Fermented Vegetable Juice Day 5 - 10

Hello everyone, sorry I have been AWOL for a while but life got really hectic and then I was sick for a while with a head cold and some sort of stomach bug. Either way, I am back and fear not, I've still been doing the Fermented Vegetable Juice Experiments!
So far it's been going great, the burning that usually accompanied consuming it at first... is now gone. I have tried taking it in many ways. Day 5 it was in a Smoothie of Pureed Banana, Orange Juice and Almond Milk. Day 6 it was in a Smoothie of Pureed Banana, Applesauce and Almond Milk. Day 7 it was in a Smoothie of Pureed Banana and Orange Juice. Day 8 I had my Fermented Beet Juice in a Pureed Banana.

I haven't upped my dose due to the being sick and getting caught up in other things, so I'm doing an extra week at 1 teaspoon. Day 9 - I had my Beet Juice mixed in with some Broccoli Chicken Soup, Mmm, Yummy!
On Day 10 - I tried doing a shot of it slightly watered down. That would be the image of the dark reddish fluid, I put the 1 teaspoon Beet Juice in with maybe a tablespoon of water. Not bad.

I haven't yet had my dose today, which will be day 11! I have been alternating taking it mornings, afternoons and nights. Either one seems to work just fine.
Official Report:  I truly and firmly believe that drinking the Fermented Juice was a HUGE part of why I didn't get very sick. Everyone else around me was miserable for days but mine was fairly mild, I only had one truly bad day and then I was pretty much fine. I actually think this is helping and making a difference in my digestion and health. I have even been a lot more productive lately, though you'd never guess that from the fact that it's been about a week since I've posted, lol. I am very sorry about that, it was just really hectic here.

Questions? Comments? Stories?

Please feel free to share with us in the comments, we'd love to hear from you.

Until next time, I wish you Peace, Health and Happiness!

Fermented Vegetable Juice - Day 4

 Today my Fermented Beet Juice was served in a smoothie along side my breakfast. How appropriate that on Valentines Day it would tint my little smoothie such a lovely shade of pink.  -  This smoothie contains one pureed Banana, 1/4 cup Orange Juice, 1/4 cup Pineapple Juice and 1/4 cup Almond Milk with my added 1 teaspoon of Fermented Beet Juice. It was undeniably delicious, I cannot even tell you how much I am loving this stuff. I tasted my smoothie before adding the Fermented Beet Juice and quite frankly, I think it tasted better AFTER I added the Beet Juice. Yum, yum!

Breakfast: Pineapple Chunks, A Banana and
 My YUMMY smoothie!

In all honesty, I thought incorporating this was going to be a lot harder than it actually is. 
While it is still too soon to tell, I think this may be doing my digestive system quite well. The one and only downside I have experienced thus far is the extreme sugar cravings and the hypoglycemia that I had beat... is now back. I am not certain why this is but I attribute it to possible die-off. If the good bacteria is getting in there and kicking the bad bacteria butt, in particular - Yeast, it may be causing them to cry out for sweets in their dying hour. This is of course just a simple hypothesis. Other then that, things are going great in the experiment so far. I certainly think this little endeavor is very promising indeed.                                                                                                                                                      

Any questions or comments? Feel free to post in the comments below. 

Peace, Health and Happiness to all and to all a great day!

Fermented Vegetable Juice - Day 3

Today's dose of Fermented Beet Juice was served in an interesting way. I initially wanted to have a salad but alas there was no lettuce. So I hard boiled an Egg, I washed, peeled and shredded a Carrot, washed and quartered some Cherry Tomatoes, sliced some Black Olives, diced the Egg White and reserved the Egg Yolk. From there I mashed the Egg Yolk with a teaspoon of Walnut Oil, a teaspoon of the Fermented Beet Juice, some Black Olive Juice, some of the Tomato Juice from cutting the Tomatoes and a splash of Almond Milk, this made a very tangy and tasty "dressing" for my "salad" - All in all it wasn't a bad "salad" and the Fermented Beet Juice really put some tang in my "dressing."

