The New Age Question: Blending vs. Juicing

The New Age Question: Blending vs. Juicing

By Nakeesha T. Harris, MS, CNC, CMM www.nakeeshaharris.com

             Green smoothies and freshly juiced green juices are all the rage right now. Pictures posted on social networks of smoothies blended to perfection, and fruits and veggies juiced to a lovely green color are all over. Many people think they are the same thing, and even further, many wonder which is better: blending or juicing? To answer this quickly: both. Easy right? Well let’s take a further look.

            Juicing is when one takes fresh leafy greens, celery, apples, beets, really anything one pleases and pushes them through either a centrifugal or masticating juicer. These are two different types of juices one which heats up to extract the juice and one that works slowly to extract.  Once the fruit or vegetable is pushed through the machine, it becomes a fresh watery green juice.

Blending is when all of the above and more are placed in a high powered blender with water, juice, or some type of liquid added and blended together to make a thick smoothie.

Both have many similarities:

·         Great to start the day with

·         An excellent way to ensure you are getting raw veggie and fruit nutrients, vitamins, and minerals

·         Aide in many health benefits including; lowering blood pressure, entering the blood stream quickly, and lowering cholesterol just to name a few

So what’s the debate about which is better? Well it’s simple- juicing is more of a detoxifying process. When fruit and vegetables are “juiced” the fiber is removed, thus eliminating the digestion process from having to take place. Once the fresh juice is consumed, it immediately goes straight to the blood stream without any other processes in the body having to work. Many go on a juice detox in which they drink juice only during each meal for a set amount of days. This is a great way to give your body a rest and at the same time ensure that you are receiving daily nutrients through the juice. It also is very cleansing of the colon and blood. Since the body does not have to digest anything, it gives the colon a break and opportunity to remove previous waste.

Blending on the other hand does require some digestion and really is more of a building healthy cells process. While it works wonderfully for providing the body whole nutrition quickly, digestion does still take place. Blending fresh fruits and vegetables are an excellent way to rebuild cells, provide energy, and as mentioned earlier, one receives an abundance of fruits and vegetables without having to so much as chew, pick up a fork, spoon, or cook anything.

In conclusion, both juicing and blending are exceptional. My recommendation would be for detox or cleanse- juice, and for rebuilding healthy cells- blend. If you do both, drink your juice first for a good morning energy boost, and then have your green smoothie for a whole body building nutritional vitamin. Either choice is giving your body many wonderful things that if done continuously with other wise health choices may prevent or reverse ailments, and diseases.

Give one a try today!!!

Juicing Recipe – from Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

Green & Lean

 1 Cup of Ice (only a cup, not a mug)

25 ounces Water or Coconut water

1 Lemon

1 Small Piece of Ginger

3 Large Stalks Collard Greens

1 Large Cucumber

2 Green Apples

1 Ripe Banana

5 Strawberries

½ Cup Blueberries

Blending Recipe – from www.incrediblesmoothies.com

Banana-Orange-Kale

1 medium banana, peeled

1 orange, peeled

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger, grated

2 cups kale, chopped

8 ounces of filtered water

 

Challenge: Try a green smoothie or green juice today! Looks can be deceiving you will enjoy it!!

Questions, Comments, Testimonies visit www.nakeeshaharris.com or email nakeeshasnutrition@nakeeshaharris.com

Fuel Not Flood Your Body

Fuel not Flood your Body by Nakeesha Harris, M.S., CNC, CMM

Title inspired by Deborah Moneterio

Generally when something has flooded it is not a good thing- damage to property, mold, insurance, and money all come to mind with this type of destruction. This actually is the same thing we do to our bodies when we flood them with unhealthy things- we damage, we promote growth of unhealthy toxins (mold), we have to use our insurance, and we definitely have to pay money to try and fix the problem.

 In this article we are going to look at ways that we as humans flood our bodies destructively daily BUT we are also going to share practical solutions that we can put into place today even while reading to end this destructive behavior and get on track. This can be done!

There are three ways that I believe we flood our bodies, nutritionally, in our minds, and in our spirits. Let’s look at each:

Nutritionally-

o    Abundance of unhealthy foods-fast food, sweets, processed foods (even healthy ones), enriched flour, sugar etc.

The Solution!!

·         FAVE- Fruits And Vegetables Eat!!- preferably as many raw foods as possible- I know that everyone is not a vegan and some may be far from even thinking of becoming anything close HOWEVER I will STRONGLY recommend a more plant based lifestyle with a splash of animal products, I PROMISE your body will love you! Of course exercise plays a huge part as well. Moving and getting up your heart rate along with eating well makes a VERY happy body.

