I’m a very picky eater, but unlike most mothers, mine didn’t force to eat something I don’t like even if it is good for me. She spoiled me to the point of cooking a separate dish for me every time I don’t like what is served because it’s either that or I don’t eat at all.
That didn’t really bother me much since I wasn’t one to get sick easily anyway. My lifestyle was convenient and doesn’t seem to do any harm, so why change it right? Well, we all think like that until it’s too late and at the end we’re stuck regretting our choices. That’s how I saw it the day my mom, a person who eats well, gets ample exercise, someone who generally have a better well-being and lifestyle than me, gets sick with one of the most dreaded illness.
My mom was diagnosed with stage 2A breast cancer. I think my denial was more than hers, whenever we were at the hospital, during surgeries, recovery, and check-ups the only thought that keeps coming to me – how the hell did that happen to my mom? Here I am, someone who takes health for granted and yet she’s the one lying in the hospital bed. I feared for her future and I feared for mine more because I knew that it can happen to me any time too.
I made a choice to turn things around little by little, starting with improving what I eat.
I rarely eat chips or drink soft-drinks but I’m a sucker for fast-food. Who can blame me? I get up real early for work and leave too late there’s just no time and energy to prepare any food. I want to take-in the benefits of a whole bag of fruits and veggies in a fast and simple approach, but how? That’s when I remembered about juicing.
My first experience with juicing, years before I got married or my mom got sick, was when my brother brought home a Jack LaLane juicer. At the time he became interested with fitness and thought it was a good idea to have a juicer around for the same reason I have now. He was pretty much into it for a couple of weeks until he shelved the juicer and it never again saw the light of day outside our kitchen cabinet.
I checked the net for available juicers here in the Philippines and got myself a Matsone Juicer (read about my juicer review here) without any delay. The moment I sipped my first pear, carrot, ginger juice, I was hooked. It’s been three weeks since I started and here’s my own thought on why I love juicing:
- Juicing is fast and simple.
No cooking required, no recipes, no time consuming preparations. Wash and cut the produce and put it in the juicer and in mere 30 minutes I have juice for 2 days. I put our juices in single serve glass tumblers and every morning on an empty stomach it takes three minutes to gulp-in a carrot, an apple, and a bunch of celery. It couldn’t get any simpler than that.
- Juicing enables you to “eat” a lot without making yourself too full.
I want to eat as much as healthy food as possible, but my stomach capacity will have its limits. Am I expected to eat a kilo of talbos ng kamote just so I can maintain a day’s dose of iron? This is also one of the reasons why we’re flooded with vitamins, herbal supplements in capsules and tablets. A small pill that isn’t hard to swallow is packed with a lot of things, the same with juicing.
- Juicing makes vegetables taste better.
The main reason why I don’t eat certain foods is the taste and texture. I don’t eat okra and saluyot because they’re slimy, ampalaya because it’s bitter, kangkong and malunggay because I feel like a goat chewing on grass. However, if I juice these things and combine them with fruits the taste becomes much tolerable and I get to enjoy what these vegetables get to offer without torturing myself.
- Juicing preserves the nutrients in fruits and veggies
Heat in cooking minimizes the goodies we can get out of raw food. Steaming is the best way to get vegetables cooked without destroying the nutrients in it, but steamed food is just so blah bland and lifeless. Slow juicing on the other hand makes it possible to enjoy flavorful and fresh produce.
My first try at juicing turned out to be an enjoyable and tasty one. How about you, have you tried juicing? Share with me how it turned out in the comments below. I’d love to hear them.
It's Me, Cesz! 