Juicing Archives - Page 3 of 3

Green Juice

March 15, 2013 by Tamara 8 Comments

Each Friday for the month of March I will be posting on some aspect of juicing. Get excited! If you are just joining us welcome! You can read about the benefits of juicing and the essential products you need to get started. Today I am super excited to share my family’s go to green juice!

This juice is the perfect first thing in the morning (or actually anytime during the day). It is full of leafy greens! Kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, apple, lemon, and ginger create a hydrating and refreshing combination to get you ready for anything that comes your way during the day.

On a side note, I got a camera!!!! Could you tell? Probably not, but that is ok. I am still figuring out all the settings but I am beyond happy with my brand new Canon Rebel. Happy dance over. Now back to talking about the green juice.

I gave a brief overview below on the nutritional benefits of this drink and in the ingredient list noted which items should be purchased organic based off the EWG’s Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce. This is an awesome resource that I recommend everyone bookmark. I also recommend drinking your juice out of a mason jar. Everything tastes better in a mason jar.

Benefits:

Kale is packed with lutein (read why this is important in the next paragraph), vitamin K (associated with providing your blood the ability to clot), vitamin A (essential for vision and healthy skin), vitamin C, and calcium.
Spinach is a well-known “leafy green”. But did you know that it is packed with calcium, containing 30mg of calcium per 1-cup serving. It also contains lutein, which helps prevent muscular degeneration and cataracts, and is a rich source of folate, which helps prevent birth defects
Cucumbers contain mostly water they are and excellent food to help cleanse and wash away toxins. Toxins are often stored in fat cells and cause inflammation. But beyond just water content cucumbers also supply electrolytes to restore hydration of the body cells and balance the fluid levels in the body.
Celery juice is highly nutritious and one of the most hydrating foods we can put in our bodies. Because it is incredibly alkalizing, it equalizes the body’s PH, which is vital for peak health.
Apples contain antioxidants that help protect the good cholesterol levels in the blood.
Lemons are rich in vitamin C (which is essential for maintaining a fully functional immune system), aid digestion, and have been proven to assist fighting cancer.
Ginger helps to reduce nausea, inflammation, and provides relief from heart burn.

Ingredients:

6 leaves of Kale (organic)
2 cups Spinach (organic)
1/2-1 Cucumber (organic)
4 Celery stalks (organic)
2 Apples (organic)
1 Lemon
1″ Ginger root

Directions:

Clean and prep your veggies. If the skin on the lemon is on the thicker side you will want to remove the peel before juicing as it may make the juice taste slightly bitter. Start by alternating spinach and celery through the juicer. Wrap the ginger up into a kale leaf and juice kale and cucumber. Finish up with lemon and apples. Drink. This will make enough juice for 2 large glasses. Perfect for you and a friend!

Even Caden loves it! We watered his down quite a bit but he had been eye balling our glasses for weeks. After talking with his pediatrician we received the green light to add this in to his diet. Yay! Josh was really excited to give him his first juice and was thrilled that Caden loved it!

Let me know if you try this and what you think. If you have never juiced before give your taste buds some time to adapt, but I don’t think you will need it, our bodies crave this stuff! Next week I will share a sweeter and fruity juice recipe that will be sure to please the entire family! Also I am putting together my final post for this series that will hopefully answer anymore questions you still have. Leave your questions thoughts, and comments below. Happy juicing!

Filed Under: Caden, Juicing, Nutrition, Recipes Tagged With: Apple, Celery, Cucumber, Ginger, Green Juice, Juicing, Juicing Recipe, Kale, Lemon, Spinach

Juicing Essentials

March 8, 2013 by Tamara 12 Comments

Each Friday for the month of March I will be posting on some aspect of juicing. Get excited! Last week I shared the benefits of juicing and this week it is all about the essential products you need to get started.

Breville Compact Juice Fountain | Vegetable & Fruit Cutting Board | Lifefactory Glass Bottle

Kuhn Rikon Paring Knife | Distilled White Vinegar | Breville Elite Juicer

You already know the benefits of juicing and why it is amazing for your body and now it is time to get down to the nitty gritty and figure out what products you need to get started. Really you don’t need to much. That being said be prepared to spend anywhere from $50 to $400 on a juicer.

