Hi everybody! How are you? I have loved spending some ‘down’ time with my children the past few weeks. Trips to the pool, reading together, Wii time, movies…etc., to name a few. With my oldest son a 10 year old, and my baby girl an 11 month old (and 2 precious angles in between) we have lots of excitement in the Batey home. I hope that you have been enjoying your Summer as well!
With vacations, mission trips, baseball games and late nights, sticking with an exercise routine can be a challenge for some! I would like to congratulate and thank my faithful BLGF girls for sticking to it this summer! Way to go girls!
If you are tired of tight clothes, the scale, fatigue, depression and stressing out about getting in a workout, consider Balanced Life Group Fitness. We meet 4-5 days a week before the interruptions and demands of the day, and our workouts provide ALL one needs to see and enjoy the benefits and results of consistent exercise. See the schedule at the bottom of this page.
Last weekend I watched a documentary called, “Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead”. This documentary was an amazing story of two men who were obese, suffering from an auto-immue disorder, on medications everyday, lived void of energy and without favorable prognosis’s concerning their health. They both participated in a 60 day fruits and vegetable juice fast under the supervision of their doctors and lost over 100 pounds each and were able to get off of ALL medications! They turned their physical lives around and inspired their communities as well. That inspired me to quit complaining about how tired I feel and break out my juicer. I have juiced fruits and vegetables for 2 of my snacks this week (Sunday through Thursday)! My energy has been increasingly better and I have even lost a pound without ‘trying’. When I juice fresh vegetables and fruits I feel FULL of energy and also FULL in my stomach. I have noticed that I do not get the energy spikes and crashes that I can tend to get when I am not eating lots of fresh fruits and veggies. Fresh juice is also delicious, and below I will include some great recipes!
I often hear the debate about whether or not juicing is ‘the best’ way to ingest vegetables. My question in rebuttal is always, “Is there any other way you would eat Kale, Carrots, Cucumbers,… in a meal?” If you are lacking in energy, overweight and feeling sluggish…juicing can be a great supplement to your diet that can advance you in your journey to greater health and strength. I have a Breville Juice Fountain (LOVE IT!), but the
Juice Recipes:
2 stalks of Kale
2 Carrots
½ Cucumber
1 Apple
Cole’s Recipe:
2 Stalks of Kale
2 Carrots
1 Apple
3 Strawberries
Here is a great article about the BENEFITS of JUICING:
Health Benefits of Juicing
http://juicerrecipesnow.com/health-benefits-of-juicing/
Juicing is an easy way to provide yourself with a high level of quality nutrition. Here I will talk about the properties of juicing that makes it so potent, and the health benefits that it can provide. It is a practice taken up by many people who are health conscious, who claim how great it is. So what is it about juicing we all rave about?Well, there are 3 main reasons why juicing is so beneficial :
1. The juice requires hardly any digestion, so all its nutritional goodness gets rapidly into your system.
2. When you juice, you use more fruits and vegetables than you could actually eat. As a result, you are drinking a densely packed amount of vitamins, minerals and other plant-based nutrients.
3. Liver detoxification
Below are some of the many health benefits of juicing :- Improving the cardiovascular system and heart health:
- Both antioxidant vitamins C and E prevent the damaging effect of free radicals on artery walls. They prevent blood from sticking, clotting, becoming toxic as well as helping to lower triglycerides levels (Here is more info about how to lower triglycerides). Good to great levels of vitamin C can be found in most vegetables and fruits. For the health benefits of juicing vitamin E you can use blackberries, kiwi, asparagus and spinach in your juicer recipes.
- Potassium and magnesium are essential for proper heart function and a regular heart beat. Blackberries are a good source for both these minerals.
- Additionally, as we know, being overweight plays a fundamental role in developing heart disease, so its good to take some common sense and a realistic approach on how to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight.
Detoxifying the liver – this is fundamental for good health:
- The liver has 100′s of important functions. One of its main functions is to clean the blood and remove toxins and metabolic waste. With the amount of toxins we are dealing with everyday in modern life we need to be real diligent in helping to keep it “clean” so it can keep us clean!
Certain nutrients are needed to provide the juicing benefits of liver cleansing. Antioxidants beta-carotene, vitamin C, vitamin E, and N-acetyl cysteine are potent liver cleansers. In addition, B-vitamins riboflavin and niacin also aid liver cleansing. Cabbage, brussel sprouts and cauliflower have been found to be great for the liver. - You can also add milk thistle supplements to your diet to help the liver detoxify.
o Alkalizing your system (vegetable juicer recipes only):
- All vegetables are alkalizing. Fruits on the other hand are not; they are mostly acidic in nature.
