Snack Attack

I've been feeling pretty scattered with everything lately.... and especially my eating habits. I did a juice cleanse a few weeks ago and felt pretty good afterwards. But what always happens when I'm busy is I end up eating whatever and/or eating out a lot more. And once again I'm starting to feel it... and see it... on my ass.

Ughhhh. So I've decided that I'm going to stock up on healthy snacks so I don't end up overeating or eating random junk for the foreseeable future. Yesterday I was starving and ate a GIANT veggie burrito for lunch... and then was so full I ended up taking a nap for a few hours. Last night I was a little hungry after the gym, but all I had was chocolate (it was really good dark chocolate at least) and my roommates pretzels (sorry Kelly!). I found out if you alternate eating pieces of chocolate and pretzels it tastes like chocolate covered pretzels. If you ever need to improvise... just sayin'.

So, today I'm going to the store and getting lots of healthy things I can snack on. I need to get back on track. More juicing to come too! Gotta get back to my daily juicing.

Who wants to do a juice cleanse with me???

Raw Generation's back in biz

I completely apologize for the lack of posts lately. I've been focusing pretty much all of my time for the past few weeks on re-branding Raw Generation and launching our new Skinny Cleanse.

So.... if you are in severe need of dropping a few pounds (like I was) or want to start getting some greens into your diet... check it out! I created this with someone like myself in mind: always busy, doesn't always have the time or energy to prepare juices, and wants a fast food option other than McDonald's, Subway, or Taco bell.

Every once and a while it's nice to hit the reset button. That's what this is. It floods your body with real nutrition which allows it to detox and burn fat. I hate to sound all sales-ie so I'll put it this way... STOP WISHING YOU CAN LOSE WEIGHT! All you have to do is drink juice! I tell everyone this. The more juice you drink the more weight you will lose and keep off!

Even if you don't want to do a strict cleanse, but you want a variety of juices... the Skinny Cleanse will work. It's 6 juices a day... 3 green, one citrus, one root veggie blend, and one on the lighter side with cucumber, pineapple, and aloe vera juices.

If you are already juicing at home and looking for some new recipes, we are giving our eBook away for free here... 30 Juice: Juice Your Way to a Skinnier Body

Oh and we are running a PRE-SALE from now through midnight on February 3rd. 20% OFF the Skinny Cleanse. 

Any questions... post them in the comments below.

xoxo!

7 lbs later...

The holidays are over and I've assessed the damage. I officially gained 7 lbs over the holidays, which is the first time I've gained weight in over 2 years. Needless to say, as soon as I found this out I immediately started kicking my ass. 

Coincidentally, I am in the process of launching a juice cleanse for Raw Generation. So last week I did a 3 day juice cleanse to start off. The reason I didn't write about it last week was because I wanted to see if I could actually complete it successfully before I go and blab about it. 

I spent Monday easing into it by eating a ton of fruit and not much else. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thrusday was all juice and a little bit of fruit to curb the need to chew. Friday was a few juices, homemade guacamole, and a regular dinner. **It's important to ease into and out of a juice cleanse for at least a day before and after. After the holidays were over I felt stuffed and bloated, which pretty much went away after the first day. All in all I lost 5 lbs and felt sooooo much better!

I didn't really have any negative side effects other than that on day 3 I was literally starving all day. No matter how much juice I drank or fruit I ate. I had read that this would happen on day 1 or 2. A few people asked me if I pooped everything out, and I have to admit as much as I was hoping this would happen, it really didn't. I mean the first day was a little more than normal, but other than that it was business as usual. Apparently, the detox magic starts to happen after you reach the point of feeling like you are starving but I wasn't prepared to do it any longer.... so, I'm going to do a 5 day juice cleanse next week to see what happens. 

If you are interested in being alerted when we launch go to www.rawgeneration.com and enter in your email address. You also get a free copy of our new juicing recipe eBook!

Has anyone else done a juice cleanse? Good results? Bad reactions?

Judging the Competition

While at Whole Foods I picked up one of their fresh pressed raw juices. While it didn't taste anything like ours and had different ingredients I would like to comment on a something. I really should be comparing WF juice to our Recipe #2, however I don't have any more here in my hotel room, and there isn't much difference in the color between the two.

