My Juicer

is pretty good. From the reviews I read, it is a cheap juicer that does almost as good of a job as an expensive one. So far, I couldn't think of what a more expensive one could do that this one couldn't. This morning, I found out.

Notice the giant bag of carrots on the bottom right.

See, when I went shopping and bought a fridge full of veggies and a counter full of fruits I found some deliciously ripe pears. Organic, and on sale. Sweet! (Literally, ha ha). When I read in the juicing book to use firm apples because they juice better, I took no time to think of why. So, when I put my smushy pears in the juicer I was surprised at the think smoothie like substance that came sludging out of the spout. It didn't occur to me that smushy fruit wouldn't juice well, at all. In fact, it caused me to have to disassemble the juicer mid juice, clean it and put it back together.



All of the pear gunk

This wasn't a problem, but did disappoint me slightly. See, today was the first day that I was making an entire days worth of juice. Cleaning the juicer 2,3 or 4 times a day is a pain. No matter the design, I think any juicer is going to have quite a few parts that need disassembled, cleaned and put back together. This juicer is no exception. Although, for the amount of vegetables and fruits that went into it today, I was pleasantly surprised. This is what went in

*A huge amount of carrots. As it turns out, carrots are great for pushing everything else through. Plus, I bought a 25lb bag (much cheaper) and they need used.


This x4 is about as many carrots as went in.

*Two whole packages/heads of kale.
*One whole spinach thing (when I say whole, I mean amount tied together and sold as "1").
*5 pears
*One cucumber
*Two apples

After round 1

*A whole thing of celery
*A finger sized piece of ginger.
*Two lemons (with peels)
*Two oranges (with peels)
*Three beats (with leaves)
* One head of broccoli

I started out with less, but as I went I realized I would need a lot more. See, we haven't had any juice in two days. After my last blog post, my amazing friend came for a surprise visit and we went out. This involved buffalo wings, pretzels, cheesy fries and numerous other items of deliciousness. We also went to breakfast the next day, and I enjoyed banana caramel pancakes. Following which we went to ikea, which inspired a bit of a kitchen project (that closed the kitchen the following day). So, todays juice was the first. And today is really my first day of only juice. My goal is 12 days.

Previously, I mentioned concerns with just juice and my milk supply. My dad mentioned something interesting, an article about a woman in Africa, breastfeeding. While the mother is starving, the baby has fat rolls and adorable cheeks. So, although I realize the risk in potentially reducing my milk supply I don't think that will be the case. I will keep an eye out, but the body can do amazing things. More importantly, a juice fast is NOT starving yourself. There is no limit to the amount of juice you can have.

A gallon of juice

Also, in combining juice with super healthy foods I noticed that the times I was really hungry was after eating the healthy foods, not after the juice. According to some research, that is because the juice does not activate the digestive system the way whole foods do. So, hopefully I can actually be LESS hungry on tons of juice, than I am on juice with whole foods.

Jason said that he is considering doing just juice for today. We are headed to visit family later this week, which will add a challenge to this for me. Thankfully, they have a juicer to lend us which makes this immeasurably easier. I am pretty good at finding excuses not to do the things I know are good for me (see above) but I know I can do this. Sans smushy fruits, my juicer can too.