10 Day Juice Fast- Complete!

I did it! I completed the 10 day juice cleanse on Friday. How I made it through Thanksgiving still baffles me, but I did it! The last five days of the juice fast were much easier than the beginning. I will say that there were two days that I did not drink enough juice and I noticed that my energy level was down. That being said, make sure you are drinking 5 to 6 juices a day to keep your energy at an all time high. You can read about the beginning of my fast here: 10 Day Juice Fast

Tips for transitioning off of a juice fast/cleanse:

-Continue to drink LOTS of water
-Slowly transition back into eating foods
-Start by drinking 2 or 3 juices a day with one meal being fresh, organic fruits and vegetables.
-Try to keep other foods to soups, smoothies, and salads to ease your digestive system back into motion.
-Don’t overeat. Eat smaller amounts of food throughout the day.
-Avoid dairy, meat, sugary foods, and whole grains the first week.
-Keep exercising.
-The more plant-based foods you can eat, the better!
-Keep drinking juice on a daily basis for optimal health!

I loved doing the 10 day juice cleanse! I now have more energy than I did before starting the fast. I have much better sleep patterns, waking up feeling rejuvenated and ready to go. I feel better overall and have noticed improvements in all facets of myself. I would definitely recommend a juice cleanse to anyone wanting to reboot their physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. It can enhance your life in more ways than you would imagine.

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Green Juice of the Day

Today’s delicious green juice recipe is Spinach-Green Apple-Pear! Juice on! 🙂
-6 large handfuls organic spinach
-2 organic green apples
-1 organic pear

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Watermelon Juice

Craving a refreshing juice for the summer time?  Watermelon juice is the way to go!  You do not even need a juicer for this one!!  All you have to do is throw the watermelon into your blender and voila you have yourself a delicious drink!  I juiced half a watermelon which gave me a large pitcher of juice! This juice is super sweet so I like to dilute mine with water.  You can also mix it with other fresh juices such as orange, pineapple, or a little lime! Try adding watermelon juice to your green smoothies for an extra boost of flavor and sweetness!

What can watermelon do for you? For starters, watermelon is high in lycopene, which is beneficial for heart and bone health and has powerful antioxidant, anti-inflammatory properties. It also contains large amounts of the amino acid citrulline, which is converted in our bodies to arginine.  Citrulline has been linked to cardiovascular benefits as well as minimizing adipogenesis (the creation of fat cells).  Go get your juice on!

Add a BOOST To Your JUICE!

By simply adding some spinach juice to your daily juice you will get a mega BOOST of nutrients!  I like to buy a huge bag of spinach and juice it all into one pitcher so I can mix it with my favorite juices, such as freshly juiced orange or  apple.  The best part about spinach juice-  it is packed with a wide array of vitamins and minerals AND it does not have a strong flavor.  Thus, it will taste just like the fruit juice you decide to mix it with (kids even love it)! Spinach is one of the BEST leafy greens to consume, so try adding some spinach juice to your day and see how you feel! I’m obsessed! 🙂

Indulge Without The Bulge This Holiday Season

I posted this before Christmas last year, but I find it very fitting to give it a re-post! Hope you get some helpful tips for the holidays! Cheers!

While the holidays are a time for family and friends, we all know that food seems to be the key ingredient to every celebration! The average person gains five to ten pounds during this time of the year. I know you don’t want to end up with a Santa belly,  so here are some simple tips to help you indulge without the bulge:

1) EXERCISE. Even taking 30 minutes out of your day to go on a quick walk will work wonders! Get family and friends involved and exercising will turn into some quality time with them (gotta love that QT)! I know you’ve been scrambling to find those last minute gifts and making sure everything is perfect before the guests arrive, so exercising is exactly what you  need! Exercising will help you escape from all of that stress and make you feel like a new person!

2) Drink a GREEN smoothie or juice BEFORE. I am a huge advocate of this! Anytime I know I’m going to a dinner party or out to eat with friends (somewhere I might be tempted to eat something super unhealthy) I drink a green smoothie or juice before I go! It fills me up enough so I won’t be ravishing the menu when I get there, yet still leaves me with the right amount of hunger to choose the healthy option. If you go to a dinner party on an empty stomach, it becomes inevitable that you will make unhealthy eating choices.

