My diet growing up consisted of lots of meat (pork, beef, chicken, wild game), eggs, canned spinach and peas, potato dumplings, green beans cooked with pork for 2 days, apple pie, chocolate chip cookies, ice cream, coke, glazed donuts, BLTs on Wonder Bread, fried fish, sweet corn, and the occasional piece of iceberg lettuce and some cucumber.
If you know anything about healthful living, it doesn’t take a lot of thought to figure out why I was sick with colitis (and other intestinal ailments) most of the time.
As mentioned in previous posts most folks have lost touch with what food is for: to nourish our bodies and keep us healthy.
Health Laws Not Taught
Even the most simple laws of health are not taught. They must be sought out by each of us in order that we may take responsibility for ourselves. In seeking the facts we have to be careful of information backed by the drug industry and the medical profession.
It’s been a long road for Bill and me, because there is always so much to learn. But with each step we took/take in the right direction, it laid/lays a foundation on which to build more knowledge.
The Simple Basics Got Rid of my Colitis
We were almost 30 years old before we learned the simple basics such as: white flour, white sugar and white salt are toxic to the body. Just making changes in those seemingly simple things was enough to rid me from the plague of colitis. I’ve never been bothered with it again. Those items were deleted from my diet more than 40 years ago.
Marketing Lies
As is often discussed on TMG, big agribusiness and the chemical industry has totally brain washed most folks into thinking that Mother Nature needs the help of poisons and a few chemicals in order to provide food.
In addition, the pharmaceutical industry and the medical profession brain wash folks into thinking that doctors are the answer to their health problems and that drugs will make them well. I can tell you from experience, the more one learns about the wonders of what the body can do when healthful food is supplied, the more one knows that to be a false premise.
What You Don’t Know CAN Hurt You
Bill and I have come a long way, but even now we still pay the price (with various health problems) from what we didn’t know years ago.
Food raised in cooperation with nature in nutrient rich soil is our best defense. And even though most of us are addicted to cooked food, it’s raw food that supplies the nutrients and enzymes that our bodies need for good health. The more of our produce that we eat raw, the better off we are.
By growing your own and preserving or eating it immediately, you get your best shot at the most nutrition. Store bought stuff is aged by the time you get it. Fresh vegetables can turn from alkaline to acid in less than a week of storage.
Why I Stopped Canning Years Ago
One of the reasons I stopped canning years ago was because I learned that canned food is so cooked-to-death by the time it’s canned that it supplies very little (if any) nutrition. I try to process as little as possible and freeze most things. (And yes, I realize with canned goods you don’t have to worry about the power going out, especially for long periods of time. But I still think I’ll take my chances and plan the best I can with other things rather than canned goods.)
What Bill and I Do if We’re Severely Sick
If we’re severely sick, we flush our bodies with freshly made fruit and vegetable juices. We don’t use canned juice here, because most (if not all) are heated and therefore all the good stuff is missing. We want the freshest vegetables and fruits we can get our hands on.
By living on juice for a while (yes, it’s hard because we enjoy eating!) the body has a chance to rest from digesting food and concentrate its energy on healing what ails us. The juice is easily assimilated and flushes our cells of the bad stuff.
The Juice
One of the first juices Bill and I ever fixed was with carrot (which made up most of the juice), a small piece of beet, a piece of celery, and a piece of apple if available. Unbelievably delicious!
The juice we’ve been making lately starts out with lots of carrots, a small piece of beet, and a piece of celery. Thanks to the garden we add 2 radishes, a handful of green beans, a red pepper, parsley, sorrel (fills in for lemon and gives the juice a wonderful flavor), a tomatillo, 2 tomatoes, 1/4 cucumber (frozen from when they were in season), and a piece of yellow squash or zucchini.
Nature’s great principle of diversity. Together these foods produce a combined effect greater than what they could produce separately. (It’s called synergy.)
Diversify Whenever Possible
Nature’s great principle of diversity is at play here. Each vegetable adds something a little different to the mix. Together they produce a combined effect greater than what they could produce separately. (It’s called synergy.)
Craving Vegetables in Winter
The first 4 months of the year are the hardest for me, as I crave fresh vegetables from the garden. Don’t know why I didn’t think years ago to freeze bags of fresh radishes, cucumber (quartered), tomatoes, sorrel leaves, beets, asparagus, and squash (quartered) to add to juice over the winter. Bet I’d get through the winter without those horrible cravings.
