3 Steps To Get The Juice

During this past holiday season, I over consumed all sorts of foods that I knew were bad for me. I had many occasions to drink “holiday cheer” during all the parties. I was stressed out over visiting the family for Christmas. I was short on sleep because of a heavy end of year world load. I felt gross, fat, bloated, depressed, tired, and foggy in the head. Not exactly how I wanted 2013 to start off. I knew that I needed some sort of action plan to get back on track!

Shortly after Christmas, I bought a juicer. I had always wanted to start some kind of juice fast/cleanse/kick start. The idea of cleaning my liver sounded good too (it’s been a hard working organ over the years). I have watched several documentaries that just go on and on about the benefits of juicing (Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, Hungry for Change, etc). I figured, “Why not? It can’t hurt.” I jumped in and my first week of juicing was actually fun. I didn’t cut out solid food, I just juiced when I felt like it. I like to take baby steps when starting something new. I discovered it was quick and easy. The hardest part is probably keeping up with the food lists and shopping. You need to be fully stocked with produce to make the really good tasting and good for you juices.

So, where does one start if you want to juice? For those that would like to embark on the juice trend, let me walk through what I went through… On December 29^th, I decided I was going all in on juicing. I was going to pick up a juicer, the produce, and a recipe book. One day, BOOM, get it done!

Step 1: Buy a juicer. I did tons of research on all sorts of juicers. I went through an internal conflict of, “Do I go all in and buy a top of the line so that I commit to this? Or do I just get a Juiceman Juicer and get on with it?” The answer just kind of landed in my lap… I had received a $30 gift card for Williams Sonoma for Christmas. My first thought, “This is awesome, I can use this card towards one of their juicers!” Initially, I was going to purchase the Breville Juice Fountain Plus for $149.95. It got great reviews online and would be a reasonable purchase for a first time juicer.

I drove the long arduous 30 minutes to the Mall of Millennia. Then I battled with other cars for another 20 minutes in the parking lot. But I didn’t care. I was there and I made it to Williams Sonoma and I was walking out with a new juicer! Now, I don’t know what other Williams Sonoma stores are like but this one happened to be JAM PACKED with people that day. I finally got the attention of one of the sales associates. I told her the juicer that I was looking for and she went into her computer to see if they had one available. Negative. As in, none. Not one Breville Juice Fountain Plus available in the entire Central Florida area. You know why? Because they are only available for purchase online. Nowhere on the Williams Sonoma website does it mention this about this stupid juicer. I was BEYOND frustrated at this point. Mostly because my time, effort, and gas had been wasted. You’re probably asking, well I’m sure they had other juicers? Yes they did but way outside of my price range. I couldn’t stomach dropping $200-300 on a new kitchen appliance. Wonderful Williams Sonoma wouldn’t even order the juicer for me with free shipping. I left the store, defeated with $30 gift card still in hand. Maybe I’ll re-gift it.

As I left the mall parking lot, I decided to go see what Target had available. I did not want to wait another week for an online order. I wanted a juicer THAT DAY. I ended up finding a Dash Electric Juicer that was $99. And you know what? I LOVE IT! It does everything I need it too and the cleanup is easy. Target to the rescue! So the moral of step 1, don’t waste your time with tons or research if you’re just starting out with juicing. Go to target, get a Dash, you’ll be plenty of satisfied.

Step 2: Buy produce. While I was at Williams Sonoma, they had a juicing display that had juice recipe cards. I grabbed one and decided that was my starting point. I basically used their recipes as my shopping list at the Fresh Market. It’s an intimidating shopping list that requires large amounts of produce (you may not be used to). For example, 6 Asian Pears, 2 bunches of celery, 10 lemons, etc. But when I was filling the cart, I just thought to myself, all of these wonderful fruits and vegetables are going to be put into my body. Just do it. It looks good in your refrigerator and gives you a proud healthy feeling. I promise. I keep a pretty clean and organized refrigerator but most people starting out might want to do some refrigerator spring cleaning before you start juicing.

Step 3: My last stop of the day was at Barnes and Noble. I know I can look up juice recipes on the internet but I’m a fan of real paper bound books. I picked up The Juice Lady’s Living Foods Revolution by Cherie Calbom. Great book, it sits on my kitchen counter now.

And that’s it. 3 steps and you can start juicing today. And just some side notes. While I prepared my first juice, I found a few things to be very essential. 1. Have a good sharp knife. 2. Have a good sharp peeler. 3. Make sure you have extra small plastic garbage bags to line the catch bin of your juicer (makes cleanup easier).

I also got to wondering about how much these juicers were calorie wise. I found this website which gives you a pretty good idea.

I still have not made juicing every morning before work a habit but I’m leaning into it. I can tell there’s a big different in my skin tone and clarity. My face was a mini battle ground in December and now it’s starting to clear up nicely. I feel pretty good too. Not worlds of improvement but overall, I’d say juicing has been a small positive step in the right direction.

Happy juicing!