11-Day Water Only fast - 1st day of re-feed

 

As mentioned, I hardly slept at all, but was ready to get the day going! An exciting day of liquids other than warm water! My taste-buds couldn't wait. At 8am I headed to the store for some fresh produce. I bought some large carrots, collards, red bell peppers, cucumbers, hen a red onion and green onions for later in the day, and a coconut water for sipping on through the week.

I juiced 3 carrots, 1 medium cucumber, 1/2 red bell pepper, and 5 collard green leaves. It was amazing!! I had the juice at around 9:30am. It made about 16 oz.

Then at 12pm I took the left over soup I made last night and added equal parts of water to make it last longer. It was just ad delicious! Warm with a beautiful subtle flavor. I never would have predicted it,but apple cider vinegar really enhances it! 

I waited an hour and a half and had another bowl of it at 1:30pm. I enhanced it with some dried basil and garlic and herb dash seasoning. 

about 2 hours later I saw a super ripe banana that called my name and I couldn't resist! It's on my schedule to introduce fruits tomorrow, but couldn't help myself! It was the sweetest, tastiest banana I've ever had! Flavors I've never tasted before came out and I thoroughly enjoyed each cut up round with three savoring bites! No regrets!

Then for dinner I made a blended cabbage soup. 

I sauteed some cabbage, red onion, and carrots in water with one anise star, some garlic and ginger. Then after they sweat for a while I dusted it with some onion and garlic powder and tiny bit of garlic and herbs dash seasoning. I then added veggie broth until it came to a boil. I let it simmer for a little bit, then blended it all up! I sprinkled some green onion tops on top, and later added some fresh peas too so I chew and take my time devouring this incredibly warming soup. It was amazing! Two bowls full were 220 calories and a lot of nutrients. I.3g of fat and 12g of protein!

The following days of my re-feed I had plenty of green juices, blended soups, cooked veggies, fruits, and then on to salad greens, and introduced sweet potatoes, beans, etc slowly within the week. Another successful water fast for the books!
 

 

More about a Juice Fast

By Cathy Wong, ND

What is a Juice Fast?

A juice fast is a type of detox diet that involves consuming only raw vegetable and fruit juice and water for a short period of time. It is considered one of the more rapid methods of detoxification due to the reduced food intake and absence of solid food.

A typical juice fast lasts one to five days. Consultation with a health care professional is often recommended for fasts longer than three days or for anyone with a preexisting health condition.

The juice can be extracted at home using a juicer. As an alternative, juice cleanse companies such as Blueprint Cleanse, Organic Avenue, and Pressed Juicery sell cleanse packages made up of various fresh pressed juices that are delivered by courier across the United States.

 

How It's Typically Done:

1) Preparation for a Juice Fast – 3 Days Before - Although it can be tempting to jump into a juice fast, preparation is essential because it affects how a person responds to the cleanse. Certain foods, such as coffee, sugar, meat, dairy, alcohol, and wheat are phased out to reduce headaches, cravings, and other withdrawal symptoms. It’s also important to up your intake of fresh vegetables during the pre-fast. See How to Prepare for a Detox Diet for essential tips to get ready.

2) 3-Day Juice Fast - During the actual fasting days, approximately 32 to 96 ounces of juice is suggested, with at least half of the juice being green vegetable-based. Green vegetables are rich in chlorophyll, which is said to help cleanse and heal the digestive tract.
This is a typical day on a 3 day juice fast:

• Upon rising: lukewarm water with lemon
• Almond or cashew "milk"
• Green vegetable juice
• Green vegetable juice
• Beet, carrot, apple juice
• Green vegetable juice
• Almond or cashew "milk"

Drink a glass of room temperature or lukewarm water in between each juice to promote elimination.

To optimize the absorption of nutrients, drink each juice slowly rather than gulping it down. Juices should be consumed approximately one to two hours apart. The final beverage of the day should be at least three hours before bedtime.

