Excerpt

Introduction

Let food be thy medicine and medicine thy food.
~ Hippocrates

One early summer morning in 2007, America's fitness hero, the late Jack Lalanne, opened me up to the incredible world of juicing, a habit and a lifestyle that has changed my life! Something about the way he described this most natural approach to health connected with me instantly. I believe it was more than a coincidence, just like it's more than a coincidence that you have picked up this book at this point to learn about juicing.

Good things come into our lives at exactly the right time and precisely when we need them. All we have to do is listen and be open to learn and explore. I hope you do that for yourself with this book because I have a lot to tell you about juicing and how it can change not just your health but also your approach to healthy habits and similar changes in your life.

When juicing came to my life in 2007, my health and self-esteem were at an all-time low. I was trying in vain to lose this extra weight I had gained in my stressful corporate job at the time, but the weight itself is never the real problem, of course. The real problem is how it makes you feel: unattractive, undesirable, unworthy, fat and, gasp, ugly. And how we feel is the best guidance for what we need to do, and for me, it was time to take massive action.

The usual stuff was just not working anymore—the trips to the local gym, the variations of diets and eating styles and even the physical trainer that was helping me get me in shape. I was working out harder than ever but my body held on to this extra weight all the same. Something else had to intervene. Something I had never tried before. I wanted it to be a natural and fun and exciting change and that morning, I just knew juicing was the answer.

Before long, I had a masticating juicer and I was shopping for fruits and vegetables to juice, and I'll tell you, I was a little nervous. Even if I had been familiar with produce all my life, and grew up eating lots of them in Iran where fruits play a big part of the "health" culture, this juicing business required putting a vegetable through the chute of a machine called a juicer, extracting its fiber and pulp in the process and drinking what's left, the liquid juice. This was a totally different game than eating the whole fruit or vegetable and it scared me a wee bit. But curiosity had overtaken fear and hesitation and I was ready to embrace this juicing business, come what may.

My approach looked something like this. First, I juiced only fruits. I call this the safe and familiar route. Orange juice. Grapefruit juice. Orange and grapefruit juice. Apple juice. Apple and orange juice. Apple, orange and grapefruit juice. It was two weeks before I threw some celery and parsley into the mix to make a real green juice.

And here's the shock factor: It tastes great! I am still amazed at how delicious, hydrating, flavorful and appetizing a glass of juice can taste, with the right combination of fruits and vegetables. This has also become one of my golden rules: You should never drink a glass of juice that does not taste good. I will never advocate holding your nose and "chugging it down". Ever. There is no fun in that and juicing is heaps of fun—and this stuff is delicious.

After the fruits, I worked up the courage to juice carrots . . . just carrots at first. When carrot and apple juice tasted more delicious than anything my mind could prepare me for, I was ready to take things to the next level but slowly and with caution. My fears had resurfaced: What if I made something that didn't taste good? (I did many times and I still lived through it and learned a lot.) Would it ruin my juicing experience? (Ummm, no.) Would I need to return the juicer? (Nope, but I did break it a few times and they fixed it and sent it back—not the end of the world.) Heck, can I even return it? (Yes you can but you won't want to, not after learning how to juice like a pro, baby!)