Friday, April 16, 2010

Juicing for Health ( A Discovery, A Lifestyle Change )

Wheatgrass that we add to juicing veggies...
The veggies we juice...
The parsley we add, according to my internal medicine physician, is a good anti-bacteria...
Close-up of what we juice: red peppers, cucumber, jicama, celery, spinach, orange, apple, grapes, and buried underneath, apple, calamansi if in season, and lemon.

I admit that I was biased in not juicing veggies and fruits. I remember this television program on Jack Lalane promoting his juicer and I swore off the practice of juicing. As to why, I had no idea, other than my default negative reaction.

But, when I got sick and I was open to fortifying my immune system, my husband developed this formulation of juicing vegetables. It was quite expensive to get all these fresh vegetables in the supermarket or Farmer's market, until we discovered a Persian market nearby which sold parsley, 3 bunches for a dollar. When we first juiced three years ago, parsley costs 6 bunches for a dollar. From $0.15 a bunch, we are now paying $0.35 a bunch. Still, buying the produce can range anywhere from $20 to a high of $54. It depends on what we want to add for the week.

This week, I added a new ingredient, singkamas or jicama. At times, my husband will add a slice of ginger, but the best tasting juice thus far is adding 5 calamansi fruits, whole into the juicer. We use an Omega juicer as it extracts mildly the juice and much of the pulp is slowly separated from the juice. A competing machine, which will remain nameless was purchased for $300 and I must admit, this machine, while efficient does not give us part of the pulp foam and fiber residues we want to see for volume and a bit of body on the juice we drink.

Another new ingredient we added is wheatgrass. We snipped a few and add it to the mixture. It gives a nutty flavor and a funky smell, but it gives me such a shot of energy which lasts for most of the day until evening, enabling me to write for a lot longer. This is an effective drink for me, as it keeps my "plumbing" clean, my stomach well scrubbed and what Dr. Oz on Oprah describes about one's poo being an S-shape. I will leave it at that and just to say that juicing has made my immune system much stronger. All throughout the year, I can stay clear of colds, except for an occurrence near the holidays given some of the crowded places we frequent with friends and families.

Well, that's it folks, the juicing practice has improved our quality of life. I am not as sickly as before and I have the stamina and endurance to do my exercise in the morning as an added bonus. Happy juicing and may God's blessings for good health be yours! Of course, we have to do our part first!

Email me if you want the recipe or search through this blog...it has the precise formula we use. Again, may you adopt juicing as part of your lifestyle! It truly works for me!