My juicer

When I decided to go on this reboot I read about 263 juicer reviews on various sites. I originally wanted the Breville that was used on Fat Sick & Nearly Dead, but when I went to order it on Amazon it was back ordered for 2-3 months. I came across this Kuvings on Overstock.com and the reviews were awesome. One of the reviews even said it rivaled the Breville that I wanted! After shipping it was $144.

I LOVE IT! And I mean LOOOOVVVVEEE it! It is easy to use, easy to clean and not too loud. (Well, in comparison to my blender that is) It wasn't until I ordered it that I realized it was only 350 watts. The recommended Breville is 850 watts. Perhaps you might not need something that powerful? And dishwasher safe even, wahooo!

Let me know if you have any other recommendations. I have heard from over a handful of people that the $99 Jack Lallane from Costco is not a good choice, but I have no first hand experience. Check the reviews out for yourself though. (R.I.P. Jack Lallane)

Here is what mine looks like:

Juicing on a Budget series

You must check out Frugal Living NW's series on juicing on a budget, it is really informative!!

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Let me know your thoughts!

Pinky swear

I will work on taking more photos for your viewing pleasure, I promise!

1st Reboot: Day 3

Holy Moley, Is this for real? Can I possibly be seeing these kind of results by eating delicious healthy food??? Another 2.6 lbs gone!!! Wowwwie! 

What I ate: 
Hot water with Lemon as soon as I woke up 
Caffeinated Green Tea (This time I waited til about 11 or so to drink my tea)
 Snacked all day on: apples, carrots, banana,
 2 Strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, and banana smoothies

What I juiced:   
Carrot-Kale Combo*:

     1 green apple
     2 handfuls of spinach
     1 handful of kale
     4 large carrots
     1 thumb size piece of ginger
    
 My Thoughts: I liked this one! I am not a huge fan of carrot juice or cooked carrots in general, but it was tolerable and not gross. You can't taste the kale or the spinach really. And you could probably add double or triple the spinach or kale because you hardly get any juice from them.


All Green*:
     1 Romaine Heart
     1 handful of kale
     2 handfuls of spinich
     2 handfuls of parsley
     3 celery stalks
     1/2 lemon (peeled)
     1 thumb size piece of Ginger
     

My Thoughts: Tastes like a liquid salad. Not too bad. I wanted to add some salt and vodka perhaps (I love me a good bloody-mary)but of course I didn't add anything. I actually made this twice today. The second time I forgot the ginger and it was even more bland. Easy to suck down. My good friend Carina and my husband's aunt Dianna tried it and they both agreed, "This isn't bad at all." I am thinking i might have this once a day.

* recipes from Reboot Your Life starter guide

Overall mood: A little sleepy but still so excited!


Thoughts: Today would have been a really easy day to cheat, but this mama was awesome! Feel fairly energized, but I managed to squeeze a nap in when the littles were napping. Watched the documentary again with my good friend Carina. This inspired me again and of course now that I have two friends on this journey with me it is so much more empowering. I had a small headache in the early evening, but nothing some ibuprofen couldn't take care of.

Today's weight loss: 2.6
Total weight loss: 5.8 

1st Reboot: Day 2

Wow, feeling so awesome! Hopped on the scale this morning and had to re-weigh a couple times before I would believe I lost 3.2 lbs yesterday! Wahooooo! What a great start! Of course I cannot expect these kind of results daily, but shoot, I will take it! So I guess what I consumed yesterday worked. And I was really only hungry once, and definitely not starving!

What I ate: 
 Caffeinated Green Tea
 Snacked all day on: apples, carrots, celery,
 Salad with romaine, leeks, onions, tomatoes, celery, asparagus, no dressing of course ;)
 2 Strawberry, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry smoothies

What I juiced: 
 Apple Pear*:
     1 Braeburn apple
     2 pears
     1 thumb size piece of Ginger

My Thoughts: This was AMAZING! I wanted to drink more and more and more. And remember, this is the one I made about 12 hours before and put it in a sealed Mason jar in the fridge. I had to dump some of the pulp and shake it up, but it was INCREDIBLE!

Apple-Beet-Carrot*:

     1 Braeburn apple
     2 Beets (whole, uncut or peeled)
     3 large carrots
     1 Piece of Ginger
     1 handful of kale (optional)
     1 handful of spinich (optional)

My Thoughts: Hmmmm. Well, I will probably make this again but tweak it because I really didn't care for it. I could still suck it down but I am honestly not too excited to remake this one. TMI alert: Don't be alarmed if you have a "movement" and it is the color beet red-literally. I did and panicked, hehe!

