Adventures in juicing: Orange Sunburst

Hunger and I have been on odd terms lately.  Sometimes, I'm craving everything under the sun.  More often than not, however, I'm just not very hungry.  There is sharp pain in what I think are probably my intestines, though my insides are fairly unhappy with me in general these days. In any case, solid food just doesn't seem very appetizing, and eating becomes uncomfortable.  I'm pretty sure this is a result of the iron supplements I am taking.  But I need sustenance of some kind, so I'm getting around it by juicing.

I fell in love with the Day Glow juice from First Watch, and I decided I would try to make my own version.  I succeeded on the first try.  It was a little on the sweet side, but I added ice, and it cut the sweetness for me.

Libbie's Orange Sunburst:

4 oranges

7 carrots

1 thumb-sized piece of ginger

1 lemon

I'd gauge this makes about 10-12 oz of juice.  And it's so tasty!!!!!

Juicing

I've had a juicer for years and have never used it.  Since I'm going clean, I decided I should make use of it.  Let me be clear:  I am not doing a juice cleanse.  I feel those are dangerous and irresponsible. However, I'm not good at eating breakfast, so I thought I would start juicing for breakfast.  That way, I get extra vitamins and minerals that I normally wouldn't get, because I've been stuffing my face full of mostly crap for the last couple of years.

This morning, I got out my (horribly dusty) juicer and went to town tossing in a granny smith apple, a handful of carrots, a golden beet (the whole thing, greens and all), and half of a lemon without the peel.

The result was an earthy (beets taste like dirt, yo), tart concoction that was not entirely unpleasant.  If you're going to use beets, you might want to add a few other fruits or veg to help cut that earthy (dirt, it's dirt) flavor.  I followed up my juice with a boiled egg (because protein!), and I haven't been hellaciously hangry all morning.

I'm going to do my level best to stick this out for at least 28 days and see what happens to my energy levels.  As it is, it really can't get much worse.  And hey!  I've already had 3 servings of my 4-5 servings of fruits and veg and it's not even noon!  Go me!

Libster's Orange Monster

1 granny smith apple (cut off the stem, yo.  And take out those seeds!)
3 ounces of baby carrots
1 golden beet (the whole thing.  Seriously.  All of it.)
1/2 peeled lemon

Rainy days, depression, and working through it all...

I'm finding that since I've opened up about perimenopause and infertility that a lot of my lady friends have gone through or are currently going through the same thing.  It's nice to know I'm not alone and that I have people who can relate and offer advice and support while I'm figuring things out.

However, I am also finding that some people are dismissive of a problem that is really affecting my state of mind.  Yeah, after five years of being single at 34 years-old, I was becoming resigned to the fact that I was probably not going to have kids of my own.  That doesn't mean it's any less disappointing to learn that having babies is most likely impossible for me.  Because I always thought I might find someone I would feel was worth having babies with--my own babies.  So, please don't tell me that "it's not that big of a deal" because I wasn't planning on having kids anyway.  Please don't tell me that "there's always adoption".  I know these things, but it doesn't change the fact that I'm dealing with a very heavy reality that comes with a certain amount of disappointment and depression.  You don't get to tell me what is a "big deal" and what is not.

I just went through a pretty awful experience that triggered some serious PTSD, and I'm still trying to work through the emotional fallout from that.  For the love of cheese (that I can no longer eat) please don't tell me my situation is "not a big deal".  Because it's so much more than the perimenopause and infertility.  It's having thoughts and feelings that I can't control.  I'm feeling all kinds of things that are irrational, and that's okay.  I'm allowed to feel them.

With everything that's going on, finding the energy to care has been...challenging.  I'm emotionally and physically exhausted, and I just want to sleep all the time.  Seriously.  I'm sitting here typing this, and I would rather be in bed.

It doesn't help that it's been rainy for the entire week, so I feel like I'm walking around under my own personal rain cloud.

So, to combat the rainy day blues, I have my Happy Lamp on, and I juiced some of my favorite fruits to give me a pick-me-up:

Libster's Strawberry Watermelon Pick-Me-Up

1/4 seedless watermelon
10 strawberries
1 cucumber
1 lime (peeled)