Carrots is on the list of my least favorite foods but after convincing myself that I have to take in something nutritious to make up for neglecting proper health practices, I decided to take the plunge.
The whirring sound came to a halt, and I poured the mixture into a glass with a little water and ice cubes. Adding a little bit of sugar, I gulped the mixture down and almost gagged but I drank it all anyway. I have never eaten a whole single carrot before and I discovered that is one advantage of juicing. I haven’t turned into a home-made juice fanatic yet but I will try.
In today’s eat-on-the-run lifestyle, majority of the island’s population would agree that it is much easier and hassle-free to pop coins or a dollar bill into a vending machine to quench your thirst, or buy a can of soda from the stores anytime than going through the trouble of buying fresh fruits and vegetables and blending them to produce fresh juices.
You go inside the stores and it is easy to wander into the juice section to pick up a bottle, a can or tetra pack of juice. Pop open the cap or insert a straw into the tetra pack, and presto, you’ll be sipping juice in no time.
The CNMI Women, Infants and Children’s program requires includes at least three cans of 12-oz juices that are rich in Vitamin C in the monthly food packages for the mothers who are pregnant or breastfeeding. Children are given a bigger requirement for juices — two 64-oz containers of juice rich in Vitamin C.
WIC staffers in an earlier interview said juices are necessary for the mothers and children to help promote and maintain good health. WIC staffers said though that the juice in the food packages should be just a part of the nutrition and mothers still have to come up with ways to add to the package.
Reasons to juice
Making home-made fruit and vegetable juices requires time, effort and creativity but you get a lot more benefits if you incorporate it into your daily menu. Here are some of the benefits of juicing:
• Juicing helps you to absorb all of the nutrients from fruits and vegetables. It also helps you eat the required amount of vegetables in a day. For some people, “gulping” down vegetables may be a more pleasant way than eating them.
• Juicing allows you to introduce new vegetables and fruits into your diet. For example, avocado may be your least favorite fruit but if you mix it with other fruits and juice it all up, you may be able to take it in.
Juicing tips
• Start by juicing only fruits and vegetables that you like. It would do no good if you only feel nauseous after drinking the juice. Later on, you can add more vegetables or fruits to your list.
• Listen to your body. If you suffer from an upset stomach after juicing, you may have included something which does not agree with you.
• Include freshly squeezed juice for breakfast.
• Drink your juice immediately after you made it. Vegetable juice is perishable but you can extend its shelf life up to 24 hours if you store it properly.
• Clean the juicer or blender properly. You may feel this is additional work to the juicing process but it is necessary.
You can be creative and experiment with as many variations of fruits and vegetables for your daily juice intakes. Pour over recipe books or browse the internet for possible juice recipes using whatever local ingredients you may have and you are on your way toward happy, healthy juicing!