* recipes from Reboot Your Life starter guide

Overall mood: A little sleepy but still so excited!


Thoughts: Still super stoked! I was not tempted at all to cheat, felt full pretty much all day. I did find myself craving some healthy things like when we went over to my in-laws and they had fresh baked salmon and my mouth was watering. It was nice to get excited to make healthy-whole-REAL foods like that. I was in the bathroom all day. I had no idea I had that much in me! Sorry, but I really want to document all of this! And I pee all night long, just like I was pregnant. I am trying to talk Tim into switching sides of the bed for a while because I need to be closer to the bathroom, hehe. I am also drinking a ton of water too! And 2.6 lbs, how cool is that?????

Today's weight loss: 3.2
Total weight loss: 3.2

1st Reboot: Day 1

How I felt this morning: Really excited and inspired!


What I ate: 
 Caffeinated Green Tea
 Snacked all day on: apples, carrots, celery, cucumbers, broccoli
 Strawberry, spinach, pineapple smoothie


What I juiced: 
Green Lemonade:
     1 green apple
     3 handfuls of spinich
     1  handful of kale
     1/2 cucumber (i actually forgot this part)
     4 celery stalks
     1/2 lemon

My Thoughts: Not a good choice for my first drink. It was not very good at all. I am, however, on of those who can suck it up and drink anything if I have to. I might tweak this next time I make it.


Overall mood: Inspired, but tired


Thoughts: I am really excited. I didn't get my juicer until about 3 pm and I was too intimated to open it. Tim came home and dove right in and made me my first green lemonade. We also made some apple-pear juice for the nect morning because Tuesday mornings are my busiest of the week. I felt kind of drained. Not too bad, but tired. My fuse was a teency weency bit shorter than usual but nothing extreme. I did all of my shopping today. I spent $34 on produce. I have no idea how long this will last. The documentary says its about $14/day for the cleanse or $28/day if you buy all organic. I am going to buy as much organic as I can afford. For you locals, I went to Gateway Produce on Andreson just North of Fourth Plain. It is a discount produce store so some of the goods are not perfect (i.e have bruises) but that is irrelevant when juicing) The clerk told me that they buy everything local that they can, so that is a plus. I purchased pears, Granny Smith apples, Braeburn apples, ginger, lemon, carrots, and beets at Gateway Produce. I also went to Costco for baby organic kale, organic spinach, Romaine Hearts, and some organic pre-cut/pre-packaged apples for a treat. Note: The carrots at Costco are Organic and cheaper than Fred Meyer's or Gateway Produce non-organic!!!

Weight Loss: None silly

The plan stan

How am I going to get healthy?

Well, if you know me, you know that I have tried Atkins, South Beach, Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, a 7 day diet, and all kinds of other fads. I usually have good success for a while then get tired of counting or excluding etc. and then give up. I am not giving up. And I am not doing a fad diet. I am ridding my body of built up toxins and starting from scratch. Who wouldn't want to do that?

I am rebooting my body! How?

I am doing the CLASSIC REBOOT from jointhereboot.com inspired by the documentary "Fat Sick & Nearly Dead" which consists of the following:

5 days of juicing AND eating fruits and vegetables
5 days of juicing ONLY
5 days of juicing AND eating fruits and vegetables

So 15 days total. I was originally going to do 30 days of juicing only, (because I am in my 30th year and want to lose 30 lbs) but this plan seems a lot more realistic for me right now. After my 15 days I plan to reevaluate, but I am thinking I will want to keep going with the same plan for another 15 days, we shall see :)

Start date: Monday 4/9/2012

I don't even have my juicer yet, it should be arriving on Day 1 at some point so until then I plan to just eat fruits and veggies and smoothies until I get it!

Send me some good vibes!

301 days until I am 30!

The list of ideas I want to do/concur is endless but one thing near the top is to BE HEALTHY!

