I have decided to talk about my recent acceptance of juicing. I don’t agree with extreme diets, like juice cleanses, but I have found that with my busy schedule I was not getting enough veggies in my body and the results were starting to pile up. Sometimes we get so used to feeling poorly, that we don’t realize anything is amiss!
Lately I have been doing a loose sort of intermittent fasting because I find that my digestive system runs more efficiently when I do. Eating less overall, though, reduces the amount of veggies and fruits I consume. I also tend to eat lunch at work or on the run during the week, which impacts veggie consumption. Not eating breakfast also makes taking certain vitamins difficult because they either won’t absorb properly or make me feel nauseous.
One of the reasons I don’t want to adapt a strict juicing lifestyle is that I don’t feel satisfied replacing meals (specifically protein) with just juice (I realize this is a funny thing to say since I am, in effect, replacing breakfast with juice). The other is that a lot of juices contain as much sugar as soda, and my body does not tolerate sugar well these days. So I must be mindful of what’s in the juice. Store bought juices tend to be really high in sugar and contain preservatives, for the most part, to keep them shelf stable. And lets face it…the more natural, stripped down juices are not stripped down in price.
A little while back I had some tired spinach and some no sugar added green juice from the grocery store. I added them to a blender with some grapefruit and some other things I had languishing in the fridge…like some poor avocados (a healthy fat) I had forgotten about. I mixed in a little local honey and some fresh mint and voila…pretty tasty. When I drank it, I noticed a distinct energy surge lol. It was like my body was applauding me :D.
Since then I have been pretty good about doing this and having fun with the variety. It has been a great way to use up some of the powders and herbs I have bought, with good intent, to use in other things. The photo above is strawberries, ginger, turmeric and fresh mint.
Another healthy practice I had let slide was my kombucha. I had a less than stellar batch on the counter, so used that as my base liquid and it was so good! Another healthy thing (fermented food) in my body!
Keeping my dishes washed in a timely fashion can tend to be a challenge for me, so my increased blender use will be an issue…lol. The blender method, by the way, is so much better than a juicer…in my opinion…because you get the whole vegetable and fruit. All the skin and fiber and vitamins, minerals, etc. The sugar factor is also an issue, so mostly greens and low sugar fruits…like berries. I’m also a fairly lazy cook and herbalist…so the less chopping the better…whole berries and leafy greens…huzzah!
This week I used blueberries and English cucumber…and I am going to start putting more herbs etc into them. Watch me get all herbalist with this…
Wish me luck!