A lot of my friends have jumped on the juicing bandwagon.  They keep telling me that I need to do it as well and apparently just going to Jamba Juice is not enough.  They talk about how easy it is.  You just throw a bunch of fruits and vegetables into these handy dandy juicing ninja type blenders and presto, nutrition magic.

I am not one to jump onto any bandwagon.  In fact, I usually go in the opposite direction or just create my own thing.  But when my friends are out running, losing weight, and looking amazing, I can’t help but wonder if there is something to this whole juicing thing.  I even asked my acupuncturist and she does it too.  It is a great way to make sure that you get all your fruits and vegetables in–though she did stress avoiding the pre-made juices in stores that contained added sugars and preservatives.

So I watched a few videos on making these glowing green juices and thought I would give it a try.  I decided to look into the juicing machines mentioned by friends and family.  The prices range from $100 up to $500–not in my budget right now.  But I have a magic bullet so I will just use that.

Then I went to Ralph’s and bought the “greens”–kale, spinach, celery, broccoli, and romaine lettuce.  As for fruit, I bought an apple, blueberries, strawberries, and raspberries.  In hindsight, I probably should have bought a banana.  Oh well.

So I went home, dug out my magic bullet, and the experiment began.

Now, when working with a magic bullet, you are basically doing one glass at a time but I figured I would do two so I could have some for later.  I put even amounts of each of the greens into each cup until the cup was full.  I put the blade top on, put it on the magic bullet and…nothing.  Crap, I forgot to add water.  I corrected my mistake, put the blade top back on and about half of the greens were chopped up.  It was a green, chunky, watery mess. (I did the second cup as well and achieved the same result).

But I wasn’t giving up.  I convinced myself it would get better once I added in the fruit.  So that is what I did.  Again, I put equal amounts of each fruit into the cups, attached the blade top and watched as the color changed from a bright green to baby poop green.  I let it blend for about a minute or so until it looked somewhat like the consistency of a Jamba Juice.

I kept telling myself as I poured one of the concoctions into a glass that things usually taste better than they look.  It was still a little chunky.  I am guessing that this doesn’t happen with the more expensive juice blenders but this is what I had so it would have to suffice for now.

So I took my first sip, which tasted like a liquid salad with little bits of lettuce getting stuck in my mouth.  It was an interesting taste, not a preferable one.  However, I am bound and determined to finish every drop in my glass, even if I wince a bit after each swallow.  I survived 5 years of teaching high school, I can drink this green chunky beverage before me.  I can do this.  I won’t waste this food.  And at least for now, I won’t even think about the other drink that I made that must be consumed as well, perhaps tomorrow.

As for my future with juicing, I think I am going to stick to eating my greens in salad form and continue my patronage at Jamba Juice.

 

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