Health - Debbie Vail, NC

Juicing - Making the Best of the Worst

7/18/2012

If you have a garden, it is inevitable that you will occasionally overlook those camouflaged goodies hiding in plain site until one day you finally see it - an overgrown cucumber the size of a small boat! In this picture you can see that I found two gigantic cukes hiding in my garden. I have a quarter in the picture for reference. Overgrown cucumbers do not make the best pickles in my opinion, at least not the good crunchy lacto cucumbers that I like to make. Up until today, my chickens have been the recipients of my overgrown vegetables. Sorry chickens, not any more.

It occurred to me that even though these cucumbers were beyond using for pickles, I could still make something from them that is just as good if not better. Why not juice them? Cucumbers are 96% water anyway and just imagine the power punch of all those good healthy enzymes!

And now, wow! Look at how much juice was in those two cucumbers - a full quart and then a little extra that wouldn't fit in the jar, and what a lovely beautiful green! Cucumbers are by far the juiciest addition you can add to your juicing mix stretching the amount of the tasty goodness a little further.

Did you know that cucumber juice helps in flushing out toxins from the body. Cucumber are known to contain lignans that have a strong research in connection with reduced risk of several cancer types. Cucumber juice contains a lot of potassium, magnesium, and fiber that work effectively for regulating blood pressure, both high and low. Digestive disorders like acidity, heartburn, gastritis and even ulcers can be cured by the daily consumption of fresh cucumber juice. Cucumber is rich in vitamin A, B1, B6, C & D, Folate, Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium, when mixed with carrot juice, they can relieve gout and arthirtis pain by lowering the uric acid levels. (Source: Health Online Zine)

After juicing the cucumbers, I also juiced an overgrown zucchini squash (not pictured is an overgrown yellow squash but don't tell my husband because he does not like yellow squash). I could not believe the amount of juice that came from the squash as well. Adding to this mix I juiced a bag of organic carrots, a bag of organic apples and a couple of my garden tomatoes. Red apples make for a sweeter juice and you will want to use more if your family prefers a sweeter taste but these apples are what I had on hand and they worked fine. After adding all the juice together, it was such a refreshing drink!

Also be sure to add a little more apple for sweetness if you want to make some delicious frozen ice pops with the juice for the kids.

I hope this post will help you to remember that when you see an overgrown vegetable that is too far gone for some recipes, that you will think about juicing. Invest in a good juicer and give it a try.

For a deeper look into the health benefits of cucumbers and some fabulous cucumber recipes, you must check out the website Jen Review. There are about a dozen health benefits and recipes listed there.

8 Comments

Deb Burlingame link

7/18/2012 10:21:32 pm

Debbie, I've always had a question about juicing vs smoothies and perhaps your wisdom could clear something up for me. I make fruit and veggie "smoothies" to get my 9 servings of fruit and veg in my bod. I just put the whole fruits/veg into my smoothie thingy and press ON. So I drink the juice PLUS all the fiber, (skin, seeds all). I use organic only and these fill me up and provide my nutritional needs. My question is....When you "juice" don't you lose all the fiber and roughage by eliminating it and just drinking the juice? It seems logical to me that cutting out all this good stuff is not a good idea. Clue me in please. :)

Debbie link

7/19/2012 01:50:36 am

Deb,
Thanks for that comment. It's a good one and a good question. I'm not an expert but here is my take on it. I believe that a lot of people have damaged digestive systems and juicing allows more of the mineral, vitamins, etc. from the vegetables to be more easily absorbed. These juices are more bioavailable in this form. Carrots have so much roughage that a lot of the nutrients just pass through your digestive system unlocked but juicing brings them out and makes them fully absorbable without complications. Your body can easily absorb these broken down nutrients. It's a bit like fermenting fruits and veggies. In the fermentation process, the nutrients are being broken down to be more easily digested. I still have a hard time with throwing the roughage out so my chickens will still get that and I'm hesitant to juice everything but juicing the overgrowns seem to be the best use for them. I wouldn't juice everything because I do believe the roughage is also important. So a good balance is great and it all depends on the individual and their health. You are doing great by putting the whole fruit in the blender. By doing this you are still releasing the nutrients in juice form and also getting the fiber but sometimes you may feel the need to just juice, especially coming off of some kind of sickness. After typing my reply here to you, I did a little web research and was happy to find out that my thinking on this is correct, so you might find this article helpful too. I do appreciate comments and thanks a bunch and hope your question was answered. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2011/11/13/benefits-of-juicing.aspx

7/19/2012 05:21:35 am

Your answer was quite informative and I appreciate the link to the article too. I learn something everytime I get your blog! Thank you.

