Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice, Whole Foods Market and More

Hey there, it's Christina. And anyone who knows me knows that I am into health and fitness and nutrition ever since 1986. Yes, it's 2016 now. And that means 30 years. 30 years. I've been doing this before the Internet, before social media, before Facebook and YouTube and podcast and even the iPhone that I'm holding in my hand right now. So. Oh, and I've also been going to Whole Foods, Whole Foods Market since it started in the Washington D.C. area. It started. Here's a little trivia for you. It started in my area in the Washington D.C. metro area in 1992 as Fresh Fields. There were two pilot locations, I guess you could say. And one of them was on Little River Turn, on the corner of Little River Turnpike and Braddock Road in, well, the border of Annandale and Alexandria for those of you who are local, who know where that is. And the other one was on Ox road, was on 123South, a little bit past George Mason University, and it was in a plaza. And when I first started going there in 1992, one of the things I discovered was their fresh squeezed orange juice that they sold there. And I thought it was amazing. And back then, again, it was, you know, I was putting myself through school. It was 30 years ago. I was going to George Mason and it was 1986. And, you know, money was tight. I was on a budget. And the fresh squeezed orange juice, I can't remember how much it cost, but it was kind of expensive for me. But that led me, that discovery led me to get a citrus juicer, which I bought is like maybe $20, maybe $19.99. And I kept that in my kitchen. It lived on my kitchen counter, not in my kitchen cabinet, which means I made it lifestyle. I made it something that was daily or weekly. And I made my own fresh squeezed orange juice, which is a whole lot more affordable. And then that led me to discover that I could buy oranges at a discount. Sometimes they were reduced for quick sale, particularly in the Asian market, because when they get ripe, like when they get really soft, that's when the grocery stores lower the price because they, you know, they want to make sure they want to get one more opportunity to sell them because people aren't buying them because most people don't juice. So they're getting kind of too ripe, too soft to eat. And, you know, I would get like, oh my gosh, like 6, 8, 10, 12 oranges for a dollar or $2 or something like that. Really, really affordable. I'd come home And I get my citrus juicer out and I'd make the most amazing fresh squeezed orange juice. And you know, after I started doing this, I never ever, ever bought packaged, processed orange juice again since, you know, 1992. So no more. What is it? I don't even know the brands. What is it? Tropicana, Sunkist, Minute Maid, I don't know, I don't know the brands anymore. But you know, whatever's there. I mean, I used to buy that. I think I even bought the kind that had calcium enriched. Stopped buying all of that in 1992, got a citrus juicer and made my own. And I still have citrus juicer. So I'm taking this video. As you can see, I've got some fresh squeezed orange juice, organic by the way, from Whole Foods market. I have two 32 ounce bottles here and then one that I just finished. This is a total of 96 ounces of fresh squeezed orange juice. That is a lot of vitamin C. That is so good for you. And I don't do supplements. I don't buy vitamin C tablets or anything like that. I get it straight from the whole food. That means no derivatives. That means get it where it exists naturally. Go all the way to the source with no processing. Okay? That is the best way to get your vitamins and minerals and nutrients. They have the best assimilation in the body bioavailability, uptake. Remember when you're taking things, when you're eating or you know, taking supplements or talking about a vitamin or a mineral or a nutrient, there's always the intake and the uptake. You're responsible for the intake, actually provisioning the food, buying it, selecting it, you know, picking out high quality at Whole Foods market or grocery store, farmer's market or Asian market, wherever you go, that is the intake. Now your body is responsible on a physiological cellular level for the uptake and utilization. And most of us, our bodies are functioning fine. So as long as we got the intake down, the uptake will take care of itself. But sometimes there's a problem with absorption. Okay, but that's kind of an anomaly. But if you're doing everything right and you're still, you know, do your lab work or you're still tired or you know, still, you know, symptomatic or something, things aren't working. You might want to, you know, get a full diagnostic lab test and then you'll be able to see like one of the things that comes to mind is iron. A lot of females are iron deficient and they take iron supplements or they Just eat