Carrots & Apples and Notes On Juicing

Carrots & Apples and Notes On Juicing


I have been juicing, off and on, since about 1990, and wish I had spent more time on than off because I believe juicing to be highly beneficial.

One thing I see a lot of is the recommendation not to juice carrots and beets because they contain too much sugar. I have found evidence to the contrary:

According to one PhD, who is a diabetic, and who has compiled extensive glycemic content tables for foods of all kinds, carrot and beet juice do not cause insulin-spike problems. Dr. Joel Robbins agrees, saying the sugar in them is metabolized differently by the liver than the sugar from fruits. Dr. Norman W. Walker, the "father" of juicing, says carrot juice tops the list of the very best things a person with degenerative dis-ease can drink, and he says to drink LOTS of it. He says it's a good thing if one's skin turns yellow-orange from drinking so much carrot juice because it means the body is ridding itself of built-up garbage in the liver. He says the yellow-orange color will disappear sooner or later, when the liver has finished cleansing itself.

Aside from that, if one eliminates carrots,(and beets), and also apple,from one's juicing recipe, the resulting juice---IF one is putting in the very necessary green leafies and other green stuff--- will be unpalatable to most people. Certainly it is unpalatable to me. Because of all the carrot and the sufficient amount of apple I put in my juice, I can add to it celery, cucumber, broccoli, green pepper, kale, spinach, parsley, cilantro, radish, garlic, ginger and jalapeno, and still end up with a very tasty juice. If I did not add the carrot and apple, I would end up with such a nasty-tasting brew I would have to pour it down the sink!

Dr. Mercola, a very popular alternative internet personality, says not to dispose of the vegetable pulp,(I use it as mulch in my garden), but rather to eat it. First of all, if you're going to do that, you had better be using very clean, organic vegetables, because Dr. Walker found that most of the pesticides and contaminants in non-organic vegetables stay with the pulp. Second, a major reason for juicing is so that the nutrients from the juice will be readily absorbed, without interference from food solids. Obviously, eating the pulp defeats that purpose. Third, the pulp is just plain yucky---not something I want to "eat with a spoon," as Dr. Mercola recommends. Finally, no matter how I look at it, juicing is a bit of a chore, and having to eat the leftover pulp would make it so much of a chore that I might just give up juicing altogether, which would not be good, since I do agree with Dr. Mercola's title for his primer page on juicing: "Your Key To Radiant Health."

The idea behind Dr. Mercola's suggestion to eat the pulp very much appears to be about colon health, as in avoiding constipation, as in moving one's bowels at least once a day. I can in that regard say without reservation that even though I do not eat the pulp from my juice, I have, during the periods when I have been juicing, been having 2 to 4 bowel movements daily. I have accomplished that by drinking at least 5 cups of fresh vegetable juice daily, mixed with at least 3 heaping tablespoons of Barley Green. I also take chlorella, spirulina and alfalfa tablets. I eat plenty of raw, soaked-then-dehydrated nuts, raw vegetables and some dried and fresh fruit. I also eat a cottage cheese/flax oil/berry/curcumin mixture daily and I drink plenty of pure water.