I was reading a bunch of websites where people were juicing for health purposes. Just wondering if anyone here juices or makes smoothies or anything for health purposes? If so how well is it working? Have you noticed any changes in how you feel or anything?

Hi...I've been juicing/smoothies but not on a regular basis. When I started I had my CRPS localized. And it was working okay. Now that it is spreading, I haven't been able to have even a little structure...so I've stopped. I can't remember who in here talked about being hydrated, but I agree; hydration is very important.

We have a new one.

Bananas, almond milk, unsweetened greek yogurt, coconut oil, kale or spinach (we use baby spinach because we can't get young kale), lemon juice and tiny pinch cayenne pepper. It's supposed to have some protein powder in it, but we don't use whey so don't know what else to use.

This is for energy and we've changed diet quite drastically (daughter and self) so need some extras we're not getting in diet so this is one quick way to get it.

Juicers are just too darned hard to strip down and clean daily, especially as my local shop has a vitamin enriched juice which I enjoy.
Blending is another matter, in the Summer with fresh fruits reduced whole. My Ex does this for us for healthy kicks and because it's so good!

Dave.

Organic green food powder, coconut milk, apple, celery is my normal mix when I do these. I don't own a juicer, use my blender, works fine. Maybe I'll do one later...I have all the ingredients for a healthy drink.

We just use a blender too. It's one of those mini blenders.
Works fine and was very inexpensive.

Yep, I was close to buying a juicer over the years, even one from my gf who bought a new one and the old one was fine. But I didn't buy it as I know myself. Her juicers are in the cupboard collecting dust.

Thanks for this thread!

Have you seen the documentary, ""Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead?"

The main character, Joe, travels around the U.S. as he starts his juice fast. He meets lots of people and some start juicing as well. Joe has an autoimmune condition and has been on daily prednisone and some other meds. He has gained weight, as well. He gets off of the meds and loses weight.

Joe helps many, yet takes an interest in a man, also with an autoimmune condition, also on prednisone and also needing help.

Joe does change his own life!
He assists others in changing their lives, as well.

My doctors have praised the movie.

There are all kind of opinions about Joe's exact methods and the length of his juicing fast. Joe responds to these concerns in his sequel documentary.

An interesting documentary on juicing and juicing fasts.
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That said --

My husband and I juice. We love to juice leafy greens, especially. We LOVE our kale juice! We then add kale juice to blended smoothies.

Sometimes, we decide to take 3- 5 days of juicing for two meals a day.
During these times, we have some of our favorite juicing recipes, usually greens. We sometimes add berries. If we are juicing heavily, we will drink juices with fruit added in the morning and juices without fruit later in the day.

There are some juicers which are relatively inexpensive when on sale.
These same juicers are quite easy to clean.
I don't think I can mention brands here.

(Let me check. If mentioning a brand is okay, I will edit this and specify the juicer brand I am using. Many juicing gurus suggest this brand for people with limited time and/or limited energy, because the clean up is much easier.)

I enjoy juicing. I find it difficult when in a flare. Standing on my feet for long causes far too much pain. I also use extra cushioning via a floor mat, as well as using a high stool to sit whenever I can do so. It works best when we juice together, as we have a system in place and the teamwork makes it all move along very quickly. When we are juicing heavily, we sometimes juice for up to two days at a time. Enzymes are lost quickly in fresh juices, so we minimize making batches which last up to two days and never make batches which last any longer than 2 days. That's a lot of juice when on a "juice fast." The more fresh, the better!

When I have no fresh juice, I blend dehydrated greens in with other ingredients for a lovely green breakfast shake!

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IF blood sugar is a concern with higher carb juices (fruits, carrots, etc.),
one of the approaches to decreasing the impact upon our systems is to add purified water to juice at a 1:1 ratio and then add a healthy oil -- flax oil, flavored fish oil, etc.

Happy juicing and/or blending -- whichever your pleasure!

To Our Healing!
DejaVu

Yes,
I juice vegs every day and wheatgrass and they do make a difference.
My green veggie juice twice a day is celery, cucumber, fresh ginger and then whatever other greens I have, spinach, parsley, kale, romaine or some herbs from my garden. I do agree with folks though that most juicers are a pain to clean. I also have a nutribullet that I absolutely love and it was much less expensive then the juicer.

I do a 1-2 ounce shot of wheatgrass juice once a day. I grow my own wheatgrass, it is very simple to do.

I had gone to a holistic health center in Florida called Hippocrates Health Institute many yrs ago and did a 3 week program where you lived on a raw, vegan, organic diet and did a host of other things to cleanse and heal the body, reduce inflammation and make it more alkaline, which is supposed to be conducive to keep bacteria, etc in check. I have an old post somewhere on here that details what I did. Just search on Hippocrates Health Institute.

I did very well, got off ALL my pain and neuropathy meds and lived on that very extreme diet for just over 2 yrs....however, it was almost a full time job to live raw vegan and juice wheatgrass and green juice several times a day. I don't work, am out of work on disability and found the regimen very helpful for my pain and somewhat for neuropathy but I was also treating severe Lyme Disease that had done damage to my brain and I have alot of cognitive issues.

I find the raw vegan diet very extreme and frankly I got tired of it but there is no doubt the regimen really helped me. It is just time consuming with juicing and expensive to live on all organic food. Recently I was dx'ed with breast cancer so have gone back to a limited form of the diet but I still eat fish and chicken and eggs to get more protein as my oncologists all feel I need protein to keep up my body/strength due to surgery and treatments.

Is there something specific you are trying to treat?
Diandra

Hi Diandra,

Oh, wow! Thanks so much for you post!
I really needed to hear of your experience tonight!

I was just reviewing my treatment plan, I have meetings with specialists this week and next... and we have tried to treat for over 25 years now. I am allergic and/or intolerant of most medications. There's not a med we haven't tried, repeatedly. Everyone is trying so hard, including my physicians. We simply don't know where to turn next.

I was just discussing getting into a more lengthy juice fast with my husband.
I then came back to visit the forum and found your post.

My doctors encourage the juice fasting on a longer term.

I honestly think I need to do this more.

It is a lot of work. It's not easy to do this when ill or in pain.
Yet, I know my husband will help me. He has fun with juicing and drinks his share, as well.

I will look up your Hippocrates post. I have heard very good tings about that health center. A friend of mine goes to a similar one in California. (She goes once a year for three weeks.)

Thanks again, Diandra!

To Our Healing,
DejaVu

P.S. My daily green juice: Kale, Broccoli, cukes, celery, lemon, green apple, ginger. Yum! I crave this juice. (I also make beet juice and carrot juice when I can do more.)

The juicer I use is not the very best extractor for leafy greens, but will work for kale. It's a very easy clean-up, compared to the more complex juicers. It is a Breville. Juicing gurus tend to suggest this one for people just starting out or for people with limited time or limited energy, simply because it is so easy to clean.