I had with the doctor, I mentioned the possibility of Gastroparesis and they looked at me and said, ”It’s highly unlikely, but if you really want to do the test for it, we can order it for you”. I am glad I asked. I went in for the 4 hour test and after 2 hours, the nurse told me “Oh honey, you don’t even need to stay for the next 2 hours. It’s plain as day that you have this.”

The test is comprised of you eating a completely balanced meal. So, 1 egg white and two pieces of toast with jelly and some water. You then lay down and literally just lay there. A machine monitors the emptying of your stomach. After 2 hours, you are supposed to have emptied 50% or more of your food. After just 2 hours of me laying there, I had emptied 32%. Now, this might not seem like a big deal, but it would take a normal person 4 hours to empty their stomach and digest, it would take me anywhere from 6-9 hours, depending on the meal. That can be painful, trust me. Food sitting there for hours, stomach acid building, and so many more things happening.

The Next Steps

Ok, so we figured it out. Now what? How do you cure a disease that you don’t even know how or why it happens? You take a guess and try every pill under the sun!

My doctors gave me EVERY pill they knew of that MIGHT help. The reactions were detrimental. One gave me anxiety so bad I couldn’t handle myself. I’ve never had it, and I can tell you that I never want to again. The next cramped my body up so bad I couldn’t walk. The final pill changed my moods so drastically that I was a nightmare to be around. I didn’t even want to be around myself. I knew taking medicine my whole life was not something I was wanting to do my whole life, either.

That was it. Those were all of my options. BUT WAIT, there was one more. The doctors said I could get a pacemaker put into my stomach. 23 years old and you want to do major surgery on me that might not even work? No thank you. I don’t want to have to return every 10 or so years for major surgery.

“Where do I go from here? Am I just doomed to feel like this for the rest of my life? I can’t even hold a normal job, because I am so sick. How will I be self-sustainable?” These were the daunting thoughts that ran through my head most days. This is not a good life for someone so young and just starting out.

Family To The Rescue

After expressing all of my pain and struggle to my older brother, he mentioned I should try juicing. At the time, he lived in Austin, so I just thought he was being a “trendy, hippy Austinite”. So, I wrote it off for a while. He then sent me 2 recipes to try.

The first one I ever sold, The Beginner, was a version of the juice he told me to try. It changed my life. I was feeling so much better, because my body was getting these nutrients I needed, but not putting the stress on it to digest solid food. I was able to “eat” without eating, without feeling sick, without all of the pain. This was my first step to getting my life back.

I decided to commit to juicing every day for at least breakfast and I did it for about 6 months and then tried a 3-day cleanse. Everything in my body was changing, for the better. I was feeling healthier, stronger, happier, full but not sick. BUT, my stomach wasn’t quite there. When I wasn’t juicing, I was trying to eat normal food, but my body still wasn’t having it.

The Final Step

Juicing had helped me out tremendously, but I still had what felt like a baseball once I ate real food. My mom and I started searching again! We found acupuncture. Wow. Just wow. I drank a juice and headed off to my first appointment, nervous and very reluctant. This was my missing piece.

I went to Marr Physical Medicine in League City. Dr. Marr is a Chiropractor that studied acupuncture. He was kind, and listened to all my complaints and knew exactly where to put the needles to help me out. After that first appointment, I finally felt like my old self again. I went back for 6 more sessions and then I continue to go about every 4 months. When I explain it to people, I equate it to jumping your car’s battery.

My nerves weren’t firing to my stomach, but as soon as he put those needles in and a heat lamp over them, it was like my whole body got a fresh charge. It was the most incredible feeling. I walked out of that first appointment with a smile and then about an hour later, I felt hungry for the FIRST TIME IN A YEAR AND A HALF. I almost confused it with being sick again, because I had forgotten what that felt like.

