"J" IS FOR JUICE

Every now and then, I love to break out my trusty juicer. I’m thankful for the flood of nutrients that instantly awaken and heal every cell in my body.  I don’t juice because I’m “on a juice cleanse.”  I believe, for the most part, that cleansing is a job my body was brilliantly created to do on its’ own each day.  I cleanse to assist my body in that natural process, but also to give my body a boost of concentrated, raw, nearly pre-digested nutrients that can be readily absorbed and used!

Juices retain most of of the vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients found in the whole versions of those foods. These nutrients can help protect against a host of inflammatory diseases and help guard the body against free radicals.   There ARE, however, some common pitfalls when it comes to juicing, so let’s take a look at 3 of those.

1. WE FORGET TO CHOOSE ORGANIC: When juicing, it’s even more important to juice with organic veggies and fruits to avoid ingesting a high amount of pesticides and chemicals.  Juices are highly concentrated beverages, and due to the absence of fiber, its’ contents are absorbed rapidly into our bodies.

2. WE DRINK THEM SOLO: I usually have my juice with a meal.  If I’m drinking my juice between meals as part of a snack, I will combine it with a healthy fat like raw nuts.  Some of the vitamins in a glass of juice are fat soluble, so in order for the body to actually absorb those fat-soluble vitamins and nutrients, ingesting fat is required.   

3. WE CREATE “SUGAR BOMBS”: Who doesn’t like the sweet taste of fruit juices?? I get it, but when juicing, limit the fruit to choices like: 1 green apple, or a few small chunks of pineapple. By removing the fiber in the juicing process, we have nothing to slow down the blood sugar spike that will happen when we ingest liquified fruit. Plus, it’s easy to throw in several apples, and other fruits, and still not have a full glass of juice. Juicing can be deceptive in that way, so create a base of veggies, and add a tiny amount of fruit to the mix. Here are some of my current juice faves:

• handful of: organic kale and romaine lettuce

• a few stalks of organic celery

• 1/2 organic cucumbers

• 1 large fuji apple 

• parsley

• 1 lemon, peeled

• a piece of ginger root

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• 2 carrots

• 1 beet

• hearty knob of ginger

• 1 lemon, peeled

• handful of kale

• handful of parsley

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• 1 cucumber

• 2 handfuls kale

• 1 handful spinach

• 1 lemon, peeled

• 1/2 green apple

• 2 chunks of pineapple