1 1/2 months later...

It's been 45 days when I decided to make a change in my health. You may wonder do I still juice, have I gained weight? Am I eating more veggies? Going back to the same bad foods? Etc. Here are some true answers.

Do I still juice? Answer: Yes, I do, not 3 juices a day but at least 5-6 times a week. Or I stop at Whole Foods and buy a juice to get me "greens" in. I still make my mean greens, and mean reds and such. I am still addicted to juice. Which is a great thing.

Have I gained weight? Yes I have gain about 4 lbs back. Not bad, but at the same time I know if I need to lose it. I just go and do a 1 or 2 week juice fast and I know I will drop that weight and get back on track. I feel healthy, not lethargic or blah anymore. I have energy and if I don't eat right. I know I can fix that by making a super green, drink lots of water and for one or two days eat lots of greens. Doing that one knows we can cheat, just not go over board. I know what I need to do  to fix it and feel better.

Am I eating more veggies? Honestly, I do try to eat more veggies, but I "drink" more veggies than eat them. I do like to make Kale Salad, Cabbage Crunch, and my awesome Avocado Mango Salad. Those are always in my recipe book. I am conscientious of what I eat and try to do more of a plant base diet. But I do enjoy my food. :) Hey I'm being honest.



Am I going back to the same bad foods?    If you read my previous blog. I went back to my hometown and enjoyed some of my childhood favorite foods and restaurants. I'm not going to say I haven't had BBQ or Tacos. But I haven't eaten Fast food, like McDonald's or Taco Bell. I make sure I eat where the food is cooked fresh not processed foods. I balance how I eat, with bad comes the good. That's what one needs to do. Don't go overboard or over eat. Enjoy a little then go back to what your suppose to do. If you are at work, bring a apple, avocado, a bag of Spring mix and make a healthy salad. Put in a zip-lock bag, unsalted almonds, mint. green tea bags. Bring snacks for yourself so you won't snack on bad things. Don't starve yourself. Be happy and eat, make a better choice for you. that's what life is about.


In saying that, everyday I look in the Internet and find juicing recipes, learn about benefits of a fruit or veggie I haven't juice. I continue to educate myself to keep me motivated to stick with what I want to do. Every week I have someone who asks me "What's that GREEN Stuff your drinking? Why are you drinking that?" I tell them to watch one movie. "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" they watch it and next thing you know. I have another juicer buddy. Juicing is a great thing and I'm so glad to be part of a veggie revolution. It's a great thing and I hope that one day I could meet Joe Cross, and say "Thank you Joe for opening my eyes!"

Till the next time...

JC

Last bit of my vacation Day 7-9

 As my last days in my hometown was coming to an end. I can't help to say that I was very happy to be back. So many times that i didn't want to come home due to weather, the neighborhoods changing, crime etc. My experience was quite better than expected. I found the beauty of this town and the cities surrounding it. Summertime is the best time for me to go, because I see the beauty of my home. I was so stuck with the wintertime. I forgot about the wonderful summers I had. On Day 7, I took my father to visit with his cousin, she served us a nice dessert and we certainly enjoyed it. It was a homemade peach pie she made from fresh peaches her son gave her. That was a treat. Had our regular juices for the day and it was a quiet time with my dad.

Day 8,

Lake Geneva WI

I decided to take my dad to a place he use to take me when I was a kid. It was Lake Geneva, WI, we didn't have beaches and oceans like I do now here in FL. So my father took me on vacations to WI, where there was a nice lake. Lake Michigan in the 80's was not a desirable place to go in the water. It had a lot of toxins due to factories in the surrounding area would dump in that Lake. Now 30 years later, they have stopped dumping and Lake Michigan is a beautiful Lake were everyone goes and enjoys it. Which I'm happy they did finally. Onward to Lake Geneva, it's about a 1 hour drive from where I was staying and I took my dad to a place called the "Cheese Box" where you can get fresh cheese made in WI. They don't call them "Cheese Heads" for no reason. LOL. We bought some snacks and continued our way to the Lake. My uncle tagged along and it was really nice to see my uncle and father spend time together. My uncle loved that I picked him up and took him everywhere I could with me. We walked around the Lake, through the shopping centers and enjoyed the day out there. Bought some presents to bring home to the family but most of all, we bought "Pate" from there. It's Liverwurst" I know, but they make it the best and I brought some home for them to enjoy. My son LOVED it. :) We left there around 1pm and the crew was hungry so we stopped at a Hot Dog joint that made the Original "Chicago Dog." I know what your thinking but I already had my juice and I wasn't going to deny myself this. It's been many years since I had one. I ordered for all 3 of us and boy did we love it. :) I must say my dad ate well during our vacation. He loved eating out and just enjoying things from the past. :) It was a great day.

