First Green Juice Post

OK, don't throw up when I show you what my favorite thirst quencher is. Water is boring (I am a Crystal Light fan...need to Jazz. It. Up). Green Juice makes my taste buds dance.

Spinach, Kale, Parsley, Cucumber, Apple, Lemon, Ginger from Mangia


since juice isn't enough for me anymore, I added some veggies (yes, my stapler is labeled with my name)

Since we are on the subject of green juice I think this is a good time to talk about cleanses. I spent almost all of last year (2010) doing cleanses as much as possible. Every day of the work week I had at least one green juice and then about once a month I would do a 3 day cleanse.

Note: It is impossible for me to do a 5 day cleanse because Sundays are pig-out day and Fridays are date night. Therefore, there are no 5 consecutive days in a week that I am willing to starve myself cleanse.

However, 3 day cleanses did the trick for me. I was my leanest and felt better than I ever have. This year has been a bit tougher....cleanses are expensive and aren't really all that fun when you are living with a boyfriend. I've been on a strict budget and had a great food filled summer. Following summer is football season so the 5lbs will probably not go away until next Summer....maybe.....

Regardless, my goal is to get a few cleanses in before the year ends and to have a green juice almost every day of the work week.

I have tried 5 different cleanses in my day.

Organic Avenue (the pioneer in NYC)

Jill Pettijohn

Liquiteria

Cooler Cleanse

Blue Print Cleanse

My favorites are Liquiteria, Jill Pettijohn and Blue Print...in that order.

Liquiteria - Although I haven't done their structured cleanse, I used to go to their store and buy 5 or 6 juices out of their cooler, effectively creating my own cleanse. They happen to be located about 5 blocks from my old job and my old apartment so it was easy for me to grab their juices to go. Not to mention, their staff is unbelievably friendly. Especially the manager, I don't know her name but she wears glasses, and the juice guy early in the morning (7am). Pardon my not politically correct statement but the guy in the morning is a thin latino I believe...a total sweetheart. Not ONCE did he let someone walk in without greeting them. Back to business....

My juices were a combination of:

-all greens with apple lemon and ginger - the apple, lemon and ginger help to cut the dirt taste of the all greens. Great for beginners.

-royal flush

-lemonade

-killer x

Jill Pettijohn's cleanse (here) includes a soup-y "juice" a day which I put in a bowl and actually pretended were soup. She says you can actually heat them up but does NOT recommend using a microwave. I bought her cleanse with a discount code from Vital Juice.

Blueprint cleanse  - I always did their "Renovation Cleanse". Even after I considered myself an experienced cleanser, I really don't enjoy drinking entirely green juices all day. The renovation cleanse offers more tastebud satisfying drinks in between greens. Lovely.

Lately, I've been buying green juices at Bread and Butter on 29th and Park Avenue on my way to work. The small is about $3 (absolutely dirt cheap). I just have them put cucumber, spinach, apple, lemon and ginger in it. Perfect wake-me-up.

Now that I've blogged about doing more cleansing, I really need to put my money where my mouth is and stop eating leftover pizza for dinner (thanks a lot Boyfriend. I thought I asked you to throw it out before I got home...I kid I kid...oh and by the way HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!)

Sorry, this ended up being too long. More pictures, less words.