Juicing for health

BEING healthy, trim and fit is a choice we make. Having good genes is actually a bonus.

My frequent trips to the United States have given me a broader perspective and understanding of foods, especially the fresh produce. While we are catching up with our own homegrown fresh produce, the choices in America can still be overwhelming. Their cultivars (cultivated varieties) are numerous. Trips to the

supermarket, especially the fresh produce

section, always fascinate me. The sight of the fruits and vegetables are eye-popping and I cannot help but wish they were all available back home. Then, there is the New York City Greenmarket that supports farmers and

preserves farmland for the future by providing small family farmers the opportunity to sell fruits, vegetables and other farm products to New Yorkers. In fact, we have a green market every Saturday in our neighborhood. The Farmers Greenmarket on weekends started June 1, and will run until the end of fall.

I renewed my interest in juicing vegetables again while staying with my sisters in San Diego, California, and with my daughter Patricia in New York. Back home, I regularly blend (using an Osterizer) soft fruits—papaya and guyabano (soursop) are my favorite. Juicing starts with a powerful juicer. And Patricia

recently invested on a powerful solid stainless steel Breville juicer that started us on a daily healthy diet of alternate green and red

vegetable juice every morning. The variety of greens here are numerous and abundant. For instance, we juice three kinds of kale or borecole—Russian, Tuscan and curly kale, cultivars that belong to the specie with a wide array of vegetables including broccoli, Brussel sprouts, collard greens. Kale is very high in betacarotene, Vitamin K and C and rich in calcium. Chard is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. The word Swiss was added to distinguish it from the French spinach. Patricia likes to juice and mix kale, Swiss chard and collard greens. She mixes these with celery, cucumber, a small piece of ginger, juice of half a lemon and apples to make the taste palatable. With the red juice, Patricia uses carrots, red beets and radish including the leaves, celery, apples and a dash of lemon. Red beets back home are seldom sold with the tops so they are not as fresh. And this versatile root crop is sometimes difficult to find. The red beets grown Baguio are still the best.

A glass of green or red juice is teeming with anti-oxidants, natural plant compounds, vitamins, minerals, enzymes and pigments like carotene, chlorophyll and flavonoids, which can protect the body from cancer, heart disease and many degenerative conditions. Not to mention that juicing is good for health, longevity and radiant beauty.

So drink up for a clean, healthy and beautiful life!