 I have all kinds of factors going against me from my family's medical history to my PFO (a nice little whole in my heart) to my hypothyroidism. Those are pretty much beyond my control, but what I CAN do is to take control of what fuels my body.  I love fried potstickers, Kraft Mac-n-cheese, fruit roll ups, Cheetos, anything chocolate (except truffles, i think those are gross), McDonalds french fries and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. You know, everything bad for you :) When I re-read that list, I see nothing of nutritional value. (Don't try and argue that the fries are vegetables)

I gained 60 lbs with each monkey and lost all but about 10 lbs. So add that 20 lbs to my 10 lbs of what I call my "wedding weight" And there you have it. I am easily 30 lbs overweight and technically I am considered OBESE when my height is considered. Of course I don't look obese, or at least I don't think so, hehe, but of course I am NOT happy with my weight by any means. And when I am not happy with my weight, pretty much every other aspect of my life is affected.

I miss feeling like a girl. I wear sweats EVERYDAY. I have 4 rotating pairs of Nike running pants that I wear because I cannot fit into any of my clothes. Most of my clothes in my closet don't fit and I have 4 boxes labeled "skinny clothes" in the garage that I REFUSE to get rid of.

I AM GOING TO WEAR THOSE CLOTHES THIS SUMMER! YOU ARE MY WITNESS!

She's baaaccckkkk

Well, I am back! Yes, I am serious!

I had every intention of posting on a regular basis when I became a stay at home mom in December but I found myself busier than I was working full time. And the thought of spending time on the computer rather than with my bugs stressed me out. Then my Facebook obsession took over and I realized I might as well be doing something meaningful on the computer, hehe.

I have been couponing, just not as much. As soon as that TLC Extreme Couponing show aired it seems the coupon policies became more strict and the shelves were empty faster then I could shop. I do dabble in the game every once in a while, but I am concentrating on more important things to me at the moment. What is more important than couponing you ask?

Well, right around February 4th, on my 29th birthday I started thinking about my age a lot. This is my 30th year. If that seems young to you, think about way back in your early 20's and recall how old 30 sounded! I asked myself all kinds of questions. Was I happy with my life? If I could change anything what would it be? yada yada yada. We cancelled our monthly cable and got Netflix instead and we started watching all kinds of documentaries. One that really stuck with me was a documentary about juicing called "Fat Sick, and Nearly Dead" about an Australian dude who goes on a 60 day juice fast and it completely changes his life.

After that, I decided to change mine.

What's a good deal?

So if you have been following along, you know the basic gist of couponing including where to find coupons and how to use them. A common question newbies ask me is “What’s a good price for…” The answer pretty much depends on how important the product is to you (corny, I know) and how much your food budget is. Another determining factor is where you live as prices will be vary by region. What I can tell you is the price that I *try* to pay. Don’t get me wrong, there are times when I am running to Seven Eleven to buy Nyquil at 1am, but as a general rule, these are the prices I look out for:

Household/Toiletries/Personal Care Items

I usually find these items at Target, Walgreens, RiteAid

TOOTHPASTE:  FREE

KIDDIE TOOTPASTE: FREE -$1

ADULT TOOTHBRUSHES: FREE -$.75

MOUTHWASH: FREE-$1

FLOSS: FREE

BODY WASH: FREE-$1

DEODERANT: FREE

SHAMPOO/CONDITIONER: FREE- $2
(This is for cheaper brands like Herbal Essence, John Frieda, Pantene, etc)

RAZORS FREE - $1

LAUNDRY SOAP: $1.99/32 loads

BODY LOTION: Free- $1.50
FACE WASH: Free- $1.50
DISH SOAP: Free-$.75

Grocery Items

(There are sooo many, so I will just highlight a few I get for super cheap)

SHREDDED CHEESE: free-$1/lb

PASTA: free-$.25

PASTA SAUCE: $.25-$1

CRACKERS: $.50 or less

CEREAL: $.50 per box or less

OATMEAL: $.50 for instant oats

PEANUT BUTTER: $.50-$1.00

FROZEN PIZZA: $2.50 or less for a large pizza

CANNED VEGGIES: $.50 or less

COOKIES/BROWNIE/CAKE MIX: $.50 or less

GRANOLA BARS: $.50 or less

CHIPS $1 or less

PASTA $.50 or less

RICE/POTATO PACKS $.50 or less

SALAD DRESSING $.50 or less

CONDIMENTS: $.50 or less

FRUIT SNACKS: $.50 or less

Of course you can get other items with coupons, but these are some good deals that can bring down your budget and/or save more money for something else. Is this helpful? Do you have any questions??