I first became obsessed with the idea of juicing after watching the documentary Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead on Netflix. Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead is a 2010 American documentary film about the 60-day journey of an Australian named Joe Cross. Cross decided to travel across the United States while maintaining a strict juice fast. He educates many Americans about the benefits of juicing, and even helps some people start their juice fast! I would highly recommend watching this interesting documentary!
Naturally, after I finished watching the documentary, I was enthused about the amount of weight Joe Cross was losing due to these fruit and veggie juices. So I decided to purchase my first juicer. At first, my mom thought I was nuts and insisted that I wouldn’t like it — I’m not a huge fan of vegetables, but am obsessed with fruit — but I ignored her doubt and decided to purchase a juicer.
Juicers can be very expensive. I did my research and searched various websites to find the best juicer at the best price. I finally stumbled upon the Hamilton Beach 67601A Big Mouth Juice Extractor from Amazon. Once I received my juicer I was thrilled! For such a low (great) price, I was worried that it might not be up to par with other expensive juicers, but I think it works just as great!
When I first began juicing, I did not have any intentions to do an all-out 60 day cleanse like Joe Cross did. Honestly, I just wanted to see if I could do it for a couple of days, maybe three. However, unlike Joe Cross who strictly only drank juice and did not eat food, I decided to make up my own rules for my cleanse.
My Experience:
I decided that since I was jumping into this whole cleanse trend, I wanted to have a little something to eat every day — I figured I might starve if I didn’t. I made my breakfast and lunch juices the night before and made my dinner juice during the day. I planned on eating half of a ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, and mustard sandwich with my lunch juice so that I would have some energy throughout the day and my stomach would not be turning or growling. Some days, I replaced my half sandwich with a snack like fruit or vegetables. This was probably the strictest diet I had ever been on. But I learned a lot while I was on my juice diet.
My juice diet lasted two weeks, then I started becoming very busy and my diet sort of went out the window as diets usually do. I enjoyed my juice diet and truly never felt starved, in fact, I had a lot of energy! It was fun trying new juice recipes and trying different vegetables that I had never tried before, like beets!
My Favorite Recipes:
My Helpful Tips:
- Make sure you have a healthy ratio of vegetables and fruits (not too many fruits than vegetables, and vise versa).
- When pressing your fruit/vegetable into your juicer, press very very slowly this way you get the most juice as possible from your fruit/vegetable!
- Once you’re finished making your juice, put it in the fridge for a while, I personally think juices taste better when they’re cold!
- Put a plastic bag (example: a grocery bag) in the bin where the pulp comes out. After you finish making your juice, all you have to do is throw the plastic bag away (the plastic bag will catch all of the pulp). This makes cleaning your juicer a LOT easier!
- Keep the scrubber that comes with the Hamilton Beach juicer (if you decide to get this juicer) it is fantastic for the cleaning process!
- Read the instruction pamphlet that comes with your juicer!! It truly is the most helpful part!
- Try out several different recipes until you find what you love the most! I personally love fruit juices with a few vegetables thrown in.
- Research what else you can make with your juicer! There is more than what meets the eye!
My Favorite Fruits/Vegetables to Use:
- Peaches
- Tomatoes
- Cucumbers
- Granny Smith Apples
- Carrots
Try a juice yourself, challenge yourself and become a better, healthier you!
xoxo, Megan
meganelizabethhauglid 