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!

Preach On, Joy McCarthy Holistic Nutritionist

Just so we're clear, this is
not a picture of Joy.

I like to talk. It is a known fact! But today I am remembering the lesson that my son's Tae Kwon Do instructor shared last night: "the more you talk, the less you learn."  So I am going to stop talking and let someone else do the honors.  I know, it's weird for me too. :)

In this case, the lovely lady I am going to direct you to is a true inspiration of holistic health and a complete wealth of knowledge related to clean eating.  I listen to her a lot because she says a lot of stuff that makes a lot of sense, and she knows more than I do.  I think hanging around people who know more than you do is a good idea...but since Joy lives in Canada, I just stalk her on the Internet instead. Luckily she makes that pretty easy via her website and Twitter feed.

What I want to share with you today is her blog, which I received yesterday in my email. It is a great explanation of one of my favorite topics: how food works. What it does. And, of course, how we can work with it to do awesome things for our health.

I read this and thought you needed to read it to.  So, since I promised I wasn't going to talk today, I give you...

Joy McCarthy, Holistic Nutritionist and Wellness Muse (I added that last part).

Take it away, Joy!