an iron rich diet, but it just kind of goes right out of their bodies because they're not absorbing it. So you know, you would do an iron test, but you would also look at your tibc, which is your total iron binding capacity and that will see and that will, you know, reveal to you if your body is actually taking that iron and absorbing it where it can actually be utilized for your benefit. So anyway, kind of going off on a tangent, but vitamin C is really important. There's, it's, you know, it's in citrus fruits, it's in strawberries and oranges and lemons and pineapple and mango and all these things. And this is what I've got for this week. So I think I'm probably meeting or exceeding my needs for vitamin C. And I hope you will too, because I want you to be healthy this winter. Healthy always. But right now it's autumn, it's fall, winter 2016. So I got these because I'm busy right now. I don't have the time and I'm staying with a friend and I don't have a citrus juicer available to me. So just pick these up. But either way, whatever way you want to do it, if you want to pay for convenience or you want to invest in a citrus juicer, get your vitamin C every day or every other day. Be healthy, be well, work out, eat a high plant based diet. If you're not vegan, just be a little bit more vegan. A higher percentage vegan foods in your diet. Be really conscious of your meals. Stay active every day, eat seasonally if you can. The things that are in season, locally grown is good because there's no transportation cost or time for the fruit to, you know, or vegetable, you know, you want things that are local because they're just picked, they're going to be more flavorful and they don't oxidize and have no nutrient loss. Things that are whole foods closest to their source, not processed, no derivatives, you know, they're not in a package or anything like that. The only package is the package by mother Nature, which is their skin, okay, Like a banana skin or an orange peel. Things like that that protect them and eat by color and what else? Nutrient density per calorie should be your measure. Nutrient density per calorie is how we measure the quality of our food. Too many people or counting calories and all calories aren't the same. Really should be thinking about nutrient density per calorie. And also too many people are counting calories and not counting chemicals. Go into the grocery store, pick up whatever it is you're thinking about buying, and before you put it in that cart, flip it around to its side, read the label. And if you can't read the label, if you need a master's degree, a PhD in chemistry to read the label, if the words are too long, if there's too many ingredients, if you can't pronounce them, if you don't know what they are, put it back on the shelf. You don't want to eat chemicals. You don't even know what's in it. It's so engineered by things that are natural. Natural sourced directly from the earth, the way God or the universe or whatever you want to call it, whatever you believe in. I totally respect whatever you believe in. But something higher than us, that created all these amazing colors and textures and fruits and vegetable shapes and sizes and nutrient profiles, just amazing. Eat directly from the earth. You know, raw's best, slightly cooked or steamed, sauteed. Use fresh herbs to flavor things. Oh, my gosh, I have so many good ideas. I probably should write a little recipe book or something. But I want you to be healthy. I want you to be happy. I've seen in my own family what disease and pathology cause they cause a lot of disability. They'll slow you down, it causes a lot of depression and quality of life is not good. So you want to stay energetic and vibrant every day of your life, have a nice longevity and you're responsible for taking part in that. And you know, self care is the best health care. Get a juicer, get a Vitamix or Blendtec. Get a citrus juicer. Pay attention to what you're eating. Every single meal matters. Every single workout matters. Yes, it does. It really does. How you do one thing is how you do everything. I've been doing this for 30 years. People tell me I look like I'm in my 20s. I feel like I am. I really do. I mean, I just don't know how to explain it. It's been lifestyle and habit for me for a long time. So you have to have habits to match your expectations. I want to say that again and I want you to internalize it. Because it's so important in anything, really. You have to have habits to match your expectations. Reverse engineer whatever you want, okay? You want good health, you have to put in place, identify and sequence all the precursors that make that outcome inevitable. Okay? And if you have any questions, you want any help, leave me a comment below this video and I will get back with you as soon as I can. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you on my next one. Goodbye.