Fresh Carrot-Apple-Celery Juice
Years ago when I was in high school (doesn’t that statement make me sound old!), I went on a cleansing diet which included raw, fresh juices. However, since that time I’ve read more negative views on juicing and had moved away from it. “Juice is without the fiber and could raise your blood sugar” being the most common thought process. With the vita-mixers and the blend-tecs that can liquefy whole vegetables and fruits, some people choose this as their “juice” of choice believing that it’s best to have the whole vegetable, not just the juice.
I think that both juicing and blending are valid and good options. But I wanted to address juicing today and why I have come to reconsider it as a good thing. After a few initial thoughts, I wanted to share a bit of great information about juicing I found in Gut and Psychology by Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride.
I think that the idea of drinking the “whole vegetable” appeals to me because I am a “whole foods” kind of person. I eat whole grains. I drink whole milk. Why not drink the whole vegetable and fruit? We personally love smoothies and certainly do, but this idea that “God (or some would say Nature) gave us whole vegetables and fruits and we shouldn’t mess them up by taking the fiber out via juicing” seemed a little bit of a stretch. It’s not as if God/Nature gave us pulverizing blenders either. If we are going to go with that idea, simply eating the vegetables instead of liquefying them makes even more sense as that’s even closer to how the produce came to us.
But what about the glycemic index of fresh juices? We all know it’s not good to raise our blood sugar, right? Without the fiber from the juice, aren’t we going to be spiking our blood sugar? This is what most concerned me and I don’t have any real scientific data for you. But even when I was sort of against juicing, I always thought. ” If carrot juice is so bad for you because it’s high in sugar, how in the world do people cure themselves from cancer-a supposedly yeast growing phenomenon- on raw carrot juice?” There have been too many people that we know of that have had amazing results curing themselves of many diseases, including cancer using raw juice (yes, even the high “glycemic” juices). This has always made me pause and think and it must not be that bad for you if people get results like this!
So what are the good things about juicing? Because fiber doesn’t fill you up and slow down your nutritional intake from fresh juices you get a high amount of nutrients that are easily absorb-able. While this is an advantage for anyone, this is especially vital for the sick and ailing. Many people claim that the very high nutritional value of fresh raw juices is very healing and cleansing.
Take a look at this quote from Dr. Campbell-Mcbride.
“So, what do we do about al these heavy metals and other toxins lurking in our patients bodies? We can’t just forget about them. Well, there is a time-proven way of detoxifying, taking out of the body not just the heavy metals but a lot of other poisons as well without any side-effects or harmful complications. And a very tasty way too. Children in particular love it! This way is JUICING. Thousands of people all over the world freed themselves from the most deadly disease with juicing, dozens of books have been published on this subject full of testimonies and hundreds of wonderful recipes. Some very big names in natural medicine strongly advocate juicing and used it actively in the treatment of their patients-people like Dr. Gerson and Dr Norman Walker for example. Hundreds of scientific studies have been published on the health benefits of fresh raw fruit and vegetables. Juices provide all the goodness from these fruit and vegetables in a concentrated form and in large amounts. For example to make a glass of carrot juice you need a pound of carrots. Nobody can eat a pound of carrots at once, but you can get all the nutrition from them by drinking the juice. On top of that juicing removes the fibre, which impairs absorption of many nutrients in fruits and vegetables and aggravates the condition in that already sensitive digestive system of a GAPS patient. The digestive system has virtually no work to do in digesting juicing, they get absorbed in 20-25 minutes, providing the body with a concentrated amount of vegetables and fruit every day in the most digestible and pleasant form……Drinking at least two cups of freshly extracted juice will provide your patient with many essential vitamins, magnesium, selenium, zinc and other minerals, amino acids and lots more nutrients, which GAPS people are deficient in. “
We recently started juicing a little ourselves and I have to say that I love it! I get a great energy boost from fresh juice and I certainly feel very nourished drinking fresh raw juices. Any others out there with experience juicing? I would love to hear your experience too!
