Got a cold? This Immunity Blasting Juice made me a believer!

It's good, I promise.

I am a juicing skeptic. Its not so much that I don't believe in the power of juicing because I do. I just believe more strongly in the power of chewing. I call it the Chew Factor: that human need to, well, CHEW things periodically throughout the day. The few times that I have tried to replace actual meals with liquid calories, I end up cranky and frustrated. Slurping down 300 calories simply whets my appetite for more. No, I want to chew, and I want to do it a lot.  You can read more about the Chew Factor here:

Juicing: Is it worth the squeeze?

But, my friend Joyous Health convinced me that juicing has its place in the world of immunity-building, and explained to me that she uses juices for their therapeutic benefits. When we're sick or getting sick, that fast infusion of nutrients in liquid form gets into our blood stream faster so it can get to work on making us better. That made sense to me, and I remembered her advice about a month ago when I felt a cold coming on. I had 13 miles to run the next day so I really wanted to be in top form. So I got to Googling and found a recipe that sounded like I could actually swallow it.

And dang it if I didn't feel better. I was seriously surprised! I woke up the next day to drastically diminished symptoms and made another batch to squash it for good. I began to feel even better, and my 13 mile run was cold-free. I made a superstitious third dose of it to replace the energy I had burned while running, and I never did get that cold.

A few weeks later, I got a cold while out of town. I made the juice when I came home, and began to feel better.  Sure, there was likely a placebo effect at play, but it made me a believer in the power of juicing when my immune system is compromised.

Juices are healthy, but they still contain calories. This recipe is about 250 calories. Yes, I entered it into MyFitnessPal and logged it, because it had to count as a snack. Just be aware of that when you consider juicing - healthy food has calories too.

Okay, here's the recipe. You will need a juicer.

Immunity Blaster
2 carrots
2 oranges, peeled
1 ounce lemon juice
4 cloves of garlic. I started with two and worked my way up!

Put them all into the juicer and belly up!

Why all that garlic? It is a natural infection fighter!

If you don't have a juicer, look for a juice bar near you or head to your local Earth Fare. They'll juice whatever you buy in the produce department!

Get out there and get healthy today with a blast of immunity!

Juicing: Is it worth the squeeze?

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I recently became the proud owner of a juicer. It's so pretty.  I admire it every day as it sits gleaming on my kitchen counter. I think about all of the wonderful, nutritious, fortifying juice I'll be making and adjust my little "nutritional honor student" badge just in case anyone is looking.  And then, I decide to do that tomorrow.  The first batch of juice I made was so incredibly gross I've been afraid to make any more!

Granted, I didn't follow a recipe and I didn't put much thought into it. Like a kid on Christmas, I wanted to play with my new toy right away. So I opened the fridge and juiced what I had: a cucumber, some celery, and an apple. Woah. Ever drink a cucumber?  Yeah, don't.  I can actually still taste it just telling you about it now, and now my taste buds are ticked.

That was over a month ago, and since then I've gotten online and looked up some actual recipes.  It took a few more weeks for me to actually work up the nerve to try some. First I juiced an apple and gave it to my 5 year old, but he wasn't playing. He said he wants apple juice "from the store."  "This is from the store!" I said. "I bought this apple from the store." Not convinced, he went back to his Legos.

My next recipe was oranges and carrots, which tasted pretty good, but I added a peach to thicken it.  It was pretty darn good!  I would totally drink that.  But as I was happily sipping on my orange cocktail (which my kiddo did taste a tiny bit of and then spit out...into my husband's glass of water, ew) a thought occurred to me:

I am drinking two carrots, an orange, and a peach.  I could be eating two carrots, an orange, and a peach.  I could be chewing!

I call it the Chew Factor, and it's important to me.  I don't like to drink my calories. Shakes, coffee drinks, and most smoothies are a complete waste of calories to me because when they're gone, I don't feel like I really ate anything. If I am going to use my precious calories on something, I want to chew.  But I wasn't chewing. Suddenly my juicer wasn't looking so pretty.

I suspected there was some kind of science attached to juicing so I turned to one of my favorite sources for nutritional information: Joy McCarthy, Holistic Nutritionist. I asked her, what's so great about drinking veggies? Why should I drink them versus eat them?  She really helped me feel better about my penchant for chewing: while she recommends juicing (using an 80% veggie/20% fruit ratio for therapeutic purposes), it doesn't take the place of eating fresh fruits and vegetables.  Joy says the advantage of juicing is simply a, "mega-watt dose of enzymes, vitamins, and minerals."  She also referred me to this article she wrote on juicing, which I recommend you read, too!

Thanks Joy!

My license to chew restored, I've decided to keep trying out my juicer but focus on the fruits and veggies that I wouldn't normally chew anyway. Like, beets. Love 'em. Never eat 'em. Hey, I'll juice 'em!

And maybe turn them into a smoothie. :)

Do you juice? What's your favorite recipe?  Have you ever juiced a cucumber?  Don't.

I'll let you know how it goes.  And in the mean time...you know what I'm gonna say...get out there and get healthy!