3) Bring a healthy dish or two. Make a huge spinach salad with lots of yummy veggies, fruit kabobs, or a healthy dessert option that can fill your plate without the guilt. Making your own dish is great because who knows how much butter your Paula Deen of a relative put in that green bean casserole

4) You don’t have to clean your plate. I know our moms have all taught us to do the opposite of this, but eat until you feel satisfied instead of stuffed! Feeling full, yucky, and tired is the last way you wanna feel during this cheery time of the year!

5) Don’t be THAT girl/guy. Don’t be the one that gets too drunk at the party. Not only will you steer clear of being on YouTube the next day, but you’ll also steer clear of late night drunk eating! We all know alcohol lowers our inhibitions which makes us not give two cents if we eat half a pepperoni pizza at 2 am. So stay classy with your alcohol consumption… your ego and your waistline will thank you later

6) Stand up for yourself!  We all have that one persistent family member that will push that piece of pound cake on you a million times before the night is over. Like we learned in elementary school.. just say no! Don’ t be “bullied” into eating foods you know you shouldn’t eat! Also, don’t let the unhealthy left-overs be pawned off on you or your family..that’s just  more temptation that you don’t need!

7) Enjoy yourself!  It’s the holidays for pete’s sake, so enjoy yourself! Don’t let food choices consume your thoughts when you should be enjoying time with family and friends! Be mindful of your choices instead of obsessive! Pick a few of your feast favorites, and place a small golf ball amount of it on your plate! All you need is a taste to satiate your tooth for those not so healthy options without the guilt that comes along with them. Enjoy the real meaning of Christmas instead of just the food!

I’d also like to end this post by expressing my sympathies for the families of Newtown, CT. We should all be praying for them. What will it take to eradicate evil and guns from this country?

Life is precious and a Happy HEALTHY holidays to you all!

With love & peace,

Samantha

Crazy for Cranberries

Spinach-Apple-Cranberry is a delicious combination for a green boost to your day!!

MUST SEE!

I just wanted to throw it out there that if you have not seen these documentaries yet, you should put them on your “To-Do”/”Must-See”  list asap! All of these are very enlightening! If you have Netflix, I’m almost positive they are ALL on there so you can watch for free! Check out the list below along with their trailers to get a sneak peek about what they’re about! You think you know the importance of nutrition…but you have NO idea! These can change your life!

1) FOOD MATTERS

2) FORKS OVER KNIVES 

Recent quote from Dr. Oz:

“We have the science to suggest that if you can make three changes -– give up all meat, all dairy, and refined foods including free oils — you can avoid dying from cancer and heart disease. It’s being brought to life in a new documentary called Forks Over Knives. I saw it, I loved it, and I need all of you to see it too. This could be the Hail Mary of medicine”- Dr. Mehemet Oz

3) FOOD INC.

4) FAT, SICK, and NEARLY DEAD

Carotene Cocktail ROUND 2

I think i just fell in love…with a juice! I must say that this recipe trumps the first Carotene Cocktail I made! The other tastes good, but this one just has a whole different vibe going for it! This juice tastes so good you almost question if it’s bad for ya! YUM! Check out the health benefits of sweet potatoes in my original Carotene Cocktail post below!

This recipe consists of:

• 1 Lg. sweet potato or 2 small (peeled)
• 1/3 a pineapple (make sure it’s good and ripe!)
• 1  orange
• Add more fruit if it tastes too chalky

Juice Recipes!

My love for fresh juices first began a few years ago when one of my best friends Abigail and I backpacked through South America for several months. Not only did we manage to go bungee jumping, raft Class 5 rapids, hike hours through Tayrona National Park with our local homeless “tour guide”, spend the night with the indigenous Koguis, and meet great friends from all over the world, we also discovered a love for fresh juices! Fresh juices seemed to be a vital part of the South American lifestyle. There were fresh juice stands on just about every street, so of course we had to try one just about every day and boy were they delicious! Maracuya-Banana was my absolute favorite (Maracuya is passion fruit). Unfortunately it’s rare to find a good passion fruit here in the US.

