Day Twenty-One

Day 21 is winding down.  I'm sitting here listening to the kids chatter and drinking my juice.  It's not a bad batch.  It's been awhile since I posted a recipe, so here's what I'm drinking tonight:

• 1/2 of a large beet
• 1 Fuji apple
• 1 large lemon
• 1 large carrot
• 3/4 of a English cucumber
• 3" wedge of green cabbage
• 7 prunes
• 3 stalks of celery
• 2 big hands full of spinach
• 1/4 sweet onion
• 6 leaves of Romaine lettuce
• 1" chunk of ginger
• 1 small tomato

I gave each of the kids about 2 ounces in a small glass.  They weren't thrilled with it, but they didn't grimace in disgust either.  I made ground beef tacos for the kids tonight, where I provided diced, fresh, home-grown tomatoes, onions, and shredded cheddar cheese.  I insisted they put everything on their tacos.  I have to try and get these kids used to eating "the four food groups" with as many meals as I can.  In fact, I plan to cook some vegetarian dinners starting very soon.  They just don't know it yet.

Today's lunch juice didn't turn out so well.  I don't know what I did, but my Breville got clogged up or something.  It wasn't juice dripping from the spout, like usual, but rather a thick smoothie-like liquid.  When I took the juicer apart, the basket walls were all coated and thick with pulp.  I don't know what the deal was.  I can only guess that it was the order in which I juiced the fruits and veggies.  I used a kiwi in place of the lemon, but other than that, I didn't do anything I haven't done dozens of times prior.  I wish I knew what the cause was so I could avoid it in the future.  So, I had a smooth, thick, pulpy juice today.  It wasn't very good.

I'm not losing weight as quickly as I'd expected or hoped to.  I can only assume it's because I'm not drinking enough water.  Last week I started working for a new code in a new building.  It's more of an office environment, complete with a water cooler, which my last building did not have.  I signed up, paid my dues, and I fully intend on drinking plenty.  Plus, I only recently started walking again.  I'm hoping that these few adjustments pay dividends next week, because I think I've only lost 3-4 lbs. this week.  We'll find out tomorrow at weigh-in day.

It's been awhile since I've made a genuine breakfast juice.  I normally just make a big batch of mostly veggie juice for lunch and drink for breakfast whatever doesn't fit in the bottle.  But tomorrow, I think I'll make a batch of orange-mango-grapefruit-kiwi-ginger-beet-carrot juice to kick the day off right...

...after I weigh in, of course.