Juicing:

I may be behind the times, but lately I've been on a juicing kick. And here's the thing: we didn't even have a juicer until recently. Very recently. Like, last week. I had never juiced anything in my life before last week. But I wanted to. So. Badly.

I've been reading all about juicers, juicing, juice recipes, and juice cleanses. I've done massive amounts of research. I am now an expert on juicing. A wealth of juicing knowledge. And I've officially jumped on the bandwagon.

We're vegetarians. So we have to work really hard to find sources for protein, iron, etc. And that usually requires a lot more food than if we weren't, because there isn't as much of all that stuff in veggies, ounce for ounce, as there is in meat. Sometimes I feel like all we do is eat (which I am totally okay with, don't misunderstand), but my stomach can only hold so much at any given time, you know? I've been looking for a way to be more efficient about our eating; to pack our diet with the most nutritional content possible. It's surprisingly hard to do. Real life: sometimes I don't want to eat a salad loaded down with 5-8 different kinds of vegetables and beans and then go for a run. Sometimes I want to eat half a pizza and watch a movie in bed. So, on those days, I'd feel a lot better about myself if I washed my pizza down with, say, a glass of homemade carrot, orange, and apple juice. Drinking my vegetables is a much more reasonable way to load up on vitamins, minerals, and other good stuff. And it's a great way to sneak in those vegetables that I'm just not crazy about (read: beets), despite their nutritional value.

So, juicing: it's happening. And I'm excited. Probably far too excited. We decided to go with the Omega 78006 Juicer. It's a masticating juicer, which after my research, I feel is the right decision for us. And bonus: it also makes pasta, grinds beans and flour, and has a homogenizer to make nut butters. Homemade peanut butter!

Do you juice? Everyone I know who started it has gotten really into it. And I think we will too. It seems like a really easy, natural transition for us to make.