Well, I'm back to juicing. A sweet friend asked if I meant smoothies and, oh, how I wish I did.
No, I mean fresh juice made mostly vegetables, including ones with strong flavors like spinach and beets, with few or no fruits. Not that fruits are bad at all: they're a sweet accent to make vegetable juice palatable. Plus fruits tend to be even more crazy-expensive than veggies. Vegetables have loads and loads of so-called micronutrients and I'm aiming to get some into my body!
I've watched the movie "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead" four times in the last few years (available as instant streaming on Netflix). It's definitely compelling, entertaining, and inspiring. (I also wonder if it was sponsored by Breville!)
When pregnant the last three times, my midwife has prescribed me juicing. But it'd be even better to get all the nutrients going, strengthening my body, when I'm not pregnant!
Plus I've discovered it inadvertently aids with a bit of weight loss when Mama has vegetable juice during morning and afternoon snacks instead of joining the children in whatever much-more-delicious-and-caloric snacks the children are eating.
Of course, an obvious and valid criticism is that juicing removes much of the useful insoluble fiber in produce. But I'm the first to admit that I'm not going to eat numerous raw cucumbers, a beet, four stalks of celery, two carrots, an orange, and apple, a couple of cups of spinach in one day, which means I wouldn't be getting the nutrients or the fiber. At least now I'm getting the nutrients. Clearly, it's a good idea still to eat various servings of cooked vegetables throughout the day in order to get the fiber.
Today's breakfast: eggs with sauteed spinach (2 cups) and tomatoes (2). As Chris and I cheerfully say to each other about this sort of health pursuit, "Not as fun as eating a brownie, but it's okay."
One can also read criticisms of juicing that the fructose is a fast source of sugar that can change blood sugar balances. Yes, well, I'll happily take the problem of fructose from a beet or an apple over the sucrose from my eating a plate of cookies with the kids or a Starbuck's coffee (disguised milkshake) or a muffin (AKA, a cupcake without the frosting). This should be our problem, that we got the sugar found in a couple of apples all at once!
I have a juicer, and I haven't taken it out since the baby was born...we'll have to juice together when you're here. I could really use some micronutrients!
ReplyDeleteGood for you! I would love a nice juicer, maybe I could get one for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteRebecca: I had the same thought! We'll juice together.
ReplyDeleteI like your realistic and balanced perspective. There's probably no perfect-bullet-proof-diet-that-ensures-perpetual-youth-and-immortality...at least not one that most of us mere humans could adhere to... so it is good to take baby steps and make compromises appropriate for each person/family's situation. :) Bottoms up!
ReplyDeleteI'm also starting to thing of things I should probably do in order to get ready for the next pregnancy. My m/w suggested I up my folic acid and B vitamins to prevent the next baby also having a tongue tie. Juicing sounds like a great plan. The layered juice of different colors is so pretty, too. But yes, I think it is rather expensive. That is why I always end up quitting. Well, that, and cleaning the juicer. Ughh.
ReplyDeleteDon't juice, macerate. Use your blender and a bit of liquid (water, ice cubes, fruit juice, etc. as appropriate) and you end up with a smoothie with all the fiber, nutrients from skin: essentially the whole thing liquified rather than just the juice extracted. Yum.
ReplyDeleteWe did a lot of juicing before I got pregnant with Alice, but when the morning sickness hit and odors bothered me, I quit. Now that Alice is 8mo, I sort of don't have that excuse anymore. :) Think once this huge move is behind us, I'll get back to it...I know Jason is missing it.
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