If you notice Raw Generation juice is darker than the Whole Foods juice. That means more greens! When you are drinking a green juice you want it to be dark green right? Notice the number of  dark green ingredients in each!

Whole Foods Ingredients:

• apples
• spinach
• cucumber
• celery
• parsley
• lemon
• lime
• ginger

Raw Generation Ingredients:

• wheatgrass
• kale
• spinach
• collards
• Swiss chard
• apples
• lemon

And the color difference... both in frosted bottles.

When you are buying green juices, look at the ingredients. A lot of the juice companies that are popping up pack majority of the bottle with fruits/vegetables that put off a lot of juice like apples, cucumber, celery. While we use apple juice in our recipe #2, half of the bottle is filled with juice of 5 dark greens leafy vegetables: wheatgrass, kale, collards, spinach, and Swiss chard. 

Whole Foods juice: $5.45 (2 greens)

Raw Generation juice: $4.99 (5 greens)

There you have it! You get more greens with Raw Generation juices. 

I'm stuck

So a week ago I wrote that I was creatively stuck. Well I just finished the conference, got myself unstuck, and now I'm physically stuck... in Los Angeles. Hurricane Sandy has shut down the northeast so I'll be out here until Thursday.

It may be a blessing in disguise. I made so much progress creatively and personally while I attended the conference. Now I am stuck here with my computer and a lot of time to organize my thoughts, reach out to all of the great contacts I've made, and make a game plan for where I want to take Raw Generation after our other business wraps up after the holidays. It turns out being stuck here isn't such a bad thing.

all raw juices & kombucha from Whole Foods

I'm also gonna get some sun, a lot of sleep, and drink a lot of juice. Luckily, there was a Whole Foods a few miles down the road so I took a cab and stocked up for the next few days. I also have a bunch of Recipe #1's left over from the conference so I can get my greens while I'm here (hence the jugs of unpasteurized apple and orange juices- can't deal with straight veggie juice just yet). The thought of eating room service for the next 3 1/2 days makes me want to VOM, not to mention how easily it is to gain weight that way.

P.S.- if you are staying in a hotel and it doesn't have a refrigerator (or one stocked with alcohol and candy bars like mine) call the service desk and ask if they can have one brought up like I did.

Hope all of you on the East coast are staying alive and dry! XOXO

Featured on the Institute for Integrative Nutrition's blog!

This was super exciting news to wake up to yesterday morning. I wasn't fully prepared to handle the amount of emails and comments I got in regards to this so I spent most of the day replying back to people about Raw Generation- not a bad start to this week!

Here's the blog post featuring me and Raw Generation.

Health Coach Starts a Family Juicing Business
Posted on September 8, 2012 by Dorry Tolson Original Source 

At Integrative Nutrition, we are honored to play a role in helping you discover your passion for healthy living. Each student takes a different path after graduation, and today we are shining our spotlight on 2012 graduate Jessica Geier.  

Jessica’s interest in health and nutrition began when her grandmother was diagnosed with cancer. She channeled her nurturing spirit by preparing nutritious, healing meals to help her grandmother through treatment. Jessica has since paired her education from the Health Coach Training Program with her father’s entrepreneurial background, and together they created a fulfilling new business in Neptune, New Jersey!  

What were you doing prior to enrolling at Integrative Nutrition? 

I finished my graduate degree in 2007 and immediately jumped into a job as an architectural intern. I knew right away that this work wasn’t fulfilling, but I stuck it out as long as I could. After nine months, I quit my internship and tried out a couple of other jobs. It was exciting at first, but after the learning curve wore off, I was right back where I was before: feeling like I wasn't doing what I was meant to do in life.
After those jobs, I started working with my father. He is an entrepreneur and at the time, he had a few small businesses that I was helped him systematize. I started to get that same feeling again, and realized it was time to find a fulfilling career.  

What led you to explore the Health Coach Training Program? 

Just after I started working with my father, his mother – my grandmother – was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She moved in with my dad and I took over the role of cooking. I started researching everything I could find to learn about feeding her nourishing meals that would keep her strong to get through chemo.  