Here Comes Real Peel

Fast forward to 2016 and, I have done it. I have “cured” myself back to about 85% and I couldn’t have done it without juice and acupuncture. Once I realized the magnitude of what I had done, I knew I HAD to use this knowledge to help others. My thought was “If juicing could almost cure my incurable condition, then what could it do for the person with indigestion? Or the person with chronic migraines? But more than that, I thought, with all of this knowledge of juicing and nutritional therapy, how can I help others with Gastroparesis?”

Enter Real Peel.  I got certified as a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and did research on what each fruits and vegetables did for your body and I created juices around those. For those with Gastroparesis & other digestive issues, I always suggest The Guardian. Even something as simple as low energy, there is The Sparkler.

The possibilities are endless with nutrition and if you ever thought that Real Peel was created just to be a part of a trend, then you are mistaken!

Then, I knew juice wasn’t the only way, so I wrote down all of the things I tried to help with my Gastroparesis and created programs to help others. Just in a faster way than I figured it out.

It is now 2023, and I have spent years feeling great! For an update, click here.

But aside from my own health, I have helped countless women and men suffering with Gastroparesis with my One-On-One services. Want to learn more about Gastroparesis and how I have helped myself and many others get their Gastroparesis under control?

Follow these few quick steps:

1. Have you downloaded our FREE 3-Day Gastroparesis Guide? If not, click here to download.

2. Then, click here to head to our Gastroparesis page. There is so much information on there to go over and learn.

3. If you are interested in Juicing for Gastroparesis, we have an Ebook containing recipes for Gastroparesis for all severity levels. You can find that ebook here.

I am here to help you heal, to enhance your health, and to make your quality of life so much better! I want you to THRIVE, not just barely survive.

But, that’s just me. That’s my story of how juicing (and some other protocols) healed my Gastroparesis.

That’s also my why. That’s why I get up every day and help clients, write blogs, put out as much information as I can. To continue to make juices and provide you with nutrition information.

I don’t want anyone else to feel how I felt. I want to change the way you feel.

Until next time,

Aubrey.

Keep it Fresh. Keep it Simple. Keep it Real.

How to Boost Your Immune System

If you are looking for ways on how to boost your immune system, you are on the right path. However, you are probably looking during this crazy virus, and while that is a wonderful thing to do, you should continue to do these things all throughout the year, so that when the next flu season hits, you will feel a bit more confident in your body’s ability to handle anything.

So, here are 10 things to do year-round to promote a healthy immune system, in no particular order:

1. Get Outside: Many people do the same thing everyday. Go to work, come home and hang out inside cooking dinner, tending to children, etc. Getting outdoors, especially during the daytime, provides the body with needed Vitamin D, but also breathing in the chemicals produced by the plants, can help increase our white blood cell levels. (I don’t mean the manmade chemical plants like in Houston lol)

2. Keep Up Your Microbiome: basically, make sure you are feeding the good bacteria in your body, and replenishing the good bacteria. This can be done by a plethora of fruits & vegetables, yogurts, kombucha, kimchi, etc. Gut health greatly affects immune health.

3. Nutrient-Dense Diet: Speaking of fruits & vegetables, you need to make sure your diet contains plenty of nutrient-dense foods and minimal to no processed foods. Fruits & vegetables have so many needed vitamins and minerals that help your body function properly.

4. Exercise Regularly: Working off the previous tip of eating healthy, you need to make sure you are moving your body DAILY. This doesn’t mean high-intensity exercising or lifting a bunch of weights. This could be as simple as a 20 minute walk. Keeping your body moving will allow your body to produce more of the cells that attack bacteria that are looking to cause infection. MOVE. YOUR. BODY. EVERY. DAY.

5. A Good Sleep Schedule: Why do you think when you are sick that all it is you want to do is sleep? This is the time when your body can restore itself and for the immune system to recharge. Getting 2-3 hours of sleep per night can be detrimental to your body.