In our Mind-

o   Everything starts in the mind, stress, negativism, depression etc., all begin in the mind. We have to take steps to clear our minds and grow in health:

The Solution!!

Less television, more reading, family time, flood your mind with positivity- for the most part television is filled with negative images that can begin to permeate into your mind and form habits that you are not even aware of how it begin. 

Eat your meal w/o the television on- spend 30 min to an hour with your family or by yourself reading or just talking about goals and life, set a goal to reach the goals you have by yourself by turning off the television and growing you!

Our Spirit-

o   If you believe in a Higher power know that He has got everything under control. We are free of worry and given a gift of peace- let’s willingly accept this gift and allow God to be God instead of worrying about things we have no control over.

The Solution!!

·         Prayer, thanksgiving

·         reading the Word, inspirational quotes

·         encouraging prayer partner- feed your spirit with positive things

So let’s review:  from this point forward we are going to fuel our health and not flood our health by

·         FAVE- fruits and vegetables eat

·         Turning off the television- setting goals, spending time with family

·         spending time with God-prayer, meditation, reading, with a friend

Challenge- This month increase each of these suggestions- even if by one piece of fruit, one minute less of television, reading one scripture, do something to fuel your body and not flood it.

You can do it!!!

For questions or comments feel free to visit www.nakeeshaharris.com or email nakeeshasnutrition@nakeeshaharris.com.

Practice doesn’t always make Perfect

Wow….where do I begin. These past couple of days I’ve been through a personal  nutritional whirlwind. I almost don’t want to share but I have to because it may help someone.  So, I had a lot to do this weekend: birthday party, bridal shower, household duties, church, errands etc. Now in the past, this never meant anything as far as my eating lifestyle but boy this weekend really made me reflect. So I’ve been a vegan for about 8 months now and really have had no cravings, slip ups, backslides, or anything….until this weekend. Let me summarize (I’m scared)..okay here it goes:

·         Friday- Busboys and Poets- my favorite restaurant- all vegan food not the healthiest but was good. Mind you I ate when I was NOT hungry( a no no in my book).

·         Saturday- God Daughter’s birthday party- the menu: salad (I could eat), potato salad, tuna salad, pizza, chicken shish kabobs, and cake.

o   For some reason all of the sudden I started craving the potato salad, tuna salad, and pizza BAD. I prayed, ate the salad and put a piece of veggie pizza on a plate to the side and had an internal battle that the pizza finally won. I was an instant VEGETARIAN!!! WHAT AM I THINKING? What will others think?

o   Then I went to a bridal shower and snuck a mac and cheese puff thingy that everyone was raving about.

§  Now I’m scared that I may get sick or someone will think differently of me.

§  Did anyone see me do it? I hope they don’t think differently of me.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?!!??!

The rest of the days involved cheez it’s, and salt and vinegar potato chips (vegan but not good).

So of course I’ve been reflecting, praying, and trying to figure out what is going on with me and I have come to this:

I don’t feel guilty and I’m wondering why which leads me to the below numbers.

1.       Hmmm I am not perfect, I don’t always have to eat perfectly, and I do slip up even to the point of not being a true vegan occasionally (Sorry Peta).

2.       Maybe this will help others who feel like they can’t stay the course understand that even the strictest, most self-controlled nutritionist can get off course temporarily.

3.       I cannot allow what I think others will think to dictate what I eat or the health decisions I make because my mishaps might free someone else.

4.       Another thing I noticed is I put too much pressure on myself- I went from meat eater straight to veganism. I didn’t even consider becoming a vegetarian or pescetarian (fish eater) and now I’m trying to be a raw vegan. It’s too much, I need to slow down!

5.        Just like I tell others, I need to take things one step at a time and allow myself to fully get used to one thing. Not that I think I will turn back but this does help in case I have any more slip ups and it also helped when I packed my lunch today. I didn’t just try to pack fruit and veggies with no sauce, dressing etc. (Long story that’s another blog). That’s how I fell.

In conclusion, I do still consider myself a vegan (majority raw) I don’t plan on turning back but there may be times that you see me indulge if and when this ever happens again.

 There is a scripture that talks about pressing towards the mark. I can honestly equate that to this health journey I’m on as we speak. I will continue to press, I may fall but I will get right back on and share with all of you what’s happening along the way. In other words practice doesn’t always mean it’s perfect.

