Out of steam? No, just changing to steamed broccoli.

Hey, everyone! I'll apologize again for the lack of updates, but you know, holiday weekend and all. :) Hubby and I have come to a decision. Our nutritionist had originally suggested we try juicing for 30 days and see how we felt about the whole thing. Well, 30 days will be this Sunday, September 11th. We have decided (mostly because of my whining) that we will begin solid food again on Day 31. We met with Marie last night, and the plan is to slowly work food in. For example, weeks 1 and 2 will consist of a full juice for breakfast, half a juice for a mid-morning snack, a full juice for lunch, and a sensible supper. If we get hungry between lunch and dinner, a half juice will be our snack. Eventually, we will work down to 1-2 juices per day. I believe we'll probably continue to do a juice for breakfast for quite a while. She also mentioned that we should do a 1-week juice fast every 3 months or so to re-cleanse and remind our body what it's really geared for. We mentioned vegan cheese to her, but she felt we should stick with real cheese, but only once a week or so. During the first week or two of our fasting break, it should only be consumed once. Basically, my meal plate will be 25% raw veggies, 25% cooked veggies, 25% protein (beans, legumes, or protein-happy veggies) and 25% brown rice or other complete whole grain. We also want to try kale chips, heard they're really good. I know Earth Fare carries different flavors.

This Saturday will be our grocery store workshop with Marie. She will teach us how to spot truly healthy choices and how to really read labels. The following Tuesday will be a meal planning session. We are to "plan, plan, plan and stick with the plan", to quote her. :) Steven bought three healthy cooking magazines at Earth Fare the past few days, and he is searching through them for some options. The first few days, we are supposed to eat in solid form what we have been drinking (zucchini, kale, cucumbers, chard, fruits, etc.) to help ease our stomachs back into taking in and processing solid food.

The trip to see family in middle TN will still be tough in a week and a half, but not as tough as it would have been. And, by the way, 18 days to sweet, sweet Florida. *love*