This is where my understanding of food and health began to change. After she passed away, I realized that I needed to change the way I was taking care of myself, or more accurately, not taking care of myself, so that I could prevent disease in my future. I was scared because cancer runs on both sides of my family.  

How did your life change after enrolling? 

Shortly after I enrolled in the program, I knew I was in the right place. I met people who were on the same page with me, people who believed the same things that I did. As I learned new information each week, I became more confident that I was doing the right thing. I was doing something that I felt proud of, something that would change my life and the lives of those around me.  

For the first time I was incorporating what I love – cooking and food, with something I believe in – nutrition and healthy living. I knew I could create a career in Health Coaching that would allow me to do what I love every single day.  

What are you doing now? 

Around the time I enrolled at IIN, my father and I were talking about what business we wanted to develop. We were exploring a few options, but the one that I was drawn to was a fresh pressed juicing company. At that time I was sharing with him everything I was learning about the benefits of food on our overall health, and he was starting to get on board. It didn't take much to convince him that juicing was the way to go. Thus, Raw Generation Juices was born!  

It’s wonderful that you had the courage to start your own business! Did you ever experience any doubt, and if so, how did you work through it?  

I was confident about the growing market for fresh pressed juices, especially with my newfound network within the Integrative Nutrition community. I knew that my role as head of marketing would be something I could really dig my teeth into and enjoy. 

What makes Raw Generation unique? 

Before we started our company, my father was an on again, off again juicer. After a while, he became discouraged with the time it took and the mess it made. He had looked for a company that sold leafy green juices, but there were none in our area! This was one of our motivations to start Raw Generation.  

Tell us more about the products you offer. 

Raw Generation sells leafy green vegetable juice blends. We started focusing on the dark green leafy vegetables (kale, collards, spinach, Swiss chard, & wheatgrass) because of the immense health benefits they offer. We currently offer a few signature blends, and we will be expanding our line while keeping all of our juice blends at least 50% leafy green vegetables, including organic wheatgrass juice.  

What do you love about your work? 

I love that I can get up every morning and honestly say that I am spreading health and happiness in the world. I am also helping myself become healthier on a daily basis. I had heard that when you are doing something you love, it doesn't feel like work. I believe that now. 

I've figured out my body (for now)

bibb lettuce is my absolute favorite lately

So over the past year I have been seriously experimenting with changing my diet. My ultimate goal is to find a  healthy way of eating that is sustainable for me for the long haul. But one of my more immediate goals was to lose the weight I had gained in college and after (yes, I am still dealing with it- but I figure the longer it takes to get it off the longer it will stay off- hopefully forever!).

I've tried all raw, high raw, no specific way of eating (usually including a lot of eating out), no meat, no dairy.

What I've found works for me is this: fruit and/or juice in the morning, an omelette for lunch (between 11am and 3pm), and then more juice and salads in the evening.

With this specific "diet" I get the best of both worlds. I end up drinking a lot of juice and eating some fruits and vegetables, and I don't go into the evening starving and craving salty carbs (can be deadly). I have my big meal in the middle of the day which is digested by early evening so all I want is a small light meal.

I lose weight this way, not even working out. This is what I did the week before and after the Raw Generation launch when I was too busy to work out, and guess what?

I lost weight literally effortlessly!!

It took me a long time to figure out the balance between getting enough nutrition in my body and feeling satisfied, but I did it.

When you find the balance that is right for your body, weight-loss can literally be effortless.

It's been a busy week!

But so worth it! I am happy to say that in the past 7 days I finished and launched my eBook (which you can find here), past my final exam for my Holistic Health Coach Certification, and Raw Generation is officially open for business! Go check out our website!

I have to admit, when I'm productive, I'm productive. If only every week was like the past.... I'd rule the world!!! Haha, kidding. 

I also managed to get everything done without ANY anxiety, without getting sick, without giving up my mostly healthy eating habits, and without over exhausting myself. I am thoroughly beat though and need some R&R in my bed with some tea and a book. 

PS... I know I haven't been posting anything lately about cooking and whatnot, but to be honest I haven't been cooking or even preparing much. I've been drinking a lot of juice and eating a lot of eggs. I'll get back into it one of these days. Cooler weather is coming which means I'll be getting into some great comforting soups and such.

How is everyone else's week going?