Our favorite juice lady in Taganga, Colombia 🙂

Today, fresh fruit and vegetable juices are a key part of my nutrient dense lifestyle. Below I have listed a wide array of fresh juices for you to try! Some of these recipes make a whole pitcher while others are individual servings!  Hope you enjoy!

Carrot Top: 6 Large carrots and 3 apples (I prefer granny smith apples) (add spinach and ice in a blender with this one and you have yourself a tasty green smoothie)

Tropical Trio: 3 oranges, 1/3 papaya, 1/2 pineapple (Add banana to this one in a blender with ice…yum!)

The Popeye: 3 large handfuls of spinach, 4 large carrots, 3-4 apples (I like to add wheatgrass or kale to this one!)

Morning Glory: 3 oranges, 1/2-whole  pineapple, 8 strawberries (or just orange-pineapple)

Honey Bunches: Half a Honeydew Melon, 2 Large bunches of Green Grapes, 2 Golden Delicious Apples, 2 Peaches
2 Kiwi Fruits

Fresh OJ: 4 oranges

Mucho Melon: Half a Honeydew, 1 Cantaloupe melon, small bunch of green grapes, 10-12 strawberries

Sweet-n-Sour: 1 pineapple, 1-2 grapefruits, 2 small apples

Orange Power: 6 large carrots, 3-4 oranges (Add this one with spinach and ice for a yummy green smoothie as well)

Wheatgracias: 1 shot wheatgrass juice, 2 celery stalks, 1 handful parsley

The Incredible Hulk: Leafy greens of your choice (spinach, kale, romaine) and 2-3 granny smith apples (or oranges if you prefer those)

Mango Tango: 2-3 mangos and 1/2-3/4 pineapple

Pink passion: 1/2 small watermelon, 3 cucumbers, 1-2 limes(optional)

Gorgeous-n-Green: 1 Bunch Kale and 3-5 Granny Smith Apples

The Waldorf: 2 stalks celery, 4 Granny Smith apples, 2 pinches of Cinnamon

Plum Perfection: 6 ripe plums, Large handful of strawberries, 5 sweet apples (Golden Delicious, pink lady, Honeycrisp), 2 Oranges

Kale-orific: 1 bunch kale, 2 oranges, 4 large carrots

Mean Green from Fat, sick, and nearly dead: 1 bunch kale (or 6 leaves), 1 Cucumber, 4 Celery Stalks, 2 Green Apples, 1/2 Lemon, 1 piece of ginger

Check out more juice recipes from Fat Sick and Nearly Dead here: http://jointhereboot.com/reboot-program/recipes/juice-recipes/

Here are some others from various websites:

• Kimberly Snyder’s Glowing Green juice: 1 head romaine lettuce, 3 celery stalks, 1 apple, 1 pear
• Sweet Special: pineapple (skin & all), unscrew top and throw away, Orange or Grapefruit, 3 oranges (peeled) or 1 grapefruit (peeled)
• Evening Regulator: 2 apples, 1 pear
• Digestive Special: handful of spinach, 6 carrots
• Holiday Cocktail: 2 apples, 1 large bunch of grapes, 1 slice lemon with peel
• Body Cleanser: 4 carrots, 1/2 cucumber, 1 beet
• Rejuvenator: handful of parsley, 3 carrots, 2 celery stalks, 2 cloves of garlic
• Cantaloupe Juice: cut into strips and juice (rind and all)
• Sunshine Cocktail: 2 apples, 4-6 strawberries
• Energy Shake: handful of parsley, 6 carrots
• Watermelon Juice: cut into strips and juice, (rind and all)
• Potassium Broth: 1 handful of spinach, 1 handful of parsley, 2 stalks of celery, 4-6 carrots
• AAA Juice: 6 carrots, 1 apple, 2 stalks of celery, 1/2 handful of wheatgrass, 1/2 handful of parsley, 1/2 beet
• Passion Cocktail: 4 strawberries, 1 large chuck pineapple, 1 bunch black grapes
• Morning Tonic: 1 apple, 1 grapefruit (peeled)
• Digestive Cocktail: 1/4 lemon with peel, 1/2 grapefruit (peeled), 2 oranges
• Alkaline Special: 1/4 head cabbage (red or green), 3 stalks of celery
• Sweet Sunshine: 1 small pineapple, 1/2 honey dew melon, 1 large Apple, 2 large Oranges

*Most of the time I find the more simple combinations that you try, the better! You can always add a little more fruit to each combination to enhance the flavor! I have found that granny smith apples and carrots do a great job masking the taste of the greens! I like to incorporate greens into my juices as much as I can! I really enjoy mixing the greens in a blender with fresh fruit and carrot juices to make smoothies as well! I must say that the more you juice, the more your taste buds will change! I’ve noticed that I now enjoy vegetable dense juices a lot more than before!

