To Juice Or Not To Juice

Oh, who am I kidding. There’s only one answer here. JUICE!!!
Ghandi said, “Chew your drink and drink your food.” What does that mean? Very simple, take the time to liquefy your food before swallowing, and swish your drink around before swallowing. Liquid is the way to go for assimilation and elimination.
The only question I ask myself in the morning is this… “Should I use my Champion juicer or my Vitamix today?” Or use my own teeth! I first started seriously juicing over two years ago. When I went “raw” and bought my Champion, I juiced anything I could get my hands on. Fruits, veggies….mixing whatever I wanted. My teenager loved taking different colored concoctions to school. Her friends would always ask, “Did you buy that”? Here’s one of those drinks:
Veggie/Fruit Drink
Four carrots
Two apples
If your produce is organic, you don’t have to peel, but it’s a good idea to peel non-organic produce. I don’t even core the apple. Put all ingredients through your juicer and pour into your drink container and take it to work or school. You can add anything else to this drink for your own taste. How about some ginger or lemon? Or how about this for the holidays? Cranberries, apples and grapes. Throw them by the handful into your juicer.
We used our juicer every morning. Then my friend gave me “Green For Life”, by Victoria Boutenko. She says this about green smoothies… “Blended green smoothies are a simple and delicious way of accessing the healing properties of greens. Whether you eat a raw food, vegan, vegetarian or mainstream American diet, regularly drinking green smoothies can significantly improve your health.”
Ok, now I’m onto something. I had never heard of these and I was really getting tired of the whole breakfast drama. Out came the Vitamix and in went the kale and fruit. That was it! Kale, water and fruit. Whatever fruit I had on hand. My daughter didn’t try these right away. I waited patiently till one day she said, “I’ll try those things now.” And so she did and is still drinking them today. We were getting more green in our diet than we were eating cooked or in our salads! Kale, spinach, collards….any green. Here’s one of my favorite green smoothie recipes:
Two handfuls of any green on hand. Spinach is a good starter.
1-2 cups of water
Three strawberries
One banana
Teaspoon Flax oil or crushed flax seed
Place all in your blender. I use the Vitamix. It whips it up quickly and there’s no pulp. I also use frozen fruit or ice cubes to keep the drink cool.

I felt good knowing that if I couldn’t control everything she ate during the course of the day, that at least I was sending her out of the house with something that to me…was better than the conventional breakfast I grew up with. And how easy and convenient! I love green smoothies. I always have frozen fruit in the freezer, and some sort of green in the fridge. Summer was great for heading out to the garden and juicing all the leaves of the veggies that were growing. Yum!
There’s one warning here: Drinking green smoothies every day can lead to more energy, a better night’s sleep, weight loss, less cravings for cooked or unhealthy processed foods, and an overall clearer picture of life. Not to mention more cravings for green smoothies. check out www.877myjuicer.com for your juicing needs!
Donna, yep I juiced that, Bergonzi-Boyle