Juice shot

Juice 
one apple - 182g
2 carrots - 72g
2 strawberries - 12g
1 cherry - 7g
for each shot.

Daily Water Requirement

How Much Water do You Need
How much water should you drink each day? What is the daily hydration requirement for an adult? How many glasses of water are needed to be healthy?  We all have asked one form or another of these questions.  How much water does our body need?  There is no one answer for everyone.  Location such as a hot climate, age, weight, activity, and the types of food you eat and drink all influence the answer. Studies indicate that daily water turnover is 3.3 liters for sedentary men and 4.5 liters for active men. For more active adults, particularly those living in a warm environment, daily water need can increase to about 6 liters.


Water Studies and WWII
In 1945, the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council had advised: "A suitable allowance of water for adults is 2.5 liters daily in most instances. An ordinary standard for diverse persons is 1 milliliter for each calorie of food. Most of this quantity is contained in prepared foods." It could be that the last sentence may not have been heeded, and the recommendation was therefore interpreted as eight glasses of water to be drunk each day. (1 glass/cup - approx. 8 ounces = 240ml; therefore 8 glasses = approx. 1920ml).


This is believed to be the source of the misinformation that you should drink 6-8 glasses a day, it ignored the advise that the requirement should be calculated with caloric intake.

The World Health Organization states that "the 'absolute minimum' quantity of water to sustain hydration remains elusive, as this is dependent on climate, activity level and diet".  WHO recommendations for daily requirements of drinking water are men 2.9 liters and for women 2.2 liters.


The advice from the British Dietetic Association is: "In a moderate climate like ours, most of us need around 6-8 glasses of fluid a day; for example, water, milk, fruit juice, tea or coffee, to keep the balance right. However, if we have sweated a lot, because it's hot or we've been exercising, our requirements increase; a good guide is to have an extra one liter of water for every hour of strenuous exercise."


Water Loss
Water is lost from the body as urine, in feces and by evaporation from the skin and lungs (the latter two make up what is called "insensible water loss"). More water is lost from the skin and lungs in high temperatures, at high altitude and when the air is dry. Even in the absence of visible perspiration, approximately half of water loss occurs through the lungs and skin. Water loss through the skin is usually about 800-1000ml per day. In a hot climate, water loss of 500ml per hour is not unusual, but sweating rates can be as high as 2500ml per hour. Expired air is saturated with water vapor and the average water loss from this source is about 300ml per day - this figure may increase if the air is very dry, or during hyperventilation. Urine output can range from 1-2 litres per day, but can be more when large volumes of fluid are consumed. Varying urine output is the main method by which the body regulates net water balance in response to a wide range of fluid intakes and losses.


Daily Water Needed Requirements
So does this lead to an answer?  Yes.  For a general temperate climate for a normally active healthy person (no exercise) in the age range of 19-50 you need an approx amount of fluid around 2600ml or 2.6 Liters.  Assuming 1100ml comes from your food and your body will further metabolize another 250ml from the nutrients and materials, you need app. 1.25 liters (1250ml) a day in the form of drinks.  If you are outside of these ranges (in hot climate or doing more work and/or exercise you need generally another 1-3 liters).


If you are juicing all your foods, your answer is the easiest to calculate.  Measure the amount of your daily juices and then supplement water or beverages until your total liquids equals a minimum of 2.5 liters (2500ml) and then allow a reasonable additional amount (0-3 liters) based upon your level of activity, exercise or climate.  1 cup (8oz.) is equal to 240ml.  

Since water is vital to many functions in the body, including maintaining cell structure, forming a solvent within which chemical reactions in the body can take place, physically transporting other nutrients and oxygen through the body via the bloodstream, transporting white blood cells to fight infection via the lymphatic system, and enabling the body to get rid of waste products via the excretory systems, such as through the formation of urine, I would recommend the overall daily minimum at 3.5 liters.  This would mean that you would consume about 12 cups (96oz. or 2.8 liters) of additional water/fluids as a minimum.

Weight control will power

Elbert Hubbard, an American writer wrote:

‘Self discipline is the ability to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not.’

To reap the health benefits on any weight adventure it must be built on self discipline. What ever your reason is or was to control your weight, or by what ever method you chose to obtain your goal, may this simple quote help motivate you. 

Juicing for a better you

Maybe you watched a video or read a book or even know someone who is juicing now.  You might be thinking about doing vegetable and fruit juicing for your health and/or to loss weight.   Some people use juice as a detox diet for their bodies.  Regardless of your reason here is some information on starting juicing that can help you.  Whether or not you use organic vegetables and fruits is up to you.  Wash the vegetables and fruits before use.

