Gina Jackson Personal Fitness

I have an Acme Juicer that I have had in the closet for more years than I can remember, to be honest. Probably had it since graduating from college, which is quite a long time. I’ve only had to replace one plastic part in all this time, because it got so little use.

Reason!? I hated cleaning the darn thing! It took far too much time to clean the trap after use. So like others I’ve talked to (who happen to be concerned about losing weight, BTW), it stayed put in the closet or under the cabinet. It was easier for me to grab an apple, orange and munch on them (carrots would always seem to rot in the fridge before I would stop to clean and scrape them). At one point, I would buy a fresh morning cup of carrot and ginger root, at Chelsea Market, but that was my last NYC job and that was now seven years ago!

Well, I also have a gorgeous, older male friend (who is not a fitness trainer although sorta, kinda healthy, at times that consistently juices fruit and vegetables to keep his system in check. I always take and drink the glass of juice he hands me, no matter what is in it. Last weekend, he used carrots, cucumbers, celery, strawberries and a little pineapple. Lite, slightly sweet and delicious enough to remind this gal of the goodness of fresh juice in the morning.

Needless to say, I went home and pulled out the juicer, dusted it off and immediately went online to find some filters for the machine, so that my hated cleanup process excuse would be eliminated.

There is absolutely no question, the benefits of juicing surpass all of our excuses to not do so. For example, recently. the National Cancer Institute began a campaign to get people to do one simple thing - EAT MORE FRUITS AND VEGETABLES. Specifically, the recommendation was to eat five servings of fruit and three servings of vegetables a day, and their reasoning was simple: a diet high in fruits and vegetables will prevent or cure a wide range of ailments: Breast cancer, cancer of the colon, esophagus, stomach, lungs, ovaries, and rectum. Pick and ailment these days, it seems, and researchers somewhere are searching for chemicals in plants that will prevent them, or offer a cure. These plant chemicals, known as phytochemicals, are the cutting edge of nutritional research because they hold the keys to preventing some of our most deadly diseases, such as cancer and heart disease, as well as some of our most common, like asthma, arthritis, and allergies.

The problem, though, is that most of us don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables to reap the benefits they offer. For example, although the National Cancer institute recommends five servings of vegetables and three of fruits each day, the truth is, the average person eats only 1 1/2 servings of vegetables and, on average, no fruit on any given day.

We all do have a lot of excuses.