Adventures in Juicing: Week 3

1. It's an easy way to bump up our daily recommended intake of fruits and veggies. Instead of making sure we prepare and eat enough fruits and veg, we usually get at least 1/2 of our recommended intake from one glass of juice in the morning! Of course we still eat fruits and vegetables throughout the day (like apples...I am currently addicted to Jonagold apples and could probably eat like 5 a day! Oh pregnancy...). And it's important that we do, as we still need the fibre, etc. from eating the skins, etc. But it sure is nice to know that I have all those vitamins and minerals covered now without thinking of creative ways to shove them in our diet!
2. We are using a much wider range of vegetables than we did before we started juicing. I admit I am pretty picky when it comes to vegetables. As an example, I would never eat kale, beets or cucumbers (despite my years in Thailand, where cucumbers accompany every meal it seems, I still don't like them!) whole, or even use them in a dish. But when you add it to a cup of juice, the flavours mix so nicely, that I actually enjoy them! And for someone who has issues with textures (like me!), it's perfect because I don't have to worry about the texture when it's in a cup of juice. 
3. I am wasting so much less produce. Sometimes fruits mysteriously never ripen. They go straight from green and unripe to shrivelled and pretty tasteless in a day (mango...I'm looking at YOU!). This drives me batty, as it's not appetizing on either end of the spectrum. So you are stuck with either eating a gross mango, or tossing it out, which is a huge waste. I no longer have this dilemma as I can just juice it. Whether it's still a little unripe or a little past it's prime, once it's thrown in the juicer it's as tasty as can be. Greens that have lost their crunch are still tasty when juiced, even if they would be dreadful in a salad. For this reason alone I am hooked on making juice. And the other thing is that you can use the pulp that is leftover from the juice for baking, etc. Tossing some carrot and apple pulp into muffins is a great way to boost the fibre in the muffins, and to reduce the waste.
4. It's fun! Coming up with new combinations to juice is a lot of fun. It's interesting to try to meld different flavours and see what you can come up with. I haven't really experimented much with adding anything to the juice (I saw a recipe that used coconut water with fresh juice...it's on the plan for this week!), but this is a whole other delicious world that I am excited to try. There are just so many possibilities and so many things to try, that it never gets boring. 
5. It's a healthy choice for my family. Because the produce I use to juice is from SPUD.ca, it is organic, and local (when possible). So I am eliminating a lot of the pesticides and chemicals from imported produce. And because I am controlling what I put in to each glass of juice, I am eliminating any added sugars and preservatives that come with many store-purchased juices. And there is no packaging to recycle, or throw out either. The best part of all though is that it is so convenient. I mean, all I do is put my tupperware bin out on my doorstep and then collect it in the evening, and it's full of fresh, organic produce. I shop from my couch. It's awesome. And as an aside, I have to say it is the best produce I have ever purchased. It is always in great shape, and is so incredibly tasty. Sure, the apples are not the size of a baseball, but honestly? Apples that big creep me out. Produce should look like it's been grown, not created in a lab! I love knowing which farm my produce has come from and that I am supporting local farmers. 
*Please note that this series is sponsored by SPUD.ca, as they provided the juicer and the organic juicing produce in order to facilitate this series. But all content and opinions are completely my own (as usual!).