My journey with juicing

I began my juicing journey about 10 years ago. I generally enjoy eating my fruits and vegetables, yet feel that juicing is another good way for my body to replenish and absorb vital nutrients. This is especially true first thing in the morning on an empty stomach.

In this blog, I am not going to go much into the benefits of eating your fruits and vegetables, and will focus on juicing instead. Juicing extracts the liquid from the fruits and vegetables and leaves the fibre behind. By leaving the fibre behind, the goodness of all the vegetables will be absorbed directly by the body, and this can be especially beneficial to people who have a hard time ingesting a lot of fibre. Blending, on the other hand, where ingredients are combined in a blender to create a smoothie, will include the fibre. For some, who likes to feel fuller from the drink, or has an issue containing blood sugar problem, then perhaps blending is better for you as the fibre will ensure a slower absorption of the sugar into your bloodstream. I use a slow juicer (Omega), which runs at a slower speed, and so you will get less oxidation and more nutrients.

I generally opt for the juicing route first thing in the morning, although sometimes a hearty smoothie after a workout or as a meal replacement is also pleasurable. It is better and more realistic to start with a blend of fruits and vegetables, which is more palatable for most. The idea of a green juice does not appeal to most unless you are already a health fanatic. There is also the consideration of your body type based on TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) philosophy; heaty or cool body types should consider very different types of ingredients in their juices. It also makes sense to mix it up a little so that you can be exposed to different types of nutrients.

When I first started juicing, I was solely taking a green juice, which comprised of the following:

Giselle’s Cleansing Green Juice

• Celery: 1 stalk
• Cucumber: bout ¼ of a large cucumber
• Green apple: 1
• Green peppers: ½
• Ginger: 1 inch

 This is the core recipe, and then I will add anything else that is green that I may have, like kale, bitter melon and so on. This juice is a nutritious combination, packed full of vitamins and anti-oxidants, as well as a great blood cleanser. However, if you have a cool body type, then I will not recommend this juice in the morning and on an empty stomach.

Then, I came up with another more neutral, blood nourishing juice that is more suitable for all body types. Nowadays, I will mix the two up.

Giselle’s Blood Nourishing Red Juice

• Beet: ½
• Carrot: 1 medium sized
• Red apple: ½
• Tomatoes: 1 large or 2 small
• Red grapes: About 6-8

Both juices use ingredients that are very accessible and generally tastes good. The fruits will give the sweetness to make it nice. However, over time, and if you can, try to cut down or take out the fruits altogether. I managed to achieve that slowly over time, thus reducing my overall daily fructose intake.

If you want to take this up a notch, you can also add powdered supplements to your juice. Flaxseeds, chia seeds, spirulina, wheatgrass and so on.

In my next blog on this subject, I will share some simple and delicious smoothie recipes.