Feeling like I'm inside a tornado

SO, this is it! Raw Generation opens it's website tomorrow! I am excited and nervous, but very happy that this day is here. As if that doesn't produce enough to do and worry about, my final exam opened up yesterday for the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. I really have a knack for overloading myself. I was contemplating waiting until next week to take it, but decided since I get two tries, I would just try to pass it right away to get it off my plate.

And guess what? I passed!! Ahhhh, one less thing to worry about. Now all I have to do is finish the website, and make sure everything is set up right so tomorrow goes as smooth as possible. I know there will be issues, but I'm trying to button everything up as much as I can.

Oh, and I also finished my first eBook Frustrated to Fabulous which you can find here.

Wow, that's a lot! I can't believe I'm getting everything done and not having anxiety attacks. I've come such a long way over the past two years.

Sorry for the shortness of this all, but I'm sure you can understand. See you tomorrow!

Flushing My Liver

Throughout my studies I have read of, in many places, the importance of having a clean liver. Ultimately you want every organ to be clean and functioning properly, but the liver is one of the organs that deals with toxins so if it's all backed up it's almost literally full of S-H-I-T.

The liver regulates most chemical levels in the blood and excretes a product called bile, which helps carry away waste products from the liver. All the blood leaving the stomach and intestines passes through the liver. The liver processes this blood and breaks down the nutrients and drugs into forms that are easier to use for the rest of the body. More than 500 vital functions have been identified with the liver. Some of the more well-known functions include the following:

• Production of bile, which helps carry away waste and break down fats in the small intestine during digestion

• Production of certain proteins for blood plasma

• Production of cholesterol and special proteins to help carry fats through the body

• Conversion of excess glucose into glycogen for storage (glycogen can later be converted back to glucose for energy)

• Regulation of blood levels of amino acids, which form the building blocks of proteins

• Processing of hemoglobin for use of its iron content (the liver stores iron)

• Conversion of poisonous ammonia to urea (urea is an end product of protein metabolism and is excreted in the urine)

• Clearing the blood of drugs and other poisonous substances

• Regulating blood clotting

• Resisting infections by producing immune factors and removing bacteria from the bloodstream

When the liver has broken down harmful substances, its by-products are excreted into the bile or blood. Bile by-products enter the intestine and ultimately leave the body in the form of feces. Blood by-products are filtered out by the kidneys, and leave the body in the form of urine. (source)

The reason I am concerned with this is because I get acne right before and during my period as well as having other horrendous symptoms in general (as some of you well know if you have been lucky enough to be around me). I have read that awful period symptoms happen because your reproductive system needs to drain every month, and when the proper drainage channels are clogged up, you get PMS. 

Now, one of the best things you can do for this is a raw diet. I am TRYING to accomplish this, but have had a really hard time getting close to 100% raw lately. I also know that the more dark greens leafy vegetable juice I drink the less my symptoms are. However, sometimes I just can't bring myself to drink 2 huge glasses of dark green juice a day. Maybe that will change once Raw Generation opens it's doors and we are producing this stuff all day everyday. 

I found something else that I am trying. It's a very potent and pungent concoction that is supposed to flush out your liver. I had to make a few modifications because the original recipe seemed very unpalatable. 

Original Liver Flush

• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 c. lemon juice
• 3-5 cloves garlic
• 1 knob ginger root
• 2 c. orange juice
• cayenne pepper to taste

My Liver Flush

• 1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 whole lemon, peeled
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 knob ginger
• 2 whole oranges, peeled
• sprinkle of cayenne pepper
• water and ice
• DIRECTIONS: blend all until thoroughly chopped up and mixed.

I drank one this morning. It was intense. I'm not going to lie. I almost gave up. If I had put any more garlic I wouldn't have been able to drink it. But I am going to try it once a day for as long as I can stand it and see if I notice any differences. The one thing I'll tell you I noticed this morning was that about 10 minutes after I finished it I had to go #2. So maybe it does move things along and force your liver to dump the toxins into the intestines. We'll see! Only time will tell. If any of you are interested in flushing out toxins I suggest starting very slow. One of the side effects of the juice cleanses that are so popular now is getting very sick (a topic for another post- maybe tomorrow)

Wish me luck!

