At least this happened....

Day 10.....the scales have moved down a bit! Ah, there is something encouraging when you finally see some results.  This round of juicing has been the most challenging for me. Bill eats...and eats....and eats things that I "think" I want. Remember, he is just juicing a little bit. Last weekend was Amanda's birthday, and honestly, I did not miss the cake and ice cream.  Last night, we had a meeting at church, supper included.  Guess what it was? My favorite thing ever - PIZZA! This weekend we will be out of town for another birthday party and we'll be getting together with friends on Sunday night. Honestly!!  Could I have picked a harder time to juice?!

So, you're probably wondering what am I going to do? Well, as you read in an earlier post, I did have a little bit at Amanda's party (but it was "safe" stuff), I had my juice before we went to church last night and pretended not to notice the strong garlic smells wafting my way. SIGH! I will probably have to eat this weekend - very carefully. (I won't be able to take the juicer with me.)  Sometimes the "best laid plans of mice and men" just do not work out.  I'm not going to beat myself up, but I aim to be very careful.  Then I'll be back to juicing Sunday; I'll have some juice before getting together with our friends that night.  And so I carry on....

Part of this process of better health is learning to be flexible. Life happens. So you go with the flow when it is out of your control, regroup as soon as possible and carry on.  If you just "give in" one day because you are going crazy wanting to eat - go eat a little bit.  You will feel better and have a better resolve to pick up where you left off.  Lifestyle changes take time....don't try and change old habits overnight. One day at a time..

"I believe the medicine chest of the twenty-first century is the produce department!"     ~Lynda Resnick

Speechless!

Day 8......We just watched The Beautiful Truth movie. In short, it's a movie that challenges the way we think about what we eat and modern medicine. Parts of the movie were surprising, informative, and reassuring with documented cases of those whose lives have been changed.  We need to open our minds, research and learn how to take care of our bodies.  Before I go any further, let me say, I am not opposed to going to a doctor, but it is not our first option anymore. This whole year has been a season  of trying alternative supplements, growing fruits and vegetables and research. It looks like juicing is here to stay in this household.

Let me ask you this.......since juicing can make you feel better, why wouldn't you do it? Is it so contrary to our lifestyle, our schedule, our families? Is it that we do not want to give up the taste and convenience of fast foods and eating out? It is a radical change for the typical American lifestyle.  As long as we feel pretty decent, why worry about it?



One week of juicing behind me......with one minor change this go around.  I decided to eat a little bit at Amanda's birthday party on Saturday.  The good news is I avoided the cake, the ice cream and the cream cheese pineapple ball. We had lots of fun! Our house was filled with kids, spouses, grandmothers, cousins, lots of dogs, and lots of love. Kerry, who is juicing with me, did NOT give in and eat at the birthday party at her house this weekend.  She is one up on me!! You can start juicing with us at any time. Earlier post have all kinds of information, links and recipes.  Just start at the beginning. 

Here's the key.......start with baby steps. Juice once a day, start making better food choices, and research. It's just not worth spending most of our time in the doctor's office, feeling so-so, or taking a lot of prescriptions.

Let's feel better together!  Join us on our journey to better health!

Birthday cake?!

It's party time!......Amanda and Gene came home today so we can celebrate her 21st birthday! The baby of the family. It's hard to believe she got married a year ago. We have a fun day planned tomorrow....grilled hamburgers, Paula Deen's "Caviar" with chips, watermelon,  more good food, family and friends! Jennifer is making a special cake, I'll take a pic for you to see it. Now, here's the quandary, do I keep juicing??? I had planned to go 21 days straight, at the last minute Amanda called and said they could come.  It's a little hard to juice sitting at a table watching everyone eat. Ummmmmm........what shall I do? What do you think I will do? 

I have run into several people that are now trying juicing.  Yay! They are all juicing and watching what they eat.  That's a great way to start.  Juicing "full time" isn't something you do all the time; generally, you do it to clean out your system or lose weight.  Juicing can easily be incorporated into a normal lifestyle.  "What's it like?" is a typical question that we are asked. I had forgotten that the first few days can be a little rough - you might even feel like you have the flu. I actually thought I was getting the bug the beginning of this week when I started juicing, I completely forgot about the changes your body goes through!  Here is a great site with basic questions that most people ask, be sure to check it out.  It will probably answer some of the questions on your mind.

