Just Juice

**8/2/12 Update!  Happy to announce my now 21-month-old son and myself enjoy green juice and smoothies when we can without any trickery involved.  As long as it's sweetened with a touch of pear or apple and in a straw sippy cup (NOT his milk cup:), he chugs it like there's no tomorrow!  I add water too so he gets the extra hydration. **

In conjunction with my detox post, comes a juicing post!  No, not the Jersey Shore juicing, the healthful kind of course.  Juicing is AMAZING and loaded with health benefits for everyone-I wish I did it more often.  Since we don't keep our juicer on the counter, it's easy to forget about it, but when I DO make it a priority, it feels wonderful and inspires me to take advantage of the many benefits and follow-up by eating light, drinking lots of water, and exercising more-the energy I feel after a cup of fresh veggie juice (sweetened by a touch of fruit) is like having a cup of coffee-I kid you not.  My brain is clearer and I get this crazy "high" burst of energy for a good while afterwards.

Do we all have an expensive juicer at home ready to go?  Well, no, probably not.  We were lucky to get ours as a gift, and are loving it, but there are definitely a range of low-priced options out there.  I'd say ours is a middle-of-the-road model, but here's a list of top rated juicers.  If you're not sold on the idea at first, many health stores have a juice bar where you can try some fresh juice combo of your liking.  I love, love, love having greens in mine, and you'd be amazed at how much carrot juice can sweeten it as well.  I usually throw in a cucumber, celery, and half a pear or apple in addition to a few carrots and choice of dark leafy greens.  It's kind of my go-to recipe, but there are so many recipes out there to try, and specific health benefits for each.  Drink spinach, REALLY??  Yes, really!  While you only get a small amount of juice from each handful you throw in the juicer, you are getting super phytochemicals that are known to prevent cancer due to the higher absorption into your body when in juice form.  They have actually been shown to stop carcinogens from forming in the body, which is quite mind-blowing, and makes a raw diet pretty appealing.  You'll be getting fresh vitamins that far exceed a multi-vitamin supplement, energy, and a great boost to the immune system.  The one thing you won't get from this is daily needed fiber (unless you use the discarded pulp in other recipes-great idea, by the way), so of course this can't replace your daily fruit and veggie intake, but it provides so many benefits that it's a wonderful addition to anyone's diet.  

As you can see from the picture, I DID make some juice for my 15-month-old son... why not???  Why would I choose to make the healthiest possible beverage for my husband and myself, but not give a little to the baby?  I'm not talking about putting Kai on a juice fast, but rather give him a health boost he wouldn't otherwise get from anything else.  We don't give him bottled juice, so I thought I'd try some veggie juice sweetened with pear.  I will say that he immediately recognized the green color in his usual milk sippy cup, and his expression read, "Really, Mom?  Green milk?"  So, he carried that cup around the house faithfully, taking a sip here and there, looked at the green stuff, looked at me, and continued that pattern the rest of the day:)  Not wanting to waste the juice, I ended up adding it to his pureed foods and smoothies I was already making for him-stir it in or puree right along with the goodness-it sweetened his meal and he didn't notice the veggie taste one bit-success!  It's a work in progress.  I think I may try to put some in his water cup with a straw and cut it with some water, rather than replace his milk with it-sweet water sounds better than green milk!  Read these tips on juicing for kids.  Some more extreme nutritionists that aren't big fans of milk for kids will recommend juicing for the calcium needs over milk.  Of course, you'd need to provide the fat as well from suggested foods such as avocado, etc... but we haven't gone down that road due to him taking well to whole milk, and having a very healthy diet already.

Happy juicing and be sure to sound off with any questions or tips of your own!  Trust me, you will feel GREAT... Stay Chic, Stay Healthy;)