After the first of the year, I stood on the scale. The only word that came to mind was, “jeepers”. My life of eating too much and exercising too little had really caught up to me. No, I won’t tell you how much I weigh, but let’s just say that the scale groaned a little bit.
Also, let me state that I hate fad diets, and believe me, I am fully aware that juicing is in full-on fad mode right now. With that in mind, I have decided to try to drop a few pounds, while adding the nutrients of vegetables to my body. You’ll typically not find me eating vegetables with my meals and this is a tasty way to get that nourishment.
Here’s what I have been drinking as a meal replacement each day. For the most part, I have dropped lunch and drink juice instead. It generally makes about a quart of juice. I drink half one day and refrigerate the other half for the next day. I don’t suggest saving juice longer than 24 hours.
3 medium to large tomatoes
1 medium beet
4 or 5 medium carrots
3 stalks of celery
1/4 medium red onion
1/4 head red cabbage
1 bell pepper (red, yellow, orange or green)
1 thumb ginger
1 clove garlic
1/2 lemon (no rind)
Handful cilantro
Salt and Pepper to taste
I don’t like apple juice in my vegetable juice, and that is what almost all of them use as the primary ingredient, which I have intentionally ignored. Beets are really great for your liver and can help with detoxification and are high in iron. They are also known to lower blood pressure. Carrots are also great for your liver and can help with weight loss by increasing the liver’s ability to metabolize fat.
Keep in mind that these ingredients, when taken in any quantity, will make your poop loose. Believe me, if you drink a lot of it, or any juice for that matter, you will feel like a king because you will be spending a lot of time on the throne. Don’t overdo it the day before you have a marathon meeting at work!
I’m no dietician and mostly like to juice because I like the flavor. The good news is that I am losing roughly 3 pounds per week.