Hope this helps someone!!

Lesson Learned

Yesterday I let my mind get me and I ate some chips AND a veggie sub from subway. While the sub wasn't horrible, my body is adjusting and getting used to not having bread and especially not having chips. I reasoned with myself because they were a healthier version of chips BUT they were still chips. I even had the nerve to eat an additional bag a few hours before bed time and boy did I pay the price!

I have read that you go to sleep easier when you eat at least 4 hours before going to bed. So I stopped eating after 6pm and have been sleeping like a baby minus last night. I was so annoyed with myself- restless, couldn't get comfortable, felt the chips digesting, all the no no's I was experiencing.

This morning I was discombobulated(big word lol) thought it was Saturday, and struggled to get up. Now I know some of you are like "Keesh, go sit down, it's one time." You are absolutely correct. I don't always practice what I preach and beat myself up when I eat unhealthy(my version of unhealthy) or don't do what I'm supposed to and I'm working on that BUT this time I don't like how I felt last night or this morning so the lesson for me is this: No eating before bed, AND work on not listening to my mind but allow my body to dictate what it needs and NOT what I want.

Anybody want to make me some raw chips? LOL!

I feel freakin GREAT!!!!!!

I feel GOOD!!!

WOW!! Words cannot explain just how good I feel! As I reflect, I have to reference a previous blog I wrote in which I set several goals for myself. Please see below with updates:

1.    Vegan-am

2.    Majority raw foods-somewhat- RAW VEGAN NOW!!!!

3.    No processed foods- pretty close

4.    No GMO's-working on- pretty close

5.    Make all food- pretty close

6.    Garden-future

7.    Juice Fast – done and will do again

8.    Cookbook/book-future- working on

These above goals basically list what I have accomplished and what I wanted to work on. So let me update you……I am now a raw vegan!! That means that I do not eat foods that are cooked above 105 degrees to keep the enzymes intact insuring my body is receiving all of the enzymes and nutrients. I have been reading this book called Living on Live Food by Allisa Cohen and I’m telling you this book has made me completely change my thinking as far as food is concerned. Not only that, I cannot express enough how GOOD I FEEL!!!! Let me list some things that have changed for me:

·         Every morning Mon-Fri I wake up at 5:30am and workout with my husband. I am not tired, I’m actually excited to get up and get it done.

·         I look forward to the day, I no longer press snooze on my alarm clock but am up and wide awake.

·         I appreciate nature, I notice the green of trees, I hear the birds, I desire to be outside

·         I need less sleep.

·         I am in a better mood overall.

·         I value my relationship with God more and really appreciate Him for who He is and just His overall awesomeness.

·         I really appreciate my husband and my love for him has grown. I have less attitudes and feel a stronger sense of admiration and respect for him.

·         MEN IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE LOOK AWAY FOR THE NEXT TWO BULLETS!!!-

·         MY CYCLE IS SOOOOOO LIGHT AND ONLY LAST MAYBE 3 DAYS. I MEAN LIGHT TO THE POINT THAT I DON’T EVEN HAVE TO WEAR ANYTHING TO PROTECT MYSELF MOST TIMES. I have had the same bag of “materials” for months!! For this reason alone, I won’t go back LOL!

·         I went from a 40G when I first started on my health journey years ago to a 34(I leave the cup size out for respect of my husband) but I can get PRETTY bra colors now not just nude and black which are the only color options for well-endowed women.

·         I’ve gone down two dress sizes

·         I actually LIKE the way I look in bathing suits.

I can go on and on but I think you get the idea. Do I crave cooked food? Yes. I actually had a few tortilla chips with some guacamole and made some popcorn the other day so let’s say I’m 99.9% raw. But even in and through those cravings, I feel too good to turn back. I am also finding new and fun things to cook. I am learning more about myself and life and am just plan happy!

Just wanted to share the good news with you all!!

Do I have more than one level?

So ya'll know at this point that I am a radical healthy person. I am CONSTANTLY taking things health wise to the next level but in that I have to wonder....is that all that I am about? Am I that one dimensional that people see me as only the crazy healthy woman? I have to reflect because something very interesting happened today at work:

My coworker and I are doing a juice cleanse. We blend fruits and vegetables together and drink them for our breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The goal is to do this for one month. Now we only have the teacher's lounge to blend in so of course when people enter they are curious. There are a few people who just don't seem interested in nutrition, eating healthy, making changes etc. Sidebar: while we all have things to work on, from a nutritional standpoint it bothers me greatly that these particular woman don't care because they are overweight and have some health issues. One has great trouble coming down the stairs because of the pressure the additional weight she carries puts on her knees, and the other has blood clots and is continuously gaining weight. Day in and day out I watch them bring in fast food, fried food, processed food etc. I have said a few things when I felt it would be received and when I saw that it was no longer received, I left it alone. And those that know me know that I am not judging, I am just genuinely concerned about them.

