Juicing!

Ok, I admit it: I joined the ranks of juicers. I have been looking at getting a juicer for quite a while now. I had bought a book a while back called 100 Health Boosting Drinks. It has a lot of great recipes in it. Not all of them require a juicer either. Well, it kind of got shelved for a while, but yesterday I decided I was going to go buy a juicer. Off I went to Kohl's because I knew they had a nice one for around $100. It was actually $130 and not in stock, so I went to Macy's. (The Macy's here used to be Hecht's and still carries all the stuff that Hecht's used to have for about the same prices as Hecht's.) It was my lucky day because Macy's was having a sale! (Maybe a Leap Year sale? hmmm....) Anyway, the exact same juicer was $100 at Macy's. Yea for me!!!! I had to buy it now if I was going to get it.

The nice thing about the juicer is that all the components that touch your juice are dishwasher safe. That makes for super easy cleanup. I put all those components in the dishwasher last night so it could be used in the morning. I had some oranges that were not going to last much longer as well as some carrots. Some of the recipes in this book are pretty basic ideas of how to combine fruits and vegetables for great taste. The premise of the book is that certain foods when combined with other specific foods will boost your health. For example, if you combine carrots with oranges it will boost your energy, but when combined with endive and celery is good for your eyesight. Now, I don't know if I buy into the "combine specific foods to lose weight, boost health" or any of that stuff theory, but what I do know is that more fruits and vegetables in your diet is good for you. It has been proven that certain fruits or vegetables or herbs do help aid in digestion or boost immunity. For instance, peppermint and catnip have been proven to help soothe an upset stomach. I am all about finding ways to improve my health, and sometimes I just can't eat 8 servings of vegetables in a day, but I can drink part of them. I do know that more vegetables in my diet will make me feel better and help me lose weight and then keep it off. Even more importantly I will waste less money and food with a juicer. I couldn't possibly eat that whole bag of oranges or use that whole bag of carrots before it went bad. I am after all only one person, but this morning I was able to use TWO of those oranges and ONE of those carrots. I could easily do the same thing tomorrow or later in the day if I want a sweet snack. Enough of my soap box now. If you want the book, you can find it in any bookstore or on www.amazon.com. I actually bought mine at Barnes & Noble one day. It offers recipes for juices, smoothies, coolers, and soups. (I am seriously thinking about going to the store and getting some sweet potatoes to try that one.)