Start your day with vegetable juice

My routine for so many years has been to start my day with hot cup of tea followed by cereal with almond milk or a toast with a spoon of almond butter or jam. There are days where I use to feel tired and lethargic by just 9am in the morning, so I went back to second round of tea.

I am a vegetarian with IBS from many years. My food list is very limited. There are days where I can't figure out what food causes problems in my digestion. The problem was having too many ingredients, processed foods, or eating too many items in a short duration. The key is to keep it simple, which works well for your body and keeps your soul content.

I wanted to start my day with mindful eating and drinking, so I started researching  and came across vegetable juicing. There are also benefits with other plant-based superfoods. I will share my story on juicing. From the past two months, I started juicing vegetables everyday and started having it first thing in the morning. You might think it is lot of work in the morning-- it sure is! You are on the right thinking track. Read along to see what I did.

I started juicing just one to three ingredients and had it in an eight ounce glass. Start simple with less quantity to see if you are able to tolerate it (especially for folks with digestion problems). There are some vegetables you have to drink in moderation to see if they suit you; then increase the quantity. Hence, do your own experiments and mix ingredients. I unknowingly mixed beets and its stems and juiced it up . Drank one glass of it and gave it to my husband too. I was so happy that I had something healthy first thing in the morning! In no time I felt quite nauseated. Guess what? No beet stems in juicing. Learnt it the hard way. They make it bitter even though they are edible. I did not give up; next morning, I tried beet juicing again but this time no stems and added a small coin size  of ginger and some apple slices with few drops of lemon. It was a wonderful relish!

Carrot juice is one of the most simple and best energetic juice I ever had. There were days when I had brain fog and felt sluggish in the mornings.  Having one glass of this organic fresh juice gives tons of vigor and keeps you in high spirits throughout the day. Say goodbye to caffeine.

Cucumber juice seems a very good option for hot summers. I juice it without removing the peel. One cucumber gives a lot of juice...

Normally, I don't add fruit except for beets, since I don't want to start my day with sugar overload.

For the first week, I begun juicing every morning but soon realized that pre-washing the vegetables and post-cleaning the juicer is a hassle. Everything adds up to 10 mins, and juicing takes up only 2 mins. This becomes extremely challenging when you have to login to work, get kids ready for school, and take care of a puppy. Yes, I have a cute little 7 month old golden doodle.

I started my research on how to minimize the work and still be conscious on healthy eating and drinking. Tadaa.. where there is a will, there is a way!   I ordered some air tight mason jars; I brought a mixed set of 8, 12 and 21 ounces.  Then what should you do?

Bring veggies to juice for the entire week. Wash up all the veggies and spread them on countertop or table to dry a bit.  Juice them and store them in Mason jars in freezer for the entire week. This helps retain freshness and nutrients of the juices. Every night I take out one mason  jar and keep it on kitchen counter top to let it thaw. Shake  it well in the morning and drink it up!

No guilt if you miss your salad or eat a cookie! You had your veggies quota in the morning!

Tags: vegetable juice, mindful eating and drinking, Carrot juice, Cucumber juice, beet juicing