Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Heard of it? Seen it? Felt like it?
I watched this documentary by Joe Cross two years ago, and while there is a part of me that would love to tell you that I was so inspired that I went juice crazy, lost all my weight and am currently employed as a bikini model, only one of those things is true.
I went juice crazy. Or maybe just juice unstable?
When I watched this film, it was all the talk, and people were doing juice fasts and cleanses left and right. Three days. Thirty days. Sixty days!
While I had no desire to do any sort of cleanse or fast, I was interested in adding fresh, raw juice into my diet, so I ordered my Breville and starting juicing everything I could get my hands on. And over the past two years, my relationship with my juicer has been very much on-again/off-again, but we’re still deeply in love. If I’m not doing well with all things health, my juicer sits on the counter, collecting dust and silently mocking me. But, as soon as I start actively working on bettering my health, the first thing I do is pull out my Breville.
My baby
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead wasn’t where juice began, clearly. People have been eating raw and juicing for years. I can actually remember being about ten, and a friend of my aunt’s, who ate a raw diet, make me fresh carrot juice. I loved it! When I first got married, I asked for a juicer, and tried making my own carrot juice. Back then, high powered juice extractors were incredibly expensive, and their lower cost cousins were really not great quality. I think it took me a pound of carrots to make a single cup of juice. It was a short-lived experiment for me at that point.
But the movie, available on Netflix and Hulu, did introduce the idea of juice, and juice fasting, to a much wider audience (I read somewhere that after the film came out, Breville sales doubled). Three years later, juice is still a very popular ‘fad’, super expensive bottled cleanses are still showing up on Groupon, and people are still debating the health benefits of juice (So many vitamins! Too much sugar!) Juice, for some, is the gateway drug into a fully plant-based lifestyle. I’m not going to bore you with facts and figures and numbers and controversy. I know you all know how to Google.
What I can tell you is that adding one or two servings of raw juice to my diet every day makes ME feel incredible. It gives me a boost of energy in the morning far superior to what I get from my usual coffee (I haven’t given up coffee, don’t talk crazy). It helps certain systems of my body keep a much more regular schedule, if you know what I mean, and I’m pretty sure you do since I all but spelled it out right there. After a few weeks, my skin looks better.
Apple Pie in a mason jar…sort of.
And? IT’S DELICIOUS.
With a good quality juicer, you can make a million varieties. If you currently buy bottled ‘fresh’ juice, or find yourself regularly frequenting your local juice bar (if you actually have a local juice bar, I’m super jealous of you), I highly recommend buying a juicer and making your own. Cost wise, it’s going to save you in the long run. And you can put whatever you want in it!
My personal favorite is Pineapple Pear Lemon Ginger, but that’s a pretty high sugar drink, so I save that one for once in a while. Mostly, I stick with Mean Green (kale, cucumber, celery, apple, ginger and lemon), Cucumber Melon (cucumber, cantaloupe and kale) and Apple Pie (Apple Carrot with cinnamon). But I’ve juiced pretty much every fruit and vegetable that has come into my house at least ones (plums = horrible).
Making my Mean Green!
Now, I still have zero desire to do a juice fast or cleanse. If that works for other people, awesome. A few years back, I was diagnosed with eosinophilic esophagitis, and could only have liquids and pureed foods for about six weeks. After that experience, I can tell you I will never voluntarily give up solids. I like food, and chewing, far too much.
But juice in addition to food? I’m all over that.
Do you juice? Want to share your recipes?? Pretty please!
