Juicy Juicers

Many of you have asked what kind of juicer I am using and I am using this one:





This is a Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Juicer. It does not have that big of a mouth, you do have to cut an apple in quarters to get it in. Its a cheaper model, only around $75.00 and it has a pretty good rating on amazon, but its not the best by any means.

Drawback = wastes a lot of leafy greens, and some fruit, lots of foam, sounds like a plane taking off in my kitchen

Bonus = I can put a plastic grocery bag in the pulp catcher and it makes clean up much easier, and it was free so I can not complain

Result:it is doing the job right now, but I am planning on upgrading soon

Here is the skinny on juicers, I did the work, so you do not have to.

Juicers come in two types, masticating and centrifugal juicers. The one that I have now is a centrifugal juicer, which means that I turn on a motor, stick the fruit in the feeder and this mesh strainer spins and cuts the veggies then strains the juice out. The masticating juicer is manual, usually cranked by hand, and this screw looking thing inside squeezes the heck out of greens, wheat grass, sprouts etc...until the beneficial juice is extracted. Most serious juicers use the masticating juicer because it does not waste the food, heat up the juice (which can kill some of the enzymes even at a low heat) and you can juice wheat grass, sprouts etc...and actually get juice out of it. Right now when I juice sprouts, I have to use a lot to get anything out of them with the juicer.

If you have a serious disease like cancer, its important to get as much as you can out of the juice. In this case I would recommend that you spend the cashola and get a masticating juicer like this one:



I present to you the Greenstar Juicer recommended and used by Kris Carr and many other health goddesses. It costs around $45o and has very high ratings across the board. You can make nutbutters, raw ice cream and juice wheat grass with this baby. I however do not think this one is for me because of the cost and I think for my relatively healthy God pod, I can do with something more reasonable.



Something like this...

This is the Brevelle Juicer Pro and it goes for about $270.00. It gets awesome 4 - 5 star ratings across the board and Breville also has 2 other models that have variable speeds, pulp baskets, wide mouths etc...all at reasonable prices. The 900 watt one is only $160.00 and the smaller Juice Fountain is only $99.

For a link to juicers on Amazon - click here

Happy juicing y'all xoxoxo

Cucumbers, Kale and an Apple, oh my!

So far juicing has been great! I have not been doing it long enough to see any real results, but what I notice immediately after drinking my fresh juice, I have some pep in my step. I honestly do not feel the need for caffeine like I normally do in the morning. Considering the ingredients sound less than delightful, let me assure you, even Mike liked it. After I forced a sip down his throat and he actually said "not bad!"

Take that into consideration as you read the following recipes. These are the two combos I have been drinking since Sunday.

Green Monster:

1 pear

handful of each:

kale

sprouts

spinach

Green Apple:

1 apple

1 cucumber

handful of each:

kale

sprouts

Seriously, its good and the fruit takes over the drink. I am going to try beet juice tonight...

Crazy, Sexy goddess..

I love this woman. She has been an insperation to my sister through cancer, and I have learned so much from her its amazing.

Time to clean out the pipes...and the blood, and the liver...

I have cleaned out my house and my closet...its time to clean my temple.

After a summer of stress, about 100 Fat Tires (and bud lights), more fast food than I'd like to admit, lack of sleep and lack of a standard yoga routine, its time to cleanse! I am starting a month long cleanse on Sunday. Giddyup!

I have stolen my sister's juicer (insert evil laugh - muahhhaaa) and I will using this sucker every day. I will juice greens, veggies, some fruit, grasses, ginger etc...I will also be eating more "whole" foods and much less processed food.

Juicing has amazing benefits according to those who do it regularly. The enzymes from the raw veggies make your skin glow, remove toxins from your body, give you a "boost" with out caffeine, and totally do a body goooood. The over processed veggie juices in the grocery store are nowhere near the same, they are loaded with sugar, additives etc...to make them taste good. I will hopefully find some combos that do taste good so I can stick to this plan. I will be sure to share recipes and blunders along the way.



On this cleanse I am also giving my poor worn out liver a break, so no alcohol for 30 days, at least. I am also (since I am finally settled in the new casa) going to start practicing yoga asana at least 6 times a week if not every day. Yoga is a lifestyle for me, so I do practice some form of yoga (part of the 8 limbs...another blog for another time) every day - but asana is the fire that gets the toxins OUT of your precious, beautiful body.

Wish me luck, and have you ever cleansed? Tell me about how you cleanse. How do you feel different? What has worked for you? Anything really nasty and stupid that you have tried?



PS. My sister NEVER uses her juicer, if she did I would have never taken it. Maybe if I find some good juicing recipies she will start...

Yoga in the Evening...

Last week I talked about a morning yoga practice and how it can change the whole outlook of your day. A morning yoga practice can really give you extra pep in your step and make you even more pleasant to be around (if that were possible, I know you all are super perky and niceness goddesses at all times!)

So in the effort to balance our lives we would also need to practice some yoga in the evening. I recommend practicing pre-dinner or at least 2 hours after you eat so you don't get nauseous. A gentle approach works best for evening yoga so we do not over excite our systems before we catch some ZZZZZZZZs. Start with some gentle warm ups like Apanasa (knees to your chest), then move to some gentle twists and some more postures that keep you grounded on the floor. You can add a standing asana or two like Uttanasana, but I would not recommend you do anything too energetic like a bunch of Triangle poses or Warriors...remember we are trying to get some good sleep! I highly recommend Viparita Karani (legs up the wall) for a good 5 - 10 minutes. This pose is awesome if you have trouble sleeping, it calms the nervous system, very soothing, and its just an all around great posture. Take your time getting up from this pose especially if you have high blood pressure. Use caution with any inversion if you have high blood pressure or any eye problems. I highly recommend using an eye pillow when in viparita karani and just let yourself MELT into the pose.

Night, night...sweet dreams and don't let the bed bugs bite...

Less is more

Less is more v2
Originally uploaded by gawy.gawy

Less clothes, less space, less stuff = less laundry, less vacuuming, less cleaning = more time, more reading, more yoga, more conversations, more games, more laughter, more rocking on the front porch, less decisions to make and so much more!

Also, not having a dishwasher = less time doing dishes believe it or not...plus I never run out of spoons or mugs. At our old place we ran out of spoons and mugs all the time...now, we just drink, eat, wash and dry...finito!

I never knew I would enjoy less so much.

Be transformed...

Solitude at Iona Abbey
Originally uploaded by VaMedia

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. - The Book of Romans

Many people think yoga is just about stretching and practicing headstands, but yoga is not about learning poses, its about learning about ourselves. By learning about ourselves, we can break old habits (patterns) and therefore transform our body, mind and spirit.

Yoga allows us to take time out of our busy schedule that is always screaming GO GO GO and take time to reflect, renew and maybe even begin to see what God's will is in our lives. We can achieve this by practicing asana (the physical part to balance our energy), reading sacred texts and then taking quiet time to reflect. If we do not take time out of this world that is always screaming at us to do something, buy something, invest in something, clean something, eat something, watch something, play something...then how can we hear what God's will is?

How does the passage from the Book of Romans above affect you? How do you think a consistent yoga practice can help us no longer conform to the patterns of this world and help us renew our mind?