Juicing... fruit and veggies

So I've been juicing for two days now (though I have had a bit of other food during that time), and it's actually been kind of fun - finding new flavors and going through the prep work of juicing for every meal. Amanda and I did a lot of work together today - hit the farmers market for some produce that we can purchase from local farmers, then to Whole Foods for the rest, washing and cutting up fruits and veggies, and making a blended soup for lunches for the next few days. It was really nice to do that together. We'd gotten out of the habit of making meals together over the last month or so, and I'm looking forward to juicing together.

Side note - every time I say or type juicing, I can't help but think of steroids....I assure everyone we are not doing 'roids. :)

Last night I went to hang out with some friends, and I went the whole night with just one container of Naked juice, a couple bottles of water, and a handful of raw veggies. They were eating steak and grilled corn and drinking wine, but I completely abstained and felt good about it! Though I won't lie, that steak looked delicious! :)

Here are a couple photos of the drinks I've had so far:

 This one was made with a beet, carrots, celery, and apples. Apparently too many beets can actually do some crazy stuff to the body (like paralyze the vocal chords), so you've got to juice it with other things to cut down the strength. This was my first real juice and it was quite tasty!

 This was my breakfast yesterday and consisted of two apples, an orange, and three plums.

Dinner tonight - kale, spinach, 1 granny smith apple, 1 gala apple, 1 stalk celery, 1.5 carrots. The apples really made this drink - it was quite tasty! I also had a half of a bottle of Naked juice that was left over from earlier today just now for a snack before bed.

Tomorrow morning I'll be making our breakfast while Amanda is on her way home from her overnight 12 hr shift. I think I'll make something with plums, nectarines, grapes, apples, and probably a celery thrown in for good measure. Then soup for lunch while at work and another juice for dinner!

Finishing up my herbal laxative tea now (TMI? too bad), and settling in to bed with an episode of Eureka and Warehouse 13. I might make it through one of them before dozing off...

Reboot

Again, it's been too long since I've been here. The wife and I went to New Mexico for a week, and now three weeks later I'm trying to recommit to a better diet. For the next week and half, I will be cutting out lots of things in preparation for a radical fast. I'm cutting out meat, caffeine, alcohol (not that I've had much in the 2 weeks since returning from NM), breads, dairy, and cooked veggies in order to prepare my gut for a raw vegetable and fruit juice fast. We purchased a juicer yesterday from Target, and thanks to some gift cards we had it was essentially free! Going to set that up today and juice some fruit or veggies with my salad for lunch. The thing I will miss the most is caffeine and breads/grains - I'm eating cereal for this week, then moving to fruits soon. God I love cereal.... And today is day one of no coffee and I'm doing ok, but I've got a small headache brewing. I might make some tea later - less caffeine but just enough for my body to react. We'll be doing the juice fast in the week or so before the term starts for like 10 days. It'll be rough I'm sure, but hopefully beneficial. 

I'll try to blog more regularly on how this endeavor goes. 

Oh how the mighty have fallen...

Well, I don't consider myself mighty, but I sure have fallen. It's been way too long since my last post, which is totally an indication of how I've been doing lately on my quest. I haven't ridden my bike or worked out much, and I've fallen back into unhealthy eating practices. BUT, I plan to change that NOW.

Friday my partner and I went to Trader Joe's and stocked up on lots of healthier options for meals. I'm also going to suck it up and start biking in to work unless there is no possible way to avoid lots of rain. I do enjoy riding the bike, especially on the side streets where I can ride safely on the streets. The way to work is mostly downhill, which makes for a nice ride, but of course means the way back involves many more hills, but I don't care how much I sweat going home. I've just got to get in the habit. It'll be so good to do it regularly.

I've definitely noticed a difference in my mood and energy levels since I haven't been taking care of myself. I've been much more lethargic and sleepy. I look forward to that getting better soon. I hope to get some water weight off and get to feeling more peppy before our big vacation in two weeks to New Mexico. We're staying at a nice resort with a spa, pools, and a golf course. Not that I golf, but I will utilize the rest. I'll get my first massage there!

I'll be blogging more, keeping myself honest too.

Until next time.

