RISE & GRIND RECIPE

Rise and grind juice recipe from:  Drew Canole on fitlife.tv. This juice is to sustain you, and prevent a crash later on after consuming a high fruit juice in the morning.

2 apples

2 "gigantic" cucumbers

"loads" of celery

little bit of ginger

looked like about a tsp of cinnamon

and "some" apple cider vinegar (1 Tbsp ?) added after juice is made

fitlife.tv

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SUNDAY MORNING TROPICAL SMOOTHIE

Okay, so I made it on a Saturday -- with the time change, I want to get ahead of the game.

Recipe for a tropical  treat drink:

1 whole, fresh pineapple
2 kiwis
2 bananas
1 pomegranate
2/3 fresh coconut
1 lime

PREP:
Drain the coconut, by punching holes in two of the eyes and letting juice drain out.
Break the coconut with a hammer, and pull the flesh away from the shell
Peel the kiwis and slice the pineapple,
Peel the bananas

 I added the lime as an afterthought. It keeps the juice from turning dark.

JUICING 

In the juice extractor, juice the pineapple and coconut.

Juice the pomegrate and lime on an orange juice machine

Combine the pomegranate, pineapple and coconut, bananas, and kiwis in a blender. Blend until smooth.  Ice is optional.

This juice has a lot of natural sugars, so use it in moderation if you are trying to restrict sugar intake.

TYPES OF JUICERS

COMPARISON

There are basically two types of juicers. Both work well but have different methods and advantages. 

The most common type of juicer is the centrifugal type that cuts vegetables at high speed with stainless steel blades. The juice is filtered through a stainless steel mesh basket. 

Pulp is collected in a catcher. And the juice comes out a spout.

This is the least expensive and most common type juicer on the market. The smaller, less sophisticated juicers may be made out of plastic and have small or oddly curved spouts to put the foods through. This makes it difficult to juice larger vegetables and fruits as they have to be cut into narrow pieces beforehand in order to fit through the juicer. 

More sophisticated juicers have the wide mouth feature to process whole, medium sized tomatoes or small apples without the prep work of cutting, a big advantage. Also, the more costly juicers of this type, are made  sturdier, often with  metal casing and are engineered to run quieter and not dance across your counter top while juicing. Some juicers are multiple speed - slower for softer pulped fruits like kiwi, and a higher speed for denser vegetables like carrots and beats.

Advantages

• High speed, one can quickly put fruits and vegetables through the machine to make juice
• Ease of use
• Less expensive

Disadvantages

• Juice processed at high speed through a cutting process aerates the juice. Some people feel this robs the juice of nutrients and heats it while processing it.
• Foam, or froth, is produced on top of the juice which some people find unpleasant
• More cleanup work; one must deal with a lot of wet pulp and cleaning of the fine mesh screen is not easy

The second type of juicer is called a masticating juicer. Using a corkscrew type motion, the machine compresses the food while forcing it through, rather than using cutting blades. This type of machine extracts, through compression, more of the available juice without aerating. These types of machines sometimes have other capabilities such as extruding pasta dough or making baby food. It's worth investigating if you have other needs.

Advantages

• Less, if any, foam
• More juice for the money spent on produce 
• Easy cleanup - pour water through, while the machine is still running, then disassemble later for a more thorough cleaning.

Disadvantages

• Slow processing; juice is produced at slow speeds; the machine feeds food through at low RPMs
• Narrow mouth, vegetables and fruits must be cut into small pieces
• Takes up more counter top space

Some juicer manufacturers claim to do it all. The Jack LaLanne juicers, which have a good reputation, claim to get up to 30% more juice. The Omega 350HD is a vertical masticating juicer, essentially blending the two technologies. It claims to combine the speed of the centrifugal machine with the juicing capability of the masticating technique. Below is a video comparing these machines and demonstrating use. 

This blog does not attempt to promote one juicer over another, merely to educate the reader on different types and choices. I do not have firsthand knowledge of the many makes of juice machines available. Juicers range from about $35 to upwards of $2,600 for the commercial types. I was amazed to learn that one high quality kitchen store that I know of, took a woman's two year old juicer back when she decided to upgrade to a higher priced model. Juicers are remanufactured and many sold at discount online. So one may  find a good deal on a remanufactured model.

I decided, for my second juicer purchase, to go with a relatively low cost, high speed Hamilton Beach. I paid $60 for it. It comes with an attached pulp collector and automatically ejects pulp while juicing. This was an important feature for me, because it allows me to juice more than one glass at a time without stopping to empty the pulp container. If one is going to go to all the trouble of making juice, a larger quantity is a nice feature.

