ITS TIME
It's time for us to take hold of our health. It's time for us to learn how to say, "NO" to certain foods. It's time for us to finally start turning our dreams into goals and achieving them once and for all! We must start taking responsibility in order to achieve our goals and by this I mean it's our own personal CHOICE to live a healthy life-style.... or not to. No one is going to swat your hand when your office brings cookies, candies, and donuts on Valentines Day and tell you, "Excuse me, You can't eat that"... You have to make the concsious decision whether or not that cookie is worth it.
For those of you who are on this juicing journey with me, I wanted to do a little Juicing 101 for all my beginners. Hopefully this provides a little more knowledge and few more tips and tricks!
JUICING 101
I love juicing because it provides me a way to add more fruits and vegetables into my diet which I have never been able to do before. Previously, I would say that I ate the typical American diet.... I didn't get anywhere close to the recommended serving of fruits and veggies, I ate a lot of foods that were high in calories, sugars, and fats. When I tried my first juice, I surprisingly loved it and I was amazed at how many vegetables were in the ingredients (and I wasn't able to taste any of them.) Once I started to do more research on the benefits of juicing, I finally went out and bought a juicer...needless to say I have been hooked ever since and my result have been more than amazing.
So why juice? Our bodies actually naturally break down all of the food we eat anyways, when we are juicing it's kind of like letting our bodies skip a step which gives us more energy (because our body isn't having to work so hard to break down the food) and it gives our digestive system a break as well.
I get asked alllllll the time, "Why don't you just blend instead of juice?" or someone will tell me, "I juiced this weekend with my blender" Juicing and Blending are different. Let me tell you why... when we are juicing we are separating the liquid of the produce from the pulp. A juicer liquifies everything that goes into the juicer. The juice part of the produce is what our cells absorb. So when we make juice it's basically just a big glass of nutrients that goes straight to our cells. When we are blending, yes we are still liquifying the produce and the fiber is important however it's the juice that our cells need desperately. The nutrients in a smoothie are not separated like they are in juice. I personally think juices and smoothies complement each other well and doing a mix of both is great.
If you are juicing to lose weight, it's best to use produce that is HIGH in nutrients but low in calorie. Here is a a good list to stick to.
Bell Peppers
Parsley
Kale
Broccoli
Spinach
Celery
Brussels Sprouts
Cauliflower
Carrots
Cabbage
Beets (Very Earthy in Juices)
Pineapple
Cantaloupe
Watermelon
Tomatoes
Apples
Strawberries
Pears
Oranges
Grapes
Preparation
Juicing takes a lot of preparation. I know when you think of "juicing" you probably think "sweet, now I can throw an entire orange into my juicer and not peel it"
Ahhh! Please DO NOT DO THIS! You still have to prep your fruits and vegetables before throwing them into the juicer. You cannot use frozen fruits... even after they have been thawed out (they are usually to squishy). Bananas cannot go thru the juicer. If you want to use bananas then you would have to create a juice and then throw the juice and the banana into a blender.
Here are pictures from my Juicing session this Sunday!
This one's called
Fire Me Up!
Carrot
Orange
Lime
Jalapeno
Get everything you will need out (This serves 2)
Wash your fruits and veggies
Cut off stems... They cannot go thru the juicer
I like to put a liner inside the "trash" bin of the juicer... especially when making multiple juices so that I don't have to clean it every single time it fills up
Assemble your juicer!
You MUST remove ALL peels. It take less time to cut them off than sit down and peel each one, So typically I just cut off all my peels.
Once peeled, place fruit in the shooter. Don't turn the juicer on until your shooter is filled with produce. (If you have a small juicer you might only be able to do one fruit at a time)
I like to keep a grocery bag around that way I can throw all the peels and excess stuff in the bag immediately. It keeps the kitchen a little more clean and it makes the final cleaning a lot easier. It's better to keep it all in one place!
You don't need to do anything to carrots other than wash them. Here is a picture of them going into the juicer.
.... and coming out of the juicer
Oranges need to be peeled... it saves a lot of time to just cut the peels off.
And into the juicer they go.....
The jalapeno's only require the stem being removed. Other than that...it's good to go straight in!
End Product
STIR ALL INGREDIENTS TOGETHER
Pour over ice and enjoy :)
The Fire Me Up was delicious!!! A must try!
RECIPE: Hello Sunshine!
Pineapple
Kale
Orange
Kale only needs to be washed and then it can go straight in
Here are pictures of the Kale going in and out... Kale doesn't juice very well and by that I mean not a lot of juice comes out.... So it's better to throw in an orange or an apple first, then Kale, then another orange or apple after. For some reason it helps the Kale juice better.
Remove the skin of the pineapple
This is how I like to cut up the pineapple before placing it in the juicer
Stir up!
Pour and Enjoy!
I made these for this upcoming week. This recipe made two big juices and two small juices.
Apples... Makes sure you remove the sticker!
Wash Em'
Remove the stem
Cut em' up
And then they are ready to be liquified!
Juicing is so much fun! I hope this helped some of you who have just recently started juicing! If there are any other types of fruits or vegetables you have questions about please leave me a comment so I can do a demo in an upcoming blog!
If I can do it.....
Have a very blessed Sunday!
Xoxo
-Ashley
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