Juicing

Juice recipes
I'd love to hear what your wife puts in your juice mixes. I've tried just fruit, and my hubby still says "tastes like crap" or "tastes like wood." The only thing he seems to stand is the Jevity. I always ask him how he knows what crap or wood tastes like, and we both can get past the tension that way. He's about 3 months post radiation.
I read about the Magic Mineral Broth, and I"m going to try to cook some of that up this weekend. It's gray and cooler in the NW, so perfect time to make something that's warm and smells nice, it nothing else.

juicing
Hondo,

The removal of air from the container helps to slow down the enzyme breakdown. I learned alot about juicing just before Jim was diagnosed because we were doing an 80% raw vegan diet. Jim lost 40lbs, I only lost 20. I felt amazing. We stopped when Jim was diagnosed because of the need for calories and Jim on PEG. I just bought the veggies for juicing this week so that Jim and I can get back to healthy diet. A good sight for recipies and inspiration is Hallelujah Acres and Raw Food Rehab. My favorite is 1 head of Rommaine, 1/2 head celery, 1 cucumber, 1 granny smith apple, 1 lime peeled. Kind of taste like a Bloody Mary to me for some reason, although with out the tomato and vodka.

Debbie

tesa said:

I am going to really get
I am going to really get into the juicing for my mother. I started giving her some kale and she would drink all of that. What kind of juicer do you guys have? I know that it is highly reccommended to get the organic fruit and veggies if possible. My nephew is an environmental science major and he says organic makes a big difference. I've read that spinach should always be bought organic.

Sweet, how do you wash your veggies? I know that's a silly question but I've actually heard so many different ways that people do that....I was just curious as to how you wash yours.

Hondo do you still do the chelation? My brother wanted to talk to you more about that.

Honestly, I cannot afford
Honestly, I cannot afford all organic produce. When I'm doing juicing and smoothies, I already spend $50 a week in produce, and that's a lot! It would be a lot more if I did organic.


Two articles to read for you.  I usually use just running water and a scrub brush.   I have also used the vinegar.  


How to wash your fruits and vegetables properly
December 29, 2010|By Alison Johnson, Special to Tribune Newspapers
Recent reports of illness caused by fresh produce have raised awareness of the need to wash before eating. Each of the basic rules from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is "equally important," says Robert Buchwald, environmental health supervisor with a branch of the Virginia Department of Health.
Wash everything. That includes prepackaged products — even if the label says "pre-washed" or "ready to eat" — and the outer rinds and skins of all produce (although you may not eat that layer, you can transfer dirt, germs, mold and pesticides inside fruits and vegetables when you cut or peel them)

Use running water. Hold produce under the tap — the USDA recommends using cold water — and turn it continuously to reach all sides. Gently rub soft fruits and vegetables for 30 to 60 seconds; use a vegetable brush on firmer items such as apples, cucumbers and carrots.
Avoid harsh cleaning agents. Detergents, soaps and bleaches can seep inside fruits and vegetables. Some people like commercial sprays and washes for produce, although there's not clear evidence they clean any better.
Be thorough. Germs can bury themselves in tiny crevices. Before washing, cut off stalks and stems — which tend to be very dirty — and remove bruised or damaged spots where bacteria can thrive. Discard the outer leaves of lettuce and cabbage and separate individual leaves for washing.
Dry it off. Use a clean towel or paper towel to help wipe away lingering germs.
Never skip the water. Blowing on a piece of fruit and rubbing it on your shirt or a dry towel isn't effective.

***************************************

What Does It Take to Clean Fresh Food?

By Allison Aubrey

Morning Edition, September 20, 2007 · Have you ever wondered whether those expensive veggie washes are worth the money?

The editors of Cook's Illustrated, a serious foodie magazine, wondered too. They usually focus on cooking techniques, but recently they looked into techniques for cleaning food.

"We wondered ourselves, you know, what's the best way to be washing an apple, or the best way to be washing a pear," said Jack Bishop, editor at Cook's Illustrated.

Testing Cleaning Techniques

So the magazine did some comparative testing, by cleaning apples and pears in four different ways. They washed one batch with an antibacterial soap. (That, by the way, is not recommended by food safety experts — nobody thinks swallowing soap is a good idea.)

They washed other pieces of fruit with a solution of diluted vinegar (one part vinegar to three parts water), rinsing afterward with pure water. They scrubbed the third group with a brush, and simply rinsed the fourth group with clean water.

To measure how well each technique worked, they sampled the outside of the fruit with sterile cotton swabs, then rubbed the little bits of grime onto Petri dishes.

Jack Bishop says they next let the Petri dishes sit at 80 degrees for several days to see what bacteria grew. Then they counted how many bacterial colonies were present.

