Celery Juice...is there something to all the buzz?

We've made it a few days over the 3 week mark and we are still going! I haven't missed a day and Matt's only missed one, but he quickly came back. About 3 or 4 days in, we already knew that this would be a habit we could and wanted to continue. I was only in about 4 days and I had lost almost 5 pounds of inflammation. I can see it most in my face and in my abdomen - less bloat and fluff. The last few days I've noticed that my skin is looking even better and the coloring in my face is rosier and has a healthier glow.

I am about halfway through reading the first Medical Medium book, and have implemented some basic concepts that I've learned about - lemon water, celery juice, smoothie (not a full detox smoothie yet, because I haven't invested in some of the ingredients for a full fledged recipe he recommends), a few foods that are good for Thyroid and/or Adrenals, increasing my veggie intake, cutting back on fats, only eating meat once a day at dinner, and grazing throughout the day (eating every 1 1/2 - 2 hours) instead of doing intermittent fasting or the 3-meal a day plan.

I've kept it pretty simple as I shift habits, so a typical day looks like this: 

Lemon Water, Celery Juice and Smoothie - As I get ready for my day I start with the about 16 - 32 ounces of lemon water. During the week, I usually end up drinking my celery juice when I first get to work, then 15-30 minutes later a smoothie. If I am still hungry after the smoothie, I'll eat steamed potato that's been drizzled with a little avocado oil and Redmond Real Salt Season Salt. 

Then I snack about every 2 hours, depending on my work/meeting schedule.

Snack 1 - Spaghetti squash with Kirkland Organic Marinara sauce (eventually I want to start making my own). Sometimes adding some steamed sweet potato with parsley and a drizzle of honey.

Snack 2 - Smoothie and veggies (radishes, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber is my favorite mix lately)

Snack 3 - Sometimes -- sliced apples or baby dill pickles

Dinner - is usually pretty basic with a piece of meat and veggies. Matt can't eat fish (which is what MM usually recommends if you eat meat with dinner), so until I figure out next steps we are eating hamburger, chicken and pork. 

Even still eating meat once a day, with all the other changes, I am starting to feel so much better! My digestion is improving, I don't feel weighed down by food and I don't crave sweets as much as I used to. One thing we have discovered is JoJo's Chocolate (our local Costco has the original flavor for a great price). It's a yummy low-carb dark chocolate that my body can handle, and the bars are pretty big so I cut them in half. They're a great treat without all the guilt or spike in processed sugar!

My personal review so far -- digestion is improving, my skin is looking even better, less bloating and feeling of fluffiness, way less sugar cravings, and the bonus is I'm down 6 pounds. I'll take it and I look forward to what's coming next!! 

My Celery Juice Experience

The juicer arrived! Woohooo!! Even though I don't plan New Year's resolutions, the timing worked out to look that way, so I'm running with it. Plus, it will help me track the personal health goals I've had recently and wanted to kick into higher gear. My health journey, weight, and self-confidence has been a rollercoaster the last few years. In the summer of 2016, I achieved a goal that I never thought possible and I felt fantastic! I was eating a very strict Autoimmune Paleo diet and using some high quality plant based supplements, which helped me get off all of my medications {minus my thyroid meds}. I was in the zone! Then.....I went on a business trip. For travelling, I thought I had done pretty well with my food. I even took some snacks to have in my bag for any surprises or schedule changes - BUT - with that effort, I allowed myself to take some snacks that I hadn't eaten for about 9 months. Some were AIP compliant, yet some were not. Looking back, that was where things started to change and the roller coaster began again. 

Fast forward to 2019, where I had plateaued again and was feeling yucky again. I knew I could get back to where I was and stay there, I just needed to find the motivation and a lifestyle with food that was possible to stick with. Enter the Code Red Lifestyle. I adapted the program to cut out the foods that I knew my body couldn't handle and began my first 30-day challenge on July 11th. I was able to make some new great habits which helped me get back to where I was in 2016, and I was SO excited!! This time the bonus was that the hubs joined me and reached some of his own personal goals, and we felt great! My progress continued and I was reaching my goals.

At the beginning of 2020 I was at a great place! I had reached a weight goal, and was on my way to reaching my end goal weight. My confidence was back on the rise.{However, I've since noticed that my confidence is tied to my weight and I hate that!!! So a new goal came into play....confidence that's not dependent on the size of my clothes or the number on the scale, but that's for a whole new post.} Life started to shift in March with the shutdowns and changes related to the Covid-19 Pandemic. My job at the time was with one of our local Hospital systems in a call center'ish environment, where sickness can be shared very easily. Leadership began transitioning members of our department to work from home, and my turn came on March 19th. I was able to keep my habits in place for the first few months, and then I decided to learn how to make homemade sourdough from scratch with a natural yeast starter. It was so much fun and I learned a lot! But, I think that's where the door opened for other bad habits to start sneaking back in and over the next few months I lost a little traction. 

This winter, I made it my goal to focus on listening to my body and let her tell me what she needs. This has helped me determine which foods my body doesn't like. So I began making small shifts. Cutting things out and looking for other tools to add back in. A resource, that I had actually learned about a couple years ago but hadn't implemented, popped back up on my radar....The Medical Medium. I received the book Medical Medium: Secrets Behind Chronic and Mystery Illness and How to Finally Heal for Christmas and began reading. It got me thinking about which of his concepts I could easily implement as I learned more. That took me to one of his main concepts - Celery Juice. As I read more and continued to learn, decided to take the leap! I grabbed this budget friendly and compact juicer and decided to being my experiment as soon as it was delivered. I didn't plan on this coordinating with the New Year, it just kind of happened and I think it will end up being a really good thing. 

Day 1 just so happened to start on January 1, 2021. I started with 7'ish ounces for two reasons - 1) I only had one bunch of celery in the fridge and didn't want to go to the store so I split the juice & saved half for tomorrow, and 2) I wasn't sure how my body would react, so I started slow. 

Juicer: Is easy to put together and doesn't take up much space so that's a bonus in our small kitchen! I did notice that it will jam if the celery pieces are too big. The smaller pieces mean smaller stringy fiber that pass through the juicer more easily.

Taste: I really didn't mind the taste of straight celery juice, unless it ends up being a bitter bunch - ten it's gross.

A few days later my hubby, Matt, decided to join me. He hates even the mild taste, but wants to see what it does, so he's decided to drink the recommended 16 ounces daily. Excited to see how it goes!