Get started with Green Vegetable Juices

Green is THE drink for most persons juicing for health but drank also for other reasons. Some like it and some don't, it's your call. If you have never tasted green juices before you might find them a bit earthy or bitter. Try adding an apple, a few seedless grapes or other fruit. Start off by using the milder tasting green leaves like Red leaf lettuce, Green Leaf lettuce, Romaine lettuce, Lamb’s quarters or Escarole. You can use celery and cucumber too. Try adding watercress or arugula to give it a bit of pep. If you like the spicy life, adding any pepper will do, but remove the seeds and membranes before juicing or they can be overpowering.

Then experiment with green cabbage leaves, Chinese cabbage, Bok choy, spinach, parsley or cilantro. Those videos with people doing full bunches are hard core, try much smaller amounts to start. Add bitter leaves like collard greens, kale, mustard and turnip greens when you get used to the taste. Pep the vegetable juices up even more with fresh ginger (1/4"), garlic (1 clove), a radish (trimmed and peeled) or add a teaspoon or more of your favorite green food.  

Carrots

Your going to see lots of carrots in juice recipes.  This is not only because everyone agrees that they are good for you but also they produce a lot of juice for a little money and universally taste good juiced.  Trim ends before using. There is a dark side. Sugar and carbohydrates have to be watched if your a diabetic or if you count carbs.  These babies can pile them on.

Those other vegetables and fruits

Some of the fruits and vegetables that can be juiced: zucchinis, celery, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers, beetroot, parsnips, cucumbers, lettuces, garlic, parsley, ginger, cilantro, greens, melons, spinach, cabbage, endive, kale, watercress, bok choi, carrots, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, radishes, oranges, apples, pears, pineapples and most fruits.

Think about how much you are consuming in a day.  It would be rare for someone to consume 6+ apples a day or 4 pounds of carrots.  A variety of vegetables and fruits in a day is a better approach.

The juicing machine

There are various types and brands of juicers.  There are videos on YouTube and multiple websites all hawking one or the other.  Expect to see prices from around $40 to $400 for a new one.  You can learn about them on the web.  Check Ebay, your second hand store or ask if any of your friends has one you can borrow to save some money and still be able to try juicing. 

Face it, they all have ads or fans saying their brand is the best or gives the most or best juice.  You don't need to go there until you have used one, heard it run, or cleaned the thing. Check the warranty time frame.

Tip:  Use discarded shopping bags and produce bags as a juice pulp container liner, making cleanup much nicer.  Use a kitchen sprayer to rinse the parts first and after each use.  Always clean the centrifuge basket or worm gear after each use or the materials will harden on the parts and become a bitch to get off.  Wash at the end of each day the parts in the dishwasher or well by hand, this saves a lot of time and adds some convenience.

Use a jar lid or small saucer as a drip catcher for your juicer. Juice carrots and fruits that make a lot of juice AFTER the items that make little juice to help was the pulp out.  If your juicing a lot of items (by weight) clean out the machine midway to reduce motor burn out or a clogged basket.

Canned or bottled juices

There are many that yell they are all bad and have "dead" juice in them.  Maybe. You can use them to fill in between your "meals" and to curb the hunger pains.  Check the ingredients and nutrition label.  If not mostly juice (65% or more) pass.  Heavy sugar drinks or heavy fruit drinks will be detrimental and hard to give up later.  

For me, I chose commercially canned tomato juice.  Easy to find, low priced, basically good for me and a drink I don't mind drinking but not something I will over consume. If I am rushed, weak or lazy this fills in and helps keep me on track and from cheating.  Taste varies by maker and so does the can size.  Try to find a "stand by" drink for yourself or bottle some of your own homemade juice.  Homemade juice goes off flavor in a day, so consume in the same day juiced.

Carrot Cake Juicing Recipe CAPO

4 Carrots - 288g
1 Pear or chunk of pineapple - 148g
1 Apple - 182g
1/2 Orange, peeled  - 80g
Cinnamon

Remove any stems or spines. Place spice(s) in the catch cup, you can also try allspice also.  Juice the items. Mix

Kicking Green Juicing Recipe KCeTCAP

Kicking Green Juice

4 kale leaves - 24g
3 stalks celery - 192g
1 tomato or V8 - 85g/4oz.
1 carrot, optional - 72g
1 apple - 182g
1/2 anaheim or 1 pablano pepper - 28g

Run all ingredients through a juicer. De-seed the Anaheim  or Pablano pepper.

Try this as a bloody mary also.

Here's the approximate nutrition in this drink(based on USDA data)(no V8).

CPR Juicing Recipe CPRA

Celery pepper radish.  This drink is one I would call a "sipper."  Meaning you can take your time sipping it.  A more mellow flavor that works well over some ice. Unlike some recipes flavors this can be enjoyed more slowly.