In lieu of a real post, have a pic of our brand new tattoos! Obviously I'm the star one and my wife is the henna inspired one.

It's the end of the world as we know it....

No rapture yet? Wow, I'm shocked....

Now on to real things. The last few days have been an up and down of success and less-than-success stories. I had a fantastic workout on Wednesday - it really kicked my butt and gave me a good list of things that I can do at home as well, including crazy things called groiners that are seriously ass-kicking. A sequence that I will likely be doing at home as much as I can: 20 cross-leg mountain climbers, 15 pushups, 10 groiners, and 5 burpees. Also, around the world lunges with a kettle bell was another great one that I'll work into my workouts at home/gym.

I was grump last night so the wife and I went to a cheap Mexican restaurant for margaritas. Two margaritas, camaron diablos with corn tortillas, and some chips and salsa later I was overly-stuffed and a bit tipsy. Not the best for a diet, but also not the worst in the end.

I just attempted to recreate a favorite sandwich from a local eatery - a tempeh bacon BLT. It was good, but the tempeh bacon I got from Whole Foods was not nearly as good as the bacon at the restaurant where I got this sandwich originally. Ezekiel bread, olive oil mayo, 1/2 avocado, fresh cracked pepper, tomato, romaine, and tempeh bacon is a nice filling lunch though, paired with a few more slices of tomato on the side, because come on, I'm southern. We always love sliced tomatoes just eaten by themselves. I made the wifey a falafel salad with romaine, tomato, 1/2 avocado, 3 frozen falafel balls from Trader Joes, and a bit of a french vinaigrette. I'll likely eat a blueberry, watermelon, and mango popsicle in a bit while I watch this week's episode of Doctor Who.

We got our bikes back from the shop yesterday, decked out with new back racks and water bottle holders. Got them home and immediately attached our milk crates to the back, then I realized that getting on and off my bike was now a complete ordeal b/c of the crates. Because I'm so short (5'5) I have to throw my leg over the back of the bike to mount it, and with the crate, it's taller back there than I'm comfortable with, so I'll likely take the crate off for regular rides and just bungee tie my bag down to the rack directly. The crate will be great if I need to run to the store though on the bike for something, so I'll keep it around. I think I want to invest in some night-time lights for the bike so I can also bike at dusk/dawn and occasionally at night a bit more safely.

Tonight, I'll be going to a BBQ with some friends and then down to a huge neighborhood block party. I'm going to try to limit my unhealthy food and beer intake, but I'm sure I'll at least have 3-4 beers. I need to take a dish, so I've got to figure that out this afternoon. Hopefully I can figure out something I can make with stuff at home, or just run by Trader Joes and pick up something decently healthy.

Until next time guys!

Gym time!

Today's been a good day so far for me. Started off with a bowl of muesli, a green smoothie (made of avocado, strawberries, blueberries, and almond milk) and a cup of coffee. Had veggies and hummus for lunch with a few pita crisps, and just had a snack of pistachios. Now, for the gym with my gym buddy (who happens to also blog @ The PCOS Ninja) for some laps around the track and a game of racquetball.

Edit: Did a mile around the gym, 2 sets of a racquetball game, then came home and mowed and edged the lawn. Good lord I was tired after all that, so I took a nice shower (with a beer... yes, in the shower... don't judge me) and went to dinner with my wife after her class got out. I also started reading Neil Gaiman's The Sandman comic book series today. I told myself I wouldn't let my geeky/scifi stuff leak over into this blog, but oh well, it just happened.

Fail Monday

The vietnamese vegetable salad I made last night is pretty much a disaster. That's what happens when you don't read the directions completely and mess up a recipe. So I went to the Student Center and got a salad  for lunch today.

I also didn't ride my bike in today as I was worried about getting in on time to get things ready for my first day of class. The first day always stresses me out to a degree, so I took the lazy way out and drove. I really do plan to ride tomorrow...

Update: Can't ride tomorrow either. Having the rear rack installed at Trek bike shop and there's a 72 hour install period. :-/ Will go to the gym tomorrow though! Hoping my racquetball buddy is up for a game!

Blueberry, Watermelon, and Mango Popsicles, pre freezing

http://instagr.am/p/ETrht/

Put the remains in a little tumbler and drinking it now, these are going to be awesome deserts!

