Rebooting My Life

Over the weekend, I saw two movies back to back that really moved me, and as anyone who knows me knows, when I am moved - I generally 'do' something LOL.

First, the movies were:

1.  Hungry for Change http://www.hungryforchange.tv/

'Hungry for Change' is a film that every American adult and their children should watch to gain a better understanding of the horrific effects our current American diet has on our health. “Hungry for Change” does an excellent job in educating the viewer on the atrocity our food manufacturers are inflicting on our health. 

In the film, there was a brief mention of Joe Cross, a man who was 310 lbs and sick from his bad diet.  By changing his diet, he literally changed his health.  Joe Cross is the subject of the second film I watched, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.

2.  Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead   http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

This is an inspiring film that chronicles Joe Cross' personal mission to regain his health. With doctors and conventional medicines unable to help long-term, Joe turns to the only option left, the body's ability to heal itself. He trades in the junk food and hits the road with juicer and generator in tow, vowing only to drink fresh fruit and vegetable juice for the next 60 days. Across 3,000 miles Joe has one goal in mind: To get off his pills and achieve a balanced lifestyle. 

You can watch this movie for free on Hulu or a number of other sources (DVD, iTunes, Amazon, Netflix etc.)

I have successfully lost weight with Weight Watchers and if I could just get motivated to do a bit of exercise, I would drop the 15-20 lbs in no time.  I know this, but I'm not particularly motivated to exercise and I think it's also partly because my energy levels are not as high as they could be.

The 'secret' to Joe's success was that he actually went on a juice fast where he only drank a freshly blended, nutritious fruit and vegetable juice to cleanse and 'reboot' his system to allow his body to start with a clean slate of sorts.  Of course, while Joe's journey and story are amazing - my goal is different than his.  What struck me was how this juice was effective in resetting the body so that you could start on a better path to health.

One woman in the movie did the juice fast for 7 days and ended up with no more migraines, a boost in energy and now has incorporated juicing into her life and seems to be happier and healthier for it.  As I was watching it, I thought that this may be something that my sister and others in my life could do to get their systems back on track so that they could get back on point and feel like themselves again.  

Now - to be perfectly honest, I am not fat, sick or nearly dead -  but I would like to lose about 15-20 lbs and have my flat stomach back that I had for the majority of my 48 - almost 49 years. 

I am going to try this 'reboot' based on the truths I know about myself:

1.  I am not a good dieter - Weight Watchers is great but I don't want to live my life counting points and doing the WW math everyday for food I'm eating and activity I'm not doing.

2.  I hate mandated exercise.  I am fine being active and doing things in my day-to-day.  I enjoy riding my bike but to go to the gym or ride my bike in circles by myself - it's not happening because it isn't how I am built.  So I need to find a riding partner to get on my bike and plan rides which are fun.

3.  I generally like juices, fruits and vegetables.  
 

I feel like I need to give it a try to see how it goes - my goal is to try it for 7 days and see how it goes.  I am nervous, because for me, the juice is going to have to taste good for me to use it as my sole form of food for 7 days.  Juice and water - no coffee, tea, Magner's cider - nada.
My biggest challenge will be drinking just the green juice but I can set a goal and stick to it from sheer stubborness so I should be able to get past this green juice. 

I am planning to start this on this Friday, so that the first three days of this will be over the weekend so that no one else will have to suffer with me LOL.

I ordered my Breville JE98XL Juice Fountain Plus 850-Watt Juice Extractor from Amazon last night and it will get here Wednesday.

I also ordered the kindle eBook "Your Comprehensive Green Juicing Guide –PLUS- The Only 10 Recipes You Will Ever Need" by Farnoosh Brock to get me started as well as the four recipes below:

Mean Green Juice (original)

This is the official recipe used by Joe Cross and Phil Staples according to the Reboot Program developed by Joe Cross.

6 Kale Leaves
1 Cucumber
4 Celery Stalks
2 Green Apples
1/2 Lemon
1 piece of ginger

Mean Green Juice #2

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

Mean Green Juice #3

2 stalks celery
1/2 cucumber
1/2 apple
1/2 lemon
small piece ginger
1/2 green chard leaf
bunch cilantro
5 kale leaves
handful spinach

Mean Green Juice #4

1/2 pear
1/2 green apple
handful spinach
handful parsley
2 celery stalks
1/2 cucumber
small piece ginger
slice of papaya

NOTES FOR MAKING JUICE

• peel or slice off lemon rind leaving some of the white pith
• to juice small leaves such as parsley and cilantro, roll them up into a ball to compact the leaves
• wash all vegetables and fruits before making juice
• buy organic if possible

I will be blogging my progress so - stay tuned!!