When Jennifer McCrea of Hill’s Soda Fountain and Café in Easton saw Dr. Oz making “liquid gold” on television in January, she had no idea that it would change her life. Five months later, she’s lost 40 pounds, and is juicing 500 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables a week.
500 pounds of fruit and vegetable juice a week is selling out of a soda fountain café?
Yup.
Called “JMX”, for “Jen’s Magic Elixir”, it’s the new favorite for an ever-growing band of juice-addicted customers.
“It’s not magic, it’s just real food,” says McCrea, whose cholesterol level went from borderline high to normal in four months. She lost 29.5 pounds in the first five weeks of juicing. “It killed my taste for sugar, and I feel 100 times better, with so much more energy” she said.
Once she got started juicing, everything changed. One 12 oz. glass of JMX contains the 5 servings of fruits and vegetables that the USDA recommends for daily nutrition. McCrea drinks the juice once or twice a day. It can be a meal replacement, or supplement. And it’s taken on a life of its own, flying out of Hills every day of the week in single servings, quarts and gallons.
A blend of 11 separate fruits and veggies, JMX contains spinach, parsley, mint, carrots, celery, cucumbers, lemons, limes, apples, oranges and pineapple. McCrea says one secret ingredient is love – “if you don’t make it with love, it doesn’t taste as good.”
Computer repair entrepreneur George Ireland of Bozman is hooked. “I love this stuff. I drink a glass after breakfast, and another one around 3:00 in the afternoon. That just kills my hunger level, and I don’t eat as much at supper.” He too, has lost weight and continues dropping with the juice as an integral part of his diet.
Nowadays, Ireland carries a cooler in his car, and brings juice to the lower part of the peninsula a couple of times each week. He’s the one who dropped a quart of the stuff off at my house, to give it a try.
It’s deep green, and sorta looks like pea soup. Kinda grassy, kinda sharp, I think it’s delicious. But it’s not for everyone. My husband didn’t like it until he saw how much I loved it. This morning, he greedily slurped down the rest of the batch.
I noticed that one serving filled me up, and it lasted for most of the day. “That’s the fiber in it”, said McCrea. “The difference with this juice is the live enzymes that are absorbed into your bloodstream 15 minutes after you drink it. It’s raw food.”
It’s tricky to fit 500 pounds of fruits and veggies into her soda fountain café refrigerators, designed to stash cheese, eggs and meat. She has pineapples squirreled into one frig, cases of lemons and limes in another. She used to have lettuce, some tomatoes for sandwiches. Now, it’s a whole new ballgame.
Messy, slow to make with her Breville juicer, and rather expensive, the juicing has added a whole new element to the offerings at Hills Soda Fountain Café. But given the choice between a chocolate milkshake and JMX, more people every day are choosing the juice.
Now THAT’S magic. A little love goes a long way.
12 oz glass – $5, Quart – $12, Half-gallon – $24.
Hill’s Soda Fountain Cafe, 30 E Dover St Easton, MD 21601
(410) 822-9751
Open 8am – 3pm Mon – Fri, and 9am – 1pm on Saturdays.
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Julie says
LOVE this article!!! I have convinced my hubby to try Jen’s juice. I hope it will change his life…
Jodi Martin says
JMX has changed my life. I have lost 11 pounds in three weeks and have been able to kick my late night sugar attack. I am hooked.