UPC’s Morning Detox Drinks Series – Raspberry Coconut Oil Apple Cider Vinegar
Detox is a serious buzzword these days. In fact, it’s such a buzzword that I would normally look for ways to avoid it. I generally try to stay away from buzzwords. I started following the Paleo diet a long time before it became trendy (and this is a worthy trend!). I’ve been using today’s detox drink recipe for more than 10 years, and if there was a “Detox Drink” trend going on back then, I certainly wasn’t aware of it! Along with the “detox” trend, and plenty of the other trends going on out there, there’s also the juicing trend, which worries me. And I’ll spend a few lines talking about why it worries me below. But there’s a reason why I’m sharing my detox drink recipes:
These detox drink recipes have been working really well for me.
I’ve been using them for years. They’re simple, easy to make, and very effective. And I find that when I speak about them with other people, they always say something like “Oh, yeah, my grandmother used to do that too, and she lived to 89.” or something similar. Well, my grandmother lived to 93, and as far as I know, she didn’t drink any detox drinks. Will they lead to longevity? I have no idea. But they sure do help me feel healthy, and I haven’t had a cold in years. That’s good enough for me!
Why the “Juicing” trend worries me…
Before I say why I don’t like it, let me first say why I DO like the juicing trend: a lot of people I know who had terribly unhealthy diets have started to drink a lot of fruits and vegetables instead of eating their unhealthy meals. And there’s no question in my mind that replacing unhealthy meals with any other option is a good choice.
Now that that’s done, let me discuss why I’m concerned with the “Juicing” trend: overwhelming sugar spikes. See, wonderful vegetables like carrots and celery have all of the nutrients, vitamins, and minerals all bundled up inside the fiber content of the vegetable. There’s a bunch of “stuff” surrounding all of that goodness, which takes work for us to get to. There’s no escaping the work that needs to be done to get to those excellent elements of fruits and vegetables. But you can move the work from your digestive tract out into a juicer or blender. That definitely makes the job of getting all of the excellent benefits of those foods easier on your body.
But here’s the question: why do you go to the gym?
I can guarantee that you’re not headed to the gym because you think that your body needs to take it easy. The same goes for your digestive system. When it comes to doing work in order to extract the beneficial nutrients, vitamins and minerals from our foods: that’s what our digestion is designed for. If you remove that work, then all of the sugar in those vegetables, which our body expects to use up while extracting the beneficial nutrients, will instead go straight to your blood. My stance: eat more vegetables, but make sure that they’re whole vegetables. They come like that for a reason. Our bodies expect them to come in that form, and our digestive systems are already set up to handle that, just as it is.
With the above in mind, here is some further reading on juicing from one of my favorite online food gurus, Mark Sisson:
A Word on Those Juicing Infomercials.
Dear Mark: What’s Wrong With Juicing?
Dear Mark: Vegetable Juicing, G_BOMBS, Blood Sugar, and Hot Workouts
UPC’s Morning Detox Drink Recipes – Raspberry Coconut Oil Apple Cider Vinegar; How to do it:
- Hot water
- 2 Raspberries
- 1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
- 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
- Boil the water.
- Add the apple cider vinegar to a tea or coffee mug.
- Fill the cup about half way with the hot water.
- Add the coconut oil and raspberries and stir thoroughly.
- Fill the cup the rest of the way.
- Serve and enjoy!
Questions:
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I use the exact ingredients for my morning drink, only different. LOL I infuse apple cider vinegar with raspberries for my salad dressings. Do blackberries as well. That is how I get my raspberries in my drink. So morning drink consists of raspberry infused apple cider vinegar honey coconut oil and hot water. I personally find it a yummy drink, once I got used to it. Good stuff, good for you.
That sounds like a great alternative recipe! Thanks for posting in Normajean!