Fruits and vegetables used to make the juices often include celery, kale, carrot, cabbage, apple, spinach, beets, and leafy greens. Avocados and bananas don't juice well, and the pits of peaches, apricots, cherries and other fruit, apple seeds, carrot and rhubarb tops, and tough skins of kiwi, pineapple and mangos should be avoided. Organic produce is best, but if it's unavailable, a fruit and vegetable wash (often available in health food stores) may help to remove some pesticide residues. Find out more about common juicing ingredients.

People often find it easiest to juice at the beginning or end of the day and to make enough for one full day. Although juice should be consumed as close to the time of juicing as possible, juice can be stored covered in glass or BPA-free cups or bottles.

If hunger pangs are persistent or uncomfortable, vegetable broth or a small snack such as carrots, celery, a salad, or a piece of fruit is often suggested. If it is a person’s first time on a juice fast, a modified juice fast that includes a salad each day for lunch or dinner may be recommended.

3) Breaking the Juice Fast - After the juice fast is complete, food is usually reintroduced into the diet over several days. Find out how to break the fast.

4) Common Questions - Find out the answers to commonly asked questions about juice fasting, such as "how will I feel?"

Other Parts of a Juice Fast

There are other components of a well-designed juice fast:

1) Physical activity
While it’s a good idea to tone down your exercise routine during a juice fast, mild exercise such as walking can help to boost blood and lymphatic circulation. Also try massage therapy (such as Swedish massage, lymphatic drainage, deep tissue massage, and Thai massage), contrast showers, and skin brushing, which can be done as part of your regular shower.

2) Promote elimination
Stored toxins that are mobilized during a cleanse must be released out of the system or they are can be reabsorbed into the system. Proponents of juice fasting may recommend colonic irrigation or an enema at the start of a juice fast. Other methods of promoting elimination include herbal laxatives, such as senna tea or cascara, detox teas, and increased fluid intake.

3) Mind/body wellness
Stress can have negative effects on health and can impair detoxification. Allow the mind to rest by incorporating mind/body practices such as diaphragmatic breathing, progressive muscle relaxation, or mindfulness meditation. Try to get plenty of rest. Go to bed as early as you can and take naps if possible.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, the liver is associated with anger, the kidneys with fear, and the gallbladder holds frustration. Proponents of juice fasting believe that old emotions may arise and be cleansed from the system as the corresponding organs are cleansed. See Understanding Emotions in Traditional Chinese Medicine to learn more about the fascinating relationships between emotions and physical symptoms.

The Beginner’s Guide to Juice Fasting

I decided to start a 7 day juice fast today...below is a beginner's guide to a juice fast:)

By Jonathan Bechtel
Juice fasts are becoming more popular as a way to “cleanse” the body and reset physiological processes that have been riddled with pollutants, toxins, and food that’s laced with preservatives.

But of course they make a lot of people squeamish.  Will I get hungry? Will I be glued to the toilet? What groceries should I buy?

Let this guide give you a brief rundown of all the major points you need to consider before trying one.

Reasons To Do It
Many people go on a juice fast hoping that it will be a quick fix to their weight and health problems. This is not a good idea. Instead, it’s best to think of juicing as a “gateway drug” to better health and eating clean.

A juice fast all by itself is a bit of a challenge, and frankly, too expensive to make it a one-time event.

Instead think of it as a lifestyle “jolt” that will give you a quick glimpse to the benefits of eating green.  Many people note how they have increased energy and vitality after juicing, and doing it consistently for 2-3 days will whet your appetite for the energized feeling that comes with better health and a good diet.

What You Eat
The “juice” you drink on a juice fast isn’t the kind you buy in the store. It’s made with a juicer that compresses fresh fruits and vegetables and extracts the pulp. Most juice fasts consist only of drinking this type of juice and nothing else.
Depending on the length of your fast and your activity levels an occasional meal may be necessary, but it’s important to keep these foods “clean” and unprocessed.

 Click here for juice fasting recipes for weight loss 

How Long to Fast
The length of people’s juice fasts can vary widely, anywhere from 2-60 days. However, for a newcomer, it’s most definitely a good idea to start small. Juice fasts can be fairly intense, and lifestyle circumstances can make longer ones all but impossible. Completely breaking your fast is worse than going on a small one successfully, so as a rule of thumb a 2-3 day fast is a good stepping point.
Beyond 7 days isn’t a particularly good idea. While the benefits of a juice fast can be remarkable, they can have certain deficiencies when practiced for a prolonged amount of time.

