Back on the Juice

You may recall that for awhile I was pretty solid on the juicing. I was juicing nearly everyday over the summer. But when the semester started again at UNC I fell out of my habit. It’s easy to juice when I don’t have meetings to go to or classes to teach. It just got hard to keep up with it once the semester kicked in and eventually I realized I wasn’t juicing anymore.

With my decision to stop drinking coke, I thought it would be a solid idea to bring back juicing. So first, a soda update. This is day eight of my soda reducation phase. During week one I decided I would limit myself to 20 sodas a week at home. I clocked in at 16. Go me! This week, my goal is no more than 16 and 18 if I have a true emergency. I get to decide if it’s an emergency. I have no criteria for what constitutes an emergency. I don’t need to behave like an academic in every situation. I trust I will know a coke emergency when it is upon me.

Now, since I was able to do 16 in week one it would make sense to do less than 16 in week two but I’m not going to do that. I’m going to stay here and adjust. If I should come in at fewer than 16 this week then good for me. If not, fine.

Before I get into the juicing let me tell you a bit about my first eight days of trying to go off of coke. The first four were a breeze. Taking class on the first four days was no problem. Then things got a bit hard, but I supplemented with an extra coke. Still relatively fine. But yesterday, Day 7? Holy moses was that hard. I started to go down fast in the afternoon. At 5:30 Mark found me face down on the bed. I was exhausted. My brain was fuzzy. I felt horrible. I made it through the evening but passed out that night and slept hard.

I woke up today (Day 8) with a mild headache. Oddly enough, I did not want any coke. I was not craving it. I had two swigs and stumbled off to class. Class was like a moving in slow motion through fog. I was fuzzy. My postures were meh. I didn’t care that my postures were meh because I knew I was working through some withdrawals. I did do the entire class so that’s a plus.

Got home, showered, and started feeling good. Drank 1 and a half cokes. Felt better. Went to the store to get my juicing supplies. Let me tell you about today’s juice. It’s an oldie but a goodie and perfect for the Bikram yogi. It’s cucumber, one granny smith, and one lemon. I only used half the cucumber because I was aiming for around 8oz of juice as a snack. I managed to score an organic cucumber so I didn’t have to peel it. You get more juice from it when you don’t have to peel it. Also, it’s worth it to pay the extra for the organic if you hate peeling like me.

Anyways, this juice is high in potassium and magnesium (and probably fiber). It’s all the stuff we lose when we sweat in the hot room so that’s why I recommend it. If you can drink straight cucumber juice horray for you! I’m not in the mood for that yet. Cut it with a lemon and your favorite apple and it’ll be a little tart and go down well. Currently, my brain feels pretty sharp, and I’m not crashing.

I also bought a new juicing book to get myself re-inspired (not that it’s hard. juicing is yummy).  I have not tried any of these recipes yet, but they look delicious. I recommend it. It’s inexpensive and offers a range of ideas and combinations.