So, there is this theory that drinking fresh juices is good for you. I decided to try it out, though it’s not clear what the success criteria could be.
Two things in this are new to me — not because it’s some earth-shuttering news, just because I never thought much about juices. First is that freshly made juices are infinitely better than canned/bottled ones. The second is that one can (and should!) juice vegetables and not just fruits.
In theory, drinking a fruit or a vegetable is slightly worse than eating it (you get mostly the same nutrients minus the fiber). So, the juicing proponents list two advantages of juices. First, you can drink much more than you can eat. (One cup of carrot juice is about a pound of raw carrots, so it is quite hard to eat the equivalent of two-three cups per day). Second, it is much easier for the body to absorb the nutrients from juice.
I am trying to have one, better two glasses of fresh juice these days. I’ve learned to put some weird things into the juice maker (that is, the things that looked weird to me before I tried it out). Things like garlic, ginger root and horseradish root. I have never even seen these roots before!
Juice is like salad. In many cases you put the same things in there. Now I add ginger and horseradish to my salads as well.
Today I am trying “juice fast” for the first time. It is not a real fast; rather one only “eats” fresh juices and no other food. Again, I don’t feel any wonderful things yet (not that I expected any from just one day), but I feel quite well fed. I actually have this weird sensation, first time in my life, of having empty stomach (the stomach does send signals to the brain), but not being hungry at all. I’ve come up with some wonderful juices, like apple-pear-lemon-grape (or ginger-fennel-apple, for that matter).
I am using two books which I borrowed from the local library, but they are good enough, so I’ll buy them. The first one, The complete book of juicing : your delicious guide to healthful living by Michael T. Murray is partly juicing encyclopedia, partly a propaganda piece for the healthy way of life (which is, of course, eating vegan). Another one, Raw juices can save your life : an A-Z guide by Sandra Cabot, concentrates on the medical uses of juices, and recommends using them to treat many, many diseases.
I must say that, while being quite skeptical, I have completely cured my wife’s cold in 12 hours, using this potent potion from Cabot’s book.
(more…)