For most people a Friday-Saturday-Sunday fast is a good place to start. The short period of time will allow you to “break in” to the diet, and the weekend will give you ample free time and a flexible schedule. Juicing is extremely healthy, but also a very labor intensive way of eating, so a flexible schedule is usually key.

 Equipment Needed
The only equipment you really need is a juicer. Here the selection has become much more varied over the last 5 years.  At the low end are juicers such as the Black & Decker JE2200B or Hamilton Beach brands, and higher end models are made by companies like Breville and Omega.

If you plan on making juicing a part of your daily routine (a good idea), I’d recommend going with a higher end juicer. If you only plan on doing it for the fast, then going with a less expensive option is okay. But be aware that smaller juicers are not designed for intense juicing and may be wheezing by the end of the week due to heavy use.

Grocery Shopping
A surprising benefit of a juice fast is that grocery shopping actually becomes quite simple! Just buy produce!

The produce that juices the best are fruits and vegetables that are hard and have a high water content.  These include but are not limited to: carrots, apples, celery, beets, ginger, oranges, lemons, and leafy greens.  Soft foods like bananas and avocados don’t contain much water.

As a rule though, it’s okay to experiment. Berries, herbs, and vegetables of most types can be juiced, and often unusual concoctions will taste surprisingly good.

I firmly believe that a little bit of curiosity and experimentation will get you as far as you need to go for 2-3 days. However, if you feel a little bit intimidated by the wide variety of food to choose from, there are plenty of juicing books to choose from which will help guide you to making tasty concoctions.

Energy/Discomfort
Understandably the most common question about a juice fast is “how will it make me feel?”
Over the long run, juice fasts will almost certainly help you feel better and more vital. Over the short run the results can be a little bit more varied. Depending on where your body is when you start the results can range from highly energized to slightly sick and bed ridden. This is another reason why it’s a good idea to only do it for a few days at a time and over the weekend.
However, there are a few good rules of thumb to make your fast as comfortable as possible:

• Drink lots of water
• Keep your calories up
• Don’t go overboard with physical activity (moderate activity is fine)

Daily Routine
A juice fast is much more work than regular eating. Juicing takes a while, and juicing enough to sustain you for an entire day.  A good practice is to juice as much you can in the beginning of the day. Ideally a small or medium sized pitcher. This will take a while. Probably an hour or so, and you will probably have to do a little more in the evening as well.
For most people the biggest challenge on a juice fast is keeping your calories up to avoid hunger and fatigue. This will mean anywhere from 9-12 cups of juice a day.

This is a lot of produce, and you should be prepared to go to the grocery store every day or every other day. To save on food costs make apples and carrots the base of your juices. They’re fairly cheap and give you a lot of juice.
If you go on a fast longer than 3 days it’s best to supplement your fast with a condensed greens powder. They’ll help fill in some of the missing gaps in your diet and provide additional nutrients you might not typically get during a prolonged fast. Popular brands include Vitamineral Green, Green Vibrance, Incredible Greens, and Macro Greens.

Green Juice

A great way to improve one's health is to ensure that one eats a lot of fresh vegetables that have been minimally processed and are raw, organic and locally-grown. The problem is that not everybody can eat raw vegetables. To solve this problem, dieticians recommend juicing fresh vegetables. Patients who are improving or restoring their health and cannot eat food directly can instead drink juiced vegetables.

It is recommended to consume organic vegetables rather than those which are conventionally grown for health reasons. This is because conventionally grown veggies are usually sprayed with synthetic fertilizers or pesticides. They have also undergone ionizing radiation and are considered genetically modified organisms. The Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA, says that sixty percent of herbicides, ninety percent of fungicides and thirty percent of insecticides are carcinogenic. They destroy the nervous system and lead to many health problems due to their potent and harmful chemicals.