6. De-Stress: Americans, especially, are always stressed out. Somehow we think constantly being busy is something good. NEWSFLASH: chronic stress is one of the most dangerous things to your body. It can create inflammation, attack the body and boom, you’re sick. Do something that relaxes you and do it more often than not.

7. Stay Hydrated: Humans are basically water and then a little bit of other things, so why do we deny drinking water? There are too many functions where water is necessary, but think about those needed vitamins that are water-soluble, they NEED water. So, make sure you are drinking no less than half your body weight in ounces. (120 pounds = 60 ounces of water)

8. Cut Down On Sugar: no, this does not mean go Keto, or cut out fruit. This means relax on the amount of sugar you intake. Sugar can weaken your white blood cells, and you need those, because they are the ones that fight off bacteria and viruses.

9. Herbs & Spices: kick up your cooking by adding lots of herbs & spices to your food. Things like turmeric, ginger. garlic, etc. provide anti-inflammatory properties to help your immune system out.

10. WASH YOUR DANG HANDS: this should be self-explanatory, but here we are. Wash them and do it often enough to protect yourself.

Do all or majority of these things year-round and you will find yourself in a good position when the next cold or flu comes around. Do these things now and you are only helping your body get ready to fight anything it comes in contact with!

Part 2 of this blog includes the foods you should be incorporating year-round. Read Foods to Boost Your Immune System here.

Until next time,

Keep it Fresh. Keep it Simple. Keep it Real.

Love, Aubrey

Raw Juice - What's the Big Deal?

Can’t I just buy it at the grocery store?

Oh man, do I hear this often. I also get “the one at Starbucks is cheaper”, that one really makes me giggle. Let’s go ahead and lay out some really basic facts before I get into why you should be drinking Raw Juice.

Facts:

1. Yes, raw juice costs more

2. Yes, grocery store “healthy juice” costs less. (this also applies to Starbucks juice)

3. Yes, raw juice has a very short “shelf-life”

4. Yes, it’s still looks like the same green juice

5. Yes, the juice at the store is different

Okay, now that we have those out of the way, we can get to breaking it down.

There is Raw juice and so, what else is there? In the industry, it’s called HPP juice, but to all of you, you don’t see the difference or even know it out-right. These are the juices that you see in the stores and juices from, typically, larger businesses.

Local juice bars, where the juice is made in store, do not HPP, so you are usually safe there. However, you can always ask if they HPP just to be safe.

Raw Vs. HPP Juice - What’s the Difference?

Raw juice is exactly how it sounds. It is where you take the produce, juice it, bottle it and then it has a shelf life of 3-6 days. It’s also the type of juice that Real Peel is and ALWAYS will be.

These juices are not made in a big warehouse, sold at the big stores or ones that are mass produced. They are usually made at your local juice bar. It is the type of juice you make at home when you buy produce and juice it. Or by your local juice girl (hi, that’s me)

HPP - High Pressure Processing

When we say “processed” here, it is not as bad as the typical processed foods you think of. When you HPP a juice, a machine is applying a certain amount of pressure, at a certain time length and more science-y stuff, but that’s the gist. It can be pressurized to make the juice last anywhere from 21 days to 90 days on the shelf.

HPP is not making juice, as it all starts out as raw juice. This is taking it one step further and processing it. What does this do? Kills quite a bit of the enzymes, bacteria and nutrients in the juice.

Well, bacteria and enzymes sound scary, so it’s okay those are killed off, right? Not totally. Those organisms and enzymes in the raw juice will be used by your body to aid in digestive processes, treated like a pre- or probiotic and boosts your immune system.

The nutrient profile also diminishes. So, again, using juicing as a healing method, you would want the most nutrient dense juice out there.

So, Raw or Grocery Store Juice?

The way I, and Real Peel, approach this topic is like this:

1. Always choose raw juice first

2. Raw juice heals the body and provides it all of the wonderful nutrients, enzymes and bacteria!

3. The idea of juicing kale and then letting it sit on a shelf for 90 days makes me shudder, even though I know the bacteria have been killed off.