Final Thoughts
You can greatly increase the benefit from your garden by eating raw vegetables and fruits whenever you can and/or juice a mixture of fruits and vegetables.
Think about it. Try it and let me know how you do.
______
All content including photos are copyright by TendingMyGarden.com. All Rights Reserved.
Theresa,
This article was filled with great information. We all could eat better and this was a great reminder of how food was meant to be eaten. I would love to know more about freezing fruits and vegetables, preserving food and making juices. Have you considered writing a book on that topic? I learned so much from your first book. Thanks for making us think about healthier eating.
Kevin
Theresa,
I never have done any juicing, though I have considered it. I simply have gotten to the point in my kitchen that I have no room for more gadgets.
I have been eating low carb the last few months, and I am finding that just a little bit of fresh produce from the garden is satisfying now. A tomato has become a sweet treat to me! As far as winter goodness, goes, I am hoping my arugula (growing in my mini-hugelkultur bed) will last a while. It’s nutrient dense AND low carb! I love it raw but have recently discovered that it is delish sauteed with onion and smoked sea salt. I eat it alongside my fried eggs in the morning.
Instead of canning vegetables, have you done any fermenting? I am interested in doing that, but haven’t actually taken steps toward implementation!
do you blend your veggies to a liquid form or use a juicer that extracts the pulp?
This is a good reminder. The thought of lacto fermentation popped up into my mind while reading this article too. It is a way to preserve garden veggies without canning or freezing and almost any vegetable from the garden can be fermented on the counter top for a few days then put in the fridge for several months.
It provides tons of good gut bacteria, so much beneficial bacteria grows that you don’t have to worry about botulism, and you get to retain the vitamins. Not sure about enzymes, but they’re probably retained too.
Lots of recipes call for whey in lacto fermentation, but it is not necessary at all. Folks used to preserve food this way all the time in the “olden days” in salt and water, and usually did not use whey. The term “lacto” comes from the “lactic acid” that is produced, not from any dairy products.
I’ve done it for the first time this year, with cukes, made a lacto fermented salsa, and a lacto fermented fig paste out of our abundance of figs and put it on my plain greek yogurts in the mornings.
Sorry for such a long note but it is a very healthy up and coming preservation process. Thanks for encouraging us to be mindful and healthy, Theresa. I love your insight and plan on ordering your gardening book.
Kevin, I doubt that I will ever write a book specifically about preserving food and making juices. I will probably write more posts about that, but just not a book.
I was very pleased that you learned so much from my first book. I plan to write more.
An excellent book that you may want to read is By Stephen Blauer The Juicing Book: A Complete Guide to the Juicing of Fruits and Vegetables for Maximum Health (Avery (1ST)
“>. It’s about $13.59 and it’s great to have on hand. (Chapter 8 on choosing bottled juices is somewhat outdated since some of those companies have changed hands and are not what they were when the original owners had them.)
Pat, I know what you mean about gadgets. I don’t have any gadgets that most folks have. No toaster, no microwave. The hand held mixer I have is one I got when we were married 50 years ago. Bill recently found a brand new one for only about $2 in a second hand store by our post office, but my old one would have been just fine with me.
BUT, my juicer is a necessity. We have a Champion.
No I have not done any fermenting – yet.
Beppy,
A blender will not make the juice for quick assimilation that a juicer will, but it’s still better than not juicing.
When you juice vegetables like tomatoes and squash, the juice will be a bit more thick than if you just juice things like carrots, etc. The juicer does not get 100% of the pulp out, but enough to make a difference. If you wanted the pulp to remain, that’s possible using the juicer — just don’t use the “screen” that catches the pulp.
If one is not seriously ill, there is no urgency in removing the pulp from food. In fact one might want the fiber. BUT, if a person is seriously ill, it is harder for their body to assimilate food and thus, there is much more healing power in just the juice (which is assimilated easily.)
In the past I’ve made “pulp crackers”. It’s pretty enjoyable and easy to do. Just google them and you’ll find lots.
