Juicing...

It's the new year and everyone starts out trying to change things up and most often to revise our lifestyles in an effort to live more healthily.  We have been no exception to that this year...and our strategy has been to purchase one of these...

This, actually, is the exact one we purchased, and so far it is performing well.  Not the top of the line on the market, it's quite modestly priced, but from discussions with others, it's efficient and easy to clean.

So the idea has been to replace one to two meals per day with a juice composed of several different vegetable-fruit combinations in order to increase consumption and to loose a few holiday-gained pounds.  We've experimented with lots of different combinations and I'm finding that a base of celery, carrot and cucumber is my favourite. 

What I find most interesting is that so far (three weeks), I haven't tasted a juice I didn't like and I'm beginning to crave them over meals.

The idea behind juicing is to release the micronutrients from fruit and vegetables for quick absorption.  Ordinarily, you body has to work very hard to extract these super-nutrients from your food by chewing and digesting, so this method gives you a super-hit. The energy boost is amazing, and they are satisfying and filling.

I'm not suggesting that one gives up eating whole fruit and vegetables, we still need the fibre and other goodies from the whole food, but this is a great natural energy shot and  I'm finding it is a delicious way to educate one's palate away from processed food and back to a more natural way of eating.  By the way, not all the fibre is lost in juicing only the insoluble.

There is an interesting story on YouTube about an Australian, Joe Cross who came to the US to make a movie of himself traveling across the country while on a 60-day juice fast.  It's called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  I recommend watching it...it's inspiring.

I've found lots of juice recipes on line - have a look here and even lots of recipes on how to use the residual pulp to make muffins, soups, etc., because there is a lot leftover.

If you know anything about me from reading this blog, you know how much of a foodie I am, how much I love everything about food, so I am not advocating this as a complete substitute to eating meals.  But it can change your direction and as a addition to a meal plan.  I believe it to be astonishingly powerful both physically and psychologically.

Here's this morning's juice:

Kale, cucumber, pineapple, lemon, green apple...absolutely delicious, I'm beginning to believe part of the satisfaction comes from the gorgeous colours these drinks end up being. I'm looking at our basket of produce, sitting in the garage as the fridge is absolutely stuffed, and I'm thinking lunch is going to be beetroot, celery, asian pear, kale and lemon.

I can't wait for spring and summer and all the wonderful, local produce we are going to be able to access right in our own neighbourhoods, but for right now, thank goodness for Costco!