I also chose this juicer, and am happy with it, because of the wide mouth, and high speed at producing juice. I do not have time to stand around all morning slowly feeding carrots into a machine. The machine also came with a nylon bristle brush for cleaning the basket.

I am not concerned about losing nutrients to aeration, as I drink them immediately. I am not refrigerating and storing my juices.

FROTH (or that nasty foam) 

I am not a fan of foam on juice. I don't like the texture and tickle, and have no desire to drink it with my juice. "I DO NOT LIKE IT, SAM I AM."  

While at the kitchen outlet store where I purchased my juicer, 

I bought a $5 gravy separator cup to collect my juice when it comes out of the machine (similar to the one shown here). More than once, I have forgotten to put a cup under the machine. Some machines have one that attaches, hmmmmm.

It's designed to pour gravy from a low spout on the container, without pouring the oils and fats floating at the top.

FOAM FLOATS, so I thought it might work for that icky froth. A plug of it collects at the  top of the spout, but that can be poured down the sink easily. Then, if one pours somewhat slowly, one can get the juice -- avoiding the froth. But hey, if foam is your thing. . .

HAPPY JUICING!

Pineapple, beet, orange, banana

REINTRODUCING FOOD

TEN DAYS DOWN

I recently completed a ten day juice fast (fruits and vegetables) with a birthday weekend/road trip thrown in at the eighth day. I am wishing I kept it strictly veggies and fruit the whole time BUT. . . much better than if I had never undertaken it all!

Things I supplemented with:

• An occasional banana (unless in a smoothie, it’s a waste to put one in a juicer as there is nothing to juice).
• Nuts and garbanzo beans (as my doctor asked me to include some protein). I even juiced some of the garbanzos into a green drink. Not bad, but I like them better whole.

ROAD TRIP: 

Nobody said taking a road trip while juicing is easy, but I took a crack at it. Knowing I was staying in a hotel, it would have been difficult to take along enough vegetables. 

• I did take my blender and made a fruit smoothie in the hotel.
• I did juice before I left home  -- taking a jar with me. 
• I did buy big bottles of organic juice at the health food store before leaving. R.W. Knudsen low sodium Very Veggie is delicious. I drank it straight down!!

• I did buy freshly made juice from  Jamba Juice while at my destination.

When my family went to a Chinese buffet, I walked around stores, shopped, munched on some nuts, and drank my juice. I was fine. 

I did choose to go out to dinner for my birthday. We went to an Italian restaurant, and I did partake of a partial meal. My son took the leftovers. I did not feel guilty, but went back to the hotel and drank more juice.

I also had a cup of hot soup on the road, and a bit of breakfast on the way back. The food did not make me feel better, so I looked forward to returning to only juice at home -- which I did for another two days. 

BENEFITS OF THE FAST:

• Increased energy; I am not kidding! Before the fast I was sick and dragging in my tracks.
• Looser clothing, and down a couple of pounds.
• Clearer thinking when I’m concentrating at work.
• Clear sinuses for the first time in memory. I can breathe out of both nostrils.

THE BIGGEST SHOCKER OF ALL:

My nine year old grandson likes to take my free hand in his while I am driving. He’s fascinated by the overly large blood veins sticking up on the back of my hand. He thinks it’s gross and scary and has made me promise to “drink more water, Grandma, so your veins will go down.” He was poking them to see if they would go down. I had long since accepted that this is the cost of getting older.

I looked down at my hand the other night and was amazed to see the veins were not prominent – my hand looked much younger. I called my daughter in law to come over and look; she agreed my hands looked better.  Whoohoo!

DAYS TO COME:

In the days to come, since reintroducing food into my diet, I am eliminating fat, like butter and mayonnaise; meats, cheeses, yogurt, and milk. Don’t forget sugar. When I think that I’ve done well without all those artery clogging, blood pressure raising things the past two weeks, I think, “why not continue?” I also went without coffee the whole time (except getting some on my trip because I was too sleepy to drive safely. 

WILL I KEEP JUICING?

You bet! I've grown fond of feeling better. I've enjoyed the juices, the variety possible, the feeling of knowing I was doing something GOOD for my body for a change, and who doesn't like more attractive, youthful hands? 

• I am going to drink at least one to two glasses of juice a day along with vegetarian  meals. 

AM I DISAPPOINTED?