So now that you have some background knowledge, today one of the women came in and immediately turned the TV on in the room. The TV is NEVER on and I knew that doing that was a guise to keep us from discussing anything dealing with nutrition and to distract others that may want to know what was going on with us. They then carried on their own conversation, and I could just feel the negative energy throughout the room. At first I was offended and I made a plan:1. Post something on FB about it 2. Hide the remote 3. Talk to others NOT addressing the person about it in a negative way.

Of course being a mature Christian, I knew that was not the answer and I do actually plan on going to ask them how they feel. I was going to confront the issue, but now I am curious about their side of the story. Maybe when they see me, they are annoyed that all I talk about is health, am always happy, and really don't discuss anything else other than church(health ministry, sometimes God), summer camp(health summer camp), and my personal life(how my husband deals w/ me being so healthy). Notice in all of those were the word HEALTH! Maybe they have insecurities and by me always talking about health, they feel like all eyes are on them. I don't know but I'm just trying to be reflective in my thoughts.

That leads me to take a closer look at myself, am I really THAT one dimensional that all I have to talk about is health? I realize this is my calling, my passion, my love, but their are many other things that I am about. First and foremost the will of God- that's another thing- while it is good, that is my second most talked about thing- the dreams I have, God dealing with me, praying, spiritual warfare, etc., etc., and while I say it's the second it is truly the first because I believe my calling to heal is to guide others closer to God and their purpose....there I go AGAIN!!! Let me get back to what else there is about me:

Hmmmm I LOVE to laugh,I LOVE making others laugh, I LOVE hanging out, I LOVE the beach and nature(to an extent, I am not camping lol), I LOVE LOVE LOVE my husband and my family, I LOVE my dog, I LOVE meeting new people, I LOVE interior decorating and house projects, I LOVE the idea of being a mother and can't wait to build a family, I LOVE when someone else is blessed, I can go on and on but I am already starting to feel better. There are more things to me than just health, I just have to take the time to intentionally make them known both verbally and non verbally.

So I'm setting a goal for myself: I will begin to show others and myself that there are more things to me than just health...starting RIGHT NOW!! Thank you for your time and attention!

Yours NOT just in health,
Nakeesha, the beach lover lol

Time to get it together!

Soooo I'm noticing that I'm becoming a unhealthy vegan. Partly because of boredom, and partly because of lack of planning and self control. Maybe not unhealthy in most eyes but in my eyes, I definitely need to step my game up. Processed foods, fries, fried vegetables, and bread have been on my plate for a while now. I know that doesn't sound horrible, but for me it is not good at all.

Yesterday I ate at two places: Cracker Barrel and Buffalo Wild Wings- both places scream "if you're vegan run!!!" But nonetheless, I was with my family and my friends so I went. Normally every morning I start off with water, raw juice, and then fruit. The past couple of days it has been bread, or something that I normally don't begin with and I KNOW this is not healthy. For breakfast I had sourdough bread french toast and potatoes. For dinner I had fried onion rings, fries, chips and salsa, and of course I had to throw a salad in there, still no meat or animal products but not great either.

I think it all began with the Superbowl. I found all of these vegan dishes to make and they ended up being REALLY good- veggie pizza(my own recipe), nachos and cheese, corn muffins, chili, cupcakes, and cookies all vegan. Not to mention my famous mixture of juices. It was all soooo good even our company didn't know it was vegan! I just kept eating and eating and eating annnnddd eating. Before that, I really was just eating raw foods and some occasional cooked stuff and since then I have been going crazy! Drinking with my foods, just going overboard with my eating style and it kind of stuck.

Again I know this may not sound crazy but for me I feel like I am the example not just for others but for myself. I know what has been working for my body and my health, and when I fall off it's hard for me to get it back together BUT there's good news.....Lent is right around the corner and yes I participate in Lent.

So starting Tuesday- no processed foods at ALL, majority raw foods, and back to the way I was eating when I first started out along with some other spiritual things. I'm looking forward to growing and getting back to the extra healthy vegan that I started off as.

Keep me in your prayers!