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my concerns are the same as yours in regards to juicing; juice is high in natural sugars and has little in the way of fiber, protiens, or good fats to avoid a blood-sugar spike. elavted blood sugar is not a good thing for our bodies.
but perhaps for a person who has a hormonal and digestive system in good working order (ie. not diabetic or pre-diabetic, not hypoglycemic, didn’t having grown up eating lots of sugar, refined un-soaked grains, high-carb foods and low nutrients) juicing could be a great way to get nutrients and energy.
for me, i grew up having fresh juices, mostly carrot and apple,
as my mom believed in the nutrition of juicing. however, now i have developed a sensitivity to many of the raw veggies and some fruits i ate/drank as a child. i can’t say whether this was caused by over-exposure from juices being a daily part of my diet as a child or not. i was also raised mostly vegan for my first few years so perhaps that has caused some food sensitivities as well. i cant eat raw carrots without an allergic reaction so that juice wouldnt be my go to juice. i do enjoy green juices, but as i have read on your website, and elsewhere, there may be some problems with eating much raw cruciferous veggies such as kale, spinach etc.
Hi Emily,
Thanks for sharing your story! It was really interesting. I didn’t realize that you were raised vegan as a child. I think that it’s so important to have good gut health so as to not develop any allergies. I have friends who seem to develop an allergy to anything they eat everyday. 🙁 And truthfully I think that many if not most of us suffer from a lack of great gut health in some form or another.
I think that’s what’s great about the GAPS diet. It has all of the healthy fats and broths and lacto-fermented foods to nourish and help the gut and the juice is an added bonus for extra nutrition and cleansing.
Juicing has changed my life. It really changes your palette and I am eating healthier as a result! Thanks for highlighting this topic!
If you are interested in purchasing a juicer do you have any recommendations for one?
Right now I am juicing with the Omega 330 and love it!
I started juicing awhile ago after getting over the same reasons you mentioned you had issues with it. The fact was that I knew I was deficient on many different nutrients (I felt it!) and it was the best way for me to get a lot of nutrients in a small amount of food. I found it to be quite expensive though and had to stop after awhile. My normal was a green apple, a couple carrots, stalk or 2 of celery and a beet. Maybe once summer comes around and my garden starts producing, I’ll get back at it!
Yes, that’s the big disadvantage. It does cost money as you go through so many vegetables!
Well, Kimi, as you probably already know from my past comments, we love juicing and have done it for years. We are careful to keep it mostly veggies, but do add some apple or, if another fruit is getting old in the fridge, we’ll throw that in.
We’ve noticed that adding a generous wedge of cucumber helped improve the general health of our skin. I’ve also read that regularly adding just a bit of parsley or cilantro helps bind and eliminate toxic metals from your body.
Thinking back to your last post, have you found a juicer for your friend yet? What juicer are you using now?
Jaime G
Good tip about the cucumber! I will try that. 🙂
We are going to be getting the Norwalk for my friend and I’ve been using and loving the Omega 330 juicer (she has it right now until she gets her Norwalk).
I’m a huge Omega fan, but I’ve also heard many good things about the Norwalk. I’m sure it’s a wonderful juicer!
You seem like a great friend, Kimi. We’ll be praying for you all :o)
I LOVE my Omega!
What if you are a GAPS patient and know that you are genetically predisposed to suffer from diabetes? Should you still do juicing? Juicing sounds wonderful in many aspects, but have you answered the question of the sugar spike?
Mar,
See my comment further down with a link to Mercola’s guidelines. He isn’t very into carby vegetables like carrots, but he still likes juice. So he advises using different vegetables. Follow the link to get his advice.
Oh, and here is a link discussing the glycemic load of plain carrot juice.
http://www.hacres.com/pdf/documents/research-carrot-juice-full.pdf
We started juicing as part of GAPS- I thought the same as you before. I think it has its place as a ‘supplement’ with a specific purpose rather than something to be consumed all the time. We watched a documentary, The Beautiful Truth (I think) on juicing for treatment of cancer and I found it fascinating.
