A Dose of Health

Parents know how difficult it is to get kids to eat 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a week, never mind daily.  How many times have you emptied your trash only to find your child’s dinner serving of green peas, carrots, or vegetable du jour? The minute you turn your back, they get rid of the vegetables any way possible as long as they don’t have to eat them.

A Sweet Solution

I’ve found that by encouraging a daily morning ritual of juicing, kids actively participate in selecting and juicing their 5 serving of fruit/vegetable requirement. It takes a little pre-planning and it may not occur all 7 days of the week, but 4 or 5 days a week is better than none.

Here’s What You’ll Need

1. A juicer – preferably a centrifugal juicer of the type that Jack La Lanne sells because it’s so easy for kids (and adults) to operate.  It’s not as intimidating as some of the masticating juicers.
2. A selection of vegetables – preferably organic.  However, if you can’t continually buy organic vegetables, non-organic will do.

Here’s What You Do

Wash, clean and remove as much pesticides form the fruits and vegetables as possible. In an earlier post I share the method I use.

Leave the juicer on the counter, kitchen table or any place where it’s easy enough for the kids to access the juicer (very young children require parental supervision).

In the morning, place a large bowl of cleaned fruits and vegetables next to the juicer.

Have the child pick out a few of her most favorite fruits/vegetables.  Keep in mind that the Jack La Lanne juicer makes a nice quantity of juice per fruit or vegetable, so if your little one gets a little overzealous when picking fruit, be prepared to drink the excess juice (Hint – every once in a while throw in a vegetable such as a carrot or piece of celery.  They’ll soon realize that the juice tastes so good that even a vegetable can’t make it taste bad).

Allow the child to make her own glass of juice.  Children love making juice and the juice tastes so good, they love drinking it.  One word of caution, too much fruit/vegetable juice at one time will keep your little one in the bathroom, so start slowly.

My kids are older, but they still appreciate a tasty glass of freshly prepared fruit/vegetable juice.  I wait until the morning rush is over and everyone has had their morning beverage before I wash the juicer for the next go round.

Relax at Dinner

If you know your child has had most of her required daily allowance of fruits and vegetables during the day through juicing, dinner is a lot less stressful.  So what she doesn’t eat her peas at dinner time.

That’s a loaded question and I don’t have the answer.  All I have are theories.  Indulge me for a moment and explore the inner workings of my brain (it ain’t pretty so be prepared).

The Problem

We have already established in an earlier post that osteoarthritis is the degeneration of cartilage in the joints caused either by trauma or wear and tear.  As I mentioned earlier, I believe that regular chiropractic adjustments might slow down or prevent the onslaught of osteoarthritis.  I say this because I believe regular adjustments keeps everything lined up properly so the joints operate in a normal range of motion thus reducing abnormal rubbing and degeneration of the cartilage (assuming that the cartilage is not breaking down as a result of a chemical or genetic defect).

The Animals are Out of the Barn

My theory for how to prevent osteoarthritis may or may not be valid, but that doesn’t help anyone who is currently suffering with the condition.  After all the animals are out of the barn, why close the barn door?  Time to figure out how to fix the problem.

Repair the Underlying Condition

Ahh, but this is how my brain works.  If I were diagnosed with osteoarthritis, I would immediately go to my chiropractor to begin a program of regular chiropractic are to properly realign my body and keep it in proper alignment.   In the meanwhile I would eat, drink or pill pop any natural ingredient that purportedly helps to rebuild cartilage and reduce the pain of osteoarthritis.  I think it’s a one, two, three punch (repair, replenish and maintain)

Replenish with Food, Drink and Supplements

I’m a strong believer that the body is forgiving and can do much to repair itself, provided we give it the right nutritional building blocks.  In addition to a transition from eating salt, sugars, processed foods, trans fats , high fructose corn syrup (the list can go on ad nauseum), I would begin eating whole grains, plenty of fruits, veggies, lean meats, Omega 3′s etc.  There’s no need for me to list which foods are healthy and which are not.  If you’re old enough to read this, you know what you should do.

As far as drinking, I would drink plenty of water (1/2 my body weight in oucnes) and begin a fruits and veggie juicing regimen of at least two to three times a day.  I’ve found that juicing heals a variety of ails.  Since the body is already in a state of discomfort (extreme discomfort depending on how advanced the osteoarthritis), I would step up my juicing to more than once a day.