Kristen Berry link

7/19/2012 06:57:16 am

I was wondering what you did with the pulp, but you answered that. The chickens eat it all? Ok, so we don't have chickens nor any pets... so compost it you think? I have yet to invest in a juicer because I was thinking along the lines of what Deb said. And Dr. Sears harps on the fact that it's not good to get all the sugar without the fiber to go along with it. It seems like no one truly knows what the best is. I always go back to "what did they do in the beginning?" Probably primarily ate things whole and drank lots of cool fresh water. We like a little juice now and then... and the arsenic in the apple juice thing in scary! Do you make OJ with the juicer as well?

7/19/2012 09:06:00 am

Kristen,

Last question first: No, I don't make OJ with the juicer. That juicer would not be good for making citrus juices. I do have an electric citrus juicer as well and will post a pic. of what I have in the original post. It only does citrus juicing, easy to clean and has three settings for pulp intensity. Arsenic in the apple juice, yes, I've heard of that (wouldn't organic be without it? hope so). In fact, my chiropractor's son or daughter actually drank a lot of apple juice and really had some problems with it and had to go on a detox schedule. They did a heavy metal test so they know for sure it was the apple juice. Sidetrack note here: I bought a heavy metal text to do on myself and have not gotten around to it. You have to take pills and collect urine for two days -send off and then they send you a report. Now back to the questions. I believe what you are saying about juicing and lingering in the back of my mind I feel right about what you are saying that back in the beginning they probably did eat the whole thing but here's where we can deviate. As I mentioned to Deb in a reply, I do think that there is a lot of damage to the digestive system and sometimes you really need to juice and I think a juice fast would be great depending on what you juice. Also, I had more in mind little children. We were concerned that our grandchildren were not getting their daily servings of fruit and veggies but with juicing, we feel good about it that they are getting what they need. So if you have picky kids this is really good! And too, my post mainly focused on what to do with overgrown veggies. Honestly I liked the cucumber juice by itself but adding other things made it tastier. And yes, root veggies and apples will tend to give you a sugar overdose but not nearly as bad as some of the things that kids eat today. Yes, you can compost the pulp from juicing. I also thought that using the carrot pulp would make a great raisin, carrot salad with good old homemade mayonnaise. Haven't tried it but I will soon sometime. You said that Dr. Sears says all that sugar without the pulp is not good but if you eat some kind of good quality fat like coconut oil or animal fats, did you know that this will make that sugar you ingest not have so great an impact on your blood sugar level. I found that interesting. Many sources say so. There are different kinds of juicers if you are interested. Some do better with leafy greens and some do better at other kinds. I personally would love the Omega Vert but it was very expensive so I compromised. Thanks so much for you comment. I love it when we find a balance and comments really help.

Kristen Berry

7/19/2012 11:22:50 am

Thanks! :o)

7/19/2012 09:29:20 pm

Debbie, regarding your comment about combining a healthy fat with the fruit smoothie to mitigate the sugar overload. Here is what I do if anyone cares about a crazy woman's morning ritual. I pulverize 6 oz. of fruit for my breakfast. I don't have a juicer but I do have a little $17 Hamilton Beach blender. I add one ounce of organic fresh coconut flakes or some kind of nut, or organic full fat plain yogurt to the fruit. The fruit and fat is always different depending on my mood or what I have in the house. I add an ounce or two coconut water if the mixture needs more moisture to mix. One other little trick I use is to combine some frozen fruit in this mixutre (usually berries) so that the potion is cool and frosty. Later in the day, I make a 10 oz vegetable smoothie using whatever organic vegetables I have available but I don't add fat or protien to this because the sugar content is not as potent as the fruit smoothie. I do add the coconut water to help blend it AND to give it a nicer flavor. I keep frozen cherry tomatoes in my freezer fot this, again to make it cool. Now I know there are probably 10 people who read your blog who can shoot holes in my weird diet plan, but I will tell you that before I started making smoothies, I NEVER got enough raw fruit and veg in my diet. I've been doing this for two years (in addition to giving up a whole host of bad habits--soft drinks, fast food etc.) and I feel better than I have in 10 years. I'd love to hear some other obsessive/compulsive food habits from your other readers. You blog is a great resource for anyone wanting to make positive steps toward better health. Thanks Debbie

7/20/2012 02:51:03 pm

Deb,

No comments yet from anyone about the crazy woman's morning ritual - but who knows, it could be a year or two and someone may comment since this will stay open for as long as this site is working.. Thanks for describing how you make healthy drinks with the blender. For the morning drink, is this drink such that you need a straw or a spoon? Sounds great! So glad that your good eating habits have given you better health. It's always wonderful to hear these kinds of testimonies. I guess my obsessive food habit right now is milk kefir. I love it plain and with no additions but some people do not like the strong tart flavor like I do. Sometimes I add frozen fruit and vanilla flavoring and use my stick blender. That's another little handy gadget. I would say that most people do not get enough fruits and vegetables and what you do really sounds like a great way to get them in. They are certainly what we need to keep our bodies from becoming too acid. An acid environment is what diseases thrive in. Guess that one is for another post though.

Juicing - Making the Best of the Worst

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