Juicing is a great way to obtain sufficient quantity of fresh vegetables in one's diet. It is less time-consuming, especially if one uses a good juicer. Those who have tried it the first time realized that it is not difficult and is very simple to do. People should juice vegetables because of the absorption of more nutrients in their bodies, better consumption of these health foods and a large variety of veggies incorporated into their diet. Those who try it the first time should juice the veggies they enjoy eating to have a delicious meal.

There are many kinds of vegetables that are great to juice or consume raw because of their health-building nutrients. The vegetables that are most highly recommended are asparagus, beet greens, cauliflower, dandelion greens, escarole, red and green cabbage, kohlrabi, onions, lettuce, bok choy, celery, endive, fennel, kale, parsley, spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, avocado, Brussels sprouts, mustard greens, green, hot, red and yellow peppers, collard greens, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, turnips and chives. Vegetables that should not be juiced often are winter squash, beets, jicama, carrots and eggplants because of their high carbohydrates content. Potatoes are another vegetable you should avoid juicing.

To make the juiced vegetables tastier and more delicious, there are certain ingredients that can be added. One of them is coconut, and it gives a nice flavor and a great source of fat to balance the meal. Coconut also has medium-chain triglycerides that provide a lot of health benefits.

Cranberries can also be included as recommended by researchers, because such fruits have five times higher antioxidant levels than broccoli. It helps safeguard people from cancer, cardiovascular disease and stroke. For every pint of juice, one should add four ounces of cranberries.

Limes and lemons can also be added to juiced vegetables, because they give a tasty flavor and a high amount of vitamin C. Fresh ginger can also be added, because according to studies, it enhances cardiovascular health and prevents atherosclerosis, reduces cholesterol levels and prevents low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidation.

Vegetables are important in one's diet for health reasons. Those who cannot eat them raw should try juicing them instead.

 My daily green juice - Red Russian kale, Dino kale, Curled Scotch kale, cucumber, apple and carrtos

 Alternate the veggies and fruit for an even taste:)

 The pulp is great for a garden compost

 The result is a fresh amazing and beautiful green drink!

More Green Juice

Day 3 of Green Juicing fast (along with the Apple juice & detox powder) 5/11/2013

 Spinach, Grapes, 1 Zucchini, carrots and kale

This juice was absolutely delicious...I give the credit to the grapes, it really sweetened it up, and I learned from yesterday's juice to alternate the grapes so not only the end bit (which I needed to pour into another cup due to the amount) was sweet.  For green juices I add only one fruit and have everything else be veggies. Especially on the cleanse I'm on I drink 10 apples worth of juice a day! I don't need any more sugar pumping through my blood:p

5/14/13 - Had the same green juice...only this time add some Betaine (sugar beet extract...without the sugar...more info below) And believe it or not this juice was actually too sweet for me! I should have added less grapes...but oh so delicious!

Betaine Benefits

What is Betaine?

Betaine is a naturally occurring chemical found in the stomach that helps in breaking up fats and proteins. It is a metabolite of choline, and is also known as trimethylglycine. Foods that are high in betaine content include sugar beets, spinach, shellfish and wheat. Betaine is important for the proper function of the heart and blood vessels.

Benefits of Betaine

Betaine is beneficial for a number of conditions and diseases, including heart disease and liver disease. This chemical also helps prevent build up of the amino acid homocysteine, which can harm blood vessels and contribute to stroke.

Betaine also benefits weight loss, because of its effect on metabolism. It helps to preserve muscle tissue during weight loss, because it is an osmolyte and methyl donor. What this means is that it is beneficial for maintaining cell hydration and volume, as well as fluid balance.

Betaine Weight Loss

Betaine's role in weight loss is more of a preservation of muscle tissue. Many people lose muscle tone and develop flab when on a weight loss diet.

Betaine is involved in biochemical reactions in the body, and it helps in detoxifying. It also helps generate creatine and other important muscle building compounds.

Betaine Supplement

The daily addition of a betaine supplement is beneficial for people who are prone to heart or liver disease. Because of the role it plays in preventing the build up of homocysteine, betaine is recommended for anyone with cardiovascular problems such as high cholesterol and high blood pressure.

