Day 21 - Staying On The Diet and Getting Healthy!!

Here it is another day and another 1 lbs.  I have now lost 18 lbs in 21 days.  Not bad at all.  I am really learning about each vegetable and their health benefits.  These are food items I had been consuming but only as a side dish.  I knew vegetables are good for you especially carrots, but I never realized how beneficial they are until I started reading more about it.  If you have noticed I have not included potatoes.  I love potatoes!!  I will be reading more on their health benefits before I include them in my daily diet.  I know that potatoes has alot of starch and I did not want to add them to my food groups I have now.  

I started out with green apple juice.  Boy, it is so delicious having it in the morning to begin my day!  

Here is the recipe for my Bok Choy juice. I made this for lunch and dinner.

8 leaves of Bok Choy

1 cucumber

5 carrots

3 celery stalks

1 large tomato

It made a delicious green drink.  Dark green vegetables are very good for us.  Read on the health benefits of Bok Choy.

In structure, bok choy resembles collards and could be described as a non-heading cabbage (Acephala group). It is basically a small plant which grows upright from the ground with smooth white romaine lettuce like stalks which spread in the end to fine, glossy green oval or round leaves. Fully grown up plant may reach about 12-18 inches in length.
Brassica campestris group can be further categorized according to the color of the petiole in its leaves. White petiole varieties include joi choi, pak-choy white, prize choi, lei choi, taisai, canton pak choi…etc. Green petiole types are chinese pak choi green, mei qing choi…etc.

Health benefits of bok choy

• 
  It is one of the rare vegetable that is very low in calories. However, it is very rich source of many vital phyto-nutrients, vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.
• 100 g of bok choy provides just 13 cal. It is one of the recommended vegetable in the zero calorie or negative calorie category of foods which when eaten would add no extra weight to the body but in-turn facilitate calorie burns and reduction of weight.
• Like other brasisca family vegetables, bok choy contains certain anti oxidant plant chemicals like thiocyanates, indole-3-carbinol, lutein, zeaxanthin, sulforaphane and isothiocyanates. Along with dietary fiber, vitamins these compounds help to protect against breast, colon and prostate cancers and help reduce LDL or "bad cholesterol" levels in the blood.
• Fresh pak choi is an excellent source of water soluble antioxidant, vitaminC (ascorbic acid). 100 g provides 45 mg or 75 % of daily requirements of vitamin C. Regular consumption of foods rich in vitamin C helps body develop resistance against infectious agents and scavenge harmful, pro-inflammatory free radicals. 
• It has more vitamin A, carotenes, and other flavonoid polyphenolic anti-oxidants than cabbage, cauliflower...etc. Just 100 g of fresh bok choy provides 4468 IU or 149% of daily required levels vitamin A.
• Pak choi is very good source of vitamin K, provides about 38% of RDA levels. Vitamin-K has potential role in bone metabolism by promoting osteotrophic activity in bone cells. Therefore, enough vitamin K in the diet makes your bone stronger, healthier and delay osteoporosis. Further, vitamin-K also has established role in curing Alzheimer's disease patients by limiting neuronal damage in their brain.
• Fresh bok choy has many vital B-complex vitamins such as pyridoxine (vitamin B6), riboflavin, pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine and thiamin (vitamin B-1). These vitamins are essential in the sense that our body requires them from external sources to replenish.
• It also contains good amount of minerals like calcium, phosphorous, potassium, manganese, iron and magnesium. Potassium is an important component of cell and body fluids that helps controlling heart rate and blood pressure. Manganese is used by the body as a co-factor for the antioxidant enzymesuperoxide dismutase. Iron is required for the red blood cell formation.

Thanks for stopping by and being part of my Fresh Start Journey program.  Have a blessed day!!

Day 20 - Believe It or Not This Is Really Fun!

What do I mean by the title today.  Well, this is my 20th day on my Fresh Start Journey juice detox/diet.  My last blog was on Saturday.  Sunday and Monday I was totally busy but kept to my diet.  I juiced only in the morning by having apple juice and apple/orange juice.  Even though I did not blog and did not juice the rest of the day, I made sure that if I reached for anything I wanted to eat, I would have vegetables already made up to snack.  Sunday after church, we went out to eat and I had a vegetable platter.  I kept off the egg and jack cheese..yummy!!..but my stomach and my acid reflex would not have liked it much and neither would my diet.

I lost 1 lbs so in total I lost 17 lbs in 20 days.  I am finding out that the weight comes off slower when you eat solid foods than when you juice.  Today I started off with a green apple juice and made this delicious vegetable juice for lunch and dinner.    

Tomato Lettuce Cucumber Detox Juicer Recipe

3 large, ripe tomatoes

6 leaves leafy lettuce (I prefer romaine or kale)

Cucumber (about a 2-inch piece)

Handful of fresh cilantro or parsley

Small wedge of lemon or lime

Juice all ingredients

This combination of vegetables and fruits is so very delicious with just a twist of lemon added.

Cucumber is a fruit that came from the same family as pumpkin, zucchini and other squashes. It has a dark green rind and white succulent flesh. There are 2 types of cucumbers the pickling varieties and the slicing varieties. The pickling variety is relatively small (2 - 4 inches long).

Health benefits of Cucumber

• 
  Very low in calories; provides just 15 calories per 100 g. Contains no saturated fats or cholesterol. Cucumber peel is a good source of dietary fiber that helps reduce constipation and offers some protection against colon cancers.
• It is a very good source of potassium, an important intra-cellular electrolyte. Potassium is a heart friendly electrolyte; helps reduce blood pressure and heart rates by countering effects of sodium.
• It contains unique anti-oxidants in good ratios such as ß-carotene and a-carotene, vitamin-C, vitamin-A, zea-xanthin and lutein. These compounds help act as protective scavengers against oxygen-derived free radicals and reactive oxygen species (ROS) that play a role in aging and various disease process.
• Cucumbers have mild diuretic property probably due to their high water content, which helps in checking weight gain and high blood pressure.
• Cucumbers surprisingly have high amount of vitamin K, provides about 17 mcg of this vitamin per 100 g. Vitamin-K has been found to have potential role in bone strength by promoting osteotrophic (bone mass building) activity. It also has established role in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease patients by limiting neuronal damage in their brain.
  
  Thanks for stopping by to read my blog.  Have a blessed day!!