On the supplement front, I’d pop glucosamine and chondroitin.  However, before popping glucosamine and chondroitin, quite a bit of homework needs to be done (dosage, manufacturer, system reaction, etc).  According to the information gathered from the Glucosamine/chondroitin Arthritis Intervention Trial (GAIT)  study glucosamine/chondroitin works better than over the counter NSAIDs for individuals with moderate to severe pain.  It was less effective for individuals with minor pain. The European study Glucosamine Unum In Die Efficacy (GUIDE) study, found similar results.

The key ingredients in glucosamine are found in sea creature shells.  Therefore, be careful about taking it with shell fish allergies.  There is a synthetic alternative (so much for natural treatment for osteoarthritis).

Shed Weight

The solution to so many ailments is to get rid of the excess weight; less weight and pressure on the osteoarthritic joint means less pain.  According to a Swedish study, excess weight contributes to knee and hip osteoarthritis in men (I’m sure women don’t get away scot free in this area).  Imagine, how happy osteoarthritic knees would feel if you shed an additional 40 pounds of unnecessary weight.  Purportedly for every pound you gain you put three pounds of pressure on your knees. That additional pressure can affect healthy knees, never mind knees plagued with osteoarthritis.

Exercise

According to the WebMD website, folks with osteoarthritis should engage in exercises such as swimming, walking and biking.  Depending on the level of pain and severity of degeneration, it may be tough to exercise, but it is recommended. Range of motion and limbering exercise are also important.

Consult with a Rheumatologist

Now that we took a walk through my mind, take a walk through your doctor’s mind.  Find a Rheumatologist as they’re the folks who specialize in treating arthritis.  Hopefully, you can find one who understands your desire for treating the condition as holistically as possible.

Unnecessary Disclaimer

You have just taken a stroll through my brain.  It is in no way meant to be construed as professional medical advice. It’s just the way I might approach the condition if I were diagnosed with osteoarthritis.

As I watched the Oprah show and saw 85 year old billionaire, David Murdoch, go to Costco to purchase his fruits and vegetables for juicing, it brought to mind the question,”Should he be juicing non organic vegetables?”  By the way, I can’t be sure but it sure looks like he uses the Jack LaLanne Juicer to me.

Now, I didn’t know if the Costco trip was for the benefit of us ‘everyday’ folk or whether or not he always buys his fruits and veggies at Costco.  I’m not a Costco shopper, but I didn’t think he was placing organic fruit in his shopping cart.

Organic or Non Organic Juicing

It’s been my practice to juice organic fruits and vegetables if I am going to go through the trouble of juicing.  However, if my funds are low and I purchase non organic produce which are not juiced but are relegated to normal eating and cooking.  Juicing to me is like ‘mainlining’ vegetables, where as eating and cooking them is not.  If I’m going to mainline, I’d prefer to have the purest most nutritional dose of my veggie of choice.

Non Organic Juicing Hesitation

The major reason for my hesitation to juice non organic produce is that I don’t want to mainline toxic pesticides directly into my system.  The fact that non organic vegetables are usually grown in less nutrient rich soil is another factor, but the presence of toxins is my primary reason for using organic rather non organic.

Getting rid of the Toxin Concern

I read on one site that removing the outer skin of non organic vegetables severely cuts down on the presence of toxins.  The only problem it also severely cuts down on the presence of nutrients too.

Other sites recommend washing the fruits and vegetables in a solution of water and hydrogen peroxide , followed by a washing with vinegar and water and rinse.  This process purportedly removes  most of the bacteria and toxins.

My Thought Process

As I write this there are pears, apples and oranges sitting in my fruit bowl, that will go bad over the next few days if not eaten (my family loves fruit when it first comes in the house, but after day 2 or 3 the fruit becomes invisible and they no longer see it in the fruit bowl).  So, to prevent the fruit from going bad, I’d prefer to juice it.

After combing the internet I think I’m going to use a combination of both organic and non organic produce for juicing.  The organic greenery (that I like to juice to mask the taste of wheatgrass) will be 100% organic.  The other fruits and veggies that I usually cook or nibble on throughout the day, will be organic when money permits, and non organic otherwise. I’ll apply the pesticide removal methods a outlined above and juice the produce if I find that they’re about to hang around too long (juice them before they go bad).

When I stop to think about it, no one is ever really 100% sure of what’s on store bought produce (organic or not).  After all, some organic vegetables have traces of pesticides and bacteria.  I guess the only way to be sure is to grow it myself (not going to happen anytime soon). Oh, and as for David Murdoch from the Oprah show…he’s 85 years old and going strong.  If he’s using non organic fruit, I guess it can’t be all that bad.

How do you tackle the organic vs non organic produce quandary?