Several people have told me that tried a juice drink at The Main Squeeze. Did you know they moved across from the movie theater? I haven't ever tried wheat grass, but it is available from them.  Be daring, you'll never know what you are missing.  Juicing has so many benefits, just work on adding it in to your routine. Seriously, what are you waiting for?


Now, I just need to get back into the routine of walking.  I am OFF!!!  It's so easy for life to get us off schedule.  It's not only the unexpected, but just a basic schedule change, weather change, company dropping by, you name it...it can happen.  I need to start back, but it's a little hard with company here.  I mean, who wants to be sweating on a treadmill while you're trying to talk. I must, I must, I must!  Maybe Saturday night when everyone has gone home? I'll probably just feel like crashing.  It's that first step.  I will, if you will.  It always helps to be accountable to someone - then you feel more obligated to do it! You can always join our SOLE MATES walking team on WAFT.

Are you kidding me?!

Day 3......Of course Bill was out of town when I found the snake! Yes, it was a baby! No, I didn't know if it was poisonous or not.  My mind could only think coral snake, it ended up being a king snake. Does it really matter?....a snake is a snake is a snake!  Life on the WAFT hill! You just never know!

My hands smell so good!  I was cutting basil for some friends today! The fragrance is so delightful! Our two plants have grown like crazy this year! They just keep going and going...like the energizer bunny!  Meredith told me to make some chimichurri sauce - I can't believe I didn't think of that! I think I'll try Emeril's recipe at http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/skirt-steak-with-chimichurri-sauce-recipe2/index.html  I wonder how well it would freeze? Ummmm...... I like it especially on beef, and yes, it can be incorporated in a healthy lifestyle.

Yesterday I told you I was going to try this recipe: 15 grapes, 1 orange (peel skin, leave pith) and 1 lb of carrots. I wanted to use some of our grapes off the grapevines.....it was oh, so good!  It was actually creamy with the muscadine flavor shining through!  The juicer had no problems with the seeds.  I am excited since the vines are full. Kerry, who is juicing with me, buys a 25lb bag of organic juicing carrots at Publix for $15.  I need to get a bag and go pick more grapes.  I might even throw in a few more grapes!

It seems to me that each day you make it through, the easier juicing becomes.  I did not miss "eating" regular food at all today.  Sadly, for Bill, I have got to remember to feed him!

I think I can...I know I can!

Day 2.......another day of juicing down. Yay!  I must admit it wasn't too hard today; even with Bill cooking up all kinds of things in the kitchen.  I jumped on the scales the  first thing this morning - I just couldn't help it! It's always encouraging to see the numbers go down, especially with such little effort! Since I have a new friend, Kerry, who is juicing with me, I have been doing some reading about eating raw foods - just raw foods. That opens another whole door of discussion! We'll save that for down the road.

I mentioned yesterday that the grapes were loaded on our grapevines. Here's a great article about the health benefits of grapes - http://www.juicingandrawfoods.com/grapes-health-benefits.html If you have time, check out some of the other articles, pretty resourceful site! There seems to be a debate as to whether you can have grape seeds in our Breville juicer.  Seems crazy to me...we have apple seeds, lemon seeds, etc, what's a few grape seeds?  Here's a recipe I am going to try tomorrow: 15 grapes, 1 orange (peel skin, leave pith), 1 lb of carrots.

Bill just put the fall squash in the ground and cleaned up the other beds.  He also plowed up the zinnias!  They were so pretty this summer.  He has already started some more from seeds, so I may get to enjoy another batch before the frost.

This round of juicing may be harder than the last time.  I was able to work around holidays and birthdays, this time we have 3, yes 3, birthdays within a week of each other.  I am going to have to do some thinking on this.  You know the old saying about planning....I have some thinking and planning to do!

Same Song, Second Verse

Another round of juicing!.......Day 1......the first day is always the hardest. I think food is on your mind more than usual. Once you get a few days under your belt, it is smooth sailing! So for now, I hang tough and remember this is only temporary.  Plus, the benefits of well-being will kick in soon. The key for me are the cycles; a round of juicing, then a round of changing eating habits and choices.  The better we eat in between the cycles, the better off we'll be in the end.  The weight will be off and a new healthy eating lifestyle will be in place.  Keep your eyes on your goal - and you will make it.