Go get your juice on!  🙂

First and BEST client: MY DAD who has now lost a whopping 82 POUNDS!

So of course once I had made an impact on myself, I had to share the wealth on health! Therefore, my dad became my number one goal! His weight had reached a high of 350 pounds.

My dad weighing in at 340 before juicing

I was constantly worried about his health and my entire family had been making attempt after attempt to light a fire under his butt to get healthy but we couldn’t quite get there.  And now I finally felt like I had the knowledge to enlighten him!  I had been making green smoothies for a while and read about the health benefits of juicing so I broke the bank a bit and bought an Omega juicer for $300 (worth every penny).

I had seen another documentary about juicing called Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead and I just knew that if I could talk to him about how awesome juicing is and get him to sit down with me to watch the movie that maybe just maybe he would see the light…or the juice!

So that’s exactly what we did! Here’s a quick trailer of the documentary so you can get the scoop on what it’s about…

After watching the documentary with my mom and dad and telling them about the ridiculous number of health benefits of fresh fruit and vegetable juicing I had convinced them to do a ten day juice fast with me!! I was pumped! I knew that if I could get my dad through the 10 days he would reap all the benefits and have the right mindset about what it took to get healthy and lose weight.

The first few days were rough for him. The first few days of a juice fast are always rough because if you’re not use to juicing, you’re energy level will be at a low due to your body getting rid of all that waste and toxins.  After that, your energy level will spike to even higher than it was before the fast…like an instant high! You are now on top of the world! I swear they could start making anti-drug commercials with this stuff!

So the ten days was up and guess how much weight he had lost? TWENTY TWO POUNDS! Which I must add that his weight was at a high of 340 when he started the fast. So all of you out there may not necessarily lose that much but you could lose an average of 5-10 lbs.

And to be honest the whole process is more about getting HEALTHY. It is crazy how much better you feel after a juice fast. You feel lighter, have a better sense of clarity, and an energy level that even Speedy Gonzalez could rival.

After the ten days was up, he continued eating mainly fruits and vegetables for awhile before slowly incorporating other foods.  He finally got it! He knew that in order to get healthy, he had to be conscious about his food choices and integrate as much fruits and vegetables as he could.

He started walking the golf course with me every morning starting at about 2.6 miles. Which when we first started he could barely make it.  Today (4 months later)  he is up to about 4.5 miles everyday and has dropped EIGHTY TWO POUNDS!

I could not be more proud of him!  He has transformed his life in so many ways and is still continuing on his GET HEALTHY journey!  I now have 110% confidence that he will dance at my wedding one day and be there making millions of great memories in the future!

My dad running a 5K a few weeks ago! So proud of him! He has come so far!

Here is a link to his more detailed post about his weight loss journey: JOEL SHAW WEIGHT LOSS

Juicing is a great way to incorporate more fruits and vegetables in your lifestyle just like the green smoothies! And who knew a combination of fresh carrot-green apple juice tasted so yummy! (That’s another good one for the kiddos) The combinations of tasty juices are endless!

I know a lot of you may think of juicing as EXTREME. But think about it, you are getting 100% nutrients/vitamins!! Like Dr. Esselstyn says EXTREME would be getting to a point where you have to have triple bypass surgery due to heart disease from your diet. So no thank you, I believe I’ll take the juice over the scalpel any day!

If you are feeling fatigued, suffer from migraines, want to lose weight, or just want that extra energy high then go for the juice fast! And no, you don’t have to do a 60 day juice like Joe Cross or Phil Staples on the film. I recommend that anyone can start with the 10 day fast! And if you’re not up to that, even just incorporating fresh fruit/veggie juices into your daily routine will give you a nutritional boost!

JOLLY JUICING!! 🙂