- The benefits of making your body PH level less acidic is a subject of its own, so here are just a few juicing benefits;
- Improved brain function
- Improved heart function
- Slowing down the aging process
- Improved joint function – helping with arthritis
- Less disease-prone body environment. Acidic environments breed diseases.
- Better digestion
- Helping with healthy skin, hair, nails and eyes:
- The antioxidants vitamins C and E help to prevent skin damage from sun exposure, due to their free radical neutralizing abilities. The health benefits of juicing blackberries and blueberries together will provide you with a good source of vitamins C and E.
- A deficiency in riboflavin (vitamin B2) can cause cracked lips, hair loss, dermatitis, greasy looking skin and other skin problems. Putting kale, spinach, and asparagus in your juicer recipes will provide you with vitamin B2.
- The most potent nutrient for healthy eyes is vitamin A, which is not found in plants. Its precursor, beta-carotene, is found in abundance in orange colored fruits and vegetables. Beta-carotene is turned into vitamin A by the body. This vitamin is essential for the retina to function properly and prevent night blindness. Both vitamins A and C reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and cataracts. Carrot juice is a very good source for both of these vitamins.
- Increased energy levels:
- This one is pretty simple. Lots of juicing means lots more vitamins and minerals which are responsible for all sorts of necessary chemical reactions promoting health and vitality and therefore lots more energy. Enjoy juicer recipes every day!!
- Rebuild blood cells:
- Yes that’s right!
This is made possible by the incredibly healthy chlorophyll, which would need an article of its own to give justice to its health benefits!
On a molecular level chlorophyll looks almost exactly like a component of the red blood cell hemin. More amazingly scientists have found that when you assimilate chlorophyll into the body, it makes the chemical shift and actually becomes hemin. Essentially, taking chlorophyll is almost like getting a blood transfusion!
Chlorophyll is also a pigment that gives plants their green color. So put the green stuff in your juicer recipes! The darker the green, the more chlorophyll it contains. - Improved immune system:
- Drinking juicer recipes regularly is going to give you a wide variety and more than adequate amount of antioxidants which are essential for a healthy immune system. The antioxidants from fruits and vegetables include vitamins A, C, E, plus a wide range of plant chemicals called phytochemicals. Phytochemicals have amazing and varied health benefits, most notably anti-cancer properties.
Brought to you by Juicer Recipes Now
Here is another informative article with some great advice about how to get started:
*NOTE: I do not buy Organic veggies, but I do WASH my veggies with a Vegetable rinse…*
Reasons to Juice
http://juicing.mercola.com/sites/juicing/juicing.aspx
There are three main reasons why you will want to consider incorporating vegetable juicing into your optimal health program:
1. Juicing helps you absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. This is important because most of us have impaired digestion as a result of making less-than-optimal food choices over many years. This limits your body's ability to absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. Juicing will help to "pre-digest" them for you, so you will receive most of the nutrition, rather than having it go down the toilet.
2. Juicing allows you to consume an optimal amount of vegetables in an efficient manner. If you are a carb type, you should eat one pound of raw vegetables per 50 pounds of body weight per day. Some people may find eating that many vegetables difficult, but it can be easily accomplished with a quick glass of vegetable juice.
3. You can add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet. Many people eat the same vegetable salads every day. This violates the principle of regular food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole.
.Many people initially think that juicing will be a real chore, but the majority are pleasantly surprised to find that it is much easier than they thought it would be.
Vegetable Juice is Not a Complete Meal
It is important to note that vegetable juice has very little protein and virtually no fat so by itself it is not really a complete food. It really should be used in addition to your regular meals not in place of it.So unless you are undergoing some special fasting or detoxification program it is probably unwise to use juicing as a meal replacement. Ideally it can be consumed with your meal or as a between meal snack.
Important to Listen to Your Body
This is partly because you should only start by juicing vegetables that you enjoy eating non-juiced. The juice should taste pleasant -- not make you feel nauseous.It is very important to listen to your body when juicing. Your stomach should feel good all morning long. If it is churning or growling or generally making its presence known, you probably juiced something you should not be eating. Personally, I've noticed that I can't juice large amounts of cabbage, but if I spread it out, I do fine.
Here are a few simple lessons to get you up and juicing quickly:
Lesson 1: Use pesticide free veggies.
