Positive Effects of Juicing

Before having children, my husband and I were juicers. We enjoyed juicing our fresh vegetables and fruits each morning (and occasionally throughout the day when we were home on the weekends). The fruit and vegetable prep, juicing, and clean up was well worth the time spent together. We enjoyed the health benefits of juicing as well.

Then we had kids.
Kids who turned their nose at our healthy yummy juice concoction.
Kids made messes of their own.
Mommy had to clean up their mess… and HER mess.
Juicing took a back seat for a while.

As a mom, I want to encourage and promote healthy eating to my children. Juicing gives the boys loads of great nutrients in one cup. However, sometimes their nose turns up at the interesting shade of color Mommy serves them. Sigh.

From watching all these food documentaries, I am learning that we are essentially what we eat. La Rochefoucauld said, “To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.” I am no food connoisseur and have shared my struggles with food and proper nutrition. I am learning that I need to feed my body what it needs and craves, which is real food… not junk. I need to eat intelligently… not mindlessly.

I love eating fresh (raw) fruits and veggies. I love to juice fresh vegetables and fruit. However, I do not love cleaning up my juicer after enjoying the freshly juiced vegetable/fruit concoction. I have a standard juicer (now 10 years old) and do not own a Vitamix or specialty blender. The final product is fantastic, however, the clean up is very time consuming.

My juicer has many attachments to take apart, rinse, and wash. Then there is the left over vegetable and fruit pulp. I do not have a garden (at our new house), and I don’t have any yummy meals planned for tomorrow… so I had to toss this nutrient dense pulp. Next time I will plan ahead and make muffins or meatloaf filled with veggies.

I will be getting three wisdom teeth extracted next week. Which is the reason for the big push on liquid nutrition and experimenting in the kitchen again. If the tooth fairy sees this post and wants to bless this mama… she would so love a Vitamix Blender. No biggie. No rush. Just saying. It could help make my poor sore jaw and mouth happy with all the happy creations I could create with my new machine.

Have you tried homemade vegetable juice?
Are you a juicer? What machine do you use to juice?