To Juice Or Not To Juice

I’ve been doing some research into the raw food diet and juicing.  I’m not 100% sold on raw food yet, because when I eat, I generally like my food piping hot, because it soothes my esophagus and warms my tummy, making food a lot easier to get down.  Cold and warm foods (unless it’s just plain salad) are not so easy to get down.

I’ve been checking out several of the raw food recipes and I keep thinking…most of these meals just seem…unappealing to me.  But juicing…that seems more up my alley.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been incorporating more freshly squeezed juices into my diet…mainly fresh carrot juice and fresh grapefruit juice.  It took some adjusting to liking the taste of grapefruit juice or carrot juice…but after a few days, my body started craving freshly squeezed juices.

Today, since I’m starting to develop the after effects of the common travel cold, I’ve had to up the juicing bounty.

One drink that my grandfather used as a cure-all ever since I was a little kid was a tablespoon of honey, mixed with the juice of one lemon, and hot water.  I can tell you now…the sore throat is gone, as well as that horrible, dry, achy feeling in my nasal cavity.

Thanks to this little cure-all, it brought the inflammation down in my esophagus, eased the swelling in my stomach…and now I can eat (salad, of course).  I didn’t need medicine or a doctor’s visit…just the good ole, tested but true, old fashioned, all-natural remedy.

I will tell you this…with all of these liquids and juices, I do find that I’m a lot fuller.  Sure, I feel like eating a huge salad, but then 1/3 of the way through the salad and I can’t eat another bite!

I don’t recommend the ‘on the go’ friendly version of juicing.  I tried to drink a Naked Juice, but I ended up having an allergic reaction to something they added to the juice.  I plan on just sticking to the basic stuff with no extra additives that boost the juice’s power. 

I’ve been asking around about juicing, and those who do juice have reported incredible improvements in their energy levels, as well as with their overall health.  A lot of people have their own favorite blends.

In all honesty, I like the straight up just carrot, just watermelon or just grapefruit.  I think juicing would be a great way for me to try to sneak in my daily allowances of fruits and vegetables.  Eating is a bit of a challenge for me, so maybe juicing is the answer.

As for raw foods, I’m going to have to keep researching it, maybe develop some recipes of my own before I catch on.  Based on a lot of the research I’ve done so far on the lifestyle, it has been a great way to curb cancer, especially for those who have a history of it.

I’ve seen some organic juicing supplements that I may incorporate in…like juice supplements that completely relax you.  I have a hard time relaxing…I literally get freaked out when I ‘try’ to relax.  Maybe a juice supplement for relaxing will help?  I’ll have to do additional research. 

As for people that juice for weight-loss…I haven’t spoken to anyone that did juicing purely to lose weight.  I think that might be a little on the dangerous ‘fad’ diet side.  This should be more as a diet in addition to making healthy lifestyle changes.

I’m going to try to go mainly liquid for the next few months to see if my body does a turn around that gets me out of the red abyss and at least into the yellow (more than 3-4 points away from the red).  I’ll try to do one non-liquid meal a day (not necessarily raw food), as well as some Greek yogurt.

My health has to be this bad if I’m becoming an extreme health nut.  I’m not expecting to lose any weight from this, because I know how my body likes to hold onto everything.  For those who would like to read up on Juicing for Weight-Loss, here’s an interesting article.  I like that it gives you the guidelines on how to juice along with a couple of recipes.  Rule of Thumb: 1 veggie, 1 fruit and 1 bitter veggie.

If you juice or go the raw food route, what recipes, books, links, etc. do you suggest?