Juicing Remedies

Today I wanted to briefly talk about a book that I own about Juicing. This book is called, "Juice Alive: The Ultimate Guide to Juicing Remedies," and it was written by Steven Bailey, ND, and Larry Trivieri, Jr. I received this book as a bonus when I bought my juicer online.

This book has two different parts. Part one has lots of useful information about many juicing related topics, including the benefits of juicing, the history of juicing, how to juice, nutrition, juicing and beauty, different kinds of juicers, it even has a chapter that talks about smoothies and tonics.

Part two is dedicated to juice recipes for health disorders AKA juicing remedies. The different health disorders include everything from AIDS and alcoholism, to varicose veins and yeast infections, and everything in between. For each disorder there is a recipe listed, as well as information about these health disorders. It's actually quite interesting. If there's a health disorder that you or a family member suffer from, then chances are there's a remedy in this book. Please feel free to comment with any health disorder you might be curious about finding a juicing remedy for, even if it's only out of curiosity. Then I'll be able to include the recipe and information given on one of my future blog posts.

Fresh Juice vs. The Store Bought Stuff

Every now and then I talk to people about the juices that I make and consume. Most people have heard about making fresh fruit and vegetable juices themselves, but there are many others who haven't. If I mention that I just consumed a fresh vegetable juice a pretty common response is, "you mean like a V8 juice?"

Even the ones who are familiar with juicers and the practice of juicing oftentimes have misconstrued ideas about these juices. Many wonder why someone would go through all the trouble of preparing a juice themselves, when they could grab a bottled juice out of any cooler in a gas station or supermarket and consume it without having to clean up or prepare a thing. 

Some people might see a movie like "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead," and then decide that juicing, or a juice fast is something they'd like to do. Many of them don't realize that juicing requires a little effort, and once they find out that cleaning a juicer can be a pain in the ass, they often wonder what other, easier options they have. A common question that often arises is, "what store bought juices can I consume instead of making my own juice with a juicer to achieve the same outcome?" Anytime someone asks a question like that they are surely going to be disappointed with the response, because there is no substitution for juice that is extracted out of fresh fruits and vegetables. 

I'm definitely not an expert on the subject, so I decided to share a blog entry that I read awhile back on the topic that can explain some of the (major) differences between fresh juice made with a juicer and the stuff bottled up on store shelves. Just click on the link below to read the brief article on the subject. 

Fresh Juice vs. The Store Bought Stuff

Storing Your Juice

Hello all. Sorry I haven't been more active with this blog. Life has been hectic on many fronts and I'm just now getting back into a groove. Expect a lot more activity out of this blog in the near future.

Anyways, let's get back to business. In my last post I mentioned that I'd talk about storing fresh made juice to consume later. Typically, it's best to consume the juice right away, most experts agree that within the first twenty minutes is ideal. After that time period the juices begin to lose many of their vital nutrients that make these fresh juices so healthy.

That's fine and all, but juicing can be a little time consuming, and many people can't drop everything to make every batch of juice right before they want to consume it. So, what I and many others do is make our juices in big batches two or three times a week instead of every single day. Doing this allows us to consume our juice whenever we want to, and most people would never make it through something like a juice fast without doing this. Granted, we know that these juices aren't optimal in terms of nutrients, but I'm going to mention a few ways to ensure that these stored juices can be as good for us as possible.

The two main things that deteriorate juices are light and air, so to store our juices we want to eliminate both as much as possible. If you plan on storing your juices then the first thing you need to do is purchase some air-tight containers. Mason jars work great, and I prefer the wide-mouth kind because they're easier to wash. Since air is something we want to eliminate as much as possible it's best to fill these mason jars all the way to the top. I also own various sizes of mason jars so that i can put smaller juice batches in smaller jars, still filling them to the top. If you wanted to take this one step further then you could even vacuum seal your juices. I put the juices in the refrigerator as soon as possible, and they stay there until I'm ready to consume them. This way the juices aren't exposed to much light (only when the fridge is opened.)

Juicers vary in terms of how long the juice made by them can last for. Low RPM juicers usually tend to make juice that can be stored longer than higher RPM juicers. As a general rule, I don't let juices sit longer than 48 hours before consuming them, and as always, the sooner the better. Another helpful tip is to add an extra lemon to your juices. The citric acid from the lemon juice helps preserve everything else. One other option that I don't necessarily recommend is freezing your juices. It can be done, but that doesn't mean it really should be. However, if you made a lot of fruit juice, then it probably wouldn't be a bad idea to pour some of it in some ice-cube trays. This can be a sweet treat that many kids will love, and still much better for them than the processed, store-bought popsicles. Anyways, I hope this helps those with hectic schedules. Juice on.