The calm before the storm...

The last few weeks have been eerily calm. Although I have been working on what I've needed to do for Raw Generation's opening, I feel like I have been really stress free (very unusual for me). I guess this is the calm before the storm.

I just got word that our labels should be finished printing this week, which is one of the last things we've been waiting on. We are working out our shipping issues, last few edits to our website, and we should be up and running! 


Also, we are going to start sending out our newsletter shortly, so if you are interested in getting updates from us on the launch of our juices, new products when we develop them, lots of info on the benefits you will get from eating raw foods, and tips on how to eat more raw...


<------  SIGN UP!! 


(I promise we won't be sharing your email address, nor will we be blasting you with a ridiculous amount of emails.)

I just want to thank everyone for all of the interest in what we are doing. We are excited to be able to offer a
REAL nutritious product that people can use to make themselves healthier! I feel like it's been a long time coming, but we are in the final stretch now.

Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

I miss cooking

oh mussels... how I miss you!

I recently realized that with all of this juicing and eating as much raw food as I can, that I haven't been cooking or even preparing anything worth blogging about. As much as I love juicing... I'm over it! I know I said I was going to try to juice majority of my diet for 30 days, but I'm done. Like 1 or 2 max per day. I need to eat real food. I don't know how people do this longer for a week. Maybe that's why all of these juice cleansing companies are popping up. Well, I'm in if for the long haul so I'm going to just drink juice in the a.m.

On the "cooking" front, I came across a wonderful gal, Blythe Metz, and her online raw cooking show, Blythe Raw Live, a while back, but I hadn't really taken the time until the past week to actually watch her show from beginning to end, 10 in a row to be exact. I had contacted her to get her permission to put some of her shows on our Raw Generation website because she talks all about why it's so great to include as much raw in your diet as you can, and BONUS! raw food recipes that are simple and fast.

I was bummed for a while because when it comes to raw food "cooking" I draw a blank. Put a pot on the stove, show me where the pantry is, and I can create anything. So, I am going to use her shows to inspire a new side of my cooking abilities. AND! My dad bought a dehydrator so I'm going to be testing out a bunch of raw snacks for myself.

I'll keep you posted! 


And P.S. don't burn yourself out with a juice cleanse. It's much better to be consistent and drink one everyday than to go APE S-H-I-T for a week. It's all about slowly adding healthy things in to improve your lifestyle.

Smoothie or Juice?

(Source)

My humble opinions about whether to juice your fruits and veggies or whether to smoothie. Some people say that juicing is better because you can consume more poundage in one shot so to speak. Others say that smoothies are better because they contain the whole fruit and/or vegetable. 

To me, if you are doing one or the other or a little bit of both you are way ahead of the curve. Most people don't eat ANY fruits or vegetables. So if you like a smoothie in the morning, DO IT! If you don't like the consistency of smoothies but you want to juice, DO IT! If you want fresh pressed juice but you don't want to make it yourself, PATIENTLY WAIT A FEW MORE WEEKS UNTIL WE (RAW GENERATION) CAN GET OUR S-H-I-T TOGETHER AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS! (PS. you can sign up for our newsletter on our homepage)

But in all seriousness, smoothies are good because they are LOADED with fiber and you can literally add in a whole day's serving of fruit in a blender. They are also more filling than juice because of all of the fiber. 

Juices are also good because you can get A TON of dark greens in one glass, where as it would be almost impossible for most of us to consume that many dark greens in one day. Maybe if we weren't addicted to McDonald's and potato chips. In one 16 oz glass of juice that I make myself I can get 1 whole head of kale plus some apples and lemon to sweeten it up. And I promise it tastes good. I wouldn't drink it if it didn't. 

Dark greens are literally the one thing that I tell everyone to increase in their diet- usually by adding them to smoothies or juicing them. 

So... smoothie or juice...doesn't matter...get it in your mouth!

To cleanse or not to cleanse

ahh Natalie Dee how I've missed you!

This seems to be the new fad diet- CLEANSING. There are companies popping up all over the place that offer very expensive all juice or part juice/part raw food cleanse programs. While I totally believe in the benefits of juicing and drinking juice everyday, cleansing is a short-term diet outlook. It implies that you can undo the damage of an unhealthy lifestyle in a few short days, and then when you feel good and have lost a few lbs. you go back to your old habits.

