Adventures in Juicing + Nutrition Lesson?

This morning's Green Smoothie. Almost 1 cup almond milk, 1 large banana, 1 spoonful all-natural peanut butter (ingredients: peanuts and salt), and at least 4 cups of organic spinach. 20 ounces of heaven. Seriously. Try it.

So I am really getting excited about this marathon! I am so pumped to finally be back in training after about a month off.

Since my first marathon on May 2nd, I've just been so lackadaisical (like that big word?) about my running (and I guess I had a right to be after 4 months of non-stop training). But what I realized is that I really don't like it when I'm not running and training regularly.

Last night after work I ran over to our Team in Training Tuesday night meeting which this week was all about nutrition! We had a dietitian/personal trainer come speak to our group about the basics of sports nutrition and some of the things endurance athletes need to do to keep their bodies in peak performance mode.

She went through the ins and outs of what we should be eating daily, how to fuel your body during a race as well as any supplements/vitamins that you could take.

Honestly it wasn't anything I hadn't heard/read before, I guess it was geared more towards beginning runners. Plus I was a little disappointed that she said her favorite snack was a PowerBar and that she takes caffeine pills before big races. That just didn't scream health to me! To each his/her own, but if I were a dietitian, I would try to recommend fruits, veggies, nuts or minimally processed/all natural snacks (with an extremely low and readable ingredient list). The caffeine pills...I think that's a debate for another day.

But I guess everyone isn't as strict on their foods as I am. (Although, I do partake in some Dorito's actiton on occasion :)

But seriously, check out these ingredients for the PowerBar Triple Threat Chocolate Caramel Fusion:

CHOCOLATEY COATING (SUGAR, FRACTIONATED PALM KERNEL OIL, COCOA, WHEY, NONFAT MILK, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL VANILLA FLAVOR), CORN SYRUP, CARAMEL (CORN SYRUP, SUGAR, CREAM, WATER, FRUCTOSE, PALM OIL, SOY LECITHIN, SALT, DISODIUM PHOSPHATE, NATURAL FLAVOR, CARRAGEENAN), POWERBAR TRISOURCE™ PROTEIN BLEND (WHEY PROTEIN ISOLATE, CALCIUM CASEINATE, SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE), MALTITOL SYRUP, VEGETABLE GLYCERIN, OAT FIBER, SOY CRISPS (SOY PROTEIN ISOLATE, TAPIOCA STARCH, SALT), DRY ROASTED PEANUTS, HIGH OLEIC CANOLA OIL, ALKALIZED COCOA, AND LESS THAN 2% OF ALMOND BUTTER, NATURAL FLAVORS, SOY LECITHIN, SALT, PEANUT FLOUR, MINERALS: CALCIUM PHOSPHATE, POTASSIUM PHOSPHATE, FERROUS FUMARATE (IRON), VITAMINS: ASCORBIC ACID (VITAMIN C), VITAMIN B6 HYDROCHLORIDE, RIBOFLAVIN (VITAMIN B2), THIAMINE MONONITRATE (VITAMIN B1). CONTAINS ALMOND, MILK, PEANUT AND SOY INGREDIENTS. MADE ON EQUIPMENT THAT ALSO PROCESSES WHEAT.

Hmm, that just seems like a lot of unnecessary gunk to me. I like the ingredient list on my apple or banana with peanut butter. I can count it on (less than) one hand.Or how about my beloved Cliff MoJo bars?...Although still a long list, look how much better this looks (70% organic too!):

Organic Dry Roasted Peanuts, Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Honey Roasted Peanuts (Peanuts, Evaporated Cane Juice, Honey, Salt Natural Vitamin E), Soy Rice Crisps (Soy Protein Isolate, Organic Rice Flour, Calcium Carbonate), Organic Pretzels (Organic Wheat Flour, Salt, Organic Canola Oil, Organic Malt), Organic Dry Roasted Soybeans, Organic Peanut Butter, Organic Oat Syrup, Organic Honey, Vegetable Glycerin, Organic Sunflower Oil, Sea Salt, Organic Gum Arabic, Natural Vitamin E (antioxidant).

Difference in cost? Not significant. Difference in taste? Much better in my opinion! Difference in ingredients? I think they speak for themselves. (Although it does seem like everything processed contains soy. While I am limiting my intake of soy, I'm not getting rid of it completely. Everything in moderation.)

I'm not saying that PowerBar's are necessarily unhealthy, but for me, if I have to eat processed foods, I would rather know what I'm eating.

Ok, let me step down from my soapbox.

Before my meeting yesterday I knew I was hungry for something but didn't want to eat too much, as I would be running in about an hour. So I decided to pull out my new juicer!

If you follow me on Twitter, you would know that I found out Saturday night that a local Twitter friend had a brand new Hamilton Beach juicer that he did not want and would give to me for free. Seriously?? Can I say how much I love Twitter? What is that saying again, ask and you shall receive?! So Matt and I picked up my new toy Sunday afternoon and I've been playing with it ever since.

My Hamilton Beach Big Mouth Juicer works fantastically! As you can see, it is a bit large but not too obtrusive. I line the pulp basket with a grocery bag so I can easily dispose of the juice pulp. The small spout on the right is where the juice comes out.

What's great about this juicer as that there is basically NO prep time! All you do is wash the veggies/fruits and stick them in. Since the mouth is so large, I can just pop an entire apple in there, core and all.


Here were the stars of my juice yesterday. Carrots and apple juice is my new fave, but Shannon suggested that I add some lemon and ginger. I didn't have ginger but I did have a lemon. You do actually have to "peel" citrus fruits (as well as pit peaches or anything with hard pits) but I just kind of used a knife to get the rind off there. I had 1/2 banana left over from a Green Smoothie so I figured I would throw that in there as well.


Holy Yum! This combo was DELISH! It made a TON too.

I love carrot juice because it's so tasty and added with just a bit of sweetness (apple, lemon) it tastes just like a fruit cocktail. Minus the liquor. This was almost TOO sweet if you would believe that! Next time I think I will use half a lemon.

So after the meeting, we all headed out to run "4 to 4.5 miles." I was excited that after we started running, not everyone was doing the run/walk method. Thank goodness. There was a group of about 5 of us who kept chugging along at about a 9:30 pace. Eventually our coach joined us and we all started talking...and slowing a bit. But all in all it was a great run, and when I got home my Garmin said 5.0 miles...and I hadn't even ran it all because I stopped when I got to my apartment. I think they ended up doing 5.8 which is great for a week 20 mid-week run.

I was pretty pleased with the stats too: 5.03 miles in 48:22. Average pace: 9:48. I actually ran a bit more than that too, as I ran to the actual meeting (probably about .3 miles?). I think had we not slowed to chat as much, we would have averaged out under a 9:30 pace.

I think I have picked my marathon training plan...I am super excited because I know I can make this one in sub 4:30 time! Revealing training plan soon...

Do any of you guys juice? If so, any good combos I should try?