It is probably no surprise to you that one of the bigger healthy eating crazes these days is the practice of juicing; you may even juice yourself, or have considered juicing but do not really know where to begin. If you fall into the second group, want to juice but do not know where to begin, the upcoming series of articles will be directed primarily to you. Even if you are currently juicing, you will hopefully find something informative in these juicing articles. First a little background.
These articles will be the experiences of Tanya Martin and Lloyd Brown, the author and editor of the visual juicing recipe book, Faces of Juicing. Tanya is a 42 year old woman that was diagnosed in 2003 with Rheumatoid Disease, more commonly known as Rheumatoid Arthritis or RA. She started juicing about 18 months ago. Lloyd is her 60 year old boyfriend that is in relatively good health, but was a little overweight when he took up juicing three years ago.
In this series we will discuss the basics by answering the most commonly asked questions; what is a good juicer and what are some good recipes? But before we get started, we will discuss why Tanya and Lloyd started juicing and the thought process behind what they do and how they do it.
As mentioned above, Lloyd started juicing three years ago. While he has always been fairly health conscious, as the years went by he became pretty lazy when it came to eating a proper diet. It did not help that he was on the road traveling more often than not. Growing up, fitness guru Jack LaLanne was a television celebrity that he was well familiar with. The infomercials for Jack LaLanne’s juicer were the first introduction to juicing that he had. Lloyd was well aware that fruits and vegetables were an important part of a person’s diet, but he was also aware that trying to consume the minimum daily recommended allowance of fruits and vegetables was not something he was going to be able to attain without using a juicer. After a year or more of research, he found the juicer that met his minimum requirements; it had to be easy to use, easy to clean and provide the most juice possible.
Tanya’s introduction was slightly different. Having been diagnosed with Rheumatoid Disease 10 years ago, she has spent these past years trying to find a combination of drugs or foods that would ease her pain. Lloyd attempted to get her to try juicing, but as they were in a long distance relationship, Lloyd’s prodding went all for naught. The fact of the matter was that she did not like the taste of the combined fruit and vegetable juices Lloyd would offer to her. She has admitted that if the juices were all fruit, she would likely have been more receptive to the idea; however, drinking juices that are nothing but fruit is not a healthy idea. It might taste great, but the amount of sugar one would take in is far from healthy. When Tanya and Lloyd eventually moved in together, Tanya happened to watch the movie Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. The next morning, she asked Lloyd to show her how to use his juicer. With all the drugs she was taking, she figured that if nothing else, the juice would replace the multiple vitamins she would have to take.
The juicing recipes Tanya and Lloyd use consist of a wide variety of colors, with a 60/40 ratio of vegetables to fruits. It is important that the juices are pleasant to drink without being overloaded with sugars. Keeping the juices flavorful makes it easy to continue as it can be difficult to include juicing as part of your diet if you do not like the taste. It is also important that you have a juicer that is efficient, easy to use and easy to clean because if it is a chore, there is a higher likelihood that the juicing newcomer will give it up as “too much work.”
About Faces of Juicing:
The book Faces of Juicing was compiled after the author, Tanya Martin, discovered that she found some relief from the pain of Rheumatoid Arthritis by concentrating on creating artful designs with the produce that she prepared for her daily juices. Commonly asked to show her recipes, the photos of her designs were a fun way for her to show the recipes to others. You can see more at their Facebook page, FacesOfJuicing.