As you all may have known, I got my juicer on Mother’s Day. It’s something I have been wanting for a long time. Now to get a bit personal. I had a head injury at age 5 that caused me to become epileptic. I was playing tag in the house with my friend and ran smack into a door frame. I have been seizure free for over 20 years, thanks to some medication. I have tried to come off the meds, but the seizures always return. Why am I telling you this? Well, because, the medication I take causes me to have a lower white blood cell count. In other words, I get sick a lot. I thought juicing would be a fantastic way to boost my immunity.
When you juice vegetables and fruits, the resulting liquid contains most of the nutrients and vitamins without the fiber. Because of the absence of fiber, your body can more readily absorb the nutrients, while it gives the digestive system a break. The remaining pulp, contains some nutrients and all of the fiber. You can use the pulp to make vegetable stock, as a filler in baking and I have even heard of drying it out to make crackers. I have been putting some of it in my daughter’s homemade blended formula.
I have heard it’s good to juice on an empty stomach, so I have been juicing first thing every morning and also in the afternoon as a pick me up. It gives me so much energy. Even after a week, I can feel a difference in my body for sure. My skin looks better, my hair is shiny and I am sleeping more soundly.
Time Saving Tips
Since I have young kids it can be hard to find time to juice in the morning. These are a few things I do to make it easier.
1. Prep my veggies the night before. I clean and cut all the veggies and put them in a container in my fridge. That way, it’s all ready in the morning.
3. Line the pulp catcher with a plastic bag. Makes cleanup easy! (I re-use the reuse the same bag over and over)
These two steps save a ton of time. Since I have been juicing, I find I drink less coffee. I feel the juice helps to energize me. Here is a typical recipe I make.
Energizing Green Juice
2 big bunches kale
1 bunch swiss chard
3-4 stalks celery
1 cucumber
1 large carrot
1 apple (cored)
1 orange peeled with as much white still on as possible
1/2 inch piece ginger (peeled)
Wash all vegetables and fruits before juicing. I try to juice the greens first, and pretty much go in the same order as the ingredients. Once the juice is done, drink it within the first 20 minutes. You don’t want any of the nutrients to be lost. Let’s just be real, It will have a vegetable taste. You can add more fruit, but I tend to just take it as is. Just drink it like a shot. It will make you feel amazing! Clean juicer once you are done. This will make clean up much faster.
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