MB, really enjoyed your informative comment! Thanks for taking the time to post it. I’ve already started to look into fermenting and can hardly wait to find out more about it. I don’t want to use salt and I’m not crazy about whey. On the other hand I’m not crazy about trying a lot of the more commercial products. What did you use?
Theresa
Theresa, This is very inspiring, but unless ‘forced’ by some health issue or similar, I imagine it’s pretty hard to stick to. Do you find yourself hungry?
Unless one is seriously ill, I would see no reason to continue on and on with just juice. If a person is in fairly good health, one glass of juice per day would probably get the job done. And of course, they would be eating regular meals.
If juicing because one is seriously ill, (when you have ONLY juice) you need about 64 oz. of juice and 64 oz. of pure water. With that much juice, you don’t get physically hungry, just mentally hungry, Sandra.
Theresa
Theresa
I love your comments to the posts that people send in. I usually wait a while to read your blog or reread your articles so that I cam see comments and your replies, like on keeping the fiber in the juice and when and why not to.
Thank You
Also, can you use the juice with pulp for soup?
Don
Yes, Don, you can use the juice with the pulp for soup. Or, you could fix the soup and then run it through the blender.
Just keep in mind that anything cooked will not have ALL the nutrients in it and will still be harder for the body to assimilate.
Bill has been juicing. The amount of fluid keeps him full, as I explained to Sandra, but mentally he gets hungry since we all like to eat. One thing I’ve done is to fix a big pot of vegetable soup and cook on as low a temperature as possible. (I think you still need that low simmery boil to make soup.) When its time for dinner, I measure out 2 cups of the soup and put it in the blender for a minute. Then heat until warm. This is for his mental well being. It is not the best for getting nutrients. It is easier for his body to assimilate than the soup served “whole”, but cooked food just does not have the nutrients that raw food has. We feel comfortable doing it, because he is getting 64 oz. of nutrient filled juice each day in addition to the 2 cups of pureed soup.
Sure glad you are benefiting by the comments. I think readers bring up so many great points that really enhance the posts. I have often wondered if many readers go back and read the comments. I think they are just as important as the posts.
Thanks Don.
Theresa
For those with Diabetes or Hypoglycemia: Please, please be very careful with juicing. Fruit and veggies without the fiber and pulp can spike blood sugar very quickly. The vitamins and minerals of juicing are great, but your pancreas doesn’t know the sugar from juicing is different from a Coca-Cola and will react. Please, Test, Test, Test your blood sugar if you are going to juice.
Thank you Julie for your input and for bringing this up.
Each individual is responsible for his own actions and health. It is always wise to have knowledge in our corner before doing any program that involves our health. Study is required to make sure we are taking the best possible action for our own special circumstances.
If anyone would like to research more, I would suggest starting with Dr. Richard Schulze. In his earlier years he studied with some of the greats in holistic medicine that dealt with the treatment of the whole body rather than the symptoms of a disease (The medical profession treats symptoms rather than disease.) He tells of the many diabetics that were cured of that disease through juicing in the 20 years that he ran a clinic. (And by the way, they cut the juice 50/50 with pure water. That’s what Bill does since he too has a blood sugar problem.)
Dr. Bernard Jensen, one of the all time greats of holistic medicine also ran a clinic and his patients were healed by juicing as well.
Most of Dr. Schulze’s books can be read for free online.
Go to herbdocblog.com. Click on books from the menu at the top of the page. Scroll and click on the one you want to read. (I would suggest reading There Are NO Incurable Diseases if you are very ill.)
Theresa
Theresa! I have never heard of Dr. Schulze! Thank you for sharing the link to his blog. Hope I have time to read some of his books soon!
Theresa, I’ve been using my blender to make my vitamin shakes. I like the pulp in it because it makes me feel fuller and I don’t reach for an unhealthy snack when I feel full from the shake.
Also, I find I can have my shake and go on out and work in the garden and don’t get heartburn the way I do if I have eaten a meal before going out, yet still benefit from the energy the shake provides.
I’ve never used radishes, sorrel or zucchini/squash. Usually I’ll add some spinach, kale and fresh mustard greens. I love the slight bite that the mustard adds to the flavor. When my radishes get big enough to use I’m going to try it. I must add sorrel to the seed list.
I do feel much better when I have my daily shake.
Thanks so much,
Betty