Before I try or buy anything, I always like to ask my friends if they've tried it too and what their opinions were of it. I normally read online reviews as well, but I become more convinced to say pass or OK on something if my friends or family provide me their input. I hope by sharing my experiences and results, juicing becomes more real and more doable to you.
Once I started juicing, I noticed that my energy levels sky-rocketed and no longer needed caffeine to get me through the day. In fact, I gave up coffee and tea and donated my Infusion stamp card to my friend. When I come home from work, I have enough energy to work out, tidy up my place, and do other things I normally won't do unless I take a power nap. Waking up in the morning no longer involves the "10 more minutes please" conversation I have with my alarm.
My friends have commented on the improvement of my skin. When I broke out before, I used to blame stress as the source of my blemishes. Although pimples can be attributed to many factors, I now realize that not getting a daily serving of fruits and vegetables was one of the reasons I was breaking out. In a more alarming situation, the movie Fat Sick and Nearly Dead follows a man who had a rare skin disorder that made his skin react at the slightest touch as if a thousand mosquitoes attacked him. After incorporating juices into his diet, he no longer has to take medications for this disease.
Lastly, juicing has made me lose weight. To be quite honest, I was not looking into losing any more weight than I already have, but it's a known result of juicing. Even though I replaced my breakfast and most dinners with juices, my body does not feel malnourished or lacking. I become hungry every 3-4 hours which I feel are the normal hunger cycles a body should experience. And yes, I do eat snacks as long as they are not fried and contain no meat.
Drinking juices from fruits and vegetables does not have to be an episode of Fear Factor. (In fact, I always see Fear Factor contestants being forced to eat animal parts and not plant parts.) Juices can taste pretty good if you find the right balance of fruits and vegetables. Here are two very easy and very tasty juice recipes from Reboot Your Life I like to follow:
Carrot Apple Ginger Juice (picture shown above)
Serves 2 (each serving is 16 oz)
6 carrots
4 apples
2" ginger
Apple Honeydew Kale Swiss Chard
Serves 2 (each serving is 16 oz)
4 apples
1 honeydew
1 bunch swiss chard
1 bunch kale
So far this blog has been amazing and informative! You definitely make me consider juicing. I do have a few questions though:
ReplyDelete1) how expensive is juicing compared to what you used to do? It seems like buying all those ingredients (for 1 cup of juice) would add up quickly.
2) do you only make 1 cup at a time or do you make it in bulk? I think juicing would appeal to me more if I could just make an entire pitcher and just use that
3) why do you think making juices yourself is better than what's already out on the market (i.e., v8 or soup)?
4) do you ever keep juices that you don't finish? or does it spoil right away? do you ever experiment and find out that some recipes are terrible? what do you do then?
thanks in advance and keep it up!
@chewyD - Thanks for the feedback! Here are my answers to your questions: (1)I calculated how much I spend and it came out to be roughly $10-$14 per day for 2 juices (each being 16 oz.). (2)I make them in bulk because yes, it would be a pain to juice twice a day! My boyfriend drinks the juices too, so I actually make 32 oz of juice everyday. (3)I think making the juice yourself is better since there's no preservatives or added sugars in the drink, versus commercially made juices, which need the preservatives for longer shelf life and more sugar to appeal to the masses. Soup is good too but I think the heat can cause some nutrient loss. (4)Juices can last for 2 days, as long as they're kept refrigerated. So far, I've only made one juice that I disliked: gazpacho juice. I could only stomach it for one serving and ended up making a different juice for dinner. For now, I just search online for juice recipes and I just bought a juice recipe book! It should last me for a while. Hope you try juicing soon!
ReplyDelete