When life hands you lemons... make juice!

May 10

Mothers day was beautiful. I got to spend the day with my amazing mother in Omaha doing whatever we wanted. We spent the morning having coffee and conversation and watched Sunnybrook church while we got ready for a nice brunch with my sister Lisa and her family. It was awesome! Last night we made a Costco and Trader Joe's run to stalk up on a bunch of healthy foods and juicing essentials for the week. This morning we worked as a team to cut, wash, and prep the juice. (It was much more fun to do with her goofiness. When we get the giggles there is no stopping us.)

What is juicing? I always thought juicing was one of those "health fads." Something only rich women in California did in between yoga classes and facials. It wasn't until I went to treatment at An Oasis that I learned what the true purpose of juicing is and also how beneficial it is in the healing process.

Flash back to a little green juice happy hour with my sister at treatment.

What makes juicing so healthy for you? Most of us are not consuming as many vegetables as our bodies truly need to function optimally. The problem with today's Standard American Diet (SAD.. coincidence? I think not) is that we are consuming a lot of food, but we are not properly absorbing the nutrients, which leaves us still feeling hungry or satisfied for only a short period of time. We can eat and eat and eat without truly fulfilling our cellular need, whether our stomachs feel full or not. This is why we are often left unsatisfied even after consuming a large amount of food, because our cells are starving for proper nutrients. Fresh juice is instant energy and satisfaction to our cells as they gulp up all of the nutrients and antioxidants from juices.

Why not just eat the fruits and vegetables? I use to think: "Well, good for you.. thats great.. you go girl, drink that juice. I'll chew my food and actually feel like I'm eating something," (which is still sometimes true).

But once I understood the the benefits of consuming some fresh juices in conjunction with eating fruits and veggies, juicing became a lot more important to me. The main benefit of juicing is that it eliminates the middle step of digestion and gets right to absorption. Juicing will “pre-digest” the veggies for you, allowing you to receive optimal nutrition and save your body's energy for other functions such as HEALING and repairing any ailments.

Okay.. but I don't really even like to eat greens, let alone drink the stuff. That is the beauty of juicing! YOU select what fruit and veggie combinations are delicious to you. It's a good way to consume a large amount of greens without fully tasting them. At treatment, each patient was provided with two mason jar quarts of fresh green juice daily. At first I really liked it, but as time went on, I wouldn't let that stinkin jar near me. (Probably because of the effects of the chemo drugs and just getting sick of drinking the same juice each day). But now that I am home, I'm able to switch up juice recipes and control what goes into my juice, it is a much more enjoyable (and tasty) experience! I've found that juicing is an opportunity to consume veggies I don't really like to eat plain. I am not a huge fan of kale, but juiced with green apples and lemons, kale is actually really good. Don't get me wrong, there are some things that no matter how you shake it I won't consume it (AKA ginger, can't do it without gagging). It takes a little experimentation to find what juices you like the most, but that's the best part.

Juicing sounds like something very minuscule, but it was an essential part of my cancer treatment at An Oasis, and is something that everyone can do on their own. There are certain cancer/chronic disease centers such as the Gerson Institute that focus a large portion of their treatment plan on consuming tons of fresh vegetable juices daily. "Fresh-pressed juice from raw foods provides the easiest and most effective way of providing high-quality nutrition. By juicing, patients can take in the nutrients and enzymes from nearly 15 pounds of produce every day, in a manner that is easy to digest and absorb." - Gerson Institute

Well I don't have cancer, should I be juicing? Of course! Juicing is for healing ALL ailments and chronic diseases. Such as:

Heart disease
Arthritis
Diabetes (especially type II)
Allergies
Joint pain
Chronic fatigue
Bloating
Inflammation
Weight management/loss
Strengthen bones
Purify blood
pH balance
Alkalinization
Restore organ optimal function
Edema
Urinary tract infections
Candida overgrowth (yeast)
Alleviate symptoms of celiac disease and IBS

The list goes on and on.. amazing isn't it?

My favorite juice combinations: power greens, lemon, celery, cucumber, and green granny smith apples

Leaving out the ginger of course ;)

Juicy Tips:

When juicing fruits, choose low glycemic fruits such as green apples, lemons, grapefruit, and berries. Juice's nutrients absorb directly into the blood stream, including the sugars. A large amount of sugar directly into the blood stream is never a good thing!
Drink your juice right away or store it in airtight mason jars, filling them all the way to the top. There should be a minimum amount of air in the jar as the oxygen in air will “oxidize” and damage the juice.
If the green color freaks you out add things like carrots to make it orange or strawberries or beets to make it a pretty pink color.
The fruit flavor generally overpowers the flavor of the veggies so don't be afraid of adding things like carrots, broccoli, cucumber, etc!
Always modify juicing recipes according to your pallet.
I store my juice in mason jars in the fridge and when I am ready to drink it I add a little ice and a straw (I purchased these from Target after getting the idea from my sister) they make juice much easier to take on the go!

Cheers to health!

I also wanted to share with you also an article that Carly Rain Schmidt sent me this weekend. Below is an article I was featured in this months issue of Corridor Corners that is distributed in the Iowa City area. It all started when I received a random phone call in Arizona from chiropractor Dr. Karim of the Iowa City area, who was interested in sharing my story and starting a fundraiser in his office to help with expenses. Thank you Dr. Karim for all of your support and to Corridor Corners for sharing my story!!