Become a Mad Scientist

Halloween just passed and that gave me an idea for this post. I didn't partake in any Halloween costume contests, or anything fun at all, I had the pleasure of working instead, but I did become a mad scientist tonight after work. I decided I needed to make a lot of juice, because produce has been sitting in the fridge and I needed to use it all before it went bad. So tonight I made a several batches of juice and used all of my produce. Then I stored it so that I can consume it all in the next day or two (storing juices will be the focus of my next post.)

Recently a lot of my posts have focused on juicing recipes, which are great, but tonight I wanted to use what I had and not worry about following a recipe. I was the mad scientist and the guinea pig, all at the same time. I just juiced what I had, and then I crossed my fingers and hoped it didn't taste awful. Well, it was actually pretty good. So now I have a couple extra batches of juice to drink whenever I want in the next day or two and I don't have to worry about all that produce I bought going to waste. It's a win win. 

So, don't be afraid to change up a recipe a bit or completely wing-it. Did you think the Mean Green was ok, but had a strong celery taste? If so, then try making it next time with less celery, or ginger, or whatever you think it is that you aren't a fan of. There isn't really a right or wrong way to go about making your own juice concoction, just use knowledge of what has worked in the past and don't be afraid to add your own little twist. I will advise you to not get too crazy with the fruit, there was one time I was being a mad scientist and was throwing in just about every kind of fruit I could think of. That backfired, the juice was waaaaay too sweet and it upset my stomach pretty badly. 

The whole point of this post is to encourage others to have fun with juicing, don't be afraid to try something new, you never know, you might end up with your favorite juice yet by doing a little experimenting. 

Lou Corona's Lemon Ginger Blast

In my most recent post I talked about a few of the YouTube channels that I often turn to whether I have questions about juicing, or just want a new recipe. I have one of these channels to thank for my latest (and most courageous) juice recipe that I recently made. This recipe comes courtesy of Dan The Man McDonald's Liferegenerator YouTube account. Actually, this recipe is something Lou Corona introduced to DTM. I don't know a whole lot about this Lou Corona fellow, but I do know that he's someone that DTM highly regards, and he's served as somewhat of a mentor to DTM. I also know that he's been eating a clean, living, raw food diet for almost forty years, and, although he is 60 years old, he looks like he's in his thirties, and from other videos I've seen, he looks to be in better shape than most 21 year olds. Anyways, I'll go ahead and introduce the recipe for Lou Corona's Lemon Ginger Blast, as well as the video of it that I came across (this is one of DTM's most popular videos and it has over 100,000 views on YouTube.)

Lemon Ginger Blast

• 2 apples
• 1-3 inch piece of ginger
• 1 lemon (peel it if it isn't organic)
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 bunch parsley
• 1 bunch arugula
• 3 habaneros
• 1 cucumber

Although this is the recipe stated underneath the video, I decided to make a few minor changes of my own. First, thanks to previous juicing experience I know that parsley and cilantro can be very strong so I decided to cut it back to about half a bunch of each. Arugula is something I've never juiced but I know that it has a strong, peppery taste, and the only arugula I could find was the packaged stuff so I used one large handful of baby arugula. I kept everything else the same, except for the habaneros. The recipe states that three should be used, but luckily I read some of the comments first and decided it would be best to start with just one. I'm sure glad I did because that juice was spicy! And I like spicy foods. I think I had the same reaction that Lou had after his first gulp around the 8:15 mark.

My guess is that it would probably be spicy even without the habanero. If you don't tolerate the heat very well then I'd start off with a milder pepper (jalapeno for example,) or maybe only a piece of one and build your way up. If it isn't hot enough then you can always add more, but you can't take any out. I also think that there's normally celery in the juice as well, because I heard Lou mention that in the video, but the recipe doesn't say anything about it (I think DTM forgot and left it out,) so next time I make this I'll throw some celery in as well.

YouTube and Juicing

If you're anything like me then you love YouTube. Although I consider it to be one of my biggest time-sucks, I also consider YouTube to be a useful tool. It's a place that I'll often turn to when I have questions on something, regardless of the subject. I prefer to watch how something is done, rather than just read about it. So, it should come as no surprise that I turned to YouTube when I started juicing to try and answer some of the questions that I had. I'm glad that I did because I came across a ton of useful videos on the subject. So for this post I figured I'd share a few of my favorite YouTube channels when it comes to juicing. Below I list the channels (in no particular order,) along with my brief overview of each one, as well as a link to each channel (on the title of the channel.) If any of them interest you, then check them out for yourself.



Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead
Surprise, surprise, it's back again. Only this time it's their YouTube channel, and it's probably the first YouTube channel that I came across when it came to juicing. Most of the videos feature the "star" in FS&ND, Joe Cross. A lot of them are videos answering the most common frequently asked questions that people have, even though many of these deal with questions that people have about doing a Reboot (only eating/drinking fruits and veggies for a period of time, as well as cutting out things like caffeine, cigarettes, etc.) You won't find a ton of juice recipes, but the site does have some helpful videos.


Fitlife.TV
The host of this channel is "transformation specialist" Drew Canole. He has tons of videos devoted to helping people live healthier lives. At first I couldn't stand him. He seems like the kind of guy that would probably hit on your girlfriend the moment you left the room, and, to make matters worse, your girlfriend would probably fall for him. Once I put my first impressions aside I realized he's very knowledgable and has tons of good info to offer newbs like me. Check the channel out for tons of information on juicing and juicing recipes, or for his workouts and life lessons.


Liferegenerator
The Liferegenerator is Dan McDonald, commonly known as Dan The Man, or DTM for short. From what I've seen he is by far the most popular juicer on YouTube, with over 17 million views and tons of videos. Actually, describing DTM as a juicer doesn't do him justice. There's simply no way I can describe this guy or his videos in a few sentences, or even paragraphs. He's an interesting individual with tons of knowledge on the raw food vegan diet, and juicing is a very large part of his lifestyle. He recently stated that this channel will become more like his personal video diary, but people are going to tune in anyways. Check out his past videos where he offers tons of recipes. One disclaimer about DTM: he's out there, far out there.  He kind of looks like Jesus with his long hair, has a tendency to ramble, and if you watch enough of his videos then he'll probably offend you at some point (without intending to.) Some of his videos can be quite long (due to his ramblings) and he likes to label some of them about one thing, even though he never talks about the labeled subject (I once watched a video of his titled something like "WHY DAN HAS FOUR GIRLFRIENDS" and not once in the 10-20 minute video does he make any mention of girlfriends whatsoever.) Decide for yourself what you think of him.


There are many other YouTube channels that have juicing videos, but these are the ones that I've gone to the most. I hope they can help you if juicing is truly something that interests you.

Just Beet It

In my last post I introduced my go-to juice recipe for the Mean Green. I stated that it's the recipe that I juice most frequently, which is true, but variety is the spice of life and it's important to mix things up and try something new every now and then.

One of the advantages of juicing fruits and vegetables as opposed to eating them is that it's a easy way to take in foods (and their nutrients) that we might not normally eat. Not long ago I was at the grocery store looking for something new to juice. I try to buy organic as much as possible and when I was in the organic produce section I came across some beetroot. I honestly wasn't sure if I'd ever had beets in my life, but I figured the worst thing that could happen is that I'd hate them and that'd be the end of it. So I purchased some beets along with other produce and headed home to do some investigating.

I came across this WebMD article that discusses the health benefits of juicing beets. I read about how beet juice promoted heart health and blood flow, both of which are especially important to me because I've been dealing with hypertension (high blood pressure) for the last several years. (I used to smoke a pack a day, binge drink heavily, and live a sedentary/unhealthy lifestyle. I've been cig free for two years, only drink occasionally, and exercise fairly frequently, but hypertension is something I'm still battling.)

The next thing I had to do was find some tasty juice recipes that contain beets. I stumbled across this site, and this is where I've found the first two recipes that I listed below.

'Beeten Apple' Juice (recommended for people new to beets and juicing them)

• 3 apples
• half a beet

'Basic Beet' Juice

• 2 beets
• 2 carrots
• 1 orange
• 1 stalk (stick/rib) of celery
• small piece of ginger root

ABC Juice   (recipe found here)

• 3-5 carrots (depending on size)
• 2 medium beets
• 2 medium-large apples
• 1 lemon
• 1 small piece of ginger (optional)

Review: I really liked all of the recipes that I listed above. The beets have a really sweet taste and I'll definitely continue to juice these in the future. If you decide you want to try juicing beets I'd definitely start with the 'Beeten Apple' as a way to ease into juicing them. When you prepare the beets for juicing you'll want to remove the top and bottom of the beets (you can juice the leaves, but only if they're fresh and still firm.) I also heard that it's best to peel the beets because it's practically impossible to remove all the dirt from the outside of them otherwise.

One last disclaimer: don't panic if you see some red while you go to the bathroom (#1 or #2,) it's perfectly normal.