Deduce the Juice!

The trend of juicing has hit us in the face over the last couple of years, more than ever before, and rather like marmite, there are those that embrace all its oddities and those that would rather stick pins in their eyes before downing a green earthy cocktail in the name of health.

Menus of juice drinks with defining and quite frankly somewhat manipulative names can be seen across the board, offering detox, energy boosters, immunity therapy, the stress relief, the lean green, and many more, but the reality of what we are juicing and how it is enabling any of those things, is rather more complicated than what we actually want to hear.

I myself had fallen into the trend, and, religiously three times a week would set about my recipe that I felt had mastered all health requirements needed in a cup. I had somehow found a way to increase my spinach and fresh kale into my diet, alongside fruits, into a drink that I actually liked. Not only liked but almost if truth be known, become obsessed with drinking on a daily basis. 300g baby spinach leaves, a handful of fresh kale, two apples, one orange, one stick of celery, 1/3 of a fresh pineapple, a 3 inch chunk of ginger, one lemon and a cucumber. My obsession had not quite made it to the realms of giving it a name, but it was, in my mind both delicious and surely doing all the right things as it cruised through my body. My hair took an obvious shine to the leafy parts, my digestion loved the ginger warming through into my stomach, my brain was tricked into thinking I was feeding it nutritious elements that would surely fend of any signs of memory loss in the future, and my spare tyre that was noticeable growing around my middle after 3 months, was contradicting everything that I had endeavoured to achieve by consuming this "lean green" "immune boosting" green beverage.

Realising the obvious since my eating habits are not surrounded by endless chocolate or donuts, nor even sugar in my coffee, but rather include fresh fish and vegetables, it was time to embrace the simple fact that my pineapple, and orange was possible cause for concern. I looked deeper into the pineapples being, and somewhat disgruntled, realised that this fruit that is rich in antioxidants and bromelain, has its hidden idiosyncrasies. An unripe pineapple can bite you on the bum with its toxicity, its high in carbs, acidic and of course the big one...sugar. The pineapple is not all bad, and I certainly do not want to take away its halo in being a great source of vitamins and all its health benefits, but like life, this blog is yet another example of the need for moderation. My pineapple, alongside its friendly orange and apples, all who shout "hello healthy " needed to be handled with rather more care. Apples may keep the dentist at bay, but eaten on an empty stomach can cause that feeling that you have swallowed helium balloon. Fructose = gastrointestinal distress.

Not to be squashed by the pure fact that fructose was doing its stuff and successfully finding itself becoming more comfortable around my waist, whilst the apples were also having a party slowly increasing the possibility of making like helium, over the course of the day, I remodeled my green juice by reducing two apples to one, removing the orange & saying a sad goodbye to the pineapple altogether. On the advice of a friend I tried replacing them with three chunks of frozen mango, which I have to add after the juicing of the rest, as mango turns to slime in my machine, but the instant change is miraculous. I ve retained the feeling that what I m drinking is most definitely good for me, still warming from the ginger, and I m no longer sporting a rock hard stomach by 8pm!

This calls for some celebration, some mindful recognition that whilst we want healthy and are taken in by all those splendid names that actually, there will always be a small cause for food for thought.

Agadoo doo doo push pineapple shake the tree Agadoo doo doo push pineapple grind coffee To the left to the right jump up and down and to the knees Come and dance every night sing with a hula melody........ Thats me!