A couple downsides- my kids got an orange tint from so much carrot juice so I backed off with that… and I really dislike cleaning the juicer LOL!
I think it could definitely be considered a supplement, or you could use fresh juice as part of a cleansing diet occassionally or to help deal with a health crisis.
Right now, I am feeling the need for extra nutrition and my body seems to be absolutely loving the juice!
i saw this movie too, its an interesting film. i didnt really concur with the filmakers ultimate conclusion that a plant based diet is the best diet for everyone/anyone.
Right, me either. I don’t mind the idea of it for an intense treatment for cancer, though.
Where on your site do you address what the Emily was speaking about in regards to…..”problems with eating much raw cruciferous veggies such as kale, spinach etc.??”
I’ve been drinking a juiced mixture of kale, cucumber, apple, and lemon everyday for about three weeks now and LOVE it!!!
Thanks!
To Amanda,
Here’s the link to the informative post about this:
http://www.thenourishinggourmet.com/2009/07/should-we-eat-raw-crucifers.html
From what I understand, vegetables like kale, spinach and chard need to be gently cooked to lessen the oxalic acid while preserving the heat-sensitive nutrients like folic acid.
I am enjoying green smoothies using all raw greens right now, so much that I just have to believe that somehow the blending process which makes the greens “pre-masticated” or chewed makes them very digestible despite the oxalic acid. I have only been drinking the green smoothies for a month now but from the very first I could just FEEL that they are giving me more nutrients than anthing I’ve ever done before. I believe it’s the blending process, which if we didn’t live such fast-paced lives we would get naturally by a longer, better process of chewing.
Victoria Boutenko in her books on green smoothies says that it’s very important to vary the greens so as not to get a build-up of oxalic acids from any one type.
Here’s more interesting info on cruciferous veggies:
http://www.westonaprice.org/Bearers-of-the-Cross-Crucifers-in-the-Context-of-Traditional-Diets-and-Modern-Science.html
and here’s a useful vitamin primer:
http://www.westonaprice.org/Vitamin-Primer.html
Hi,
I’ve been reading up on juicing for a while. I’ve bought a couple of books, and have read reviews on websites. I agree with Cara that juicing has its place as a supplement to a healthy diet of fresh, organic whole foods. Nothing can take the place of whole nutrition. Having said that, I think juicing is best used to supply the body with nutrients it may be deficient in. Once that is achieved, it’s best to received those nutrients from whole foods, with juicing every now and then as maintenance.
I’m not against juicing per se. I do have to watch out for fruit juice, though, as my broken glucose regulation can’t handle it, and I am equally wary of consuming a bunch of fructose (glycation damage is greater in those with impaired glucose tolerance). I toss greens into my blender I make smoothies, though I also add a lot of fat via cream or coconut milk, too.
The contrarian in me still has me scratching my head about seriously juicing, though. In my observation (and I think studies support this, too), people who will attempt to rid themselves of cancer or other serious diseases via juicing are also increasing or adopting a lot of other lifestyle and diet habits that contribute to better health (or dropping hazardous health habits).
Hey Anna,
I think that it is true that many people are also taking out bad habits when going on a cancer fighting diet. However, I know of people who have gotten cancer who ate extremely well (grass fed local beef, homemade broths, vegetables every week from the farmer’s market, free range chickens and eggs). I think that we are just exposed to a lot more toxins now then we used to be. I’ve heard several naturopaths say that they are having to use more extreme measures to cure cancer then people in the past used too.
Cancer is also linked to stresses throughout your life, which I think may be why some people who have been following a real food diet and have eliminated many toxins in their life still do get cancer. A resource that supports this is “When the Body Says No” by Gabor Mate.
this is my concern for myself too, glucose regulation. for a person whose metabolic system is good, some fruit is probably fine every day, for someone who is carb/sugar sensitive/intolerant not so much.
