Jane the Juicer

What the ----? Jane's a little tied up right now so she asked me to jot down a few things for her. (But really, what the heck is she doing??) That is one ginormous carrot she's got there and why is she wearing a plastic bag boa?
Well, it's like this...Jane or Michael, I can't remember which one, thought it would be a good idea to buy a juicer. They enjoyed going to the Organic Works Bakery and drinking one of their delicious juice concoctions but figured they could do it more cheaply at home.

So Jane did some research on juicers and found a great one at Sears by Hamilton Beach, powered by an 800 watt motor. It's pretty heavy duty but easy on the wallet. Before they knew it they were pushing whatever they could find in the fridge through the juicer.

Then they had to find a good source for fruit and veg - good quality and not too pricey. After trying out a few places the verdict is in: The United Store (asian grocery store) has the cheapest produce and the most variety! Unlike most grocery store the produce section takes up at least 1/3 of the floor space - it's huge! There are fruits and vegetables there that they've never seen before (but are willing to try!)

Doesn't that look yummy? Our (yes, this is Jane talking now - Michael unwrapped me!!) usual concoction contains carrots (naturally :), a green apple or two, celery, cucumber, tomato, grapefruit, pear and grapes. We also add ginger root and turmeric root to help us with inflammation. Both Michael and I have suffered from pinched nerves over the past couple of months...weird huh? He has two discs that are compressed (C5 & C6) while I have advanced osteo-arthritis of the spine in C5 & C6. Freaky.  Both conditions put pressure on the local nerves so it's recommended we live on a diet of ibuprofin and Tylenol. No thank you.  So we've decided to go the natural route instead and add anti-inflammatories to our diet. It seems to be helping and I no longer take any pills.

We're trying to improve our overall diets. We're eating way less meat - I've had a small bit of chicken twice in the past 4 weeks, other than that NO meat. We make lots of veggie stir fries, soups and stews adding dried legumes, lentils, quinoa and brown rice. Keeps me satisfied. (I'm talking about the food here!) I also purchased a bread maker recently and have experimented a little. We're planning to go gluten-free once I can find and test a really good gluten-free bread recipe. Pinterest is a good source. Some people say going gluten-free has changed their lives...for the better. I'd like to test it out and see for myself. I read Wheat Belly over the Christmas break and accept that the wheat we eat now is so genetically modified from what existed 50 years ago it is barely recognizable and has next to no nutritional value.

Lots of changes but made gradually over time. I'll let you know if I feel any different!

 Until then - CHEERS! Our breakfast version is usually orange or pink in colour as it has more fruit (strawberries, pomegranates, melon, oranges etc) in it while the lunch version below is greener - it may contain spinach, watercress, celery, cucumber plus a number of other vegetables.  While I was home recovering from my pinched nerve I would have juice for breakfast and lunch.

Now that I am back to work I take my morning juice with me in a thermos to drink throughout the morning and take a nice vegetable soup for lunch. It's those after school munchies that I still have to tame - especially when it's been a more than usually stressful day. And most of them are!