Juicing

My mom and sisters have been into juicing for quite some time, and over Christmas break they introduced me to it too. I loved it and now I am planning to buy a juicer when I get paid at the end of the month.

I love how healthy it is and how good it makes you feel. My mom and sisters have all told me how much of a difference it has made in their life, so now I am jumping on their band wagon.

This all stemmed from a desire to eat healthier: organic, more fruits and veggies, less sugar, etc. It also came from watching two movies: The Beautiful Truth and The Gerson Miracle. We watched The Beautiful Truth last week and just finished The Gerson Miracle last night (both are on netflix instant download).

I don't know that I agree 100% with what the movies talk about, but I agree with a lot of it. For instance, I did not know that sugar actually feeds cancer cells....eww! I am the biggest sweet tooth ever, but now when I see cookies in the office all I can think of is "it's cancer food!" Also, apparently it is easier for someone in a third world country to eat healthy fruits and veggies because they grow so much of their own food, whereas in America most of our food is processed, prepacked and sold only in large grocery stores.

The movies actually talk a lot about nutritional choices and also about how Dr. Gerson and his therapy have healed many people from cancer just by changing their diet, juicing, and cleansing. What's bizarre is apparently the cancer organizations are totally against his theories - they say that he actually has not healed anyone and most of his patients end up dying or having their cancer come back. But Dr. Gerson has testimonies from many patients saying otherwise.

That's where I start to get a bit confused and don't really know which side to believe. I am inclined to go with Dr. Gerson though, because if I had cancer I would rather try to fight it with juicing and diet changes first, before I use Chemo and surgery and radiation (all of which actually kill your body anyways). I am pretty sure, raw fruits and veggies will not kill your body; whether or not they actually help as a cancer treatment is still up for debate, but I think I would at least try it. And because chemo and radiation and surgery bring in so much money for cancer companies, I could also see why they would not want people to try other methods of cancer therapy. This is all just my opinion -- I am not saying this is the truth, it's just how I feel about it. Definitely research it for yourself and don't just take my word for it.

If Dr. Gerson's therapy is indeed true, then it is pretty impressive. In The Gerson Miracle, they did a story about a little girl who kept having cancer come back in her lungs and other areas of her body. Nothing the doctors were doing was working and they thought the little girl was going to die. Her family ended up hearing about the Gerson Therapy and tried it out. After her family took her to the Gerson clinic, the cancer went away and has not come back since. Again, I am not sure where that girl is now, and I am sure there may be some information I am not aware of, but if I had cancer and nothing was working, I think I would at least try the Gerson Therapy before ruling it out.

Anyways, mainly what I came away with from watching these movies was how I need to make some basic nutritional changes in my life, such as: recognizing how harmful processed foods are for your body, the importance of eating raw fruits and veggies on a regular basis, trying to eat organically when possible, and being aware of where chemicals are used in normal products and trying to avoid them if possible.

I am hoping to pick up the juicer my mom has -- The GE Juice Extractor. It's at Walmart and reasonably priced. There may be bigger and better juicers out there, but this one seemed fine to me when we used it over Christmas break. On Sunday, I also found a book at Barnes and Noble that I am planning to pick up too - it's called Juicing for Life. I like it because it gives you juicing ideas and recipes based on what you might be struggling with (i.e. headaches, depression, energy, etc.) I found it cheaper on Amazon, so I am gonna order it there later this month.

I am excited to start juicing on a regular basis, especially because it's a great way to get veggies into my body. I am not a huge fan of most vegetables, but when they are juiced and mixed with other fruits and/or veggies, it is actually really good.

Until I can pick up the juicer later this month, Jared and I have been going to Jamba Juice (at the suggestion of my mom and Hollie) to get wheat grass shots and fresh cups of juiced carrots. This means I am not frequenting sbux as much, and when I am there, I am trying to just get tea instead of my usually cinnamon dolce latte or caramel macchiato. This is quite a change for me, but hopefully it will help improve our health.....now if I could just get into exercising, I think I would be set. ;)