Mercola has three reasons to juice.
1-Juicing helps you absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. This is important because most of us have impaired digestion as a result of making less-than-optimal food choices over many years. This limits your body’s ability to absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables. Juicing will help to “pre-digest” them for you, so you will receive most of the nutrition, rather than having it go down the toilet.
2-Juicing allows you to consume an optimal amount of vegetables in an efficient manner. If you are a carb type, you should eat one pound of raw vegetables per 50 pounds of body weight per day. Some people may find eating that many vegetables difficult, but it can be easily accomplished with a quick glass of vegetable juice.
3-You can add a wider variety of vegetables in your diet. Many people eat the same vegetable salads every day. This violates the principle of regular food rotation and increases your chance of developing an allergy to a certain food. But with juicing, you can juice a wide variety of vegetables that you may not normally enjoy eating whole.
However, he is not very into carrot and fruit juices. (There are so many opinions about this!) You can read his guidelines here. http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2006/11/16/eating-more-veggies—-not-fruit—-keeps-your-brain-young.aspx
Green drinks are so important! Check out the Boutenko Family
http://www.rawfamily.com/
Victoria has a book called Green for Life, excellent!
They have recipes on their site and their books are awesome.. Have fun exploring
They are raw foodies, but they have so many great ideas and recipes…
What exactly are the thoughts on blendtec type juicing? I recently bought one and have used it mostly for smoothies, baby food and making nondairy (coconut milk + frozen berries) desserts. Just curious!
Well, I don’t know what everyone else’s thinks about them, but I personally would love to own one. 🙂
I just got a Vitamix and I am IN LOVE with it! Quite possibly the best $400 I’ve ever spent…
I love to juice and have done it off and on for a few years. I had taken a pretty long break from it, but thought I would try it again a month or so ago. I think I started with too much….. I drank about 16 oz of carrot/celery juice the first morning and by that afternoon I felt like I had been hit by a truck! My body was detoxing too much I think. I’m scared to try it again. Any thoughts on how much is good to start with?
you might be sugar/carb sensitive. it may have been a sugar crash you were experiencing.
Hi Erin,
It certainly is possible that you were detoxing. When I am detoxing I feel like I have the flu. Did you feel like that?
We love juicing, but we also love smoothies. A week ago I went to the dentist & found out that when my 2nd year molars were coming in, the enamel didn’t form properly. I’d never had a dentist tell me this. I’ve got a couple small cavities that I’m trying to heal, so as of now I’m doing smoothies. We will still do juicing some as well, but the kids are grooving on the smoothies lately as well.
rami nigel, author of Cure tooth Decay, reccomends vegetable juices daily. its a worthwhile read.
I forgot about that! Thanks for the reminder. 🙂
I (and my kiddos) chew xylitol sweetened gum once or twice during the day as it has been shown to dramatically reduce tooth decay. We get them in tubs of 100 pieces from Whole Foods or Vitamin Cottage. You can also buy kid-safe toothpaste sweetened with xylitol, and flouride free.
After learning about our bodies’ digestion cycles and how we are going thru an elimination period in the mornings, I choose to only eat fruit in the morning, so that I am not holding up this incredibly imperitive process by consuming heavy, starchy foods. Usually this is in the form of a juice smoothee – banana, frozen berries and filtered water. With my children, this is also a great way for them to have a vitamin boost. As fruits are digested super quickly and it is ideal for them to not be held up in the gut by other digesting foods, it is important to have them 1/2 hour before any other foods, or 3 hrs after finishing your last meal – which is why I think it’s best had in the morning.
i get the idea of fruits digesting quickly, and, being full of fructose, not wanting them fermenting in the gut feeding bacteria, but i dont quite see how fruit is not starchy. i mean, i understand that an apple isnt the same as a potato, but an apple has 20 g carbs/sugars and a small potato might have about that too. id be interested in learning more.