Bill's lunch

My lunch

Today, I started with one of the Mean Green recipes for breakfast and then raw "soup" for lunch.  It was rainy and drizzling outside and "soup" just sounded good. Tomatoes, onion, bell pepper, cilantro, a little bell pepper....all juiced together - pretty good! Bill isn't juicing during the day, so this time it is a matter of self discipline.  I mean, he ate pizza for lunch, one of my favorite things, and there was a slight urge to run across the room and grab a slice. But I didn't!

Alaina loves grapes!

 The grapevines are loaded! I wonder if I can find a good recipe that includes juicing grapes? As always, keep the 80/20 ratio (80% veggies, 20% fruits).   It's important to have healthy recipes, not ones that will spike your sugar levels.

It is never too late to join us.  It's just a matter of the will.  Why put it off?
Kerry's in...why not you?

Noah loved them too!

Tic Toc!!

I am super pumped!.....I start full time juicing (again) on Monday with Kerry! Another partner in health!! I have actually missed it. I am shooting for 21 days again.  Do you want to join us?  You can still run to the store tonight or tomorrow.  What's the hesitation? I'm no health expert but we have done a lot of reading.  The benefits are well worth a few days of "no food".  Once you get in your groove, you are set.  We have posted a ton of links of how to juice, the benefits of juicing, and the how-to's of juicing.  If you're still interested, go back through our blogs and reread the info. Send an email if you want to join us to terry@waft.org!

Fall squash

Our sweet potatoes are still doing well; I especially love the vines! The fall squash are taking off! And I don't think you can even kill basil!  I have dried it, frozen it, and made pesto! I was rereading some of our blogs, you can always tell when Bill is writing - he gets into the pH balance and all that jazz! Here's another link that he and our son-in-law Dusty are considering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBspR2p0YYM.  Seriously, not my thing!  It is all about backyard aquaponics: DIY system to farm fish with vegetables! Need I say more??!!

 

I am loving the change in the weather! Touches of Fall are in the air.  It should motivate us to exercise more - me anyway!  Bill keeps up pretty well.  I just stay on the go so that by the time I can do it at night - I'm like "Really? I am ready to crash!"  That must be what I work on now.  Any of you doing Zumba?  I am curious.  What's the 411 on it?

Here's the deal....

So I have someone who wants to juice with me........starting next Monday. So, I decided to continue eating food 1-2 times a day (filling in with juice recipes the rest of the day) and then start next Monday full force.  If you want to do it with us, just let me know! Contact me at terry@waft.org. You are more than welcome to "reboot" your system, change your taste buds, lose some weight, and feel better overall. Of course, it does require determination and desire.  Make sure your health is good or consult your doctor if you have any questions.....we kick off next Monday.  I could go ahead and start by myself, but what's the fun in that?!

I guess you have heard by now that WAFT was on channel 6 news.  It was great coverage but the reason we were on TV wasn't ideal.  There was a burglar hiding out around the station and the police, their dogs, and the whole shebang were all around us.  One burglar was captured, the other is still on the loose.  Yes, I am double locking all the doors!

With Fall heading our way - and don't you love the feel in the air - I need some new recipes.  Juicing isn't forever and I still need to feed Bill.  Will you send me (or post below) your favorite HEALTHY recipe? It can be a main dish, salad, whatever.  I am still off of gluten, so keep that in mind.

And lastly, the paint on our living room wall.  I was pretty sure I needed to change it, but when a friend told me it looked like a school bus - well, that settled it!!  It does have more of a southwest feel, I wanted something that would have more of an Italian feel.
 
It seems as though our life is in a bit of a rut.......I'll have to include some other ideas in our blog. :)

Starting Over!

Starting over  with  the flowers

One thing about living in the South is the long growing season!  My zinnias are near the end of their flowering so I cut a few heads off and dried them.  I planted these Sunday and watered them with a high ph water that we get from our Kangen water system. Not sure how it works, but it said the 11.5 ph water would make seeds sprout faster.  I believe it! We drink the 9.5 ph out of the same system.  Here's a link  for  more info.  http://www.enagic.com/watertheory.php

Not pictured is a squash sprout.   I've heard Fall squash is good so I pulled up so hills of Zuchinni that weren't doing much and started some yellow crookneck directly in the ground.  I want to see which sprouts quicker; the ones  in the ground or peat pots.  

A few tomatoes still  coming  in

I can't get over how good home-grown tomatoes are!  I'll miss them.  I might try to grow them in the greenhouse again this year.  Last winter didn't go so well.  Plants grew fine, but I  think  I didn't  keep the greenhouse  warm enough. I wonder  if  Terry will  let me grow some in the dining room?  Not likely unless they match the decor.

