DAY 13: Lucky # 13

Lucky 13.  On the road.  Trying to juice.  It's just after midnight start of DAY 13.  I should be in bed.  I am flipping channels and (unfortunately) watching Food Network.  I may not be able to have a quadruple cheese burger with a full pound of hand breaded onion rings (You should see this thing!  It looks awesome!) but there is an honor-system convenience store down stairs.  (I am a sad, sad weak man.)  3/5th of a Hershey Bar later and I am feeling less than proud of myself.  (The sugar buzz is helping me feel a little better though)  In real life time . . . I have to look at this on a scale.  Not a weight scale but a justice is blind balance.  Usually on my per-diem fueled business trips I spend $30 - $35 on fast food and big meals and another $5 - $10 on junk and treats. That is how a per-diem works.  You can do whatever you want, eat whatever you want, drink whatever you want as long as it meets IRS guidelines for how much they say you should spend per meal.  So here I am, early on the morning of my 4th day on the road and I have failed to the tune of one Hershey Bar.  On the scale of fail - not that bad.


Yesterday I got a question from the only person who's actually read my blog and asked a juicing related question.  She's two for two if I ever get around to an FAQ.


Cortney  July 19, 2012 7:59 PMJuicer Dan, what are the benefits of celery and cucumber? Would it be better to just leave them out and add in more of a different vegetable that is more "palatable"?


@Cortney - It's funny you should ask.  Reading between the lines, I interprete your question to mean, "Why do you keep drinking stuff you don't like?"  Well, I have been thinking about the same darn thing.  (More about that later)  In answer to your question, first I will answer it in my words.  The benefit of drinking veggies over fruit is the same benefit of eating veggies over fruits.  There are more nutrients and essentials in veggies.  Fruit is sweeter, which means along with the nutrients comes higher levels of fructose.  In theory, mixing the two has the benefit of drinking veggies with the sweetness of fruit to mask the yuckiness. According to Mayo Clinc and the guys at FoodRepublic.com, ". . . because juicing removes the (non-soluble) fiber from fruit and veggies, your body absorbs fructose sugar from fruit juice more easily and this can upset blood sugar levels. Vegetable juices other than carrot and beet, which work similarly to fruit juice, don’t have this negative effect, which is why many health professionals encourage us to drink more veggie juices and limit fruit juice to a glass a day." Here's my solution:  I've decided to do shots!  (No I haven't gone off the deep end.  I'm still going to be able to show my face in church.)  I'm doing green shots.  In essence, I'm going to juice the greens, shoot them down and then enjoy a glass of yummy fruit juice.  We'll see what happens.

30 Oz of Joy and 4 Oz of Death.  Here goes!

BREAKFAST (SHOT):



Vase #11 Apple1 1/4 Cantaloupe1 1/4 Pineapple1 Orange Measuring Cup #2 2 Cups Spinach1 Cup Kale This idea took shape last night (pre-Hershey bar) when I realized that 50% of what I am doing is really tasty and enjoyable.  By mixing in the 50% of horribleness, I am taking something beauiftul and tasty adding several more ounces of liquid and prolonging my agony.  The Chill Pipe helps speed things along but what if I could make it faster?  (You - What about intraveiniousIt is just made prolonged and mizerable by the 50% that is horrible and disgusting.  Time to do shots! 


LUNCH:

Carne Adovada Stuffed Sope

The curse of DAY 13 continues.  In all fairness, I did have to pack up C-Max at 8:00am so for now, I am on my own.  Following the weakness of a midnight Hershey Bar run, my lunch was a fail/compromise.  I went to Little Anita's and ordered a big pile of lettuce surrounded by green chile.  (I am such a liar!  I wish that's all it was.  Bad bad doggy doggy!  It is starting to sound like justification at this point, but on a typical trip to NM, I would have been here at least twice and in one sitting would have wolfed down one of these along with all the beans and rice, a basket of chips, and a sopapilla or two with honey.  Today - as I failed - I ate less than a whole one, no rice, no beans, 2 chips (yes - TWO!) and a single bite of a sopapilla.  I am a loser but at least I am way way way better than I used to be.  Baby steps right?  


SNACK:


(You - Snack!  You just ate a pile of NOT juice!  Me - I know but I need juice.  Despite my gripes and complaints, when I don't have it, I miss it.)


And it's fun to say, "I got Naked in the airport and even on the plane."  (He He.  I am juvenile.  I know.)


DINNER:

Seriously!  Who leaves half a bean burrito AND homemade chocolate chip cookies just laying around??!!  Who does that!  Six hours in airports and on planes.  30 minutes of scripture reading and tucking the kids in.  I walk into the kitchen to unpack C-Max and make sure he made it home ok.  I am grabbing spinach and carrots out of the fridge and there, laying exposed on greasy wax paper is a Beto's bean and cheese burrito.  I shudder, turn around to put my supplies on the counter and have to slide a gallon sized zip lock bag of homemade chocolate chip cookies out of the way.  (AAAAhhhhhh!)  I polish off the 1/2 burrito, cram a cookie in my mouth and stand ashamed in the middle of the kitchen.

Wow!  That's a lot of spinach juice!

3 Cups Spinach
4 Carrots
1 Green Apple


I juice my greens into one glass and my carrots and apple into another.  I slam it down, slug down a glass of water (shudder) and sit down to write this sad blog with a glass of carrot apple juice.  


Tomorrow is another day.  Day 14 has to be better because it can't be worse.