This will prevent nothing. It's a diet mentality.

What would be better is if you were to drink 1 glass of juice a day for the rest of your life. And in addition to that slowly replace the junk with whole foods (fruits, veggies, nuts, whole grains like rice and quinoa, beans, etc). And then increase the amount of fresh juice you drink- especially containing dark green leafy vegetables.

It's all about making small changes over time that you can stick with. That is what makes people healthy.

Hope you all have a fun weekend and get some much needed sleep....like I will be doing- still recovering from last weekend :)

1 Step Forward...2 Steps Back

This weekend I took 2 steps back. My plans got turned upside down and I ended up spending the majority of the weekend in the Hamptons with my sister, her fiance, their friends and his family. It is usually a pretty relaxing time when I go out there, but something was in the air this weekend. Everyone was in party mode. Maybe it was because it was a long weekend, maybe it was because the weather was beautiful, I don't know, but we sure had a fun party!

It was like I forgot about all of the "healthy" things I was supposed to be doing and found myself back in college. At least I was drinking like I was back in college. And I am still paying for it. I'm still trying to get ready for the week and Tuesday is almost over.

no sleep + lots of drinks = Jess is a disaster

The moral of the story is... I'm too young to drink vegetable juice straight through the weekend and not have fun. I'm not striving for perfection here. Plus I want to have some stories to tell my great grandchildren when I'm pushing 100. I'm trying to find the happy medium of lots of vegetables and fun times.

What did you all do for MDW? 

Gardening Daze

Well, it's been raining like crazy here for the past 2 weeks, which has delayed the fence being put in, but it is finally done. So all we have to do now is rototil the beds and plant EVERYTHING! This will be a very short post because I am off to dig in the dirt for a while. Hopefully today the rain will hold off so we can get it all done.

But I'm not planning on it because....

Everything always takes at least twice as long and costs twice as much as you are expecting it to.

Words to live by.

On a juicier note... for the last 4 days I have been juicing up a storm with the exception of last night at my cousin's graduation party (CONGRATS MIKE!). But I weighed myself yesterday and am happy to say that I am at my lowest weight (153 lbs) since before college. I didn't weigh myself at the start of this but, I definitely lost a few lbs. I literally wake ups every morning and can see a change (it's little but I can still see it). AND I haven't been killing it with the workouts. I just drink a lot of juice and eat some fruit and raw nuts.  YES!!!

I probably won't be writing at all this weekend because I fully plan on being lazy at the beach for the next 3 days. Hopefully the sun will come out, but if the sun doesn't you will probably hear from me.


Happy long weekend everyone! 

What is the best juicer to buy?

I've been getting this question a lot lately. I thought it was a complicated answer because of opinions of people in the juicing field. (OPINIONS ARE LIKE A**HOLES, EVERYONE'S GOT ONE) I've been hemming and hawing over which juicer to buy for myself. The one's we are using for Raw Generation are not one's that I want to use for myself every day because they are big and slow and messy. Yes, they produce the best quality juice, but I am more concerned with getting the juice in my mouth everyday than having it be the very best quality.

Types:

• Press- uses a hydraulic press to extract the juice
• Auger- uses gears to masticate the produce and release the juice
• Centrifugal- uses a spinning filter that grinds the produce and filters the juice 

So 2 days ago I realized that, unless I am terminally ill and need the very best (a press), it doesn't matter what juicer I buy as long as I will actually use it. Just get the juice in my mouth.

(source)

I went to Walmart and found a $50 model from GE. It has 4 pieces that are extremely easy and fast to clean. There are other brands like the Hamilton juicer that are in the same price range that are also as easy to clean.

(Source)

If you are seriously ill, my suggestion would be the Norwalk. It is a 2-step process that first grinds up the produce into a cloth bag, and then the hydraulic press presses the juice out into a cup. It is quite expensive ($2500), but if I were dealing with a serious disease that is the first thing I would buy for myself. But for now, I'm happy with my $50 Walmart juicer.

