My $200 Glass of Juice

[darkemeralds]

It seems I've joined the juicing brigade. Both of my sisters swear to the health benefits of daily fresh juice drinking, and Macy's had a zillion juice-making machines on display--presumably because it's this year's big holiday gift idea. So today I took the plunge.





I couldn't afford the juicer I wanted, and the one I could afford is gigantic. It's going to have to live on the countertop because it won't fit in a cupboard.



My first, vividly-green glass of juice consisted of celery, cucumber, green grapes, kale, ginger root, lime, apple, and carrot. It was at once sweet, sharp, piquant and bitter--so much of everything that guzzling it down was preferable to savoring it. Not unpleasant, and fairly refreshing, but more medicinal than actually enjoyable. And way better than my previous attempt with a blender.

I looked in the mirror twenty minutes afterwards and couldn't see any obvious signs of suddenly blooming health. Darn. Maybe by the time the cost is down to $1.50 a glass or so, I'll be all Ms. Liver Cleanse or whatever.

Comments

[tehomet]

I looked in the mirror twenty minutes afterwards and couldn't see any obvious signs of suddenly blooming health. Darn.

LOL! Maybe by thirty minutes? :D

[darkemeralds]

LOL. Still checking....

[ranunculus]

I think she forgot the incense and chanting that goes with such a spell.

[tehomet]

Totally. :)

[darkemeralds]

That must be it!

[bluemeridian]

I love how you just dive in the deep end with kitchen sink combinations. :D I'd be so much more tentative, and juice, like, a carrot and an apple. Then I'd drink it for 2 weeks and consider there could possibly be other combinations I might try... Maybe.

[darkemeralds]

Well, I knew from experience that a sweet juice heavy on apple, carrot and/or beet would hit my blood sugar too hard, so I just brought home several things that I knew I should be eating more of, closed my eyes, and guzzled it all down.

My sister had mentioned a "cool green" juice involving cucumber, lime, spinach and...um, green grapes, I think it was, plus ginger, so that was kind of my taking-off point.

Now that I know I can at least gag down 12 ounces of most anything, this morning I stuck in a big fat broccoli stem. Way too much trouble to actually eat but full of juice, so in it went.

Tonight I'm going for a red version: beet, cranberry, and grapefruit to mask a lot of kale. :-P

[vampirefan]

You know, I've been wanting to do some juicing but, yes, of course the juicer that I want is expensive... Plus, you have to buy a LOT of stuff to make a reasonable amount of juice.

Here are a couple of links for you:
http://juicerecipes.com/
http://www.hungryforchange.tv/article/are-you-making-these-common-8-juicing-mistakes

[darkemeralds]

Awesome resources! Thank you. I've been making a couple of those common mistakes--notably guzzling the juice down as fast as I can, while standing. I don't know if I could learn to savor it--it doesn't taste that good!

So far, I've noticed that a glass of juice (which, yes, may contain five bucks' worth of produce) really limits my desire to eat other things. I could do with a lot less meat and dairy, to be honest, and if juicing helps me cut back on those things, the grocery budget could balance out.

One GREAT tip I read was to watch Craigslist for used juicers. They're exactly the kind of thing people plunge into with enthusiasm and then don't keep up with. Lots of perfectly good, barely-used juicers are out there in people's garages. Try in February. :D