Juicing!!

     I used to think of juicing was only athletes or super crazy health nuts. I'm just didn't think about or understand much about it or all of the benefits juicing really provides. I am not a very picky eater but when it comes to what I drink, OOH BUDDY, I'm extremely picky! Just as an example I have a hard time drinking water unless it is ice cold or has Mio in it. I don't like milk unless it's chocolate milk (which is not an option anymore) or if it is with cereal. Even though I think my palate for what I drink has opened up a bit in the past few years juicing still sounded like something that was NOT for me. My hubby did juicing as a meal supplement and I occasionally tried his concoctions, then tried not to gag!! He didn't go by a recipe and just threw in a bunch of stuff that he knew was healthy. At least he was getting the right stuff but I don't know how he drank it.
      With our 'life change' we decided to give our digestive system a bit of a rest and juice for at least one or two meals a day for at least 30-60 days, and get the benefits of the weight loss as well! :)  [NAME OMITTED] made the first 3 drinks and I couldn't even finish the third one because it was seriously vile. He admitted it was beyond horrible and I insisted that we go by recipes so that it would be something we both could continue. I'm happy to say that with recipes for juicing I defiantly think making it a permanent thing at least one meal a day is very likely. Let me give you a little info on why juicing is so great. 

      The health benefits

 There are so many health benefits to juicing it would be hard for me to put them all in this one post but here are my top three...

1. No additional additives -  

       Even when you go to the store and by juice that says 100% natural juice, don't be mislead that's not all that is in the juice. Sure the base is 100% juice and the company may not be artificially making the taste of apple juice (as an example) but there are additives. It makes sense for a company to put things in their product to increase the shelf life.

2. Juice as an alternative to medicine -

       I am getting mostly all of my recipes at this time from a book called 'The Complete Book of Juicing.' There are many juice recipes can help with varies illnesses and conditions. Ever since becoming pregnant with my first child I have become more aware of the medicines I put into my body. I refused to take any form of medication while pregnant and nursing so he wasn't affected by those things. I know a lot of Dr.s and people say certain things are ok to take while pregnant, they may be. However, for me I was able to go through all three of my pregnancy without taking much of anything. I did take headache medicine once with one of them but that was about it. Now with this book it makes me confident that I will be able to continue this for myself and my children as they continue to grow. For example...have a bad ache problem? Try the 'Purple Cow' 

3. Give your digestive system a break -

According to an article I read (click here to read) it takes an average of 56 hours to fully digest your food. That means by the time that I finish digesting what I ate for dinner last night if I wasn't juicing I would have at least 6 mores full meals in my tummy before that one was complete so at any one time your body is digesting 6-7 meals at a time. WHOA I watch 6 kids 3-4 days a week and that's exhausting. I can't imagine how my poor digestive system feels. Juicing not only helps give your digestive system a bit of a break it's much easier for your body get all the nutrients. 

Want to juice? Here are the things that will make it a lot easier to do! 

1. Juicer $100.00
2. Sharp knife for chopping produce (You probably have at home now!) if not $12

                  The one I found for $12 also included a cutting board so I'm not totaling both items in total
3. Cutting board (You probably have at home now!) if not $10
4. Mason jars (set of 12) around $15
5. Stiff brush to clean juicer $5
6. Stainless steel mesh strainer to extract unnecessary pulp $10

7. Blender of some sort. We use a Ninja but just a basic blender works. $20

          Total Approximate Cost $162.00 (If you have any of the above $$ saver!)

A few tips & tricks...

Plan.          Plan your juices 2-3 days in advance. Make a list of the things that you will need for all of those juices and save a trip to the store or an hour of flipping through a recipe book to find something that has only things you already have at home. The night before I decide what recipes I will do for the next day based on what I already have in my refrigerator. Put all of the ingredients for a juice in a mason jar and put in your refrigerator. This is do two things. 1. Help you save time the next day when it's time to juice. 2. Chills all the ingredients giving you a yummy cold drink (the colder the better in my opinion). 

Wash.         I know it may seem like common sense but wash all things you juice. I wash all the fruits with peels before I even put them into our fruit bowl so just in case the kids grab an apple to eat I don't have to worry about what germs they may have just eaten from the peel. I also wash before I juice them. With veggies I rinse them off as best as I can, some greens are harder to know if they are clean than others.

Recycle.     Save the bags you get your fruit and veggies in. We use these as liners in our Juicer waste compartment and is helps cut time with cleaning

Cleaning.   We rinse our juicer out and soak it in soapy water over night. Then in the morning we clean it thoroughly and juice or breakfast. I think because we soak everything it helps with clean up time which makes it less of a chore.

Greens.      Green drinks with a lot of leaves or veggies are harder for me to eat but if you add half a lemon or lime to them it can help with the bitter 'green' taste!

If you start juicing and have some AH-HA moments of things that make it easier for you please share and I might just add it to the list! :)

A few recipes...

        Here are a few recipes that I've tried & what I thought of them. The book has a lot of recipes most of which I have not tried but here are four I have tried and enjoyed even with my pick palate! If you try on let me know what you think! The health facts for each recipe can be found in the book, along with a lot of other great information. I suggest picking up a copy!

'Potassium Punch'

1 Peach, Pitted, Sliced 

2 Oranges, Peeled

1/2 Papaya, Seeded, Sliced

1 Banana

Juice peach, followed by one orange, the papaya, and then the last orange. Pour into a blender, add the banana and liquefy! Yum! My hubby didn't like the texture but I didn't mind it because it was very smooth. I added a few ice cubes to this and 'Little Tink' (who is almost 2) kept saying 'pease' (please) asking me to share with her, which or course I did! :)

Helps with - Anxiety, Cancer sores, Diarrhea, Insomnia, and Ulcer.

'Purple Cow' 
1/2 a read of red cabbage, cut into wedges

2 Kale leaves
1 Red bell pepper

2 Red Apples, cut into wedges

Juice Cabbage first, followed by Kale, pepper and apples. This was 'ok' not a favorite of mine but I think I made a few mistakes. 1 I accidentally used a green pepper! DUH ME, Also the red cabbage my hubby bought was huge so I probably should have only used either 1/3 or 1/4 of it instead of 1/2. I used a spoon and took the foam off the top and added a handful of ice. This drink is much better very cold. 

Helps with - Acne




'Cruciferous Surprise'
3 or 4 kale Leaves
1/2 cup of Broccoli Florets with stems
1/2 head of Cabbage Cut into wedges (I used red cabbage)
2 carrots 
2 apples, cut into wedges

Just Kale, followed by the broccoli and cabbage. Then alternate carrots and apple wedges. This drink was better than 'Purple Cow' in my opinion. Aubrey LOVED it and kept asking for more! I think it would have been a little better if I would have put ice into it! 

If juicing is something that you think you'd like to try there is a great documentary that you can watch call Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. It is informational, but it doesn't give recipes but it does give a lot of great information about the benefits of juicing and some really inspirational stories. I might try and do a juice fast some time but right now I know I don't have the will power to give up solid foods for even a week. An article I found also provides a lot of helpful hints (some of which I included in this here but) if you wish to read please click here.

Has anyone done a juice fast before? I'd love to hear about how you did, what were the biggest challenges and how did you overcome them!