Makes 8-10 ounces

4 celery - 256g

1 sweet red pepper - 119g

1 red radish peeled - 4.5g

1 apple - 182g

Remove the pit and seeds from the red pepper, trim radish, remove any stems or soil.

Here's the approximate nutrition in this drink(based on USDA data).

Rainbow Veggie Juicing Recipe CeCQSZA

1 stalk celery - 64g
2 carrots, topped - 144g
1/2 cucumber - 150g
1 yellow squash - 118g
1 zucchini - 118g
1 sweet apple - 182g

Juice all ingredients, stir and serve over ice.

Salad by the glass LTCeCP

1/2 head romaine lettuce - 313g
1 tomato - 85g
2 celery ribs - 128g
1 carrot, topped - 72g
1 small red bell pepper - 74g

Juice together all veggies.

Add salt/pepper to taste if you wish.

Spicy Green Juicing Recipe KCeTQP

4 kale leaves - 24g

3 stalks celery - 192g
1 tomato - 85g
1 cucumber - 301g
1 jalapeno pepper - 14g
1/2 lime - skin removed - 34g

Run all ingredients through a juicer. De-seed the pepper.

This is definitely a spicy juice.

Note, if new at juicing use 2 (12g) kale leaves, they can have a strong taste.  For a lighter taste substitute 6 Romaine lettuce leaves. You can also use 1/3 cup of V8 for the tomato.

Here's the approximate nutrition in this drink as written (based on USDA data.

Cuc-apple Juicing Recipe AQG

2 apples - 364g

1/2 cucumber - 151g
1/2" ginger optional - 5g

Remove stems from apples, cut cucumber if needed and juice.  Ginger can be strong and overpowering, you might try a 1/4" first.

Carrot and Apple Zipper Juicing Recipe CAG

2 carrots - 144g
1 apple - 182g
1/4″ of ginger - 2g

Top carrots, remove apple stem and juice.

That ending in the title is a quick code for the ingredients.  It makes it easy to review recipes and are in the order of the quantity of the main items.
C-carrots
A-apples
G-ginger  and so on


Most recipes are variations of just a few basic vegetables.  Over time, you find the ones that work best for you.  Hey, the fridge is only so big.  Vegetables go bad and if you diverse to much some will go off before you use them.

Apple Pie Juicing Recipe - ACx

Always remember to wash your fruits and vegetables for your juicing recipes. Fresh juice from your home juicer also contains living enzymes, something you don't get when buying juice in stores due to the pasteurization process. 

• 4 Sweet Apples (large) - 892g
• 2 Carrot (large) - 200g
• 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp Nutmeg

How to make Apple Pie Juice:

•add nutmeg and cinnamon to the drink glass or to your juice catcher

•juice apples and carrot.

•stir to mix the spices

•Pour the mixture into separate glasses.

Here's some music to enjoy with your drink.

Juicing the fat away

Have you seen the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead?"  You can catch some of it on Youtube or the whole movie on Netflix.  Their web site (that does not actually match the show) is HERE. Now I'm not saying that this is the magic bullet or something that even works, I am saying it is worth a watch.

There is no doubt in anyone's mind that more vegetables would be good for you.  Do I want to be drinking all my food through a straw?  No, or least not till I'm 90 or so.  But this does present a different approach to weight loss and has a good story line.  If your going to try it, look at the different juicers available.  The price range is huge.  Some have more plastic than others.  Some are very noisy, some not so. In the end, they all make juice.

The "mean green" juice was awful I thought.  I would suggest trying this later in the program.  There are many recipes on the web for juicing.  I'll post some of favorites later.  Raw vegetables in juice form sometimes surprises your taste buds.  Expect to experience some "different" tastes than what you expect.

How many carbohydrates should you eat?

The energy that we get from foods, measured in calories, comes from three types of nutrients: fats, proteins, and carbohydrates. Carbohydrates take only about half an hour to an hour after a meal to be turned into blood glucose. The word "carbohydrate" actually means "sugars and starches." Chemically, a starchy food is just a "chain" of glucose molecules.

Any food that is high in any type of carbohydrate will raise blood glucose levels soon after a meal. Whether a food contains one ounce of sugar (natural or refined) or one ounce of starch, it will raise blood glucose the same amount, because the total amount of CARBOHYDRATE is the same. Although a glass of fruit juice and the same amount of sugary soda may seem like a "good" versus "bad" choice, each will raise blood glucose about the same amount. 