I often use wolframalpha.com for information like that. Using it, a potato has 34g of carbs, 2g of sugars while an apple has 24g of carbs, 19g of which are sugars. And I wouldn’t be too afraid of feeding your gut, because your gut feeds you!
Hi Kimi,
Do you have a good juice cleansing diet that you’ve tried? I used to juice regularly as a health and weight management tactic, but since following more of a Nourishing Traditions type diet I’ve both gained weight and not known how to fit cleansing into my new thinking about food and eating.
I juiced for a week or two on GAPS but then realized that I was probably feeding the candida so I stopped – not entirely sure we (my two young sons and I) have candida issues but thought I’d take out fruit for a few weeks.
I now ferment my fruits. It doesn’t taste sweet like juicing fruit but it pre-digests the fruits making them easier for one’s body to use the nutrients I’ve surmised. We also ONLY eat fruit in the morning and on empty stomach.
Tina,
You could also just juice vegetables like Mercola recommends. 🙂
I suppose you can also juice fermented veggies. I believe that Zukay has a line of juices that are exactly that – or else will be coming out with something like that.
They do and they are really delicious!
I guess, too, that I want to fill bellies and fermenting the whole fruit does that. Fermented fruit also breaks down the fiber a bit to help digest it better. We aren’t getting any grains now and will never go back to eating alot of grains so the fiber in fruits and veggies would be good for us.
I’m not oppose to juicing at all but think fermented fruits and veggies might be just as good and a lot less expensive.
I forgot to mention that we have green drinks everyday. My kids crave them and ask for them at least once a day. It is such a great way to detox and keep your cells healthy..
I have recently discovered green smoothies and let me say, they are changing my life! They fill me up, take away my cravings for bread (for the first time ever! and I’ve been eating a whole foods, NT-type diet mostly for a while now), and give me so much energy! I am definitely addicted.
That said, I think what we do in our modern culture is go overboard on everything. If juicing is good, why not do it 365 days a year; if butter is good, why not eat it five times a day, etc. I plan to do the green smoothies during the warmer months (listening to my body, I am so craving those raw fruits and veggies this spring) and most likely will switch to a lot of hot broths and root potato soups in the cooler months for a similar nutritional boost. I can’t see any harm to juice or green smoothies (or other foods) when done seasonally (or even out-of-season for a time for “medicinal purposes”).
Thanks for this great post and discussion.
I’ve kind of gone back-and-forth on juicing too…generally not doing it because of the cost and trouble. I’d rather do smoothies. But right now I’m tandem nursing a 2 year old and a 10-month-old and hoping to get pregnant within the next few months so perhaps juicing would be a way for me to make sure I am getting all the nutrients I really need. Plus I found smoothies to be very soothing early in both my pregnancies. Thanks!
I go through phases of juicing. The biggest downfall for me is cost. It costs a bundle to buy so many fresh fruits and veggies and when I juice, I feel healthier than ever! I have never had concerns about it. I often felt that juicing allowed me to eat parts of fruits and veggies I wouldn’t consume under circumstances of eating the “whole” food. Examples are juicing the skins of melons and seeds of papayas WITH the ‘edible’ parts of the fruit. In pregnancy, I juiced fresh ginger for nausea. Finally, my juicer came with a cookbook that included recipes for the fibrous leftovers to be added to breads or muffins.
Is there any concern with juicing while breastfeeding, since juicing is supposed to detox your body? Or is that only in the case of an all-juice detox/fast?
I think you just wouldn’t want to detox or fast while breastfeeding. But juicing as part of your normal diet may not have that effect (it didn’t make me detox I drank quite a bit this last weekend).
Almost everyone I know who has tried juicing never stuck with it do to the expense and clean up. I was very determined to do it regardless and spent a lot of time and money after a few months I did not feel any healthier and decided it was a waste. I honestly feel from the hundreds of hours of reading on the net that they are only popular because they are money makers and many bloggers get affiliate commisions . I got a good 1hp blender for $75 refurbished ( Kitchenaid KSB580NK) and it makes awesome smoothies and even purees carrots if a little water is added. Big money saver over a Blend-Tec or Vitamix with plenty of power. I believe Bed Bath and Beyond has it the cheapest around $100 right now.
