Five Mistakes to Avoid with Juicing

To juice or not to juice – is that the question? Maybe. Let’s assume you’d like to give it a try. The better question then, is how can you juice to get the most benefit?

Juicing and smoothies are all the rage. Even though they aren’t exactly the same – juicing  removes the pulp while smoothies pulverize it – doing either one without a little thought first might actually do more harm than good.

Regardless of whether you’re juicing or making a smoothie, here are five common mistakes you should avoid.

Mistake #1. Not coupling juice with protein.

If you drink juice by itself, even if it’s all from vegetables, it’s classified as an isolated carbohydrate. What’s wrong with an isolated carb? Plenty. In the case of juicing, the fiber has been removed – the mushy pulp that you clean out of the contraption – which is not how nature intended you to eat your veggies. It’s that very pulp that slows down how fast the sugar (glucose) enters your blood stream. Having a little protein with your green drink can slow down the digestion.

If you opt for the smoothie version, that’s better, but remember that the blender is doing most of the work that your digestive system is designed to do, starting in your mouth. Chewing releases digestive enzymes and primes the stomach and digestive tract for its up-coming meal. Dare we say that a smoothie is a “processed” food? Well, I guess it technically is.

“I’ve fallen off the wagon!”

This was the subject line in an email from one of my clients. I’ve heard this analogy (likely, we all have – or we’ve used it ourselves!) so many times that I found it fitting for its own blog post.

If you fall off the proverbial wagon, why is the assumption that you sit on your butt in the dirt, watching the wagon quickly faded off into a pile of dust?

Instead of viewing it in this way, let’s give it a whole new twist. Visualize jumping up off your dirty butt and running after that wagon, grabbing the side and catapulting your body back aboard!

Or, if “running” and “catapulting” isn’t an option, how about jumping up and beat-feeting it to the rest stop ahead where you can catch up to the wagon, eh?

Let’s just get one thing straight.

Do You Have a Productive Kitchen?

What actually is a productive kitchen?

My definition of a productive kitchen is a kitchen that is equipped to produce food that contributes to a fully healthy body.

How many veggie choices are in your fridge right this very minute? Well? How many would you be able to come up with? Seven? At least five? No? You should be ashamed.

If you do have veggies in your fridge, are most of them prepped (washed, and/or chopped?) or are they in the plastic bags from the produce isle at the grocery store? What’s that? Plastic bag you say? Again, ashamed.

If I were to ask you how many meals in the last 48 hours have had at least what looks like a serving of vegetables, how many would that be? And would they represent more than three colors? You can grade yourself here.

One of the ways I make sure my kitchen is “productive” is to use it to produce a decent amount of healthy food that’s prepared ahead of time and therefore ready-to-go, for no-excuses, quick-and-easy meals . . . and I have seven tips (most of which I’ve used myself) that will help make your productive kitchen a reality.

An Unlikely, Yet Valuable, Fat-Loss Tool

One of the best tools you can have in your health arsenal is blood sugar and insulin awareness!

I’m encouraging you to live like a diabetic for a week. What? You’re not diabetic! Why the heck would you want to do that?

Because it can give you tremendous insight into how your body responds to different foods, as well as heighten your awareness to exactly how your body responds with insulin. Very cool.

Your body’s response to insulin can change over time, and oftentimes should. It’s not only “fun” to test different food and meals (and yes, I need to get out more!), it is a very effective tool for taking your awareness and knowledge to a new level and making the changes you need to reach your health goals.

Before I take you down the path of how to test your own blood sugar, I feel compelled to point out that my goal here is to give you an effective, harmless tool that can be a catalyst in increasing your awareness, and empowering you to take responsibility for your own health and wellness. With this mindset, let’s get started.

Welcome!

After more than five years with the old site — welcome to the new one! We are under construction, but there’s plenty to get you started. There’s multiple ways to get in touch, ask questions, etc.

Things will be changing almost daily, so we’ll see you back here shortly!

Looking forward to a great new adventure!

Michelle