Healthy Eating Series: Juicing For Life So You Can Look Like This Too

The last two weeks absorbed all of my energy, and I forgot to resume my new "Healthy Eating Series" posts. I can attest to the value of of healthy eating. Yes folks, that's right just by eating more fresh fruits and veggies you can look like the guy in this photo too.

Juicing and Smoothies are both a a great way to absorb the maximum nutrition and antioxidants from fruits and vegetables. It's easy to do, and the vitamins and minerals go straight into your bloodstream.

I found some great content at the Soy Quick website with all kinds of information, recipes and ideas for juicing and making fruit smoothies. If you have never juiced before, you should try to use simple combinations to begin. The best choices to start juicing are with are carrot and apple juice. Even if you don’t like carrots or apples to eat them, this is the gentlest juice for beginners. It does taste great, and they are both a sweet produce.

Juicing watermelons in the summertime is another great addition to the carrot/apple juice combination. Watermelons also work very well for liver cleansing. Good bases for vegetable juices include carrots, rutabagas, parsnips, or other such vegetables. These vegetables actually taste quite sweet when juiced. A great addition to green juices is to use a tomato base.

And now, my plug for Organic Produce

Certainly, fresh fruit is always best to use for juicing, as they carry the most vitamins. Organic fruits and vegetables are better than non-organics. This is because they don’t carry all of the preservatives and pesticides that other fruits and vegetables carry. If you’re not able to spend the money on organic foods, then just make sure that you wash your fruits and vegetables thoroughly with lukewarm soapy water. Here's another tip from the Quick Soy folks: You may scrub your non-organic carrots under cold water to remove the soil, but you should try to peel them to remove pesticides and fertilizers. So, if you want to look like this guy in the photo, eat more organic fruits and veggies. I'm sure it will work for you.

Easy recipes for Fruit Smoothies

Banana Shake
½ orange
½ papaya
1 banana
Orange twist for garnish Peel the orange and papaya, but leave the white pithy part on the orange. Juice together. Put the juice into a blender with a banana, add some ice if you’d like and blend until smooth. Garnish this tasty drink with an orange twist.

Tropical Smoothie

3 pineapple spears
½ papaya
1 kiwi Juice the pineapple spears and set aside. Peel the papaya and juice with the unpeeled kiwi. Put both juices into the blender with a cup of ice (add an ounce of rum if you’d like), blend and enjoy

-Rick Rockhill