The use of a betaine supplement is particularly important for weight loss. This compound helps in retaining muscle tone while detoxifying the body by flushing out the fat cells.

Fat Absorber

Natural product absorbs fat in the digestive system allowing it to pass with little or no side effects.  

Green Juices for cleanse

May 9th- 1st Juicing Day

8pm - Detox Shake - 7oz bottled Organic apple juice

11am - Detox Shake - 7oz bottled Organic apple juice

12:30pm - Green Juice - Carrots, Celery, Kale, Cucumber, cilantro

2:15pm - Detox Shake - 2 organic fuji apples juiced 8oz

5pm - Detox Shake - 2 organic fuji apples juiced 8oz 

6:30pm - Green Juice -  Cucumber, Kale, Carrots, Lettuce

Veggies for lunch juice 5/9/2013
1/2 cucumber, carrots, kale and cilantro

Veggies for lunch juice 5/9/2013 juiced

Veggies for dinner juice 5/9/2013

1/2 cucumber, carrots, kale and lettuce, pineapple (not pictured)

Veggies for dinner juice 5/9/2013 juiced

Veggies for dinner juice 5/10/2013
 1/2 cucumber, carrots, kale, lettuce, cilantro, spinach and grapes

Veggies for dinner juice 5/10/2013

Fresh Apple Juice

Liver Flush 5/6/2013 - 5/15/2013 

9 days prep

5 days juice fast with 3-5 shakes a day as blow

The shake - 7oz Apple juice + Toxic Removal powder

 5 organic fuji apples

chopped up the apples

 juiced the apples...hoping for at least 7oz

boy was I off! Gave me 16oz! good to know!

 I only needed 7oz to take with the powder in my colon cleans kit

The shake is a Toxin Remover shake needed to be taken 2hrs after my last meal, 1hr before bed. I small scoop with 7oz of fresh apple juice. It was delicious! The ingredients are psyllium, weathered volcanic ash, and ginger root...I could only taste the apple and ginger.

Juice Fast tips

Juice Fast – What You Should Know by Drew Canole

I have been getting a lot of messages on how to start a juice fast. When you go on a juice fast you are abstaining from eating any solid foods, instead you are consuming fresh vegetable juice for a period of time. A juice fast usually last 3, 5, 7, 30, 60 or 90 days.
Toxic substances are everywhere – in the air we breathe, the processed foods we eat, and even the water we drink. It’s critical for us to support the body’s detoxification systems. A periodic juice fast is a healthy way to support your body’s ability to detox and get rid of toxins. When my clients first come to me the first thing I recommend is the Alpha Reset. The Alpha Reset is a easy guideline on how to start and complete a juice fast and what gives you recipes that are good for a juice fast.

Here are some tips for starting a juice fast and what to expect.

It’s important to make your juice fast journey as easy as possible. The first thing you want to do is actually start detoxing one week before starting your  juice fast. This means cutting out processed foods, drinking more water, eating more vegetables, limiting the amount of meat you eat and most importantly limiting the amount of caffeine and sugar you consume, stop smoking and stop drinking alcohol. Also during this week start to introduce fresh vegetable juice to your daily consumption. This will help get you acquainted with the taste of vegetable juice if you aren’t already.
It’s also very important to buy organic fruits and vegetables. During the juice fast you are trying to eliminate toxins from your body and if you’re using fruits and vegetables with pesticide and other toxins on them then you are not doing your body justice.

Here is a list of the fruits and vegetables that should always be purchased organic.

 Be sure the corn is not GMO, along with any other product you use. Use fresh Organic whenever possible, especially for juicing.

