Juicing for Health

I'm getting a good amount of new traffic from my post on the movie by Joe Cross called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.  It prompted me to start juicing for a couple of reasons. One, I can't stand half the vegetables out there;  two, juicing helps me incorporate those vegetables into a drink that tastes good, and three: I grow some of these dispicable vegetables in my garden and now I can consume them. Win-win!

I'll start posting my juicing concoctions for those interested in how things can be mixed, what they look like and I'll report how they taste.

Pure Fiji apples, about eight I think.

On the day I made this juice, pure fiji apples, I was actually craving it. It just so happens that I didn't have much in my fridge in the way of greens so it worked out perfectly for me.

I'm still experimenting, but it seems to me that I feel much less bloated after drinking a big apple juice.  It's hard to explain but I just feel "thinner" after one of these.   I know that apples are a natural diuretic and I am most likely feeling the causal effect.

It tastes delicious and markedly different that apple juice you buy in the store.  Call me lazy but I juice the entire apple.  I cut it down if necessary to fit into my juicer canal and just grind the whole thing, stem, seeds and all.  I've never had an issue with my juicer nor had a stem or seed come plopping out the other side. 

I can't taste any difference when I juice the whole apple as compared to taking the seeds out (Wifey even bought a apple corer from Pampered Chef or somewhere).  Yes, the core tool works nicely but I don't use it.  The drink comes out a lovely cream soda color and slightly pulpy, as do all the drinks I make.  I'm not a huge pulp guy but it doesn't bother me either.  Wifey likes her orange juice from the store "pulp free" but neither of us have had any complaints about the level of pulp from our juicer.  Now that I've written this, I wish I had one to drink...

This is what our juice looks like most of the time...more or less.  We usually juice apples, kale, broccoli, cucumbers, grapes and strawberries.  No set recipe or amount, just whatever we feel like using.

We've noticed that cucumbers have a strong taste but it isn't unpleasant (and I don't like cucumbers).  Kale has very little flavor unless, of course, you're drinking it as the only ingredient.  Broccoli is pretty mellow too.  We can usually cover the taste of any green vegetable with the flavors of the apples.  Then the grapes or strawberries, if we use them, adds to the sweetness that buries the flavor of the greens.

These must be ridiculously high in vitamins and minerals.  I haven't had a migraine since we started juicing.  Someday I'll look up the nutritition value but for now I'm just content knowing that I'm consuming things I've been lacking for decades AND the taste is terrific.

I took a picture of this juice because I was amazed at how dark it came out.  It looks horrific but as usual, the taste was pleasantly sweet.  This was a mixture of our normal kale, apple, broccoli and celery but I added a smidge of beets.  The red from the beets can really affect the overall color.

I remember the first time we used beets and the drink came out almost blood red.  It wasn't disgusting in anyway, then again, we work in the healthcare/emergency room field so nothing really affects us too much.

This particular juice just came out an odd black/gray/brown/green.  I can't really pin a specific color on it.  But like I said, it tasted good and once again, my body got nutrients that I otherwise would have passed on.

This heavenly delight was a dreamy mixture of apples, peaches, pears, cucumbers and kale.  There might have been broccoli, I can't remember now.  Kale and broccoli don't really change the flavor much but they are VERY rich in vitamins and minerals.  I think I read somewhere that kale is a superfood.

Anytime I can mix apples, peaches and pears together, I'm all for it.  You can cover up the taste of just about anything distasteful with these guys.

I also like to add grapes of any color and berries (rasp, blue, black, etc) and cherries.

It is REALLY hard to screw up a juice.  The only thing you can do to mess it up is just put WAY to much greens.  Keep the greens equal to the fruits and you'll be fine.  Of course, you may be the kind for person that likes the taste of greens, so more power to you.

This is what the juice looks like when you add a sufficient amount of beets to it.  It doens't affect the flavor too much, as usual, but sure make for a pleasing color.

This one has strawberries, beets, apples, kale, cucumber, broccoli and grapes.  The flavor was terrific and even the kids liked this one.  They go a lot on looks, as most kids do, so the green drink won't even merit a sample taste.  But this one was sampled and given smiles of approval.

I usually only put one beet in a drink.  One carton of strawberries.  One or two regular size cucumbers. Half to one full bunch of kale. One or two heads of broccoli and how ever many grapes I can stand to sit there and shove through the juicer.

As I've posted before, I don't de-stem or de-seed much anymore.  Wifey still does and that's fine with me.  I just don't like taking the time to mess with it and I haven't noticed a difference in flavor.

This is what the juice looks like as it is coming out of our juicer.  You can see that it hasn't been stirred up yet.  The red is the strawberries and beets.  The green on the bottom is the kale and broccoli (possibly cucumber). 

You are supposed to juice the soft stuff first and end with harder things like apples.  These drinks are always very colorful no matter what mix you use.  Of course, we never do straight greens.  We always add a few fruits in for flavor.

That's our Jack Lallane $99 juicer from Walmart on the right. No complaints so far but youtube videos seem to make the Breville look like it would juice things a little easier. Our Lallane is very easy to clean too.

Made another colorful concoction with pink lady apples, carrots, beets, kale and stawberries.  Tasted delicious as usual.

I finally got to add carrots into the mix because Wifey wasn't home.  She hates carrot juice flavor.  She'll eat them in stews and such but can't stand the taste of the juice.  I LOVE carrot juice.  I used to buy it in bottles and drink it straight.  So sweet, there's no craving for soda pop after a big glass of carrot juice.












Pure apple juice. This is Fuji apples.



Here's another straight apple juice blend.  Apples have such a sweet flavor that the juice they produce is wonderful to my taste buds.

Apples at my local Farmer's Market are going for $1.29 per pound right now.  Since I'm new to juicing, and buying fruit on a regular basis, the price seems reasonable to me...I guess.  If I go to Walmart, which used to be the cheapest place I knew for groceries, the current apple prices are $1.69 per pound.

That's significantly more expensive AND there's no telling where their apples come from (or what they have be soaked in, chemical-wise).  I'll stick with my local Farmer's Market variety.

This lovely deep orange colored drink is pure carrot juice.  Since Wifey hates carrots with a passion, I don't get to add them in our juice very often.  Or, I juice our fruits and veggies, pour her a glass of the mix and THEN juice carrots into the remaining batch.

The flavor is very sweet and rich.  I've always like carrot juice but it is usually SO expensive.  Now that I can juice my own for much less money, I'll be enjoying it more often.



Your comments are welcome.  Do you have a recipe to share?