Chewing on Thoughts about Juicing
Fruit. Vegetables. Juice. Juicing. Liquid gold. Cleansing. Fasting.
I recently read an article in one of those checkstand magazines about dropping weight and cleansing your body through a two-day juice fast. It wasn’t your typical 300-calorie fast but included whole avocado in the mix. It sounded sane. And I did feel like my body needed a good cleanse.
Yesterday I embarked. Because how better to start the new year than an all-liquid diet?
I dutifully drank my smoothies, teas, waters, and juices. However something was missing. I wasn’t hungry physically but my body was yearning.
I told myself the yearning was detox. My body crying out for the bad. That I should feel awesome by not giving in. I was AWESOME.
But something was missing. And yes my body did want those processed foods it had gotten to experience over the holidays. But that wasn’t it. It was something else.
So I poured myself a bowl of kale miso stew. Barely any calories. Besides the miso and spices, it was just broth and vegetables. And since vegetable broths were allowed on the cleanse, and vegetables were juiced and blended, I figured it was the same thing.
With one exception.
As I chewed through the thick kale in the stew, the whimpers from deep within were calmed. I began to truly feel satisfied. Satiated. Happy.
It turns out, the process of chewing my food. That’s what I was missing.
This morning, instead of juicing and blending, I chewed. I may still juice some of my foods, but I realize that while I may get a lot of benefit out of a cleanse, I won’t feel satisfied. And as morbid as it seems, I want to be satisfied with my choices each day. Because while I may eat healthy to stretch my time here on Earth out as long as possible, the truth is that we don’t know how long we have. So daily satisfaction is crucial.
That’s something to chew on.
The Healthy Academic 