Day 9,
Last day in Waukegan, we enjoyed our breakfast with the family and I went to get my last juice of the day. We had a great time here and I noticed down in the weight room there was a scale. Do I dare step on it? I did and you know what??? I weighed in at 157Lbs. What? I ate Pizza, hot dogs, homemade food, BBQ, hamburgers, and all you can think. I stayed the same. I was amazed. But in the end. I truly believe it was because of the juice. If I didn't find the juice places in Chicago, Libertyville and Lewis Food Market. I may have gained 5lbs or more. I give the juice the props for keeping me at my weight and allowing me to enjoy my food too. :)

That's it for this trip. Stay tuned for more info about foods, healthy juicing and much more.

Vacation Contines Day 3 - 6!

Day 3

I woke up early in the morning and I was going to take my dad to Chicago to the place where my father worked and took me out when I was little. I thought, Chicago has to have a Juice Bar somewhere. So I researched a little and found a juice bar in Northern Chicago. I finally got some "greens" in me. Very expensive I thought when I bought my father, uncle and my juice and 2 exclirs close to $35. I was like MAN, that's pretty darn expensive. Regardless, I was happy to have finally gotten the juice to help me get rid of all the "fat" I ingested the last 2 days. After that we walked in Downtown Chicago and took my father to the Sears (now Willis) Tower. We walked through the beautiful windy city and my uncle just told all his stories and next thing you know lunch time is here. Where to go? What to do? I was driving on Lake Shore Drive and my uncle told me that if we continued on this road we could reach a little place called Tickies Belizean Cuisine.

I said to myself, I haven't eaten true Belizean food in a while. Why not? I had my juice today and my exclirs to take. So I decided to take my Tio (uncle), and dad there. Tickies was a small little joint right on the border between Chicago and Evanston. We went in and I felt like I was in Belize all over again. The smells of food was amazing. We looked at the menu and I saw one of my favorite appetizers. Garnachas, this is a tostada with beans, red sauce, cheese and pickled cabbage to be the topping. I got 3 of them and my dad and uncle digged in and they both said it reminded them of "home." That made me smile for sure. So we then ordered our lunches, dad had oxtail with rice and beans w/ potato salad. My Tio (Uncle) ordered beef with rice and beans w/ potato salad. I decided to order cow foot soup. This is a very good soup but is very filling so I couldn't finish it all. Take a look at the pics. 

I tasted them all and it was absolutely heavenly. I didn't eat the rice but the soup was fantastic. Yes Cow foot soup is good. :) Belizeans live till 100 all the time because they utilized everything from their animals. Thankfully, I learned that when I lived there in 1994. After a wonderful lunch, we drove home. Relaxed for the rest of the evening because Day 4 is going to be new day.

Day 4,

My cousin told me about a Hispanic place right by my hotel that it was a vegetable place. It's called Lewis Fresh Market. When you look at the prices, you say "Is it that Cheap?" Yes it is. $3.50 for a 16 oz juice. It was an amazing , they were simple recipes but amazing tastes. I found my new Juice home and it was going to be very affordable too! I even got my dad into drinking juice everyday. The way it made me feel, and seeing my dad enjoy it better than OJ from a carton or from concentrate. We embarked a new tradition for us during our week of vacation. Check out the pics.

Here is a juice by Lewis Fresh Market. This is carrot, kale, apple, ginger juice

My dad and I enjoying our juice from a juicing bar in Libertyville!

 Daddy drinking his ABC juice. Apples. Beets and Carrot juice. His favorite out of all of them. :)

Day 5,

This day was a great one due to I went to my uncle's house and spent the day with him downloading my family pictures from the past. My uncle has hundreds (possibly thousands) of pictures of family, friends, travels, everything you can think of. My uncle is a worldly man, and can he tell stories! That will have to be in another blog for you to all see. I spent 6 hours with him and for 6 hours straight my uncle talked with my dad. It was an experience, Can I say that I was tired, a little but I don't get to see my uncle everyday and my father doesn't either. So it was extreme but I do not regret it. Our elders always get left behind, and as many times as I talk to my uncle or my dad. They always say, "I'm bored here at home with nothing to do." Sometimes we take for granted on what we have in our elders now-a-days. They have stories, history of our grandparents and great grandparents. Things that when we were children we never wanted to listen to. Now that I'm 40-something, I want to know what my father did when he was young. Where my uncle went and traveled to when he did. It's amazing to listen to so many stories and here them laugh and reminisce through their past. It was a great day for my dad.

