Day 13 - 19: Ramping Up

So this past week has been the "Ramping Up" week for our first all-juice Reboot.  Following the guidelines on the Reboot Your Life website this week was about trying to get our bodies ready for what's going to be a very drastic change in diet.  Even though we're starting easy with a simple 3-day juice fast it's still going to be a shock to our systems.  And so the point of the ramp up period is to give yourself every advantage you can in preparing your body for the change. The recommendations include reducing and then eliminating things like dairy and caffeine, and also completely eliminating junk foods and processed foods.  And of course along with that is the need to increase your water intake.


This has been a rough week, and my girlfriend and I have both had different issues.  I actually forgot about the need to transition with a ramp up at first, because I was still thinking we were doing the juicing the first weekend of April.  Then at work on Monday I remembered we'd moved it up a week to this weekend and I wasn't ready to make changes.  I didn't have anything to put water in at work, so I was stuck with the soda I had brought with me since I had no money to buy a bottled water out of the vending machine.  Plus a part of my very soul still rebels at the idea of buying water in the store.

Tuesday was better though, and I've made steady improvements over the week.  I'm not really where I should be, so this weekend will probably be rougher on my body then it needs to be, but I'm still moving forward.  The Plan will not be stalled because I slipped and wasn't paying attention to time frames.  And if this weekend is tough then it will just help remind me to be better prepared before we start the 15 day juice fast.

I have my MyFitnessPal app ready to go with the juice recipes on my phone so I can track my nutrient intake, water, calories, etc.  This will help after the weekend is over and we sit down and look at the facts and figure out if juicing really will be a good and healthy choice for us.  We also have our medical check-ins figured out.  My girlfriend is going to see her doctor tomorrow, and I'll be going on Saturday.  What the doctors say will also weigh heavily (no pun intended) on the feasibility of The Plan.

We now also have two juicers.  Another friend from church gave us one they no longer need.  It's a Juicemaster brand.  I can't remember which model it is, but it looks like it's pretty good.  It even has two speeds so we have a decent shot of not destroying softer fruits if we make any juices with them.  It will be good to have a spare in case we get busy and don't have a chance to clean one juicer before it's time to make another juice.  The all0juice reboot plans all involve drinking 5 juice meals a day, and if you're trying to do other things at the same time I can see where it could get hectic.

As for the details of what the Long Weekend Reboot entails, check out the website where it maps out all three days including links to the recipes for each juice.  Tomorrow's juices start off with the two we've already made.

Breakfast: Carrot Apple Ginger Juice

• 3 carrots
• 2 apples
• 1 small piece of ginger (about 1 inch)

Mid-Morning: Mean Green Juice

• 1 cucumber
• 4 celery stalks
• 2 apples
• 6-8 leaves kale
• 1/2 lemon
• 1 tbsp ginger

For all those out there who might be thinking of trying the juicing thing out, learn from my mistake.  When making a juice, if it says leaves of kale, just juice the leaves.  I realized today that the reason there was almost twice as much juice as expected, and also probably why that "green" taste was so over-powering to me, is because I juiced the stalks of the kale along with the leaves, which the recipe didn't call for.  I read online today some comments from people talking about juicing where they mention juicing the stalks as well for extra juice if you want more than the standard amount.  And it stands to reason that too much kale juice would throw the proportions off in the recipe and mess with the taste.

That's about all for now.  I'll check in tomorrow with a progress report on day one.  And if I have time there might even be a video entry.  Bye for now!