What you should do during your juice fast

During your juice fast you should take it easy on exercising. I recommend walking or yoga but not heavy lifting, cardio, or aerobic activity. During this time you want your body to heal and you shouldn’t push yourself.
Another recommendation I have is to start and end everyday with one cup of warm water and half a lemon. This is amazing for promoting a healthy immune system, balancing pH, helping with weight loss, aiding in digestion, hydrating the lymph system and acting as a natural diuretic.
Many people ask me how much juice they did to consume during a juice fast. It’s really simple, when you’re feeling low on energy or get hungry have a juice. Don’t over do it. Remember to drink plenty of water during your juice fast.
During your juice fast you can still take your vitamins.
While you are juice fasting you will have different symptoms from fatigue, headache, skin eruptions such as acne, feeling cold, light headedness, aches and pains – but don’t worry these symptoms will pass and you will feel great afterwards.
The Alpha Reset  provides amazing recipes for the juice fast. Here are some of my favorites.

Here is a great juice. To get more juice from your parsley, try wrapping it around the ginger and feeding it into the juicer. Also the green leaves on the beets are very nutritional even more than the beet root. If you don’t like beets you can leave it out of the recipe but try juicing the green top.

Garlic is amazing for you. Most people don’t like to eat or juice garlic because of the odor that is created. Wrapping parsley around garlic cloves and then feeding it into the juicer helps absorbs the odor that garlic creates.

Try to juice more vegetables and dark leafy greens rather than fruit – apples are okay. If you have to have fruit it’s better to have it in the morning.

Check out this recipe I made for my own juice fast –> here. 

How to end your juice fast

When ending your juice fast you should slowly introduce solid foods back into your daily consumption. The first day after your juice fast you should have egg whites. After each day you can introduce new solid foods back into your life. Still continue to juice and eat vegetables. For more information check out the Alpha Reset.
For more information, juicing recipes and motivation check out Juicing Vegetables and the Saturday Strategy community.

Garden Green Smoothie

 9/7/2012 - from the greens I just harvested from my garden I decided to make a green juice:)

 9/7/2012 -  to sweeten it, and add more nutrients I added a hand full of organic baby carrots and 1 organic apple

 9/7/2012 -  juicing the greens

 9/7/2012 -   gave me plenty of juice!

  9/7/2012 -a beautiful green color

 9/7/2012 -  it was quite strong with all that amazing green...so I added some watermelon juice to sweeten it up some more:)

  9/7/2012 -the watermelon was from my garden and made a beautiful red juice

  9/7/2012 -I strained it to make it a more clear juice...the strained part was the consistency of apple sauce and delicious!

 9/7/2012 -   I put half and half in my first glass...and 3/4 green juice and 1/4 watermelon juice for the second glass

 9/7/2012 -filled up 2 glasses with some watermelon juice to space for my little niece

Fresh Juicing

           Fresh Green Juicing 
I've really been enjoying my fresh green juices this week:)  And am glad to have it as part of my daily routine now.  I can't wait to start up my garden this spring to have plenty of wonderful veggies to use.  Green juices can do wonders for your body and health. 

In fact, adding fresh juices to your diet can be one of the best everyday things you can do for your health! This is the case because with juicing you can take in far more nutrients from fresh fruits and vegetables than you ever could just by eating them straight. And these nutrients both protect us from disease and boost our health and vitality.

For example, it's easy to consume the nutrients of a couple of pounds of carrots in a day if you juice them. And while carrots are well known to be rich in vitamin A and help with our night vision, carrot juice is also a great juice to detoxify the liver. Vitamin A is also a key nutrient for skin health.

Detoxifying your liver then means that your body can process out more of the chemicals that most people are regularly exposed to - because the liver's detoxification capacity then becomes available. Because your liver is also your prime fat burning organ, detoxifying your liver will also mean it's easier to lose excess weight.

If you add some beets to your carrot juice, you can also take in hearty doses of betalains, which raises your body's detoxification enzymes. This helps your body process out even more manmade chemicals which -without detoxification methods -can be hard to remove. Beet juice in large quantities has also been known to break down cancers and tumors. One of the wonderful benefits of juicing!

Cabbage is another vegetable you can pack in with carrot juice - and it's been found that folks consuming regular cabbage have far less cancer than folks who don't. Cabbage also boosts our body's detoxification enzymes and helps us remove environmental estrogens. Environmental estrogens are chemicals which are often found in plastics. They fill up the estrogen sites in both male and female bodies and then our natural estrogen isn't used, which creates an abundance of estrogen in the body and subsequently causes a variety of hormonal problems. Excess estrogen is also connected to stubborn belly fat.