When ~~Josh and~~ I first started juicing about 4 years ago I bought a cheap juicer that was really hard to clean and pretty flimsy. I tried to get Josh to juice with me at that time but honestly he was not very sold on the whole idea. Fast forward several years and now Josh is the juice master in our house. It just goes to show that when someone is ready to make a change they will do it in their own time.

The first juicer I bought stopped working after about a year. After it died I decided it would be easier for me to go to Whole Foods and buy my green drinks from the juice bar. When Josh became pumped up about juicing we decided to invest in a more reliable juicer and went with the Breville Compact Juice Fountain. We love our juicer! That being said if we could purchase it again we would have invested in the more pricey Breville Elite Jucier. The reason simply being that the more expensive juicer extracts the pulp out the back and catches it in a separate basket. Our current juicer can sometimes become overloaded with pulp requiring us to empty it before we can continue juicing.

We try to buy organic as much as possible. With organic veggies and fruit you don’t need to be as cautious when you clean. Before juicing you should always rinse your produce and remove the majority of the dirt. When we clean our produce we fill our sink with water, add a cup of vinegar (natural disinfectant), add our produce, and once the dirt is off we rinse our fruit and veggies with clean water. You will also want to invest in a cutting board and sharp knife so you can prep and chop your veggies/fruit when needed.

Once you have put your greens through the juicer you will want to drink it within 15 minutes to take advantage of all the nutrients before they start to dissipate. Invest in a fun glass container to take your juice with you. We love these bottles!

I could say so much more but I think this is a good start to get you going on the essential juicing products: a juicer, veggie/fruit cleaner, knife, cutting board, and glass bottle.

Did I miss anything? Do you have a favorite juicer? Let me know.

Filed Under: Juicing, Nutrition, Products Tagged With: Breville, Juicing

Juicing For Health & Nutrition

March 1, 2013 by Tamara 5 Comments

Hi lovely people! Each Friday for the month of March I will be posting on some aspect of juicing. Get excited!

Let me preface these posts by saying that we both juice and blend in our house. We don’t favor one method of drinking our fruits and veggies. Both are easy and have a tasty and fresh end product. There are reasons why you should incorporate both into your diet.

I tried to get my husband to guest post on my blog because he is the juice master in our house, but he declined my offer. Writing is not really his thing. I will do my best to share our combined wealth of information in this juicing series. My hubby and I are by no means experts just attempting to share what we have learned with others in order to encourage and promote healthy families.

When you extract juice from a vegetable it allows your body to quickly absorb micronutrients, antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Juicing removes the fiber and leaves only the liquid. That being said, be careful not to juice large amounts of fruit on their own. Unlike veggies, fruits need the fiber and pulp to help regulate the sugar release into the bloodstream.

Juicing is instant energy! Ditch the store bought energy drinks and go natural. Without the fiber the body is able to absorb the amazing plant rich nutrients quicker.

Juicing also allows you to consume a wider variety and larger quantity of fruits and veggies. This can be very beneficial if you find it difficult to consume raw produce on a daily basis. I love salad but juicing is a much more efficient way for me to get in my veggies especially with caring for a baby.

Vegetables are rich in potassium and low in sodium which helps to promote cardiovascular health. Juicing has also be shown to help reduce acne, high cholesterol, bladder infections, insomnia, kidney stones, osteoporosis, and many other ailments that afflict the body.

I understand that not everyone is going to be able or even want to juice at home. Which is why it is important to point out that not all juices are created equal. Those pretty bottles sitting in the grocery store have lost the majority of their nutritional value by the time you drink them. Many also contain added sugar to boost the flavor and artificial flavoring/coloring to enhance the packaging.

If you decide to purchase a pre-made bottle of juice read the label carefully to see exactly what is inside. It might surprise you to know that a single serving of V8 Vegetable Juice contains 480mg of sodium. Yikes! That is 20% of the daily recommended value. Why so much salt? Salt tastes good. When a juice has been sitting on a store shelf for weeks at time it will loose flavor and the salt gives the taste an extra boost. This is why it is highly important to read the labels.

If you are wanting the most bang for your buck and highest nutritional value, it will be better to ditch the ready made juices and find your local juice bar or better yet make your own. I will talk more about the juicing products we have in our home next week.

Think of juicing as a longterm investment for your health. Your body will thank you!

Filed Under: Juicing, Nutrition Tagged With: Juicing