30 Day Juice Update: After 2 full days of juicing 4 - 16 oz glasses of various fruits and veggies I feel great! I worked out yesterday for 90 minutes and didn't feel fatigued more than normal. I feel thinner and lighter and my head is really clear. Also, my skin is clearing up right before my eyes. It's amazing how fast it works! BONUS! It is making going #2 a lot easier and more frequent. You know you love when that happens. I'll have to wait until the end of the 30 days to see what effect it's had on my EPISODE!




Any questions hit me up with a comment!

30 Days of Juice

Over the (ridiculously messy) weekend my friend Lauren and I decided that we need to juice. I've been juicing on and off now for a few months, but my juicing efforts have pretty much consisted of whenever we were testing juice for Raw Generation. I am still having issues with my skin. I am still having issues with my monthly EPISODE (although not as bad as before). I want to lose the last 10. And Lauren has a lot of food allergies that she would like to try to get rid of along with a few lbs. I am confident this can be done with a juicing/raw foods diet. And what better time to do it! It's about to be hot as balls and juice is sooooo refreshing!

So we decided to start juicing together! Mainly so we have someone to bitch talk to about it. Yesterday we both bought our own juicers (Walmart- $30 and $50- NO EXCUSES!), and are going to try this for 30 days. I am probably going to continue eating some of the raw foods that I was already eating along with pieces of fruit, but the majority of my "diet" will consist of fresh pressed juices. I am actually looking forward to this because for some time now, I have been feeling like I need this in my life.

Juice cleanse companies have been popping up everywhere. They are advocating 3 to 5 to 7 day juice cleanses- and are charging a lot of money for juices that are a lot of filler fruits and vegetables. What do I mean by filler? The fruits and veggies that give off a lot of liquid- apple, cucumber, celery. There is no doubt that they are healthy for you, but they are charging an awful lot of money for diluted juice.

(PS...this is the amount of greens that are in each bottle of
Raw Generation's 50/50 blend of half fruit and half greens)

Juicing should be part of a daily healthy lifestyle to get the best results. Disease prevention is long term. I am doing a "heavy juice diet" for the next month to clean myself out and enforce the habit of incorporating juice into my life. One of my main goals for my health is to make sustainable healthy changes that I can maintain for the long haul so that I can give myself every chance at preventing disease.

Here's one of the juices I made yesterday that is REALLY good:

• 1 head kale (stems removed)
• 1 head collards (stems removed)
• 1 lemon (skin removed)
• 3 small apples
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/2 pear

Who else wants to start juicing???

Slow & Steady Wins the Race

I often feel like I am not doing things fast enough. Intellectually I know this is ridiculous because I am probably one of the most productive people on the planet, but still I get caught in the mental booby trap. I think part of this is because my to-do list NEVER gets any shorter, and I am always finding new things to do.

One of the things that I feel is not moving fast enough is the development of our new juice business- Raw Generation. I know in the grand scheme of things 4 months is not a long time to develop and launch a business, but it just seems to be dragging on. I feel like we should be ready by now to launch. We have a few things left to develop, but I feel like I have been saying that now for the past 2 months. There are always "a few more things" to do. I need to draw a line in the sand (otherwise this could go on indefinitely).

One of our accomplishments last week was designing our labels that are to go on the bottles. I have to say I am sooo happy with them!

So, I guess I am writing through my frustration, and I just need to tell myself that I am making progress even though it doesn't seem fast enough. My to-do list will never go away. Slow and steady wins the race! This way of thinking gets me trapped in anxiety-producing thoughts that feed on themselves. I know this, and I recognize it happening to me right now. If you change your thoughts you change your feelings. Remember that!

Do any of you feel the same way sometimes?

A Juicy Update

After careful consideration...much deliberation...and crazy amounts of communication we have our signature juice named. Drink MY Greens! Unfortunately for everyone who contributed the winner of the $100 is my dad as he came up with Drink My Greens, and since he was the one offering the $$ I guess he just paid himself lol. 

Thank you all for the many ideas we've received!!! 

We are on to the logo and bottle labels...getting close! Just a few more details to get through and we will be in business. (And I have to admit [in my humble opinion] our signature juice tastes damn good!)

Thank you to everyone for their support and feedback through this process. We really appreciate it! Have a great weekend!