Carbs have 4 calories per gram. We hear a lot about low carb diets but, what is "low carbs" anyway:

• The National Academy of Sciences recommends no less than 120 grams of carbs per day
• The recommended daily allowance (RDA) is 300 grams of carbs per 2000 calories (about 60% of total calories)
• Atkins initially recommends 20 grams per day (less than 5%)
• Protein Power recommends about 12-15% of calories should be carbs (that's 60-75 grams for a 2000 calorie plan)
• The Zone advises keeping carbs at 40% of total calories (that's 200 grams for a 2000 calorie plan)

It's tough to sort out which amount or percentage is right for each person as most lives and persons are simply not the same.  Take in account economics and this will also effect the amounts consumed followed shortly by the age group of the person doing the eating.  Most recent Norwegian studies seem to indicate that a diet should contain no more than 40% carbs.  Why?  It seems that above 40% the body suffers some inflammation and prompts diabetes.  

So there you go. Pick your advisor:

1. The scientific community says 120 grams
2. The government says 300 grams
3. Dr. Atkins thought 20 was the answer
4. A for profit business endorsed 60-75 grams
5. A popular book from Norway thinks it is 200 grams

For me, I tried Atkins and felt great. Historically, the government changes it's answer far to often on the subject for me to listen to them now. Eat high carbs and generally you feel more stuffed and seem more burned out later after the glucose rush wears off.  I talked to many on the Zone plan and they all say that they don't have wild hunger swings. Protein Power's recommendation seems reasonable at the lower end.  Going really low, it's just simply to hard to control and easy to become REALLY hungry.  The win goes to Norway and 200 grams.

Calorie Intake

Those pesky calorie numbers.  You just can't get away from them.  Either you have someone telling you something related to them or your reading the back of every package or can to see how many are inside.  But what does it all mean?  First a calorie is a measurement of heat a particular food will provide.  Another way of saying this might be it is amount of energy that is either available to be burned or stored.

Of course, if we store it, we call it fat. So here are some daily calorie numbers that we can use as a gauge.
1200-1500 was the estimated daily calorie that was consumed during WWII for the average European.

2,000 calories was considered the minimum an individual can endure on for a limited period of time with reasonable health during WWII.
Today, it is recommended that for a woman 1800-2000 calories be consumed and for men 2000-2800 generally.  The current USA recommended portion plate can be seen in the graphic.  You can read the the current USA government food recommendations report at  http://www.dietaryguidelines.gov


Currently Americans generally consume 2700-3800 calories a day and we wonder why we are overweight. In contrast, Ethiopia's daily calorie intake is about 1800 when available.

Carbs and Overeating

These are the obvious reasons why fat people tend to eat a lot of sweet things. They like what they are accustomed to and these things are forever being pressed on them by well-meaning friends and relations. 


The fat person on a high carbohydrate diet is nearly starving in the midst of plenty. Most of the carbohydrate absorbed is turned into fat and accumulates in fat stores and he cannot easily get it out again. The rest of the tissues of the body suffer a relative deprivation of nutriment and naturally he feels hungry and eats more. 


Habit, reinforced by the cheap price and ready availability of starchy and sugary foods, ensures that attempts to satisfy the hunger with yet more carbohydrate which in turn forms more fat and still leaves them hungry. The vicious circle goes on and you get fatter. People have exchanged the traditional high fat, high protein, low carbohydrate diet with a low fat, low protein, high carbohydrate diet. That is, we have replaced bacon and eggs with cereal, and meat and two vegetables with pizza. And this has been accompanied by a general increase in obesity.


Of course this is perfectly obvious. A person can't get fat unless he/she eats more food than he/she uses up for energy. But it is beside the point.

Top Diet, Health and Fitness Apps for phones and home

Losing weight and staying fit gets tougher these days, we are bombed with food ads, our daily lives get us out of the sunlight and excersise time keeps getting squeezed. . Counting calories is only a part of maintaining a diet. challenge. Managing your diet and caloric intake and knowing your nutrional intake is more important, you need to know your eating habits, what you eat and you must be able to track it.  Goals are just as important to chart a course of action.

Smartphone apps and computer/web applications are the answer

The number of nutrition and diet related apps available for phones, tablets and compters is mind boggling. Not all apps and programs track the same things. Some components will be more important to you and less to others, so there is no "one size fits all."  Here's my list of good points.  The ability to:

• input your vital statistics
• record/track food intake
• track overall progress
• define goals
• motivation, food/excersise thoughts or other pointer suggestions
• track nutrients
• track and/or suggest excersise with calorie burned information
• food label scanning
• use intergrated social networking
• backup data and/or upload to a server
• enter in custom foods
• enter in supplements or medicines taken
• see your BWI and resting metabolic rate
• reports, charts and graphs
• the ability to print out records for you or health care provider

Where's my list of some of the best apps for healthy living for someone that's interested in diet, nutrition, exercise, bodybuilding/weight lifting. (in no order)

1. Myfitnesspal
2. Jefit
3. Calorie Counter
4. Noom Weight Loss Coach
5. Cardiotrainer
6. Diet and food tracker
7. Fitday (web app)
8. Diet Power 4.4 (desktop)

Best of all . . They are all FREE.