I have noted increased energy with each dose upon first taking the juice and it lasts about an hour. The mild tummy discomfort it caused on Day 1, has not been back since Day 1. Both Day 2 and so far Day 3 have been Gastrointestinally uneventful, lol. Though there is still a mild burning sensation in my stomach and while I cannot say for sure that it is the juice, it did begin the day I started taking it. I assume this is much like the effect Fermented Apple Cider Vinegar has, it too causes a mild burning sensation when ingested. Fear not though, this is a good thing! It's an indication that your body has adequate Hydrochloric Acid for proper food digestion. I thought today we might take a look at what makes Beets SO darn healthy!

Beets are a root vegetable with a plethora of benefits. They have been used for many, many purposes through history and modern times. In the past Beet Leaves were used for binding wounds and Beet Root was used to treat a whole host of ailments. Beets contain a strong color pigment called Betalain that has Antioxidant, Antifungal and Anti-inflammatory properties. It is useful in detoxification and may help support Cancer recovery. The Leafy Green part of Beets is high in many vitamins, including Vitamin K, Vitamin C, Vitamin, Iron, Copper, Potassium, Magnesium, Sulfur, Calcium, Choline and Silica. Though you should be warned that consuming large amounts of Beet Juice or Beets in general, may cause your stool and urine to darken or redden. Beets are quite high in naturally occurring Sugar, so I suggest taking it easy on them, maybe just a few ounces of Beet Juice a week or just a couple servings of Beets per week. 

Of course you may eat them as often and as you see fit, I have read that too much can be not so good. So like anything else, everything in moderation. Beets are especially healthy Raw because Oxalic Acid can become somewhat toxic when cooked. Though if you have eaten cooked Beets for years now, you probably know more than me, so just keep doing what you're doing. These are merely guidelines and some helpful information for folks who may not know a lot about our friend the Beet. Juicing is another wonderful option, especially if you Juice the whole Beet, greens included because the greens contain much of the nutrients in a Beet. Raw Beet and Beet Juice consumption have been show to help with Arthritis, Cancer, Eye Problems, Kidney Stones, Varicose Veins and Cardiovascular health as well. It's also been indicated that Beets and Beet Juice may help with Stomach Acid Production and improve the function of many organs.

- Any questions or comments? Feel free to leave me a message in the comments below. I'd love to hear your stories or input on Probiotics or Fermented Foods.

Until next time, Peace, Health and Happiness!

Fermented Vegetable Juice - Day 2

So tasty! So Nutritious! So Red and Green and Festive looking!

 Today I had my one teaspoon of Fermented Beet Juice in soup! -
It was delicious! I was surprised by how that 1 teaspoon really punched up the flavor of this simple Broccoli Chicken Soup. Yes, very simple, because that is a whole piece of chicken in chicken broth with cooked broccoli.


I could so easily see why these Fermented Vegetable Juices would be amazing for flavor boosting and in the case of the Beet Variety, clearly some potent food coloring as well. I am dreaming of all the pink things I could make with this and that is definitely an added bonus because I am not using food coloring at all anymore. I feel it's best to use nutritious things to tint whatever I wanted colored.


How the juice experiment is going...
Well yesterday certainly got things going but I consider that a good thing. : )  - By late last night I was suffering something highly unusual for myself... I have been off refined sugar for around 6 months and I considered myself to be pretty done with the Sugar Demons. However, last night they were back with a vengeance and I could barely stand it. I ate a Banana to try and stave off the sweet cravings but it barely sufficed. Today it occurred to me, as I sat on my couch tweaking for a sugar fix... "Why am I having such bad sugar fits???" - Suddenly it dawned on me, perhaps those little soldiers, those good and friendly bacteria... are killing off some bad guys? Like Yeast, Fungi, etc. and maybe in their dying hour, they crying out for sugar to survive. Since we all know Yeast and naughty bacteria love and thrive on sugar in it's many forms. That got me to thinking, this is probably some sort of die off effect that I am experiencing. Which leads me to a conundrum, do I feed the sugar cravings somewhat safely with Maple Syrup and Fruit... or do I deny the heck out of these sensations and risk feeling like crud but maybe eventually coming out the other side feeling better?

Now todays dose did not "get things going" - so to speak and I feel my body acclimating and giving into the sugar cravings is certainly making this easier. I think resisting might be the better road though but for now I have too many things going on and I need to be able to function properly.

That's all for now, tune in tomorrow for more "Adventures In Fermented Juice!"

Any comments? Feel free to share.

