Grapefruit

Grapefruit is a highly acidic pink citrus fruit with high levels of vitamin C, potassium and antioxidant. It is a very healthy fruit and can help to prevent cancer. It also helps to lower cholesterol and helps the body to burn fat. As the taste is not so sweet with a little bit of bitterness some people may not like it.The texture is close to pomelo which is a famous product in Ipoh, Perak in Malaysia. Another close relative is sweetie. Below is a picture of grapefruit taken from Wikepedia.

I only got to know about grapefruit as an adult as it was not a common fruit in Asia. As it is a very healthy fruit, I try to consume it from time to time. In general, the size of a grapefruit is almost 1.5 times of an orange. As one whole grapefruit per time is too much for me to consume alone (as my family members do not particularly love this fruit) sometimes I will seize the opportunity to drink grapefruit juice which is sold in some restaurants and served during buffet breakfast in the hotels. Recently I found a great way to consume more of it by juicing it myself! By mixing with other fruits the taste is diluted and not as strong. My young children who cannot eat grapefruit directly can also enjoy the benefits of grapefruit by drinking the juice.

As I was writing this and searching for information online, I read that there was a survey conducted on 50,000 postmenopausal women in US which suggested that those who consumed 1/4 grapefruit everyday may increase the risk of breast cancer (this was mentioned in Wikepedia as well). This sounds scary and contradicts with many other studies which shows that it helps to prevent breast cancer. But as with all other things, I believe that moderation is the key. As there are so many different choices of fruits available, my current grapefruit intake is hardly even 1 per week on average. So I will still continue to enjoy grapefruit and its juice without worrying. May you enjoy grapefruit too!

First-time Juicing

I started juicing recently. I always see cancer patients start juicing when they are diagnosed with the disease. So I knew it must be beneficial although I did not look into the details of how and why. Until now, I never had the motivation to buy a juicer and start juicing myself due to busy schedule and thinking of the trouble to clean it after juicing. However, now that I received a juicer as a gift, there’s no reason I do not make good use of it!

Similar to fruits, juice is best consumed before meal and the best timing for me is probably early morning before breakfast. For me, knowing it is tough to do it on weekdays as I will be rushing to work, I start setting my target to juice once per week. Hopefully by getting used to it and practice it as a habit I can slowly increase the frequency. Juicing at night is another alternative if there is enough time gap between dinner and sleeping time. For people at home, juicing in between meals is of course another alternative.

The first question people commonly asked is, “Why is taking fruit juice better than taking the fruit directly?” The answer is because liquid is absorbed more easily by our stomach. Also, it is easier to consume juice than to eat fruits (comparing eating 2 apples and drinking a glass of apple juice). However, beware that there is a risk of over consuming fruit juice and thus taking in too much sugar. Also, by juicing we no longer take in the fiber (unless you eat the remaining after juicing).

I do not take juicing as a replacement of eating fruits, but an addition or a supplement to it. Thus, I choose to juice vegetables and fruits that I seldom consume directly. I started with carrot (it is rich in vitamins, and I do not eat it raw), mixing with a little tomato (it is also a healthy choice and I like it but seldom eat it) and some apples. I was told that green apple is more juicy compared to red ones – it also has less sugar. The juice really taste good and I am starting to get addicted to juicing :). I intend to add celery and beetroot as the next step, also due to their nutrient values. There is some work to clean up the juicer after juicing, but I guess this little effort is worth the benefits!