JUICING HINTS

[Guest guest]

JUICING HINTS JoAnn Guest Jan 09, 2005 12:27 PST

Infomercials do nothing for me personally, but the ones for juicers are

in the main correct: juicing makes you healthier and makes you feel

better.

 

The first is a long-term observation, the second you can see for

yourself in a few days.

http://www.doctoryourself.com/juicing_2.html

 

That countertop sawmill that is a juice extractor serves an important

purpose: it breaks up individual plant cells by the billions, releasing

the good stuff inside.

 

Having taught cell biology for so long now, I’ve become familiar with

what that good stuff is: plant RNA and DNA (no, this will not grow

leaves on your nose), cytoplasm, mitochondria, ribosomes, enzymes and

coenzymes, vitamins and minerals, plus the usual proteins, lipids and

carbohydrates... and they are all uncooked.

 

I’ve been juicing for decades now, and my retrospective view is

unchanged: it is worth doing.

 

Common complaint: “The juicer and the vegetables cost too much!”

Simple answer: A brake job on your car is two to three hundred dollars.

That will get you a really good juicer. I’ve picked up cheap ones, new,

for as little as $10. Garage sales are another resource.

 

The cost of the produce is no more than you’d spend on other foods that

aren’t even good for you. I’ve seen people at the supermarket check out

an armload of meat and not blink an eye at the $50 it cost them. You

couldn’t even fit 50 bucks worth of carrots in a grocery cart.

 

Garden, and the price plummets further.

 

Common complaint: “Juicing takes too much time!”

Simple answer: No it doesn't. It takes no more time than fixing a

regular meal, and probably less. How much time do you spend in doctors'

waiting rooms? In line at the check-out? Watching TV? C'mon, everybody

has a little time for your health.

 

JUICING HINTS

I’m no Heloise, but here’s some ideas for you to try out. Send your

favorite ideas in to me at drs-

 

To get more juice, reduce clogging, and simplify cleanup, add some

peeled Zucchini squash along with your carrots. My “Carrottini”

(trademark!) juice tastes better than it sounds.

 

If there is a “head” of frothy foam on the top of your glassful of

juice, you can either enjoy the taste and texture of it (I do) or avoid

it by drinking through a straw.

 

If the left-over vegetable pulp produced your juicer seems damp or even

wet, you may be pushing vegetables through too fast. Take your time and

let the machine do its job. Use only a subtle pressure, with the plunger

supplied by the manufacturer, to send the produce through your juicer.

 

Twice a year, juice a couple of pounds of grapes (the ones with the

seeds) to clean the innards of the juicer. I like to use concord grapes,

and let the juice sit for about five days. And THEN I drink it. Oh yeah!

 

 

If you grow more than one type of squash in your garden, unintentional

hybridization is unavoidable. Those darn bees will pollinate anything.

Yellow summer squash, zucchini, butternut, Hubbard, acorn squash,

pumpkins, and all their normally-discarded hybrids are all juiceable. A

little carrot mixed in helps the medicine go down.

 

If that is not enough for you, add a tablespoon or two of frozen natural

juice concentrates (especially lemonade, grape or pineapple) to kill the

taste of any juice you do not like. Try it with cucumber or cabbage.

 

Another way is to have a chaser ready. Pick you very favorite, sweet

juice and have a full glass ready as your reward for first drinking the

good-for-you vegetable juice.

 

Also fun: juice with a friend. If you cannot find a friend, I suppose a

family member will have to do.

 

If your family runs for cover at first sight of your intent to liquefy

everything in the ‘fridge, then snag your dog. Our dog’s ears perk up at

the sound of a Champion revving up, for she knows that the cast off

vegetable pulp is all for her. We thoroughly mix it with her dog food to

greatly increase its vegetable, vitamin, and fiber content. It is also

low-calorie, and filling, so it keeps her thin.

 

No dog? Then put the pulp in your compost pile. No compost pile? Well,

why not? Okay, okay, one more option: carrot pulp is just the ticket for

carrot cake. And that might just get your family back into the kitchen

again.

 

To get more juice out of the same quantity of vegetables, try putting

them through your juicer more slowly. A gentle pressure works best; let

the machine do the work.

 

Taking your time juicing can yield as much as a third more juice And,

it will also reduce the heat from pressing vegetables too hard against

the juicer’s blade assembly. Reduced friction means cooler juice, which

most experienced juicers consider to be better for you. Cooler juice

also tastes better.

 

To this end, I frost up a couple of large drinking glasses, and the

glass pitcher I collect the juice in, by sticking them in the freezer

each night. Next morning, I begin. Naturally, refrigerating (but NOT

freezing!) your fresh produce also keeps everything cooler.

 

HINT: A good way to check your juicing technique is to feel the

discarded pulp. If it is wet, you are losing juice. If it is dry and

puffy, you are extracting most of the liquid very well.

 

ANOTHER HINT: Clean the clogs as you go. Carrots and other veggies can

be very fibrous at certain times of the year. This is all the more

reason to slow the juicing process down a tad.

But if you are really going at it, stop juicing every five pounds or

so, unplug the juicer, and (carefully) rinse off the blade assembly

under running cold tap water.

