We already ate pretty darned well – hard not to in Portland where everything is about organic and local, and we live down the block from Whole Foods. We don’t do many processed foods and don’t eat too many calories, but I’ve always felt we could stand to put more fresh stuff into our bodies. I didn’t want to change diet in the middle of racing season or around the holidays so I gathered plans and equipment over December and got to it at the turn of the year.

I tried juicing many years ago, but this was when I didn’t have a dishwasher and I grew tired of all the cleaning. I sold that juicer, but had the exact same model on my wish list and received it for Christmas. We’re only a week into the year, but I’ve juiced about a half dozen times. I’ve tried a few recipes, but keep falling back to the first one I made via a random Googling – kale, cucumber, granny smith apples, celery, and lemon. In fact, I’m downing one right now. I threw in some ginger we had sitting around for a little extra bite. Produce isn’t too cheap, but if you watch for what’s on sale you can easily fill a grocery bag for less than you can with regular foodstuffs. Sure, the caloric content of that bag is probably a lot less, but the nutritional value is probably a lot more. Despite the lack of calories, juice seems to satiate my appetite really well. I typically get serious calorie cravings after rides or before dinner, but I’m not now. I’m almost always downing the juice as I make it due to oxidation, but have had good results storing it overnight in a sealed container. Heather isn’t a huge fan of veggie juicing so this undertaking has been mostly about me. I do hope I can get some more fruit-based juices churned out for her as fruits come into season.

On a fishing trip this year I “camped” (~60ft fifth wheel camper) with a friend who was doing a cleanse. He was getting most of his calories via spiralized vegetables. Intrigued, I looked into it, found spiralizers are dirt cheap (plan to spend $20-30 unless you find one of sale [same one linked] like we did for $15). We also picked up a book with some recipes and have been making all sorts of noodle and rice dishes out of veggies. The first two we tried were some of the best food we’d ever had (sweet potato carbonara and turnip pasta). The third, not so much, but not everything can be a win. A bonus is that this isn’t diehard vegetarian stuff; our recipe book includes meat in most of the meals. There can be some significant prep work (I had to sliver two cups of brussels sprouts for one of the recipes), but overall good stuff.

We waited until the first of the year to get going on this better diet and in those ten days I’ve dropped two pounds and feel like I have a whole lot more energy. An added bonus is that we’ve eaten out a lot less so we’re saving money. A lot more work for sure, but it’s pretty darned gratifying to see a constant stream of fresh foods come into the house and disappear.