Monday, May 20, 2013

Why a Juicer Can be Bad for Your Health

Lots of my friends, knowing I'm into health, told me about their juicers they've recently bought.
I became envious, hearing of their tales of giving their children carrot juice for breakfast, or just blending veggies together for a great health drink.


I was at my neighbor's garage sale when low and behold there new in box was a juicer!  I "stewed" for a short while and then grabbed faster than you can say zucchini. Took it home and started juicing.

I put in in all the half eaten fruit and veggies from my kids lunch and made them drink it.  They enjoyed it, and the machine worked really fast and great no problems.

I'm sad to say I didn't notice the problem before I bought the machine.  I actually had to use it and see for myself what it really does before it clicked.

When you put food into the juicer it puts the juice into a small pitcher and then puts everything else into a large container.  What this everything else?  It's fiber, carotenoids, flavonoids, macro and micronutrients and more.  What it does is take a whole food-which is as healthy as food can be, and pulls lots of the good stuff out till were left with only the juice.  These machines are so good they make all juice pulp free.

When we pick and choose what part of the food we eat that is when we start to have problems.

Problems like celiacs, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and about 100 other diseases that can be prevented.

Left in the container I had food that I would have normally eaten.  Even when I make my green smoothies I keep the ingredients whole and just blend them up.

Sure you can get smart with your left over ingredients, like putting them in soups or salads.  But your still missing great health benefits if you don't use those leftovers at the same meal.  All the components need to be in place at digestion of that food.  Not a day or even a meal later.  All nutriants are codependent on each other meaning that nutritional ­benefits of each part are reinforced by the other parts.


My recommendation is to eat whole foods as much as possible and use juice only for special occasions.  If you want to drink it, use a blender so all pieces are still intact.


p.s. The only ingredients I found that did not work well in the blender is carrots or large amounts of kale.






Image courtesy of John Kasawa / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Monday, May 13, 2013

Eat Healthy For Cheap!

Image courtesy of lobster20/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There is a myth that you have to have money to eat healthy.  Because fresh cost $$ and Romen noodles and mac and cheese are so cheap, right?


Wrong.

Let's dissect this a little further.

Romen cost $.64 a package and does not go terribly far.  Mac and cheese is usually about $1 on sale unless you buy store brands then you can get for $.74.  Cheap right?

Do you know what's cheaper? and far better for you....

Image courtesy of domdeen/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net


 Eggs!  I buy eggs in a package of 30 and that comes out to be $.08 per egg!!!  Then if you buy them in bulk they get even cheaper.

Next, oatmeal.   So delicious (when you cook it right), so healthy, and yes so cheap.  I'm not talking about instant oatmeal packets, those are not healthy.  Yes that's right not healthy.  They're packed with sugar and perverseness, stay away from those.  The good stuff is (in order healthiest to least): oat groats, steel cut oats, and old fashioned rolled oat.  These will run you about $.13 a serving. And worthy to note here one serving of well-made oatmeal will nearly fill you up.

Image courtesy of Grant Cochrane/FreeDigitalPhotos.net


 Eat an egg, a bowl of oatmeal and a glass of milk (about $.10 a serving) and you got yourself a very filling, healthy, and perfectly economical meal.
 

I hope this lets you start thinking outside the box on your bank and eating healthy.  There is so much you can do for health on a budget.  I'll share more with you in the future for now here's to healthy eating!


Jamie's Berry Oatmeal
1c. water
1/2c. oats
1 TB honey
1c. frozen blueberries
1 tsp. cinnamon

Put all ingredients in a pot and boil for 3-5 minutes


Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Screen Detox

Hey all,
Sorry I missed last week.  My computer's motherboard fried and my work laptop kicked the bucket too.  What a week for technological disasters.  All my work is done electronically so I was completely useless.






Well not exactly.  I used the time to read and meditate everyday.  My stress level went down 10 notches.  I worked on projects like cleaning the basement- which now looks great.  And I did a lot of quilting.  I'm working on two large twin sized quilts for my boys.  There are sport themed, for their new room this summer.

It was amazing how life these days revolves around electronics and when we shut it all down we can breath again.  (minus the on-line bill pay, not being on top of that for two weeks did get me nervous, and now playing catch up with work)  It really was good for our family. 

For good health I think every 3 months we will shut down for a week and just slow down. I think that is one of the reasons I like camping so much.  No distractions or nonsense.  Just nature, exercise and relaxation. 

Being that this Sunday is Mother's day I really encourage you to toss the electronics until then.  You can focus on your to-do list.  Get those projects done and slow down a bit.  It's a good reminder about what is really important in life: God and family.

Also, I did research on healthy eating on a super tight budget, just to see how little I could spend.  Again you will be amazed!  But for now think about the screen detox.


One last item of business:  Green Giant Chips.  The ingredients did have some pleasing surprises, such as spelt and quinoa.   In my opinion it is the best so called "health chip" there is.  It's still not up to par with a salad or green smoothie of course but for a chip-very good, 5 stars.