4. If you do not have a local juice bar, or your local juice girl to make you juice, then yes, a green juice from the grocery store will suffice.

5. No matter which way you turn it, raw juice will always be the more nutrient dense and health beneficial juice out there.

If you are having to choose between a Gatorade, soda, juice on the shelf or picking one of those grocery store green juices, then always choose the grocery store green juice. (or that Starbucks juice)

However, if you have the option between freshly made, raw juice or saving a buck or two on a grocery store juice, then ALWAYS, ALWAYS choose the raw juice. Your body will thank you for it later.

I know that was a little technical, but I get these questions all of the time about the difference between the juices that we make at Real Peel or the juice they can go to the store and buy.

Plus, know that when you go to your local juice bar or company, buying a raw juice makes a person do a happy dance, and you can’t beat supporting local!

Until next time,

Keep it Fresh. Keep it Simple. Keep it Real.

Love, Aubrey

What is Gastroparesis?

If you have been following me for a while, you would have heard me talk about Gastroparesis many times. I might have dropped a few bits about what it’s like and how to handle it, and I have even talked about my Thrive With Gastroparesis program, but I have never done a proper explanation of it.

Some of you might not care what it is, but I remember years ago being really sick and not being able to get any answers from doctors and then I found 1 small article about Gastroparesis and knew immediately that’s what I had. It gave me some relief and hope that I would be able to get an answer. How to treat it was another story, but I am hoping that this will help those who are currently struggling and stumble upon this, find relief.

What is Gastroparesis?

By definition, Gastroparesis is a stomach condition that affects the stomach muscles and prevents proper stomach emptying, according to the Mayo Clinic. There are two types, Diabetic and Idiopathic. For the sake of this blog, we are mostly talking about Idiopathic, although, a lot applies to both.

By my definition, it sucks. But truthfully, the nerves that are connected to the stomach muscles, don’t fire properly and so the stomach muscles don’t get the message to move food along. This then allows the food to sit in the stomach and go rancid and that’s when you see a lot of the symptoms pop up.

Symptoms typically include:

• bloating

• nausea

• heartburn

• feeling full very quickly

• vomiting

• abdominal pain

• unbalanced blood sugar

• lack of appetite

• malnutrition due to lack of nutrient absorption

• major weight gain or loss

• and these don’t include all of the mental and emotional side effects

What Does Gastroparesis Look Like?

Unfortunately, GP is one of those hidden conditions. To most people, I look perfectly healthy. In its beginning stages, Gastroparesis doesn’t cause you to be in the hospital or anything like that. You can function, maybe not optimally, but you can. It feels like a constant, severe stomach ache. However, no one takes that seriously, so you just have to keep going.

Left untreated, it can lead to such severe malnutrition that you end up in the hospital on a feeding tube. Sadly, there have been a few who lost their lives because of it, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We shouldn’t have to let it get this far.

How Do You Diagnose Gastroparesis?

Usually before you get diagnosed with GP, you will have run the mill of different digestive tests. It looks something like this

1. Weird and not fitting to GP, elimination diet. This diet they give you would be helpful if you didn’t have GP, so yes, it does eliminate other possible conditions, but unfortunately, could make your GP symptoms worse.

2. Some type of reflux or IBS medication

3. Endoscopy and colonoscopy. They will usually do a biopsy to rule out many different conditions and cancer

4. Stool test. That one is always fun.

5. Nothing else has worked, so maybe some other random medication.

6. A good doctor continues to dig and eventually suggests the Gastric Emptying Test. This is the only way to diagnose GP.

The test involves you going in and they give you a meal that typically consists of eggs, toast, orange juice, and water. In the food is a minuscule amount of radioactive material that they can watch on a scan leave your stomach.

You just lay there and they watch for certain time intervals to indicate what percentage has left your stomach. There is a standard for how much you should have emptied at each time frame, being 1 hour, 2 hours and then 4 hours.