Waking Up - Part I

Okay, some might wonder why I chose this title but I have very good reasons for choosing it. Those of you who are confused as to what this post is about, it's about making the switch from the SAD - Standard American Diet - to REAL food. This series will just be periodical updates into how I am doing with my new way of eating and how it evolves over time. The reason I chose the title "Waking Up - Part I" is because when I first switched over, I felt awake for the first time in years. Now sadly the amazing way I felt at first is barely there anymore but I am always trying to make improvements. At first I was eating ALL organic, hormone/antibiotic free, grass-fed beef, vegetables and almost nothing but Beef and Vegetables. It was pretty incredible. Having grains gone for the first time in my life was really invigorating, I felt awake, alert, less fatigued, slept less, my chronic nausea went away, my foggy head got clearer, I just felt better, so much better. I had almost no stomach aches, less mood swings, happier in general, lighter, brighter and much healthier feeling.

Unfortunately a few of those things are back now but I blame my diet. I had cut out Chicken in the beginning for a reason, I feel I might be sensitive or intolerant to it and now I am eating Chicken again. So that could easily be causing problems. The Beef I am eating is now sadly conventional Beef and that is due to being impossibly poor and broke right now. I keep telling myself... when I get the money, I will do this and that and this... well that day will come, just not yet. I want to go completely organic/grass-fed/pastured as soon as I am able. Another change, I included Coconut Oil and Coconut Flour into my diet and these were wonderful, they gave me more energy and had me regular within a week or two... but then it hit, the part I don't like. The part where what I am doing either stops working OR... at least appears to make me sicker? Say what?! Yes, that is why I keep changing my diet, because I'll be doing well and then all of a sudden, not well at all. I have severe digestive issues and now the mere act of eating 3 cookies made partially with Coconut Flour causes me severe and excruciating stomach cramps.

Over all, I am more awake, more alert, less depressed and my stomach issues have improved but all of this is not to my satisfaction. My goal is to completely fix my stomach problems, be able to put on some weight, have the kind of energy I did in the beginning and somehow get to the point where I feel like I know what is best for me. See, this is a very individual journey, we all have sensitivities, allergies and intolerances to different things, we all have different tastes, likes and dislikes. So my diet of NO Grains, NO Dairy (except Butter,) NO Soy, NO Corn, NO Caffeine, NO Chocolate and NO Fast Food/Process Food, Pre-packaged, boxed, bagged or wrapped food and junk food of any kind. Is definitely not the ideal diet for everyone, heck... I am not even sure it's the ideal diet for me yet because I am not as well as I want to be. I am still always making adjustments to my diet and I have goals of where I want to be and how I want to be eating in the future. This will chronicle my adventures into Real Food and hopefully help inspire others to do the same.

I started this way of eating roughly in October of 2011 and so at this time, it has been about four months. Let me assure you, it is not hard at all. Do I still miss things like Oatmeal Cream Pies? Pasta? Candy Bars? and Chips? - Sure I do, just ever so slightly. However I am finding great and creative ways of making Real Food somehow mimic that naughty stuff I wont eat anymore. I can make my own potato chips and they are just as good, I just substitute for things that fit this way of eating and keep me from feeling deprived. Now I do not have will-power of steel but it has been four months since I've eaten chocolate, over two years since I've drank soda and going on three years without ice-cream and milk. It has taken a while to phase dairy out but the first things to go were milk, ice-cream yogurt, cottage cheese, cream cheese, then almost a year later processed slices and all cheese in general. Up next to go... Butter. And then I will be completely Dairy Free. Of course this is only because I am lactose intolerant, anyone who tolerates dairy well would be fine simply switching over to healthier forms of dairy, like organic, grass-fed, pastured, etc.

Yes I miss Oatmeal and Grains in general but I feel like grain free is way for me to go. I am skipping out on ALL Corn and Soy because most of it is GMO and that is very bad. All in all, four months is not long enough to put into something to see how well it will work, after all, I ate Fast Food every day for the previous six months and nasty SAD food all my life prior. This is going to take some time to undo all the bad that has been done. I need to replenish the good bacteria and enzymes in my stomach, I need to always do my best to avoid and eliminate toxins from my life. This is still a work in progress and you all can join me on my journey, I'll keep you up to date periodically so if you enjoyed this entry be sure to keep your eyes peeled for "Waking Up - Part II"

Have you made the switch? Thinking about making the switch? Any thoughts about switching at all? Feel free to comment and let us see what you have to say about it.