I’ve been juicing every day since I got back from my vacation – about 2 months give or take – and I get a lot of questions about it! So, I thought I’d share some quick thoughts and my favorite recipes. First of all, juicing has been GREAT for my Crohn’s. This last time I had a flare they put me on a low residue diet, which meant I was eating nothing nutritious. Basically, my body just couldn’t process food without getting angry. Juicing was what I tried when I started to incorporate more “regular” food into my diet. It’s a great solution because I had been advised to stay away from any kind of seeds or peels…makes it pretty hard to eat fruits and veggies, right? Well, with juicing, I get all of the good stuff with none of the things that can be scary for a Crohn’s lady.
Where do you get your produce?
I’ve made a habit of going to the farmers’ market on Saturday mornings, it’s a fun start to my day and I’ll sometimes coordinate meeting up with a friend or go with my roommate. All good things. Anything out of season that I can’t get there I pick up at a local store near my house. Go organic if you can, it makes a big difference in flavor; I notice it most with apples.
What kind of juicer do you use?
I’m super lucky that one of my roommates already had a juicer. I’m currently using a Maxi-Matic Elite. It’s a great intro juicer, easy to clean and assemble. It also handles a lot of produce that juicers in this price range often don’t. If you’re wondering, this is my dream juicer. I’m fortunate to have a really knowledgable friend steer me in the right direction and she swears by this one. {Side Note: she also recommends this book.}
Have you seen any differences?
Yes, mostly with my energy level; sometimes that juice is so potent it leads to dance parties in my kitchen! {♪ shake your groove thing shake your groove thing  yeah yeah ♪} But also, my skin is better since I started. I’ve had some skin issues because of the Crohn’s and the eczema on my face has gotten noticeably better. It’s gone, pretty much. Knock on wood.
Favorite recipes so far – I’ve been good at experimenting!
Juice 1:
- 4-6 Romaine Lettuce leaves
- 1 Apple
- 1 Pear
- 1 Lemon (peeled)
- 1 inch Ginger
- 1/2-2/3 of Cucumber
Juice 2:
- 4-8 Kale leaves
- 1 Apple
- 1 Pear
- Approx 1 cup of Grapes
- 1 Lemon (peeled)
- 1 inch Ginger
- 1 stalk of Celery
Juice 3
- 1/2 a beet
- 1 Apple
- 1 Lemon (peeled)
- 1 inch Ginger
- 1 stalk Celery
- 1/2 a bunch of Spinach
Be forewarned that while I like the proportions of the flavors, I don’t always get the sizing quite right. Frequently, I end up making a glass and a half or even 2 glasses. No matter though, because it seems like there is always someone around to swoop it up! Or, just more for me. Yum.
Also. Organic apples are MUCH smaller than ones from the grocery store! If you use those, you probably only need half an apple.
If you try it, let me know how it goes!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the recipes! I got a juicer for Christmas last year, & I LOVE it.
would love to hear about some of your fave juices 🙂
What kind of juicer did you get? Brand please.
The brand is Omega and the Model # is 8006. Hope that helps!
I didn’t realize you had Chron’s! I have Celiac, so I tend to get similar eczema flare-ups, or days where my body just can’t handle anything nutritious unless it’s in liquid form. I juice a lot, but I’ve never combined anything like your recipe #2 – can’t wait to try that!
would love to get some of your recipes, too!
yeah!! love your juices 🙂
hey kate! glad to hear you have been juicing! i’ve been getting my juice on for several years now and just recently finished the CLEAN detox program which i highly recommend. since i only drink the juice in the morning, i put all my supplements in there like bee pollen, green powders, fibers, etc. which is great if you want to just get all your supplements in one go!
thanks for the post!
thanks for the suggestions – I haven’t branched out into supplements, but maybe eventually! hard to know what will be okay with the Crohn’s…little experiments at a time 🙂