In mine and most people’s cases, if you haven’t emptied more than 40% after the second hour, they let you leave, because you didn’t pass the benchmark and it will be considered delayed. Sometimes, they will make you stay the full 4 hours, though.

You have the Diagnosis, now what?

So, now you have the diagnosis, how do you go about treating it?

Well, I have a lot of thoughts on how it is technically treated and how it should be treated, so we will save that for another blog.

In the meantime, you can grab our completely free 3-Day Healing Guide here.

I hope this is helpful for those of you who are in the searching for answers phase. One thing I want to make sure you remember, is to advocate for yourself. You know your own body better than anyone else, and it is okay to ask the doctor for different tests, even if they stop believing you. And if they won’t do it, find another one who will, until you get your answers.

Until next time,

Keep it Fresh. Keep it Simple. Keep it Real.

Love, Aubrey

Why is Digestive Health So Important?

What is Digestive Health, exactly?

Most people only think of their digestive system as being their stomach to their bowels, but it involves so much more. Making sure each part of the system is working properly is important in order to feel your best. So, how do we make sure our whole digestive system is healthy? And why should we care?

What Does the Digestive System include?

One of my favorite ways to illustrate the parts of the digestive system is this graphic from the Nutritional Therapy Association. I think it explains it perfectly.

As you can see, it starts in your brain and ends, well, at the end. There are many other “side factors” that have an impact on the flow of digestion. For example, the liver and gall bladder. The food doesn’t directly pass through these organs, but they do play a large part in breakdown and flow of the food as it travels through the system.

Why is it important?

The digestive system not only affects how your stomach feels during and after meals, but it has affects on other systems of the body.

For example,

• Immune system: this can get quite complicated, but poor digestion can cause you to be sick more often, it can also affect how your body’s immune system responds to different things.

• Nutrient Absorption: this is something I have dealt with personally with Gastroparesis, but when you don’t digest correctly, your body can struggle with absorbing the nutrients. Deficiencies in different nutrients can cause a domino effect of issues. (hair loss, PMS issues, skin issues, dental issues and more)

• Fatty Acid Deficiencies: fats take a while to break down in your digestive system, so having it working from the get go is super important. If your body can breakdown and use the fats appropriately, you will start seeing issues with hormone production and use, it can affect how well your muscles can perform and even brain function.

• Sugar Handling: something those of us with Gastroparesis deal with is sugar cravings. That is usually because of our poor digestion. We aren’t getting to use the energy source fully from the food, so we crave that energy spike. So, we turn to sugar. However, this is similar to those without GP. The mishandling of sugar can lead to diabetes and that is not something you want to do.

There are more side effects from poor digestion, but I think this covers the main things. Also, I don’t want this blog to be forever long. But I also think this illustrates how important it is to get your system functioning properly.

How Do You Keep it Healthy?

There are a myriad of things you can do and I am sure there are plenty of “quick fix” products people will try to sell you to get to it, but most of it can be achieved through simple, natural fixes.

1. Increase acid production (controversial, I know, but it’s true. If you would like to discuss this further, we can) Can be done with more fermented foods, lemon water, ACV and more.

2. A good probiotic. Something I like to do is sip on Kombucha throughout the week, never drinking a full bottle at once. Too much at once can bloat you.

3. Chewing your food at minimum 15x each bite. Similarly, putting your fork or spoon down in between bites. Also, “chewing” your smoothies or soups will help let your brain know

4. Get active!! I don’t mean doing 1 hour HIIT workouts. I just mean simple walks. This awakens your system to start moving food through.

5. Don’t lay down after eating a meal.

6. Stay hydrated with water. Sip on it, don’t chug it, between meals.

Simple fixes you could literally start doing tomorrow!

Start implementing some of these things, give it a few days and you will start noticing some differences. Then, if you want more help, that’s what I am here for!