Speaking of decor, I think I  might have to  repaint the  living  room (see previous  post about Terry's angst with the paint color).  What didn't  help  was her friends at Bible Study today telling  her in a nice  way that her fear was probably right.  Get out  the paint chips  again!  It won't be  too  bad  this  time since the prep work  and  baseboards are done.  I think it  should be  black  since  it  goes with anything!

Help me!

No, I seriously do not know what to do!.......Here's what the living room looks like after 2 coats.  I am not going to hang pics or ANYTHING until I figure out if this color will work.  What do you think?  I think it should be called "mustard" - it just doesn't seem gold to me.

Do you want to juice with me? If you do not have any health issues, you can try it out with me.  I am starting round two this week.  I have found it is easy to maintain the initial weight that I lost, but I need to go back to juicing to lose more.  The last few days, I have been juicing and eating some, BUT weight loss is so much slower.  So, back to the green juice and cutting out food! Email me at terry@waft.org if you have any questions or want someone to be accountable to.  I'll basically be using the green juice #2.  Here's the recipe: Mean Green Juice #2

handful spinach
3 stalks of kale
2 golden delicious apples
 1 lemon
1 cucumber

This will be my staple - and all my body needs for this go around.  I'll probably use the cranberry orange on occasion too! Bill is good to go so he'll be working on his running! (He just juices for breakfast.)

There was a photo of a clever idea going around on FB that I thought was ingenious. I tried it myself and it works like a charm! It holds single sheets easily and light books.  It's eye level and if you're like me, you won't splash or spill anything on it!  I just love this idea!

Our square foot gardening needs to be prepped for the Fall.  Bill will be adding some more squash, he's starting some more zinnias (they did really well this year), and keeping an eye on our sweet potatoes.  The vines are soooooo long, it's unreal.

What now?

Life goes on, and on, and on.....I haven't posted too much this week because we keep doing the same thing!  Work at WAFT, juice, paint the living room, and put up tomatoes in the freezer!

Let's start with the painting....the color is Brass Mesh.  I thought it would be more of a soft gold. Bill describes it as a medium gold. It seems a little bright with an orange hue to me. I honestly do not know! What complicates things is that the living room and dining room are open to each other and I don't think they blend very well together.  Paint the dining room?  I haven't mentioned that to Bill yet! Haha! He is going to touch up the trim and then he'll be done in the living room. I guess we'll put the furniture in and then see........I'll post a pic when we move things back into the room so you can get a better idea of the color. I feel an urge to go to Kirkland's or Hobby Lobby!


We are still enjoying juicing.  We basically use the same few recipes over and over.  I think we will continue juicing even after I finish losing weight!  Yes, it is that beneficial!   Today we had a treat!  We bought a boston butt and a turkey breast from the Refuge of Hope.  They were both so good.  We usually split with my mom, that's why we get two different things. They were mouth watering good.  I need to get back in the habit of making some menus and doing a little more cooking. This juicing is spoiling me!

Name these worms found in Bill's compost.  Viewer discretion advised!!

WAFT has a Precept Bible Study on Thursday nights. We're doing the Kinsman Redeemer and we have such a great group.  I have enjoyed the study.  Gail commented on how courageous Ruth was to leave her country, family, all that was familiar to go to Bethlehem with Naomi.  Just think of the blessings she would have missed if she had not stepped out.  What an application for us!  Sometimes God calls us to step out by faith into the unknown, trusting Him, I wonder how many blessings we have missed  by not going forth.

It's that time.  Grapes are coming in!  We love just grazing up and down the vines! Happy weekend! Be sure to join us Monday morning from 7-9 for Jumpstart Your Morning with Bill and Terry! WAFT 101.1 or waft.org

Panic!!!!!

Notice the original light yellow

I am really nervous!.....We matched the living room paint to a gold in the couch...it is really bold!  I don't know!!! Bill is going to put a second coat on and then we'll know whether it is too much.  I do think wood furniture would be a pretty accent...but still!!!! Yikes! What do you think?? Like I said before, life is never boring around here.

