Update to this post that has been a draft since February--we are still juicing! We are still doing fruit juice and have only added green veggies one time with a not so good result. My next experiment, though, is to perfect the green juice and make it palatable to us. My husband loves pineapple always + a carrot and apple each time. I vary the addition of pears, peaches, blueberries, strawberries, grapes and various kinds of oranges. We have nixed the mango and rarely use kiwi. My daughter and son-in-law, who now has a juicer, shares recipes with me occasionally, and she and her husband may be a bit more adventurous with their fruit and vegetable choices!
(Written in Feb. 2014)
Last year in the two months or so that I lived in Kentucky, I kept reading the research on and exploring the practice of juicing. Although I was impressed with the benefits, I, in the end, decided not to pursue purchasing a juicer because I really like to chew my vegetables, and if I eat fewer carbs, fruit is not one of my choices! My son, the one who shares my love for the unusual in food and in the preparation of food, observed and discussed with me my search for answers in regards to juicing. This Christmas, he surprised me with a Jack LaLanne juicer.
I must say that my husband and I have tried multiple workout routines and modified nutritional avenues --okay, call them diets, if you must--in the past two years trying to get our 50+ bodies in shape, reduce belly fat, and just, overall, maintain our good health. Although I lost 40 pounds using the Adkins diet 10-15 years ago, the low carb agenda no longer works for me! It must be my current age and hormonal plateau that I have reached that is to be blamed because getting unwanted pounds off is extremely hard! After the low carb diet, my husband decided that we should count calories! Ha! I'm sorry, but I am not good at journaling my intact by calorie, and, in particular, I can forget putting my calories in an app in which I cannot find exact replicas of the food I ate to even put in!!! That kind of frustration drives me to eat!!!!
After getting the juicer, we have made more changes; changes that I believe are good, sound health choices. Those changes revolve around our intake of "sugar," a solution to bread choice, and the infusion of fruits and vegetables.
The Sugar Experience
I have retrained my brain to stop feeling guilty if I eat things that are high in carbs (I must confess, though, that it is a work in progress since I lost the only significant amount of weight in my lifetime following the Atkins plan). I do still steer clear of white flour and sugar. I use Splenda in my tea, and I do buy ice cream sweetened with Splenda. Yes, I know the research concerning artificial sweetners, and I have Stevia in my cabinet, but the aftertaste makes me be a non-follower. In fact, I recently purchased a six pack of Zevia colas, and I had to give them away as neither my husband nor I could consume them. I also have added honey to our arsenal of sweetners. I make homemade bread every couple of weeks because I can control what is in it; our homemade bread of choice is whole wheat with flaxseed added. We do not eat bread everyday! So our journey continues as we attempt to make healthy choices.
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