Until then,

Keep it Fresh. Keep it Simple. Keep it Real.

Aubrey

I Juiced for a Month Straight - The Results

It’s Not What You Think

If you have been following me for a while, you are probably thinking, “wait a second, you always say don’t do a cleanse for more than 3 days in a row”, and you would be right.

I did not do a cleanse for a month, because 1. that would be just stupid 2. that sounds like torture 3. your body would be in worse shape. However, I did drink a juice pretty much everyday for the month of February. If I am being totally honest, I did have to miss a small handful of days, because of traveling.

Why Did I Do This?

I have Gastroparesis, and I have talked about it many times, but what I don’t talk about often is how it affects me daily and my diet. It often causes me to be very full after just a bite or two of food, it causes me to have intense sugar cravings, because of the lack of fuel for my body, and it can make me cramp up and feel all around icky.

So, I had been noticing that I was struggling during the month of January, even though I was eating very healthy, and I did some reflecting on when I was feeling my best. This brought me back to when I was juicing daily.

I would wake up every morning and make a juice for breakfast. This allowed me to get a lot of nutrients in my body, fuel me until lunchtime, but without the pain of digesting whole food, the cramping, the bloating and the all around sick feeling. (disclaimer: I will always choose eating food over drinking it, but for one meal, it makes a huge difference)

February rolled around, and I did exactly that. If you have been following me on Instagram, then you would have seen some of the juices in my stories.

The Results:

1. Bye bye sugar cravings. Thank the freaking lord, because it was getting bad, and I was getting really fed up with it. Drinking a juice each morning allowed my body to absorb and assimilate the nutrients in my body and be put to use, instead of being stuck in my stomach for hours on end.

2. Energy for dayyyyyyyys. No, it’s not a sugar rush and then crash. Because my body was getting to use these nutrients, it was fueling my body to perform optimally. One of the days I didn’t get to drink my juice, because my husband drank it, he texted me and was like what the heck is in this juice? He said his energy was insane, and longer lasting than coffee, and no crash. WIN!

3. Motivation. Sounds weird, but when you put something so good into your body, and start feeling good, it motivates you to continue on for the rest of the day. Best part was as soon as I started feeling hungry, I ate food. I didn’t deprive myself. I was, however, more conscious about making really good choices for lunch and dinner.

4. Weight loss. I debated on even talking about this, because it wasn’t my focus and I don’t ever want to give the idea that juicing is a weight loss solution, because it is a piece of the solution, not the whole. More than the few pounds that I lost, it’s the way my clothes fit. I feel good in them, not like ehhhhh I need to lose weight. Y’all know what I’m talking about.

5. Happier. This has other factors that contribute to it, like new business opportunities, learning new things about nutrition and health, family, etc. BUT I do know that when my body feels good, I feel happier, more confident and all around good, which then gets relayed to others and makes them happy.

Should You Do This?

Okay, now you have seen my results, you are wondering if you can get a piece of those feelings, so where should you start?

You need to evaluate what your goals are for it. If they are singularly weight loss, then don’t waste your time. If they are weight loss, but also curb cravings, increase energy levels, teach yourself discipline, etc. then let’s talk.

You drink 1 juice daily for breakfast, then eat regularly for lunch and dinner and any snacks, but ideally you make good choices. If you miss one morning, that’s okay, don’t wait for the next Monday, just start over the next morning. Ideally, picking more green juices is the best route, however, if you are new to juicing start easy with more fruit based ones to get your body used to it.

Overall, I am so happy I did this again. It just reinforced the fact that I shouldn’t deviate away from what makes me feel good. So, I am continuing on into March and so excited to see how I feel after another month.

If you would like to get started, or would like some help picking out juices to start with, please feel free to comment or reach out to me by email at info@realpeeljuice.com.

Until next time.

Keep it Fresh. Keep it Simple. Keep it Real.

Aubrey xoxo