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Lovely
Apples – My Story
Juicing
raw vegetables and fruit seems to be the latest craze so I decided to try it
out for myself. This is my story (the
shortened version!) plus the recipes I used during my juicing journey.
My
main reason for giving this ‘diet’ a go was to see if it might help with the
joint pain that I have been suffering with for some time now. I wake up in the morning with such stiff
fingers that I have to run them under hot water just to get them moving.
Other
joints are involved too with my hips and shoulders being the worst, especially
at night. I have visited numerous
doctors and no one seems to be able to offer me an explanation so I thought it
was time to take matters into my own hands.
Why
raw? I hear you ask, well a friend who was already eating raw and a great
advocate of this lifestyle suggested I watch a documentary called ‘Fat, Sick
and nearly Dead’. The documentary is about a guy trying to lose weight and
correct a rather serious heart condition by going onto raw juices and his
journey across America as he embarks on this drastic change of lifestyle. By the end of the documentary I was in tears.
The
end result was that he did indeed cure himself of his heart condition, lost his
excess weight and returned to a far healthier life style following the juicing
diet.
After
much research on why to juice I decided to give it a go, figuring I didn’t have
much to lose. I have found many accounts of people in a similar situation to
myself professing this way of life as a cure of their aches and pains, by
juicing it away. With a tad of skepticism left I decided to give it a go for 14
days.
I
have to say it is the best thing I have ever done for myself! Within 5 days the pain in my joints had
improved by 50% and by 10 days it had improved by 70% and I was sleeping
through the night without pain waking me (something I had not done in a year). I had also stopped taking any painkillers
completely.
At 14
days I was so convinced by the remarkable results I decided to continue with
the juicing for another 7 days. I wanted to make absolutely sure I had rid my
body of the toxins obviously causing my problems. After 21 days the idea is to return to
regular eating but of the healthier variety! Starting with raw vegetables and
fruits, in fact basically anything that is raw in small sensible portions. I tell you what after juicing for 21 days
food tastes heavenly and you savour every mouthful.
I
will miss meat heaps, I have always been a rump steak kind of girl but if a
change of diet helps to alleviate my pain then it has to be worth it. I am currently trying to discover a love for
fish and I am hoping that given time it will replace my need for big juicy steaks. I have my doubts but whenever I feel like I
am going to falter, I think back to sleepless nights full of pain and
discomfort and suddenly my old way of life doesn’t seem that appealing.
In
this recipe book I wanted to share some of the juices I made and tried during
my 21-day raw juice fast. If you decide
to follow this diet then make sure you do your homework first, research it and
understand what it is you are doing and your reasons for doing it. It is also useful to get your doctors opinion
as to whether it’s suitable for you.
During
the fast I couldn’t cope doing three green juices a day, not being a huge fan
of vile green leafy vegetables! I
treated myself to a fruit juice first thing in the morning; my particular
favourite is the Pineapple painkiller.
Pineapple has a number of natural pain killers contained within it, so I
found it was a great way to kick start my day.
You
do get used to the green juices and knowing that they are so good for you
definitely helps to make them a little more palatable! I did find adding a
squeeze of lime to whatever concoction I had created balanced the taste quite
nicely. I also discovered that not
adding too many ingredients is also key to achieving a balanced taste.
As
far as what juicer to use there is a huge amount of written about what type you
should use. I bought the one I could
afford plain and simple. However if
money is no object then juicers that work by crushing the vegetables and fruits
rather than grating and spinning at high speed are far better for you. This is because they do not harm the powerful
enzymes contained within the produce by heating them in anyway. The high-speed centrifugal machines do
potentially heat as the food passes through the blades therefore killing some
of the valuables enzymes. So if money were
no object to you when selecting a juicer I would recommend an Omega machine or
something similar.
Lastly,
I did not embark on this journey to lose weight but to help with joint pain,
however it did of course affect my weight.
Being slightly overweight this was a nice bonus of around 1 pound of
weight loss a day. Don’t be fooled
though if you go back to eating as you did before the fast then so will your
weight!
I
hope you enjoy the recipes I have put together for you and you have as much
luck with this diet as I did.
Good
luck!
A couple of recipes from the new Kindle/Apple book :-
Green Goodness
1 Green apple
1 Inch piece ginger
2 Large stalks celery
½ Cucumber
1 Large handful parsley
3 Spinach leaves
1 Inch piece ginger
2 Large stalks celery
½ Cucumber
1 Large handful parsley
3 Spinach leaves
Cleansing
Mojito
½ Peeled cucumber
2 Green apple
1 Large pear
1 Large handful mint
½ Lime peeled
1 Large pear
1 Large handful mint
½ Lime peeled
1 Green apple
1 Pear
½ Cup of Pineapple
2 large stalks kale
1/3 Peeled cucumber
1 Pear
½ Cup of Pineapple
2 large stalks kale
1/3 Peeled cucumber
1 Inch piece of ginger
If you would like to purchase my book for either your Kindle or your Apple then go to
Thanks for your support folks and have a great day!
Kate x