Greens of any sort are another favorite for juicing. Greens are powerful because they add lots of chlorophyll to the body, a powerful blood cleanser and blood builder. Actually, chlorophyll is very similar in structure to our own red blood cells and adding lots of uncooked greens in your diet means your body has the building materials to produce lots of fresh blood - and it often does.

This is actually one of the best things about juicing --you can add in lots of fabulously healthy vegetables that you might not otherwise include much of in your diet. And these juices are delicious too. In fact, if you give them a try for a while, you might find that they are easy replacements for soft drinks or other processed beverages. If you think about it, why would you choose drinks that are known to create disease (like soft drinks) over drinks that are known to eliminate and prevent it? 

This summer I will be tending to my very first vegetable garden.  I'm so excited to get it going this spring! There is nothing like growing your own fresh organic vegetables! This will help me cut costs on bringing in an abundance of fresh veggies for my juices:) I highly recommended starting your own garden, as big or small as you are comfortable with...it's one hobby that will serve your body good, and comes with so many benefits!

Fiber Crackers

Having started juicing my greens and veggies now, and not having a compost heap close by, I found a new way to make use of the remaining fiber; after squeezing all the juice out of them.  It's a shame to leave all that good stuff to waste, and since I don't eat gluten and like to find new bread substitutes and keep things raw, these fiber crackers made a wonderful bread substitute to hold my 100% veggie sandwich together!

Ingredients - all organic

2 stalks of Swish Chard

2 leaves of romaine lettuce

a handful of mixed baby romaine lettuce

a handful baby spinach

1 apple

2 stalks of large celery

1/2 a yellow bell pepper 

1/2 a large cucumber

Recipe:

Cut all veggies and fruit into small enough pieces to fit in the juicer.  Alternate veggies and fruit while feeding the juicer.  And you are left with a healthy green juice! Filled 2 glasses to the top (glasses type photoed below before I filled it to the top).

Keep the colorful pulp for the fiber crackers.  I sprinkled a very little amount of Himalayan salt into it to bring out the flavor, and next time I will definitely add a lot more spices to give it a wonderful flavor. I suppose the sky is the limit when it comes to flavoring these. I made several different sizes, just a few inches each, not knowing how they would turn out.  I molded them to the shape I wanted, as in the wet form it all falls apart. I then put them in the dehydrator for 4hr at 105, and needed to leave the house at that point. It looked like they needed maybe 2 more hrs, but I wouldn't be back for 8hrs so I turned it down to 90 degrees for another 8 hrs, for a total of 12hrs. They turned out great! Light and crisp with a hint of chewy that held it together. 

You can either flavor them for a snack, or use them as a bread substitute as I did, adding avocado slices, cucumber, tomato and romaine lettuce. The only thing it was missing was my raw mock-cheese spread! Made with raw cashew, red bell pepper, touch of almond milk, and spices (garlic powder, onion powder, cayenne etc.) I'll need to make some more soon.    

My Juicer (Omega J8006 Nutrition Center Commercial Masticating Juicer, Black and Chrome that came with The Complete Book of Juicing by Michael T. Murray, N.D.) was $299 with free shipping on amazon. So far I love it, it's an easy-to-use masticating juicer with powerful commercial motor, low speed of 80 RPMs; no foaming, clogging, or heat build-up (keeps nutrients intact), High juice yield; auto pulp-ejection function for continuous juicin, dual-stage juicing system; quiet operation; UL- and cUL-approved.  

It came with several nobs to make stuff like pasta or banana ice-cream. 

 All Ingredients

 Filled 2 of these glasses to the very top

 The very colorful pulp

 Before dehydrating

 After dehydrating- 4hrs at 105 degrees and 8hrs at 90 degrees (I'm sure 6-8hrs at 105 would have been good too)

 Thin crisp, with enough chew to hold together

 My fiber-cracker veggie sandwich contents

 Sandwich before closing up

Completed sandwich