We ate lunch out today, so we'll be having a glass of juice for supper. (Yay, no dishes!) In case you can't remember, it takes a fair amount of fruit/veggies for a pitcher.  This is crazy, Bill ran to town to get some more kale last night, and while looking for some in the produce department ran into another guy buying the same fruits/veggies.  Of course, Bill just had to find out if he was juicing!  Yep, he was!  It seems that juicing is getting to be more and more popular.  The one common remark is always, "It made me feel so much better." 

This much juice...

Eggs anyone?

Out of the blue, Bill decided to scramble an egg for himself this morning.  I have been indoctrinated, one look and I was like, "No way, juice for me!" My stomach has already decided that juice is the best way to start the day. If I really feel the urge for eggs, I'll plan to have them at supper (or dinner), or whatever you call the evening meal. 

....from this much produce.

So we're painting, and juicing, and making watermelon baby buggies.  This was for a shower I went to on Sunday.  I have seen so many fun carving ideas with watermelon!

Took to a baby shower

Another fun project we made

Organic or not organic?

That is the question........We tend to be bombarded on every hand about buying organic.  I think there are pros and cons on the subject. So, what's the big deal? Here's a good article from the Chicago Tribune with a response from the Mayo Clinic:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/health/sns-health-organic-or-not,0,5851333.story  If you don't feel like tracking down articles, here are the basics: If you are concerned about pesticides and fertilizer chemicals, then organic is a good option. On the other hand, there are regulations in place and there hasn't been a clear connection between non-organic food and health risks.  Organic is more expensive, but sometimes very close to the same.  Here is an article that compares several items and has recommendations on which you should or should not buy: http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/JustOneThing/organic-nonorganic-buy/story?id=13310727#.UByS5rTOV3Q   Here's our scientific method of deciding - if it is close to the same price, we go organic. If not available or much higher, we go with what is on the shelf.  What's your opinion?? And don't even get me started on buying meats.....! Don't forget to wash your produce. There are many good products available.

Fruit/veggie wash

Saturday was crazy for us.  I put up tomatoes, basil, made pesto - and that was just my morning! Bill was swamped outside.  We went (for WAFT) to the BBQ competition downtown, bought fruit to make a watermelon baby buggy for a shower and decided how to paint our living room.  If it were not for the extra energy we're getting from juice, I don't know if we could have kept going...but we did! lol

As I write this blog, Bill is masking off the living room.  It's time to spruce things up and move things around. We've been in our house for 10 years and we need to repaint baseboards, fix a few things, re-carpet a bedroom upstairs; well, you know how a house gets. We took this pic when the grandkids were here. (We rearrange things to accommodate them.) Here's our fun for tonight!

LR set up for grandkids!

Tonight's fun - painting!

What do you really want to know?

What's your question?......It's funny the number of questions we are asked apart from our blog.  Feel free to post a question below, others may be wondering the same thing.  You can ask about juicing, the bio assessment, square foot gardening, our prize albino bluebird...or whatever.

Bill hit the Farmer's market today and spent about $15, the fruits/veggies should last a couple of days. Although, he did buy some peanuts to boil.  I did sorta cheat a little today.  I juiced till lunch, got a gluten free pizza from Dominos for lunch, juiced this afternoon and then ate some popcorn at the movies tonight. The pizzas only come with a thin crust (which is my favorite). I am only supposed to be eating one time a day and juicing the rest of the time; but I don't think the occasional treat should hurt too much!  I'll know when I get on the scales tomorrow!!  lol (Don't have a heart attack, but we went to see The Hunger Games.) I will say by the time we got home I was pretty nauseous. Your body does change when you are juicing. This is the second time in the last couple of weeks that I tried something I shouldn't have....it's just not worth it. You would think I would learn by now. Bill just juices in the morning and eats food for lunch and supper.  He seems to be maintaining okay, I'm still working on the losing end.

In case you are gluten free, the BEST book out there is Cooking for Isaiah by Silvana Nardone. Her flour mix is out of this world.  Every recipe I have tried of hers has been really good.  Here's a link to her site: http://silvanaskitchen.com/ She has a ton of recipes you can try.  Among other things, Silvana was the founding editor-in-chief of Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine, has been on several TV morning shows and featured in several magazines.

Tomorrow we'll need to put up some more tomatoes.  They sure are good.  I saw a recipe today where you toast a piece of bread, sprinkle
with olive oil add slices of tomatoes, feta, seasonings....it looked so
good!

Our next project is to paint our living room. I'll show you the before and after pics.  I'm having a hard time finding that 'perfect' color.  Seems like we're always trying something......that keeps things interesting.