I am disappointed in not losing more weight immediately, but the benefits outweigh that. If one takes in micro-nutrients and eliminates fat,  added salt, and sugar, more weight loss and better health is inevitable. 

I threw away the can for storing bacon grease

This is a better use for a coffee can

ROAD TRIP

I was away for my birthday weekend -- blog will continue.

But first, I want to share the birthday cake my daughter made for me -- along with sprucing up my house and giving it a makeover as a surprise when I was gone. I know! Do you believe it?


"The red peppers are the candles," she said, making me what? 12

Tomorrow -- Juice Machines.

Here's mine

Hamilton Beach

ORGANIC OR NOT?

"The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life..." Proverbs 11:30

One might think, with all the media hype, that the only way to do a healthful juice fast, is to use only organic fruits and veggies. One might – but I don't. I can’t afford organic prices. And, in my small town, I can’t always get the different vegetables I might want for variety, let alone the same versions with organic ribbons and bows.

None of us, except maybe the chemical companies, would prefer to have food treated with pesticides, nor am I arguing for them. In a perfect world we would want all our food organic and easily affordable. But as far as vitamins and nutrients go, they are virtually equal.

Crystal Smith-Spangler, who led a team of researchers from Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care, examined more than two hundred studies with her colleagues and found, “There was no difference in the amount of vitamins in plant or animal products produced organically and conventionally. The only nutrient difference was slightly more phosphorous in the organic products,” they stated.

I won’t use the fact that I can’t afford organic produce as an excuse to substitute greasy food. Organic or not, which would your body (not your mind) rather have?

I don't know if I will eat hamburgers after this fast, but I plan on a  vegetarian diet for the next six months. I'll let my body decide. I will be using fresh juices along with my food because of how good I feel right now. I have greater energy, as witnessed by my family, and I have been free of the usual pain in ankles and knees. I feel lighter, walking is easier, and for moments at a time feel youthful. Can't wait to see the end results, though it 's only the beginning of a better lifestyle. (Oops, there's that yuppie word!)

Yesterday I promised to show the results of my purchases from the store and my newfound desire to store it better. Here goes: These are my F&V's, washed, prepped, put into containers, and ready to slide into the refrigerator. With the exception of the onions, carrots, squash, and beets (which I already had), this produce cost $45.70 and will last several days. 

For breakfast, toddler and I had glasses of this lovely juice (1 whole pineapple, 1 kiwi, 2 bananas, 2 oranges. "More juice pease, Ga'ma."

CLEAN UP & STORAGE

“Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store.” Deuteronomy  28:5

CLEAN UP:

Ironically, I’m watching Snow White with my 2 ½ year old grandson.

Snow is trilling and warbling “Whistle while you work” in an annoying fashion. She, of course, has an army of rodents, hopping things, and flying things helping her clean the cottage. Raccoons are washing clothes on scrub boards as we speak. They’ve never shown up at MY house to help I can assure you.

Let’s face it, buying, washing, cutting up, and storing vegetables is a chore. However, last night my DIL spent about three hours making homemade pot pies and mini-dessert pies for her family –a labor intensive work of love. God bless her.  So, I guess chopping a few vegetables is nothing compared to that. But, as I do this daily task, I am learning there are better ways to do things. Good ol’ trial and error. The steel mesh basket that extracts the juice is tough to clean. Its fine pores hold the vegetable fibers.

• Steel wool pads work well to clean it, but they rust quickly and only last a day or so.
• A bottle brush, for baby bottles, works well to clean most parts of the juicer.
• One of the top juicer manufacturers ships a nylon bristle scrub brush with theirs. Sounds ideal, but we will discuss juicers later.
• A small 5” rubber spatula works best for scraping pulp out of the juicer. I’ve tried larger ones, but they don’t get in there as handily as the baby one. (I grew up calling these "child cheaters" because they robbed a child from licking the  frosting bowl.)

STORAGE: 

Let’s talk about storage. Behold, my plastic bags of vegetables and fruit (V&F) in the refrigerator. I thought this was clever storage.

 

I could grab 2-3 sacks and then I’d dig through the bags to find what I wanted to juice.

Then I spotted this picture on the web and thought Duh! How nice is that? So, my project today is to shop for and put my (V&F) in the refrigerator in a pretty and handy fashion. I'll let you know how that works out.

D-I-L had, yet, another good idea: she suggested plastic tubs for convenience and freshness. One can slide them in and out of the refrigerator for use.  

FLASH! I already have several plastic bins I'm not using. Life gets better and better.