 

For those who can afford it, there are some very fine, albeit very

expensive, juicers that press the vegetables rather than spin a blade

against them. While there is little question in my mind that

juicer-presses are ideal, a lot of people simply cannot manage their

high cost. I’d rather you juice cheap than not juice at all.

 

Still more juicing hints at

http://www.doctoryourself.com/juicefast.html

 

WHY BOTHER?

People often ask me, “Why juice at all? Why not just eat all those

vegetables raw?” Because you won’t, that’s why. I often juice five

pounds or more of carrots, plus six to eight apples, just for breakfast.

I’d never find the time to eat all that without the shortcut of a

juicer.

 

The second reason to juice is this: your body’s absorption of fresh, raw

juice is simply outstanding. A juicer is essentially a powerful motor

with teeth, breaking cell walls and releasing all the nutrients into a

solution that your body sucks up like a sponge.

 

CAROTENE NOTES

Ideally, 6 milligrams (mg) of beta carotene can be converted into 10,000

International Units (I.U.) of vitamin A in the body (Bronson

Pharmaceuticals' Health Through Nutrition, Summer 1994, p. 17).

 

The carotene in just one medium carrot could provide 5,000 I.U. of

vitamin A (U.S. Department of Agriculture, Nutritive Value of Foods,

1981). There is some question as to just how efficiently everyone's body

can actually make vitamin A from carotene, and theoretical yields are

likely to be overly optimistic.

 

It takes me about eight large carrots to make an 8 ounce glass of carrot

juice using an inexpensive centrifical juice extractor. (The yield from

a quality masticating juicer is higher.) Since considerable pulp is

discarded in the extraction process, the actual vitamin A content of a

cup of carrot juice is certainly much less than 8 carrots times 5,000 IU

each, or 40,000 IU.

For most household juicers, I estimate it to be about half that amount.

Juicers that conserve pulp will give you more. However, juicers that

remove the most pulp deliver the best looking, best tasting juice. This

is no lab exercise; a real person has to be willing to drink it.

Therefore, for persnickity patients, do not hesitate to use an extractor

..

 

Remember that liquification increases both the availability and

absorptivity of the contents of a vegetable, while reducing the amount

you’d have to chew. It is more an issue of quality than quantity. It is

also easier and faster to down a glass or two of juice as compared with

eating several trays full of produce.

 

Furthermore, juicing avoids cooking, and natural health authorities

universally recommend more raw foods in our diet.

 

Remember also that carotene's vitamin A potential has little to do with

its role as an antioxidant . For example, 20 mg of synthetic beta

carotene is inadequate to provide lung cancer protection, but several

times that, in natural form, is protective.

 

Carotene in high doses has been specifically shown to strengthen the

immune system by helping the body to build more helper T cells.

(Alexander, M et al: " Oral Beta-carotene Can Increase the Number of OKT4

Cells in Human Blood, " Immunology Letters, 9:221-224, 1985.)

 

The amount used in this well-controlled study was 180 milligrams of

beta-carotene per day. This is, theoretically at least, the equivalent

of 300,000 I.U. of vitamin A per day! Were that amount consumed as

preformed vitamin A (retinol), it would likely be toxic.

 

As carotene (in whole foods, i.e., raw carrots), it is not. There is

indeed a big difference between forms.

 

Incidentally, even AIDS patients have benefitted from huge carotene

dosages (Graham, N. American Journal of Epidemiology, December, 1993).

 

Excess carotene causes the skin to turn slightly orange, once succinctly

described in USA Today as resembling an artificial suntan. The medical

name for this condition is hypercarotenosis or just carotenosis.

Hypercarotenemia refers to elevated blood levels of carotene, and is

also called just carotenemia.

 

Both are harmless.

 

According to the doctor's standard reference Merck Manual, 14th edition,

" excess intake of carotene does NOT cause hypervitaminosis A " (p. 891).

Hypervitaminosis A is vitamin A toxicity from the preformed, oil type of

vitamin A, not carotene.

 

Even with preformed vitamin A, says Merck, " recovery is spontaneous

with no residual damage; no fatalities have been reported " (p 891).

 

In short, it is singularly difficult to kill yourself with carrots.

 

 

Reprinted from the books FIRE YOUR DOCTOR and DOCTOR YOURSELF, copyright

2004, 2003 and prior years by Andrew Saul, Number 8 Van Buren Street,

Holley, New York 14470 USA Telephone (585) 638-5357

 

 

 

Andrew Saul, PhD

--

 

AN IMPORTANT NOTE: This page is not in any way offered as prescription,

diagnosis nor treatment for any disease, illness, infirmity or physical

condition. Any form of self-treatment or alternative health program

necessarily must involve an individual's acceptance of some risk, and no

one should assume otherwise. Persons needing medical care should obtain

it from a physician. Consult your doctor before making any health

decision.

Neither the author nor the webmaster has authorized the use of their

names or the use of any material contained within in connection with the

sale, promotion or advertising of any product or apparatus. Single-copy

reproduction for individual, non-commercial use is permitted providing

no alterations of content are made, and credit is given.

_________________

 

JoAnn Guest

mrsjo-

DietaryTi-

www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Genes

 

 

 

 

 

AIM Barleygreen

" Wisdom of the Past, Food of the Future "

 

http://www.geocities.com/mrsjoguest/Diets.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The all-new My – Get yours free!