In regards to Mercola , WAPF has harshly repromanded him on there website. He may have some good advice but be warry it is mixed with so much bad advice its easy to fall for and waste your money and your health.
He jumps on just about every money making herb and gadget there is and his products were rated the worst by Consumer reports . His $1000 pots were rated the worst in the study since the broke. I am sorry to say they the most famous health Guru’s are sellouts and even sell things contradictory to there own health advice. Such as Dr. Weil who recommends natural whole vitamins but sells mostly synthetic.
Hey Tricia,
Thanks for letting me know about the kitchenaid blender that you are so happy with. It’s good to know. I didn’t know that there were affiliates with any juicer companies (maybe I am missing out, LOL). I do have friends who have juiced consistently for years and years for a large family (nine people), but personally, I don’t think I will ever juice everyday. It would be hard to do on our budget. I think that some people don’t respond as much to juicing, for whatever reason. Some people notice a big difference, others don’t. I think it’s all about what serves you!
Mercola and WAPF has definitely had some serious differences of opinion, especially in regard to cod liver oil. I agree with WAPF and was disappointed in Mercola’s opinions. However, I still find Mercola helpful in many ways and do greatly appreciate much of the information he gives. My mother in law has his pot set and really likes it, however, they do break easily.
So am I gathering correctly that juicing is something you have to do with a special piece of kitchen equipment that extracts just the juice but smoothies are something you can do with a blender and use the whole fruit/vegetable?
Also, when commenters write about green smoothies – can someone identify what all goes into them? Is it just vegetables or do you use some sort of milk (coconut, dairy, etc) or oil or both? Do you add any fruit? Do you steam the greens first or put them in completely raw?
Is the idea that juicing is better than smoothies or are they equally good for you or should we do one or the other at varying times of the year? What is the verdict on this? What if we don’t have a juicer but do have a vitamix?
Thanks for helping me with all these random questions! I’ve never done any sort of juicing, but am interested in considering it.
I generally put some frozen fruit, an apple seeds and all, and one more fruit like an orange or pear, plus about 4 packed cups of chopped greens (kale, spinach, chard, romaine) into the blender to make my green smoothies. They are yummy and in the last month since I started drinking a quart of this a day the benefits for me have been amazing:
–no cravings for bread or sugar (but still dark chocolate! lol)
–no low blood sugar episodes (I am hypoglycemic) UNLESS I eat something unbalanced, i.e. just protein or just carbs. I find I need to eat every snack or meal BALANCED with a carb AND protein. Sounds crazy, but the Blood Type Diet (type B for me) says that is common for my type.
–bowel movements are 1-3x daily now, whereas before (even on an NT diet) I always had some constipation
–easy weight loss of 5 lbs. in one month, plus all the bloating I have carried around for years. I’m hoping to lose another 5 this month.
–far less hunger in general
I *heart* green smoothies! Though in the fall/winter I think I will do more pureed root vegetable soups for warmth, rather than all the raw greens and fruit.
My husband used to drink a quart (I am not making this up) of carrot-parsley-apple juice a day. He never felt as good as he did in what I refer to as “the juicing days”. However, when I started reading about the sugar overload of carrot juice, I halted the making of it. He often comments about the days of juicing and how he never got sick….and I always come back with the glycemic overload theory. I bought a vitamix for making kale smoothies so as to add back fiber into the juice. My experience puzzled me, because even though the fiber content of the juice was high, the bowel movements were not regular. (Sorry, there is no nice way to say this.) Since then I have read that too much fiber can be hard on the digestion.
Your post about juicing is very timely for us. I think I should listen to my husband and pay attention to his positive juicing experience and get out the old champion juicer and start juicing again!
