My girlfriend tried juicing for a while after seeing that video, and the main reason for juicing rather than just eating the produce is that he was going through an entire shopping bag full of produce at each meal, and it had to be juiced to get it down to something he could drink at one sitting. Even if he made smoothies out of it, he’d have to drink three or four smoothies. Without ready access to your own farm full of vegetables, I don’t see a way to juice for $14 a day, even if you go inorganic.
That said, if you’re going to be making smoothies, your husband can stay in the same ballpark as far as how much he eats and how it affects him–a banana is still just a banana, and he knows what that’s going to do to his blood sugar. The question is, if he’s not used to eating an entire blender full of vegetables, which gets pureed down to a glass-full of smoothie, he’s going to have to watch his blood sugars carefully to see how it’s affecting him.
From Dr. Fuhrman’s Eat to Live diet, here’s something that might work for a change:
Chocolate Shake Smoothie
5 ounces organic baby spinach
2 cups frozen blueberries
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk
1 medium (frozen banana)
2 medjool dates or 4 deglet noor dates (pitted)
2 tablespoons Cocoa Powder
1 tablespoon ground flax seeds
1 tsp vanilla (optional)
Maybe he just doesnt like “tea” tea too much?
Cold mint tea has a sweetness to it – and mint grows aggressively and voluminously (so much so that it is usually a better idea to keep it containered) so you can easily supply your own needs going forward.
rosehip tea is also good cold --“red zinger” in the tea aisle is mostly hibiscus with some citrusy bits.
A good squeeze of lime juice or a few chunks of mashed fruit are great options.
He prefers “tea” tea to the “red zinger”, herbal, and tea-with-fruit variations. We’re both agreed on that - we don’t want tea flavored fruit juice, we want tea. He just doesn’t like tea as much as he likes TAB (his preferred diet soda) which he thinks he drinks too much of to be healthy.
I did pick up some cheap flavored water at the local Aldi today. He said lemon-lime was not good. I tried some, it’s like drinking warm, liquid jello so yeah, I understand that. The fruit punch flavored one he said was better.
Changing long-standing habits is hard.
Anyhow, we’re going to mull things over a bit. By all means, feel free to continue the discussion and offer suggestions or recipes.
Sorry, both that you do not have access to the stuff, and for having assumed that if Jewel and Dominick’s carry it in my neighborhood, they must carry it in everyone else’s, too.
I was thinking more along the lines of 2L bottles of house-brand club soda, never more than a buck, and often less.
There’s also powder you can put into water to flavor it. I used gatorade powder in HS football because buying it by the bottle was just not cost effective - especially with the volume I was going through it. Crystal light is also popular. Plus you get to adjust the sweetness. Powdered lemonade, powdered limeade, etc.
Personally I’ve been trying to drink a liter of tea in the morning-lunch, and then refilling the bottle with water for the afternoon. Keeps me full, hydrated, and the caffeine is tolerable.
Kmart is good for one thing, their “Smart Choice” flavored waters. Seriously soooo much better tasting than any flavored waters out there. The Cherry Limeade is really sweet and delicious and the sparkling lemon lime is like diet 7Up. I used to go to bed drinking Mountain Dew and I’ve switched to these drinks and swear by 'em.
I’m not sure something described as “really sweet” by a Mountain Dew lover is going to appeal to me, and I find 7Up so sweet as to be cloying.
I don’t know how my tastebuds escaped modern corporate programming, but seriously, how do people drink liquid sugar? I mean, I appreciate the suggestion, but either unsweetened tea or water are my go-to beverages, and the spouse has drastically cut back on sugar himself.
Diet soda is water and flavorings (plus caffine or not). Juice is water and sugar. I love OJ–totally love it–but it screws with my blood sugar like nothing else.
One thing I’ve found that’s helped the craving a bit is to take some lime-juice, pour it into water and add some splenda for fake limeade (lemon juice works too). They don’t have nearly as much sugar as OJ and they’re so diluted that there’s not much of an impact.
I thought this post was about your spouse, and as reported by you, he likes Tab, which is very sweet, and does not like unsweetened tea or plain water, so… What are we talking about here? What you want or what he wants?
There are artificially sweetened clear soda beverages, that what the prev poster was talking about, not knock-off full sugar soda.
FWIW, I find Aldi’s flavored waters to be intolerably sweet, sweeter than any other brand I’ve tried. Try some others before you dismiss that idea. You live in Chicagoland, right? Can you get to a Meijer? They have lots of store-brand ones for $1/liter.
Definitely try mixing stuff with soda water/club soda - I’m a total pop addict, and I think what I like about it more than the taste is the carbonation. Club soda gives you this. No, you don’t need a seltzer maker - like FeAudrey noted, you can buy the 2L bottles of store brand club soda for not much at all. And if your husband needs to drink frequently, you’ll use it up before it goes flat. (My stores have smaller bottles available too, but they might be slightly more expensive.)
I used to mix club soda with Crystal Light, but you could easily mix it with fruit juice or powders or fruit pulp or whatever. Lightens the caloric and sugar load, but keeps the bubbles - win!