It is wise to choose organic whenever possible. However, some vegetables are worse than others. Below are the vegetables that are the most pesticide loaded ones according to the Environmental Working Group.So it would be wise to only purchase these vegetables if they are organically grown. The worst ones are listed first.
1. Celery
2. Spinach
3. Kale
4. Collard Greens
5. Lettuce
6. Carrots
7. Cucumber (not as bad if you peel the skin)
Lesson 2: Get ready to juice!
Please note that the order listed below is only intended for those that are new to juicing so you do have a pleasant experience with it. However, if you use ¼ to ½ lemon or lime to the juice you can start experimenting with the more bitter greens early on as the lemon and lime effectively counter their bitterness.Please note it would be FAR better to use lemon or limes than carrots, beets or apples, which have far more fructose than lemons or limes.
Step 1: If you are new to juicing. I recommend starting out with these vegetables, as they are the easiest to digest and tolerate:
- Celery
- Fennel (anise)
- Cucumbers
Step 2: When you've acclimatized yourself to juicing, you can start adding these vegetables:
- Red leaf lettuce
- Green Leaf lettuce
- Romaine lettuce
- Endive
- Escarole
- Spinach
Step 3: After you're used to these, then go to the next step:
- Cabbage
- Chinese Cabbage
- Bok Choy
Step 4: When you're ready, move on to adding herbs to your juicing. Herbs also make wonderful combinations, and here are two that work exceptionally well:
- Parsley
- Cilantro
Step 5: The last step: Only use one or two of these leaves, as they are very bitter:
- Kale
- Collard Greens
- Dandelion Greens
- Mustard Greens (bitter)
Lesson 3: Make your juice taste great.
If you would like to make your juice taste a bit more palatable, especially in the beginning, you can add these elements:- Lemons and Limes: You can also add a quarter to half a lemon a lime (leaving much of the white rind on).
- Cranberries: You can also add some cranberries if you enjoy them. Researchers have discovered that cranberries have five times the antioxidant content of broccoli, which means they may protect against cancer, stroke and heart disease. In addition, they are chock-full of phytonutrients, and can help women avoid urinary tract infections. Limit the cranberries to about 4 ounces per pint of juice.
- Fresh ginger: This is an excellent addition if you can tolerate it. It gives your juice a little "kick"! And, as an added boon, researchers have found that ginger can have dramatic effects on cardiovascular health, including preventing atherosclerosis, lowering cholesterol levels, and preventing the oxidation of low density lipoprotein (LDL).
Lesson 4: Drink your vegetable juice right away, or store it very carefully.
Juicing is a time-consuming process, so you'll probably be thinking to yourself, "I wonder if I can juice first thing in the morning, and then drink it later?" This is not a good idea. Vegetable juice is HIGHLY perishable so it's best to drink all of your juice immediately. However, if you're careful, you can store it for up to 24 hours with only moderate nutritional decline. This is really helpful if you are bringing your juice to work with you so you can consume it during the day.
How to store your juice:
- Put your juice in a glass jar with an airtight lid and fill it to the very top. There should be a minimum amount of air in the jar as the oxygen in air (air is about 20 percent oxygen) will "oxidize" and damage the juice.
- Purchase a food vacuum pump like Food Saver with an Ball jar attachment. You can pour your juice into a pint jar and put the lid on and use the Food Saver to suck out the air in the jar to vacuum pack it. This will remove most of the oxygen that will damage the juice.
- Immediately store it in the fridge and consume it when you are ready. It is best to drink it as soon as possible and in any case within 24 hours of juicing.
I hope that these article have inspired you to consider adding freshly juiced vegetables and fruits to your diet!
Here is our schedule for the next 2 weeks:
Classes meet
Off of
Fred George Road, NW Tallahassee
MONDAYS-
A.K.A All Over Mondays…a high intensity interval class that combines bursts of cardio with fabulous strength training moves. Geared to rev up the metabolism at the beginning of the week!
TUESDAYS-
Cardio endurance. ALL LEVELS…come and get that heart pumping for the entire class…work on distance or speed, walking, jogging, or running. We meet across from Hunting Estates
THURSDAYS-
Strength Training…always different methods and moves to tighten the body and build fat-burning muscles.
FRIDAYS-
Flexibility Fridays…SO IMPORTANT for keeping your body LEAN and YOUNG! This is such a beneficial class for overall health and pain free living!
What do you bring?
Yoga matt, towel, water and 2 sets of weights…I will supply the rest
May you be blessed in Health, Peace and Joy!
