News & Updates
Got Juice? by Coach Pam
One of the wonderful aspects of Summer is being surrounded by fresh produce everywhere. Peaches, berries and other locally-grown fruits and vegetables have texture and taste that doesn’t exist in produce available in our supermarkets in the off season.
I love stopping at local farm stands to purchase fruits that have been just-picked. This year our local farm has had an enormous crop of fabulous peaches, in addition to sweet blueberries. This farm also offers bakery items made from what they grow. So, we’ve indulged in a few peach and blueberry pies this year as well. Every morning I cut up fresh peaches and berries, mix them with walnuts and almonds and serve on top of plain, full-fat Greek yogurt. Its a heavenly treat and a great way to start the day!
Locally grown food, eaten when ripe and just-harvested, is not only delicious, but nutrient-dense and provides superior nourishment for our bodies. Typically, when we think of “nourishment”, we think of vitamins; however, fresh whole food also provides enzymes, fiber and other micronutrients necessary for our health and vitality.
Like all good things, the summer harvest always ends and we naturally want to experience the delicious flavors in the off-season. Like preserving, juicing is often mentioned as a way to enjoy the flavors of summer by using produce sourced from the market, which may import it from southern and western United States, or South America and Mexico. As with all other types of whole food, it’s always better to eat the fresh version. In the case of fruits and vegetables, you should always look for a PLU# that starts with “9” to assure the food has been grown organically. From the time the food is picked or harvested, it begins to lose nutrients and nutritional value; so you should make sure the source of your produce is as close to the market zip code as possible.
If the original product is processed, the benefits are further compromised. When we take a piece of fruit or vegetable and process it through a juicer, the drink should be consumed immediately. If you store it for even a short period of time, enzymes die and nutrients evaporate and you are left what amounts to flavored water. Another aspect of juicing, frequently overlooked, is to pay attention to how many pieces of fruit or veggie you juice to make one serving to drink. While vegetables are usually very low in calories per piece, multiple pieces of fruit will add up in both calories and sugar content, which is concentrated in the juice. A common example is orange juice. While you may eat one (or two) oranges at a sitting, it takes a whole bag to make enough juice to drink. The concentrated liquid contains all the calories and sugars of the entire bag of oranges!
Processed juices -- purchased in the market, not prepared in your kitchen with your juicer -- are victims of the pasteurization process. When pasteurized (subjected to temperatures above 108F), natural enzymes, vitamins and micronutrients are all destroyed. Not only are pasteurized juices nothing more than sugary water, they are commonly enriched with synthetic vitamins. Because this “juice” is devoid of natural enzymes, our bodies are typically unable to digest the sugars in the juice. The resulting environment in our gut provides an excellent medium for (hungry) unfriendly bacteria, parasites and yeast. Like all living organisms, these visitors have to poop. Their poop is highly toxic and can cause stress to our liver, kidneys and immune system.** If you’ve ever consumed large quantities of store-bought juice, you may have suffered from indigestion shortly afterward because the sugars are providing food for bacteria and yeast which are, in turn, clogging up your insides with their excrement!
Juices made from “concentrate” are reconstituted from a manufactured slurry that bears little resemblance to the original fruit product. They are filled with sugars, artificial colors, flavors, synthetic vitamins and preservatives. Juices advertised “not from concentrate” are equally bad. The liquid in the bottles simply has not been processed from a slurry mix. (The documentary “Food Inc” presents very accurate and graphic footage of the fruit juice concentrate manufacturing process).
If you like vegetable juice, the same rules apply. You should juice the vegetables in your kitchen, with a juicer, and drink immediately. Vegetable juices (think V-8) are pasteurized for shelf life. Just like fruit juices, the naturally-occurring enzymes, vitamins and micronutrients are destroyed in the process. The nutritional value is then synthetically replicated through the addition of vitamins during the processing. Vegetable juice drinks, while not “sugar water” can be characterized as “saline solution”. Take a look at the salt content of V-8, for example, and you will notice a dangerously-high sodium content.
Juicing at home presents many opportunities to create delicious and healthy concoctions, which are fast and easy to consume. The end product will only be as good as the ingredients you put in. All juiced produce -- fruit or vegetable -- should be consumed immediately. Whole and fresh fruits and vegetables are tasty when consumed on their own and store-bought juices should be avoided.
**Eat, Move and Be Healthy, Paul CHEK, p.220
