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

Veggie & Meat Lasagna

Wowowowow. That’s all I can say about this lasagna recipe.

I don’t ever intend this site to be some type of recipe blog, but I do think with nutrition, it’s important to showcase a few wins in the kitchen. This recipe was one of them.

Typical lasagna recipes are full of ground beef and sausage, but with Gastroparesis, that is not something my digestive system can handle a bunch of. However, my husband is definitely a meat and potatoes kind of guy, so we compromise. Most weeks consist of 3 meals with meat and 4 meals without. It seems to be a good balance for us.

This lasagna was a beautiful combination of both. Instead of 2 lbs of meat, I threw in 1 pound and then substituted with zucchini and squash triangles. It added that perfect meatiness to it.

Give it a try and let me know what you thought about it.

Ingredients:

1 lb 100% grass-fed ground beef

1 tbsp olive oil (can sub avocado oil)

1/2 onion diced

1 tbsp garlic

1 zucchini chopped into small cubes

1 yellow squash chopped into small cubes

2 14oz cans of diced tomatoes (can also chop 4 tomatoes and add water)

1 6oz can of tomato paste

Salt & pepper

2 tbsp parsley

2 tbsp basil

1 15oz tub of ricotta cheese (can sub cottage cheese, goat cheese or silken tofu)

1 egg

1/2 cup parmesan

Mozzarella to top

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375. Boil a pot of water and cook the noodles as directed on the package. Drain and lay out on foil to dry and cool down.

While the noodles are cooking, diced the onion, and cube the zucchini and squash. Heat the oil in a pan, add onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add the beef, zucchini, squash and salt and pepper. Cook until beef is browned. Add in diced tomatoes, tomato paste, 1 tbsp parsley and 1 tbsp basil and more salt and pepper to taste, as needed. Bring to slight boil and then lower heat to simmer for about 35 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Combine ricotta cheese, egg, Parmesan, the remaining parsley and basil and salt and pepper.

Spoon in sauce mixture into a 9x13 casserole dish to cover the bottom. Evenly spoon ricotta mixture onto each noodle sheet. (about 1 tbsp per noodle) Then, drizzle the meat sauce on each noodle sheet. Roll up each noodle and place in dish sideways. You should be able to get 5-6 lasagna rolls per row for 3 rows. Top the rolls with the remaining meat sauce and then add mozzarella to cover.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. If you like that browned cheese flavor, broil for 3 minutes.

Serve with garlic butter broccoli and ENJOY!

If you make this, let me know in the comments your thoughts or send me pics of it! We LOVED it. It also made enough for 3 meals for both of us! So, 6-8 servings.

Xo Aubrey

Activated Charcoal Lemonade

Meet the E-Lemonade-R

Our newest drink, The E-Lemonade-R, is a delicious, refreshing Activated Charcoal Lemonade.  It only contains everything you see here, which is lemons, activated charcoal, agave nectar, OH and water too. 

While, yes, it tastes like regular lemonade, there's so much more to this black magic! A lot of you have also been asking for that info, so here we go! 

Benefits of Activated Charcoal:

- Detox EVERYTHING

- Hangover Cure/Helper

- Alleviates Gas/Bloating

- Whitens Teeth

- Helps with Acne

- Digestive Cleanser

- Assists with Anti-Aging

Y'all, the list literally goes on, but I feel like these are some of the more important ones that directly benefit all of you.

When to drink?

I have gotten that question a lot, which is perfectly reasonable. There are a few different reasons and when to drink the lemonade. 

1. Hate hangovers? If you drink this before you go out and have a few drinks and then remember to drink the rest when you come home. Boom, no hangover the next day! Orrrr if you drink it when you wake up, it will take it away quicker than the normal methods.

2. Tummy feeling bloated or hurting? Drink half a bottle and within an hour, you should be feeling back to yourself! However, it might incite a trip to the bathroom! 

3. In the morning before you drink anything else. Take a couple drinks of this and your body will start working to rid the toxins!

There's really never any reason to drink a full bottle in one sitting. Also, don't drink it with a meal, because it will detox all of the nutrients from the meal. 

Otherwise, enjoy! If you all have any questions about it or want any further info, please contact us! 

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

xoxo Aubrey