Hi! The deal on the blood sugar – some of us suffer from low blood sugar and need a bit healthy sugars to get it up. A good way to watch and check this is w the refractomentor I was telling you about that you can also use to check the mineral level in your fruits and veggies. Remember if they don’t have enough minerals then they don’t have enough vitamins…anyway w the same tool you can watch your blood sugars – mine has been staying way to low so I have been drinking herbal tea w a little honey to get my blood sugars up – you want your blood sugars between a 1 -2 and mine were staying at a .4 way too low – also for those mentioning the yeast and such – if your blood sugar is too than the yeast in you will go like a wild fire through you and you will feel very yeasty as there is not enough o2 in your body to help it die. That was happening to me until we learned all this from the biochemist I am working w for some health things.
Wow, Jessica, thanks for sharing! I have never heard of some of the ideas you are sharing. How interesting!
I have been learning a lot working w this biochemist for my son & I. She has been doing this for 30 years – she knows her stuff. My son had some A1 milk not the good A2 milk the way the Lord made – we did not know it was a A1 cow – but it totally messed up his liver & he got bad excema from it all too – checking his ph often shows him very acidic so we are also doing a lot of cod oil w him. You don’t want cod oil if your ph is not acidic as you already have enough in your body. I have learned so much it has been great. Some of it is so simple as watching you ph & blood sugars which you can do @ home.
Here is a good overview on why you need to check veggies for minerals on the refractometer
http://highbrixgardens.com/what-is-brix.html
>if your blood sugar is too than the yeast in you will go like a wild fire through you and you will feel very yeasty as there is not enough o2 in your body to help it die<
Jessica – very interesting. What does 02 mean in the previous sentence?
Hi – If your blood sugars are low than you are low on oxygen – what I meant by the o2. I am dealing w yeast issues & working on clearing them up w a biochemist – she has amazing stuff that works so great – but for 2 days I was feeling so yeasty & she told me to ck my blood sugars & they were sooooo low – so there is not enough oxygen to fight it off so it was like a wild fire roaring through me. As soon as I got my blood sugar up – I was using proteins & herbal tea all the wild fire signs went away & I felt so much better & the yeast started dieing again.
A note on low blood sugar :
Low blood sugar is usually the result of too much sugar natural or processed in the diet. It can be the beginnings of sugar induced type 2 diabetes.
Filling up on Juice or too many natural sweets still feeds the beast. It may
cover the symptoms temporarily but in the end is very damaging.
Sally Fallon covers this in most of her books and lectures.
When you give yourself a boost of sugar it causes blood sugar to crash even lower its a repetitious cycle similar to a roller coaster.
The body does not (need) fruit juice to be healthy and it is not part of any traditional diet to survive on them as part of a routine. The exception would be fermented drinks such as wine and beer but in that case the yeasts have predigested the sugars. Coconut Juice is great but even in traditional asian diets it is an occasional drink and not used more than once a week by most. I had the pleasure of living in the Philippines and visited some pretty remote villages .
Sorry if this sounds like I’m being a bit pessimistic its just that I made that low blood sugar mistake myself and ended up with type 2 diabetes. Fortunately after only 6 months on the traditional diet it was completely reversed : ) I was only at the beginning stages.
ita. low-blood sugar cant be permanently helped by boosting it over and over with more sugar.
From all we have learned & also seen first hand here w myself & several of our kids…& several friends…is many deal w the low blood sugar issue. Yes, if your sugars are low & then you feed it plain sugar it will bring your sugar up for a bit & then you will crash pretty soon after as I have seen w myself, but if you have a little herbal tea w a little honey, some protein, or fresh fruit it will bring it up for you. It happens to many people through out the day. We eat a traditional diet & it still happens. If a child wakes up crabby from a nap & crying – the best thing to do is give him a little organic raison, or little apple or such & it will help bring it up for them & they will not be crabby. Their blood sugar has dropped – same if a child is crabby in the day – of course do not give candy or such as it will make them crash worse – they need a natural healthy source.