After that we went to Lewis Fresh Market, because while it's a great juicing place. It has EXCELLENT Mexican Food and CHEAP. I mean SUPER CHEAP! $1 Chicken Tamales, $2 Tacos, $3.50 Tortas etc. I decided to get a Torta with "Al Pastor". You may ask what's a Torta? It's a Mexican Bun that is about 8 inches wide and 4 inches tall. That is huge for me so I told daddy that we would split it. He said okay. So you ask what's "Al Pastor"? It's a marinated pork that is DELICIOUS when made correctly. Waukegan, IL is "Little Mexico" and you can get the most authentic Mexican food almost anywhere they have a stand at. You hardly ever get Mexican that is bad. So you ask why am I eating a pork sandwich? Because I'm home and sometimes you just gotta have something from home. Even if it's not healthy! For our drinks my dad had a Tamarindo Juice and I had my GREEN JUICE! So it easily balances me out with the favorites of home but also with the healthiness of drinking my greens. :)

Day 6,

This day was a pretty slow day for us, we went visiting family and such. We had our early greens in the morning and drove to different relatives homes. I was suppose to drive to the city but my father was not doing well staying with family while I went out with friends and family. So I decided to stay and my Godson, decided to do a BBQ, we had some carnitas with tortillas and hot dogs, with Turkey Burgers. I made some salad and portobello mushroom burgers for the family to try and they learned how one can still eat and enjoy great healthy food. :) Dad was content and happy to see me stay with him. I guess that's what counts now, that I spend as much time with him. He's 88 and although he looks good. You never know when he will be leaving us to meet our Heavenly Father. I felt good that night. :) Stay tuned for Day 7-9 and the final weigh in!

 

A week on vacation to my home state IL. How did I do??? Day 1 - 2

Hello everyone, I'm right now writing to you from my hotel room. One more day here and I will be returning home. I took my father for his 88th Birthday to his long-time residence in Waukegan, IL. It's the halfway point from Milwaukee, WI to Chicago, IL. We are just a few miles from the beautiful Lake Michigan. It's been several years since I returned to the place I called home. Waukegan  is a suburb and had very cold winters and dreary rains. Although this week we didn't have any rain, and it wasn't dreadfully hot either. What is Waukegan known for in food? Mexican, pizza, and BBQ. In Chicago, they are obviously known for their Pizza, hotdogs, varieties in food from Poland, Ireland, and many other countries. It's a huge melting pot in that city. So if you think I was a little skeptical if I was going to gain weight. You were right. I was DEATHLY afraid of it. So here is what I embarked so far food wise.

My first day in my cousin wanted to take my father out to eat at my dad's favorite Pizzeria. Quonset Pizza, now this is the place where my father would take me on a Sunday afternoon after Church. This was twice a month till I was in my late teens. They know how to make a pie. See to my left. I couldn't even get the camera out fast enough to get the picture of the whole pizza. It's that good. My father ate about 3/4 of this while I had a massive 6 pieces of it. I was like "OMG, I'm sooo gunna feel this tomorrow!" Needless, to say watching my father enjoy this pie with such joy and him smiling. It really didn't matter to me at this point. He was home where he wanted to be.

Day two,

Lake Forest Farmers Market

Our entertainment at the market.
A violinist. 

After eating so badly yesterday, I went into my computer and looked for the farmer's market in our local area. It was Saturday, so I had to find something somewhere. Low and behold, I found one in Lake Forest, IL. Lake Forest is one of the richest cities in America. So I thought to myself. Wow, this will be great. I got up and ready to go and took my dad out to the Farmers Market, It was at the Train Station in Lake Forest which is historical in every way. It's still the original building and I believe it's preserved to make it a Historical building.  What I realized is that veggies and fruits from IL are different. There was a gentleman that was selling "Non-GMO" corn. It's called "Mirai Corn" its grown in Harvard, IL. Click here for the website. I bought 6 corns for $4 and cooked them and let me tell you it was delicious. They are not big like what you see at the conventional stores but they are sweet and everyone that tried it was telling me "This is the best corn I have ever had." :)

I recommend if you live in IL. You need to find a Farmer's market and make you some of this corn. You will not regret it and what I love most is that it's seasonal. So it's grown in it's intended time and it's not being produced year round. AND it's grown and made in the USA!!!

After the farmer's market I went to pick up my cousin and we took my dad to downtown for a BBQ Competition. What I thought was going to be a great experience. WRONG, it was a private event and nobody was able to try the BBQ. :( Soo I went to the next best thing. Hillery's BBQ I went to school with the Hillery boys back in the 80's and one of the brothers were there serving up some tasty BBQ. It is sloppy, messy, but definately DELICIOUS!  I always ate Hillery's as a kid and taking my dad there to pick some up was memories.

So how did my day go. Hmmm. BBQ for lunch, dinner was my dad's birthday party. What did they serve? Stewed Chicken, Fried Plantains, Rice and beans, Sweet Potatoes, and potato salad. AAAARRRGGGHHH!!! I knew it was going to difficult, but GEEZ, help me out! It was 2 days of eating pure comfort food. My belly was enjoying it but my brain was waving. RED FLAG, NEED JUICE, NEED VEGGIES!!! So after 2 days of this. Day 3 had to get better. Let's wait and see how my next few days go. I'll be back to blog more. Thanks for reading. :)

JC