Since last March, I have been making my own fresh juice every day. It helps that I have a Champion Juicer, albeit over 30 years old, which my husband inherited from a friend. We had used it on occasion without getting into the habit. Back when there were two or three kids at home, it took a lot of prep work to make enough juice for everyone to have just a little bit. Being a jubilant empty-nester, I can now make fresh raw juice as a part of my morning routine in very little time, plus I get a full 12 to 16 ounces instead of a shot-glass full. Another nice perk is my husband gets up after me, so he cleans the juicer after he’s made his juice.
If you have never juiced, start by preparing a small amount and figure out a base recipe to work from that tastes good to you. Then you can make additions of other vegetables a little at a time without having any big swings in flavor that you may not like.
My foundational vegetable juice recipe is
4 medium carrots, cut off the green tops, wash but do not peel
2 stalks celery, cut into chunks to reduce strain on juicer
½ - 1 apple, remove the stem but do NOT core or peel.
chunk of beet 1" to 2" square
chunk of ginger to taste
As time went on I learned I could substitute cucumber for celery and add small amounts of spinach leaves or other greens and still have a good tasting juice. Knowing I was going into the gardening season as a raw juicer gave me a mental boost. I looked forward to incorporating fruits & veggies straight from the garden; talk about LIVE FOOD! With any gardening success at all we have more food than we can eat, a nice problem to have. I knew I would consume more of what’s good for me out of the garden as a juicer.
Once early spring arrived, I bravely added my garden asparagus in place of celery to my basic recipe, and found it was still very good. (The orange foam on the top of my juice had a bright lime green swirl added to it - reminding me of rainbow sherbet.) Then as other garden crops came up I added small amounts of lettuce, then spinach, broccolli, kale, cucumbers, or beans to the recipe, each adding another dimension of flavor to the juice, but always good. I never made anything that was undrinkable, as I was conservative in adding small amounts to be sure I liked the flavor.
Eventually I found I could make a green drink with an apple base (leaving out the carrot) that was very good. And I was so thrilled when I made my basic recipe straight out of my own garden - save the ginger. I learned to like more ginger and add a chunk of hot pepper for an extra zing. I still have a few of our garden hot peppers in my fridge to add to my daily veggie juice.
I’m not a big tomato juice lover, but I eventually got up the courage to try using a gazpacho recipe (a cold chunky tomato soup) and juicing it rather than eating it as soup. Wow! I was sorry I’d waited so long.
A very good reference book on juicing is Raw Juices Can Save Your Life by Sandra Cabot, MD. It contains an A-Z reference guide listing the fruit or vegetable, available nutrients & phyto-chemicals in the juice, and the healing properties of the juice. So when you’re guzzling down your very ALIVE beverage, you can read about all the good healing vitamins, minerals, and enzymes you’re getting and what they’re doing for you.
Charlene Elderkin, Marketing & Membership Manager
As human beings we thrive on patterns. These patterns are
great when we need to be on time for work or appointments, but tend to get us
nutritionally stuck when we continue to eat the same old things. A raw foods
diet doesn’t have to be “all or nothing”. I have had great success in making a
couple of simple changes that make sense for me.
The first change I made was implementing “Green Smoothies” 2
to 3 days a week for breakfast. If I were still hungry I would also eat the raw
sunflower and pumpkin seed cereal (see recipe below). For lunch I would have a
raw salad and then dinner would be cooked. For me a slow introduction to eating
raw works. I paid attention to signs and symptom changes in my body and
adjusted the raw eating accordingly.
Soaking Grains & Nuts
The second change I made was soaking grains and nuts. There
is a good section on soaking grains on the website; http://www.naturalnews.com/025648.html
and also on
http://www.healthy-green-lifestyle.com/healthy-whole-grains.html.
Grains and nuts contain enzyme inhibitors. Grains also
contain phytic acid. Enzyme inhibitors prevent proper digestion to take place. Phytic
acid, which is in the bran of the grain binds phosphorous and blocks absorption
of some nutrients like calcium, magnesium, iron and zinc. Soaking grains breaks
down enzyme inhibitors and phytic acid so they are no longer harmful. As grains
soak their vitamin content increase especially the B vitamins. Soaking nuts
also breaks down enzyme inhibitors activating their full nutritional benefits
and aiding in better digestion.
This is one cold cereal you need not worry about wilting
before finishing.
Raw Sunflower Cereal
1/8 cup raw pumpkin seeds, soaked
1/8 cup raw sunflower seeds, soaked
1/8 cup raw buckwheat groats or oat flakes, soaked
pinch of stevia or sweetener of choice
1 Tbsp. oat bran, soaked (optional)
1 Tbsp. coconut
cover with nut milk of choice
In a small bowl, combine seeds, groats, sweetener, oat bran,
and coconut. Cover with nut milk. Chew slowly and enjoy.
I have tried several different versions of the above raw
cereal. I’ve used soaked spelt berries, instead of the groats, eliminated the oat
bran and added soaked oat flakes. Also adding a heaping teaspoon of raw nut
butter or/ and raw nuts will increase the protein. The addition of your
favorite fruit is also an option.
There is an excellent chart for soaking grains and nuts in
the Rainbow Green Live-Food Cuisine Book
by Gabriel Cousens, M.D. I soak my pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, thick oat
meal, buckwheat groats, and oat bran at least overnight. I drain the water off
in the morning. I dehydrate the seeds at 116˚ to dry them or they can be spread
out on a cutting board and left to air dry.
by Zeba Due