The Purple Eagle Has Landed

Well I am happy to report that as of today, Friday April 6, 2012 @ 6:40am, the beet juice has made it through my system. So it took almost exactly 24 hours. A bit slower than the article said, but at least it is not a 2 day lag like on Monday.

Interestingly enough yesterday after work so about 4pm the "released" matter was oddly thin and pale in color! I won't go into what that means, but I am surprised at how things can change from day to day!

Okay enough on this subject, I am sure no one likes reading or talking about this stuff! Ha Ha!

My Body: What are you trying to tell me!

I have an unusual topic to talk about. Since Juicing, I have been overly sensitive and perspective about changes in my mood and in my body in general. I feel great from juicing..I convinced myself that all internally has been working efficiently after all I am feeling great!

I noticed yesterday as I went to the "facilities" my stool was a delightful purply reddish color which didn't really alarm me. I knew it was from the beet juice I had...but I had the Beet juice on Monday! Here it was Wednesday and only now is the beet juice making its way through my system? This is what brought on my concern. Normally when I would drink any beets I had same day "purply output". My main question is how long should it take for toxins or even just food & drink make its way through the digestion process?

So I found this on the internet:

Here's how to determine your transient time. First thing in the morning, drink one of the following drinks.

· one ounce of liquid chlorophyll, the juice of one lemon and 8 oz. of distilled water.
· or if you like beet juice, use 6-8 oz. of beet juice. You can buy the juice or make your own if you have a juicer.

Buy a small bottle of liquid chlorophyll that does not have peppermint added. The peppermint added has to strong of a taste for me. The cost is around $8.00

Check to see how long it takes to see green or red in your stools. This is your transient time. Average transient time is around 21 hours.

If your transient time exceeds 26 to 30 hours, then you have a mild case of constipation. If your transient time 31 to 36 you are constipated. If your transient time is 37 to 48 hour you have chronic constipation.

Wow...I have constipation, which is I would have never thought, because I am having a movement every day! I just always assumed it was the stuff I was eating that day! Troubled my this little tid bit of information, I have made myself another Beet juice drink this morning. It was the first thing into my system this morning so I will see how long it takes to move its way through me.

Body Issue #2...now Urine! It smells! So off to Google I go, and found this tidbit on WebMD.

Odor Changes
Urine normally doesn't have a very strong smell. If you get a whiff of something particularly pungent, you could have an infection or urinary stones, which can create an ammonia-like odor. Diabetics might notice that their urine smells sweet, because of excess sugar. In the past, doctors would actually taste urine for this sweetness to diagnose diabetes.

Some foods can also change urine odor. Asparagus is among the most notorious. What people are smelling when they eat asparagus is the breakdown of a sulfur compound called methyl mercaptan (the same compound found in garlic and skunk secretions). If you catch a whiff of something after eating a plate of asparagus, it means that you've inherited the gene for the enzyme that breaks down mercaptan. Not everyone has this enzyme and, therefore, not everyone can smell it.

My urine has been smelling like ammonia..I can call it ammonia now, but yesterday I swear it smelled like I had cleaner sitting in the toilet! So since WebMD says I have some kind of infection...more research I do. There is a wide variety of reasons on this one. Some serious and some not.

What causes urine odor?
Urine odor may be described as foul, strong, musty, sweet, or as smelling like sulfur or ammonia. Urine odor may be caused by conditions that are not harmful (benign) or by mild to serious diseases and disorders.

Benign causes of urine odor
Urine odor may be caused by a variety of conditions that are not harmful or not caused by disease including:

Eating certain foods, such as garlic, onions, fish and asparagus. Asparagus can cause a sulfur-like smell of the urine. The unusual odor should go away after these foods have been digested.

Taking vitamins and certain medications can cause an unusual urine odor as a side effect.

Potentially harmful causes of urine odor
Urine odor may be caused by infection, inflammation, or other conditions of the urinary tract (kidneys, ureters, bladder and urethra) or the reproductive organs. Urine odor can also be caused by diseases that affect the urinary tract as well as other organs and body systems.

Causes of urine odor related to the urinary tract include:

Cystitis (bladder inflammation or infection), which can produce a foul urine odor

Prostatitis (inflammation or infection of the prostate gland)

Urinary tract infection, such as a bladder infection or kidney infection (pyelonephritis), which can produce a foul urine odor

Urine odor can be caused by other diseases and conditions including:

Dehydration, which can produce an ammonia-like urine odor

Liver failure, which can produce a musty urine odor

Maple syrup urine disease, which produces a sweet, caramel-like urine odor

Rectal fistula, an abnormal opening or connection between the rectum and other areas of the body

Untreated or poorly treated diabetes, which produces a sweet or sugary urine odor

I wish there was a class or some material out there about the body. Cause noticeing the changes in our body can let us know when something is not function properly. Maybe I should have gone to medical school instead of business school. I would love to make sense of all of this stuff! But I know juicing does change the body..so I am not overly alarmed by anything, my body does have to sync up with its new healthy eating and lifestyle. But the changes good and bad are being noticed.

New Juices...New Loves!!

I have not posted in a while! Oh Oh! But my adventure in juicing continues. I still think this juicing this is expensive, but it is so good and I feel the difference, I have more energy and my skin looks remarkable!

This past week I experiment with new juices some I love, some I don't. And I cooked a couple days! I have been so stuck on salads and chicken that I have not cooked a meal in ages! So let me start with the meal that I cooked. I had a taste for some fish. So I bought some Cod and Baked it. The first meal was cod with sauteed spinach, the other time, it was Cod with broccoli. Both were excellent and a welcome change of pace!

So now my adventures in Juicing! I will start with the juice I love the most! Which in all honesty is a tough choice, there are 2 juices that I enjoy alot, but I will give the title of favorite to.....Grapefruit, Orange, Lime, & Ginger! I found this surprisingly on you tube. It is supposed to help remove toxins from the lymph system. So I made the juice the recipe:

1 Grapefruit
2 Orange
1 lime
piece of ginger
It is awesome...it is now my morning juice!

My next favorite juice, which was my first favorite until discovering the Grapefruit/Orange juicee...is Spinach & Apples! This one I really didn't measure anything out, but I think it was a bunch of spinach and 2 apples. I had a few leaves of kale that I threw in there and it was really delightful!

And my least favorite juice..cucumbers, apples & ginger. It was okay..not nasty. I was able to drink it and get it down. But not the most flavorful thing out there. So that is my adventures in juicing this week. I am enjoying juicing...I love that I am finding things that I like!

Now I gotta find something to do with carrots. THey were on sale and I bought 2 bags...Any suggestions anyone? I think its google time!