If you offered me juice with kale in it a year ago I would have told you to shut the heck up. Green juice is not something I came to love quickly but I decided to give it a shot after hearing about all the health benefits. I also was pretty intrigued after seeing all the offerings at JuiceLand, my local juice shop. Then my boss bought a juicer for our office so it seemed that I was on the hook nevertheless! Here’s what I’ve learned so far as well as my recipe recommendations for juice n00bs.
Getting ready to juice!
1. Less fruit. More veg.
Overall it’s good to try to include only a little fruit, or at least more veggies than fruit because the juicing process removes the fiber which is intended to help your body process the sugar better. So fruit juice is really high in sugar! (But it’s still pretty yummy.) If you’re not ready to go full green on your first juice, try to add less fruit each time you make some and see if that helps. A good practice is to use leafy greens, celery, and/or cucumber as a base and build from there.
2. Wash and cut first to make your life easier.
Rather than adding things one at a time, washing, chopping, peeling, and then starting over, it’s way easier just to get everything ready right off the bat and then add it to your juice. It makes cleaning up easier too! You also need to know what fruits and veggies need to be peeled or de-seeded before you juice them as sometimes seeds, peels, and leaves can be toxic. For example, you should peel any waxed produce such as cucumbers and apples, remove the seeds from apples (they contain a small amount of arsenic), and trim the ends and leaves from carrots and beets. Also, always be sure to wash anything you don’t peel!
3. Lots of produce yields only a little juice.
That’s why fancy juices can end up costing so much money. So before you go crazy buying produce and then become disappointed that you only have a couple glasses of juice, just remember that you’re going to start with a lot and end up with a little. It might be a good idea to get with some friends who want to try juicing and have everybody bring something or even just to make juice only a couple days a week. Produce really isn’t that expensive (depending on what and where you buy), but make sure you have realistic expectations about how much juice you’re going to get.
4. Use add-ins to make juice even better.
To get back the fiber that’s lost when juicing you can add in some ground chia or flax seed after the juice is made. You can also add in spices like pepper or cinnamon to add some kick or some protein powder to make a more substantial meal replacements.
Without further ado, here are a couple of great juice recipes to get you started!
Heart Helper
You might look a little bit vampirish after drinking a glass of this juice with beets in it, but studies have shown that beets can lower blood pressure so this juice is good for the heart!
Makes 2 servings.
Ingredients:
3 apples, peeled and de-seeded
3 stalks of celery, washed
4 small carrots, scrubbed and with ends cut off
3 small beets, ends cut off and peeled
1 cucumber, peeled
about 2″ of ginger, peeled
Peel or wash and prepare all your produce. Add everything together in the juicer. Order doesn’t really matter, but I prefer to use celery last as it can get stuck! Serve immediately.
Detox Blend
This green-eyed monster will make you feel revitalized and the detoxifying properties of kale mean that your liver will thank you after drinking this!
Makes 3 servings.
Ingredients:
3 apples, peeled and de-seeded
4 stalks of celery, washed
4 small carrots, scrubbed and with ends cut off
1 bunch of kale, washed thoroughly
1 cucumber, peeled
about 2″ of ginger, peeled
Peel or wash and prepare all your produce. I like to add kale to the juicer first so the rest of the produce can push it through but it doesn’t really matter what order you put it in. Serve immediately.
Do you have any other go-to juice recipes? Discuss!
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Photo: Samantha Lester
