4 Tips on Juicing for Migraines and Inflammation - The Migraine Reliever

Treating food like medicine is a concept that really intrigues me. I mean, I also treat my medicine like medicine. You know, because it's medicine.

Food has so many healing qualities. The more educated you become about your diet, the more you realize what you eat can either help you heal or make your health problems worse. (In fact, Dara from Zero Junk Life will be writing a guest post for us about an anti-inflammatory diet sometime this year!) I've been collecting a Pinterest board about tweaking my diet for TMJ/TMD here. If you want to follow, I only post things I've personally tried that have worked for me.

I tried the recipe to the right minus the cucumber because I just didn't feel like it for some reason. I doubled the celery to make up for the missing ingredient. Oh, and I always use way more kale than the recipe calls for. In this case, I used about three generous handfuls.

I'm so grateful I got into juicing before this tmj/tmjd/tmd monster crept into my life. Because I think it might be something I'd be stubborn about otherwise. I don't super love being told what to do, but because I came to it on my own, I now think of it as something I like to do instead of something I have to do. (Even though at this point, it's pretty much something I have to do.)

Bear with me, because I'm not much of a food photographer. But here's how the migraine reliever recipe turned out when I tried it:

We use a Jack Lalanne juicer. We've had it for a few years now and it still runs flawlessly. Highly recommend. Also, if you visit his website, there's a section titled "Feats". I love this guy. For real. He is the embodiment of health positivity.

The final result is honestly delicious. People are so weird and skeptical about the idea of juicing. And to me, that's weird. It's just fruit and vegetable juice. The other thing they'll try to dissuade you with is the idea of fiber. But guess what? In addition to juicing, you can still eat fruits and vegetables. 

Don't pay any attention to the cynicism. This recipe in particular tastes fresh and delicious to me, but then I tend to favor savory and acidic flavors. (A la a good Sauvignon Blanc. What? It's fruit! Just in another form.)

I'd also recommend the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead". I had to review it years ago when I was working as a film journalist. To be honest, initially I didn't even want to watch it. But it was so convincing and well done that I ended up working green juice into my life consistently.

Here's the thing, the more recipes you try, the more you'll find what you like. 

Here's a few more tips for juicing in general:

1. Buy fresh, whole pineapple. The Wal-Mart near us sells them for about $2.50 a piece, it's cheap and it's way healthier to prep it fresh.

2. Prep your ingredients in advance. I try to make it part of my weekly food prep on Sundays. You can even slice the apple in advance and rub a lemon on it to prevent too much oxidization. (That's when it turns all brown because it's being exposed to air.)

3. Buy organic whenever possible, especially with the celery and any other root vegetables. Celery is very absorbent and it's good not to eat fruit or veg that have been absorbing pesticides. Some foods like bananas and celery are totally affordable in organic. Sometimes the price difference is a mere matter of cents.

4. Your local farmer's market is going to be your friend if you start juicing. It's almost always cheaper than a grocery store, there are always readily available ingredients that can be tough to find elsewhere. (i.e. Ginger root, turmeric, etc.) And, you're buying local, which is a huge support to your community! Corny? Maybe? True? yes.