My New Jack LaLanne Power Juicer

Jack LaLanne’s Power Juicer Deluxe

After watching all the commercials for juicers over the years, I finally purchased the Jack LaLanne Power Juicer Deluxe ($89.99 @ Costco). After bringing it home and juicing for the first time, I was so excited and wanted to share my thoughts.

Pros
• Affordable (89.99), this was the best price anywhere
• Not only is the product affordable, but it also makes drinking organic juice more affordable
• Easy to assemble
• Easy to use
• Easy to clean, under 5 minutes for me.
• Delicious fresh juice
• You can make whatever kind of juice you want out of almost any fruits and vegetables
• You can use the leftover pulp for baking and cooking
• You can make yummy soups
• Minimal storage space
• Minimal cutting of fruits and vegetables
• Not to mention all of the health benefits of drinking fresh juice

Cons
• It’s best if you drink the juice right away, most of the juices don’t store well, but you can freeze the pulp for later use
• You have to wash the juicer after every use. It’s best if you do it right away, but it takes me under 5 minutes to do it and if you just think of it as part of making juice it’s really not that bad

My favorite juice recipe so far

5 organic carrots
3 small organic apples (I like pink ladies)

* Juice the carrots first and you can save the pulp to make things like carrot muffins, carrot cake or put it in meatloaf for extra veggies.

Fresh or Frozen

I just went to the grocery store today and bought a few bags of frozen veggies. When I got home I was curious to find out if there was a difference between frozen veggies and fresh veggies, I came across this article at Eating Well and thought I would share.

Q. Fresh vs. Frozen Vegetables: Are we giving up nutrition for convenience?

A. Americans typically eat only one-third of the recommended daily intake (three servings instead of nine) of fruits and vegetables, so if you’re in a bind, a vegetable in any form is better than no vegetable at all.

And as winter approaches, fresh produce is limited—or expensive—in much of the country, which forces many of us to turn to canned or frozen options. While canned vegetables tend to lose a lot of nutrients during the preservation process (notable exceptions include tomatoes and pumpkin), frozen vegetables may be even more healthful than some of the fresh produce sold in supermarkets, says Gene Lester, Ph.D., a plant physiologist at the USDA Agricultural Research Center in Weslaco, Texas. Why? Fruits and vegetables chosen for freezing tend to be processed at their peak ripeness, a time when—as a general rule—they are most nutrient-packed.

While the first step of freezing vegetables—blanching them in hot water or steam to kill bacteria and arrest the action of food-degrading enzymes—causes some water-soluble nutrients like vitamin C and the B vitamins to break down or leach out, the subsequent flash-freeze locks the vegetables in a relatively nutrient-rich state.

On the other hand, fruits and vegetables destined to be shipped to the fresh-produce aisles around the country typically are picked before they are ripe, which gives them less time to develop a full spectrum of vitamins and minerals. Outward signs of ripening may still occur, but these vegetables will never have the same nutritive value as if they had been allowed to fully ripen on the vine. In addition, during the long haul from farm to fork, fresh fruits and vegetables are exposed to lots of heat and light, which degrade some nutrients, especially delicate vitamins like C and the B vitamin thiamin.

Bottom line: When vegetables are in-season, buy them fresh and ripe. “Off-season,” frozen vegetables will give you a high concentration of nutrients. Choose packages marked with a USDA “U.S. Fancy” shield, which designates produce of the best size, shape and color; vegetables of this standard also tend to be more nutrient-rich than the lower grades “U.S. No. 1” or “U.S. No. 2.” Eat them soon after purchase: over many months, nutrients in frozen vegetables do inevitably degrade. Finally, steam or microwave rather than boil your produce to minimize the loss of water-soluble vitamins.