What many may not be understood is that you yourself can wash your blood sugars out – if you are drinking too much water, or if you are drinking too much water when your sugars are low – watch your body. If your urine is clear your sugars are prob low & you should not drink any water @ that point but herbal tea w a little honey – if you keep drinking plain water you are going to wash your sugars out worse. Keep drinking the herbal tea w honey, & maybe some protein until you get your urine a lemonade color – if your urine is clear you will also notice your feet cold most likely. It really is a common thing that many suffer w & can help @ home. You can also monitor on the refracto as I mentioned before above which is really important to have & watch. You want your blood sugar level @ a 1-2. It is very easy to ck w it – you just take some urine & place a drop on the lense & it will show you what your sugars are @, so you know how much you need to get it up or how much to get it down. If you don’t have one really watch your urine as you will do more harm than good if your urine is clear & you keep drinking pure water as you will keep washing your sugars out. I have been learning & doing this the last 8 months & seen the truth to it all & seen it w my kids – when my toddler wakes fussy now I know what to do & then he is now happy all afternoon from a little fresh fruit or smoothie or protein instead of crabby b/c his sugars are low. Most people get crabby if their sugars are low.
Jessica – this information is great. Do you blog? If not, you should! I have gone w/o sugars for 5 weeks and feel worse than when I did before. I’ve often thought that not having ANY sugar might not be a good think. But you read over and over again that a crumb of sugar in any form will bring the candida problems back 100 fold.
Tina
Hi Tina – No I do not blog – I had started one last year, but just did not have time to do it and not take time away from the kids. I have 6 littles, we home school plus live in the country, so all that just takes time…
If you are feeling awful I would really watch your blood sugars – if you are really low you can do more harm than good – the yeast will go crazy in you. Just eat some fresh fruits or protein to keep it where it needs to be. Here is another thing – if your yeast comes and goes. I have learned this too w the biochemist – if you are low in potassium – which I am dealing w as are several of my friends and seems many are – if you are low the yeast will go dormant in you and then we you start eating potassium foods (corn bread, corn tort, grits and celery are great sources) the yeast in you will come awake and really start pouring out of you if you have underlining yeast issues which I do prob from how we ate growing up so we are working on that right now and seeing great results…when I eat my potassium foods I can tell w the yeast and then in the am when I am low I can tell. So we are working on keeping my potassium at bay and trying to get it built up so it stays up. The way the body works is all this is a cycle – you have to work on it all. I am not saying you are having that issue like I am – just something to watch for.
But, really if you are not feeling good up your fruit or protein as that will be hard on your body if you don’t.
If you are feeling upset stomach it can be your kidneys letting go of too many toxins at once too – eat a lot of watermelon for that or watermelon seed tea…
I am not a huge fan of juicing, mainly because I do not own a juicer. I LOVE smoothies and make them frequently.
One thing I do buy when I have a couple extra bucks is 100% carrot juice. I love this stuff and the Vitamin A content is absurd. I buy bolthouse farms for anyone who is interested…
Remember the fats. Coconut oil keeps your blood sugars stable. If you want some juice balance it with some fat.
Thanks Kimi for bringing up this topic. I’ve been pretty against juicing for the same reasons you were. We even own a juicer, which gathers dust in our cupboard. However after reading your post, plus all the FANTASTIC comments left by everyone, I now want to explore vegetable juicing as a “supplement” sort of thing. I hate the taste of carrot juice (sickeningly sweet to me, even though I love sweets normally), but I think I could really get into other vegetable juices like kale/cucumber/celery/lemon/parsley. My husband used to buy carrots in huge quantities and juice them, but he stopped. He mentioned a couple weeks ago that after he stopped juicing, it seemed like his eyes started going downhill (needing glasses when he’s never needed them before). We both wondered if he started juicing carrots again, if his vision would improve. After reading your post, I think I’ll urge him to give it a try.
Does anyone gave a good recipe book recommendation for juicing?