Although I’m passionate about farming and farmers, I have to be straight up and share that I wasn’t ever a huge cook or necessarily a healthy eater, either. I often was living life on the run as I was formerly in the internet industry and was always in a race against the clock – living in NYC and LA. Whatever bad habits of eating I had as a teenager or college student seemed to continue into adulthood, especially when I jumped into the rat race.
I’d have spurts of more ‘healthy’ eating but would find that my pace, my stress, and my being time-deprived made eating healthy rather difficult. I was, and have been, a chocolate & carb junkie and don’t dare try to tell me not to have coffee! The picture I’m painting of myself isn’t flattering, but it is real!
When I took over the farm, that didn’t change my eating either. You’d think it would, but it didn’t. Being in a remote part of the world is difficult, and access to local, fresh food there is limited – even though we’re in the middle of farm country! Doesn’t make sense, but I guess since the area is so small and remote, it’s just difficult to have the access. A food desert.
In truth, most of us there are relegated to a Super Wal-Mart. Don’t throw stones at me for not going to a local farmer market, but the Wal-Mart is just the closest place I could find as an option. And even that’s 45 minutes away! No, there are no local grocery stores.
As life would have it, I decided I would also split my time in the city - commuting back and forth, establishing Atlanta as the headquarters of FarmStarLiving. Since living here, I've become more interested and involved in the organic and ‘natural’ farming world. I've grown to understand the importance of eating clean, fresh food and the clear fact that it's great for me. Through meeting so many wonderful farmers here and everywhere who have helped me see the real benefits of their fresh products, I have started to become much more conscientious about how and what I eat. (Except during the holidays when all bets are still off!) Don't get me wrong, I am still into meat and potatoes, and RICE (my farm's producing rice in '14!), but I am finding fresh food is a must.
So, I am currently trying to get into juicing. Hmmmm. I have had some issues embracing it so I’ve done some research and here’s what I’ve found:
· Juicing offers the health benefits of live enzymes and thus the highest possible nutritional value. · Antioxidants and other nutrients in cold press juice help combat inflammation caused by all of the other less healthy things one may eat. · If you substitute a meal with juice, it can indeed help you lose weight. (I just hope I’m not still hungry as I’m trying to lose my post-holiday weight gain).· You’ll feel better and more vital in just 72 hours from eating, or drinking, green fresh veggies. · Juicing offers better hydration, removing toxins and flooding your cells with healing nutrients[.]
Ok, sounds pretty good so here goes. I talked to Megan McCarthy of HealthyEating101.com and she gave me some pointers, as well as a recipe to try. Seems pretty straight-forward!
Megan said, “The green juices and smoothies with less fruit and more green vegetable oriented ingredients typically have less actual sugar in them, so it keeps the "glycemic" reaction to a minimum. I like the greens with a bit of fruit to balance it out and actually make it really tasty. I like to add fresh pineapple to my green smoothies so when I initially cut up the pineapple, I save the extra “core” parts for juicing.”
So, my right hand Samantha brought in her juicer so I could see what this is all about. So thanks to her and my team's encouragement, we actually made this one first:
Papaya, Golden Beet, Apple & Kiwi Juice:
-1/2 of a papaya -1 apple (we used Pink Lady) -1 kiwi -1 golden beet
Here's another one, thanks to Megan. Holy Green Juice 3 organic celery stalks?2 organic kale leaves?1 organic green apple?1 pineapple core?1 lemon, peeled
So, bottoms up and I think we'll keep on toasting each other here at Farm Star Living- juice style, of course.
Comments