It turns out the scrub brush removed 85 percent of the bacteria — a little more than the water alone.

But the cleaning method that worked the best was the dilute vinegar rinse. It removed 98 percent of the bacteria.

Cleaning with Vinegar

"I've got a spray bottle filled with three cups of water and one cup of white vinegar," Bishop says. "It's in a spray bottle — the kind you'd mist your plants with."

Bishop sprays each apple with about six squirts of the solution — just enough to coat the surface — and then rinses it under the tap.

"The cold water will wash the residual flavor from the vinegar, and finishes the cleaning process," Bishop says. "So it's a 30-second, 50-cent investment."

The technique works best for smooth skinned fruits and vegetables. When you get to broccoli, lettuce leaves, or spinach, produce is harder to clean — as we've learned from recent nationwide recalls. Bishop's team found that soaking lettuce in the vinegar solution works well, but it's a little more labor intensive than spraying apples.

"You're going to have to separate out the leaves. You can't do a whole head. And that may be where it gets to be impractical, because you need a big enough bowl to be three parts water and one part vinegar," says Bishop.

The folks at Cook's Illustrated are not the first to document the effectiveness of acidic washes. Researchers at the Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at Tennessee State University tested dilute vinegar against plain water and a commercial product called Veggie Wash that they purchased at a grocery store.

"We really did not really find the veggie washes effective or necessary," says Sandria Godwin, who oversaw the project.

Godwin says they do get rid of most bacteria, but her team of researchers found that water works just as well. They found that water can remove 98 percent of bacteria when it's used to rinse and soak produce.

For vegetables such as broccoli or cauliflower that have lots of crevices, Godwin recommends a two-minute soak, even though this contradicts the advice of government food-safety experts who are concerned about cross-contamination of bacteria.

"They're not recommending the soaking of foods because that puts bacteria in the sink itself," explains Godwin. "We still think you should go ahead and do the soak, and wash your sink when you get through!"

For people who aren't willing to go to all this trouble — what about that old technique of rubbing or polishing a piece of fruit on your clothes to get off the grime? There's not much research, but Godwin did have one student look into it a little bit.

"We lined people up in here and had them blow on their apple and rub it on their shirt or lab coats to see if that's effective," Godwin says. "And surprisingly it did something; it's better than nothing. But it really depends on how clean the shirt is."

So, she does not recommend that. Here's a better tip: Since bacteria and dirt are usually trapped at the blossom and stem ends of fruit, the Tennessee researchers say slicing off both ends after rinsing is a good idea.

jtl said:

Antioxidants
Isn't there an on-going debate about taking antioxidants while getting radiation and chemo?

Taking anti-oxidants.
Taking anti-oxidants in vitamin form was a no, according to my radiologist oncologist during my radiation. Not sure anyone is talking about taking extra anti-oxidants here though. I was told I could juice if I wanted to, but I didn't during treatment, because my mouth was so bad. Everything burned, including water. I always told my RO and my nutritionist what I was eating and doing every step of the way. As should every person here, talk and check with their doctors.

Hondo said:

Agree
I agree with what Sweet just said before doing anything you should check and let your doctor know. You don’t want to do anything that can affect your treatment

Hondo

THANKS
for all the info in this thread. I'm going to give it a try and see how juicing goes for us. Liked Hondo's "gumbo time" comment.

Hondo said:

Olybee
I will be thinking about you Saturday & Sunday while eating my Gumbo, Ha ha ha :+))

The Wife also makes a Veggie Gumbo that is not too bad, not sure what she puts in it

I love to laugh and Gumbo just makes me happy
Hondo

Gumbo
Hey now, what kind of good Louisiana boy are you, that you don't know what's in a gumbo? I'm shocked and disappointed. Lol

Maybe you're really just pretending...maybe you are like an extra terrestrial just posing in louisianna. I thought every good La person could make a gumbo. Do you know what the ''trinity" is? If you cannot answer that, I think we should check for pods (like the Invasion of the Body Snatchers) in Hondo's back yard.

Hondo said:

Sweet

Plenty of room in the backyard, it will be nice and cold this week-end so the Gumbo pot it out on the stove and will get fired up soon. Come and check it out and enjoy a good bowl of the good stuff.

My Wife makes a really good Gumbo both Veggie and Meat but I am sorry to say this Cajun does not cook, all I do is Eat. I don’t know what goes in stuff but I know what goes down my mouth, hum hum the goooooood stuff. Will be thinking about you on the first bowl


A bowl of Gumbo a day will keep depression away :+))

Hondo

To the Cajun that doesn't cook~
My mom lives down in Louisiana in Gonzales. Maybe I will show up someday!