Recipe from the fabulous Dianne Cook!

Slow Sunday

Today was a pretty lazy day. I woke up to rain most of the morning, which meant no bike ride for me. I did drive my route that I'll likely be taking to work tomorrow on my bike, so I'm a bit more comfortable with the idea of hoping on two wheels to take my fat ass to the office. I start teaching my summer class tomorrow as well and I need to pull some lecture material together in the morning for that, but it's a course I've taught a bunch now so I'm not too concerned.

What I am concerned about is my dog. She is a mini dachshund and chihuahua mix and we think she's hurt her back. My partner is taking her in to work with her tonight (yay for being married to a vet tech) to get her checked out. She's my first ever animal so I'm a bit worried about her. Dachshunds are notorious for having bad backs, and I hope we're not up with the decision of back surgery for her already. She's only about 7-8 years old...

But tonight I've got some other things to get done. I'll be prepping some foods for the beginning of this week while jamming out to some good tunes (starting off with Ryan Adams, who knows what'll happen after that). Here's to a beginning of a reluctantly healthy week.

And you may ask yourself, how did I get here?!

Welcome to my first blog post. I'm not necessarily new to blogging - I was on some teenage angst filled diary site back in 2001 (think black backgounds with pink font - very emo before emo was mainstream) and still have a LiveJournal account that I barely use. This is my first time on an actual blog site, so we'll see how this whole thing goes...

Long story short, what I'm hoping to do in this space is discuss my attempts at becoming a healthier, leaner, stronger me. You may have noticed the title of this blog - Reluctantly Healthy - and though, what the hell is that all about? I truly want to be healthy, but also really love the unhealthy practices that are apart of my typical lifestyle. I mean, come on, who DOESN'T love bacon? Well, besides those who do not eat it for religious reasons, vegetarians/vegans, etc... Growing up in the South (Birmingham, AL), I've been raised on all things tasty and unhealthy - cornbread cooked in bacon grease and covered in butter, biscuits and gravy, fried okra, fried green tomatoes, country ham, casseroles full of cheese and cream, and all kinds of pie. Things foods are home - they are comforting and flat out make me happy. That's a common theme in my life - using food as a source of happiness. But I'm trying to change that, reluctantly as I still love all those unhealthy things, but I know I really have to take care of myself in order to live a long healthy life.

I'm definitely over weight and have been my whole life - but not quite to the degree I am now. I'm on high blood pressure meds, had back surgery at 20, grew up with pretty bad asthma and allergies (asthma is mostly gone, my eyes are currently watering like mad, so not so lucky on the allergy front...), have normal bad cholesterol scores but less-than optimal good cholesterol scores. So it's not just about weight loss with me, it's more so about getting healthy and feeling better. My partner and I have been going to a personal trainer 3 times a week (she's been there for a couple months, I've only been going for about a month). We're dropping to once a week this coming week, but adding biking to work (I work about 2.5 miles from my office) and working out more frequently at the gym where I work. I especially like to play racquetball, but working with our trainer has given me lots of great work outs to do with medicine balls, kettlebells, the bosu ball (I really enjoy that thing!), and resistance bands. We've also been working with a nutrition-minded friend of ours on planning better meals to avoid all of my food pitfalls. Last, but not least, are supplements - including udo oil (a vegetarian DHA omega 3 source), greens supplement via pill, probiotics, and other multivitamins.

A little bit more about me, in case you're interested (look, I'm writing like people will read this!): Name's Jay, married with two dogs (+one foster dog) and a cat and live in Omaha, NE. I teach university students Sociology and love science fiction and music. I'm going to try to keep this blog updated pretty regularly, so come back by if you want to see how things are going for me.

My confession for the day: Ate IHOP for breakfast and had chicken fried steak and gravy, eggs, and pancakes. Though I only ate half my hashbrowns and had sugar free syrup. 'Cause that makes it better... right?!

On my plan for tomorrow: a bike ride to campus to map out my route, making a few recipes for the week (low cal oatmeal-cranberry pancakes, vietnamese vegetable salad, and all-fruit popsicles for deserts), and getting everything ready for the start of my summer course.