Green Juice

I'm trying to juice more often. Specifically, with green vegetables. I have a sister that has promoted it for years, and you can't watch TV or read anything about health without realizing how popular green juices are. So I decided to read up on the benefits.

Certainly juicing any fruit or vegetable packs an array of vitamins, minerals and enzymes, but green juices have the additional benefit of not messing with your blood sugar. Green juices are very nutritious. All the sunshine that vegetables require to produce chlorophyll help provide us with more oxygen.

When juicing, it seems the most important thing is to use fresh produce. So use the best quality you can, and it's great if it's organic or sustainably grown. If that's not the case, just wash it gently or peel it. I've read that you need to be careful when combining vegetables with fruits because they require different enzymes for digestion. Still, I always include fruit when I juice greens to make it more palatable. Apples are a good choice because they are more neutral than most fruits, but I also use pears.

Green juice enables us to rid toxins and help cleanse the digestive system. And, as with all juices, it’s quickly absorbed and easily digested. Is it a fad? I don't know, but if you read about juicing greens, it's hard to discount it. So try to make it simple, easy and delicious. You should probably change up the veggies from time to time in order to provide different nutrients, but this recipe is easy for me because I can find these ingredients, all organic, at a local grocery store.

Green Juice 

2 stalks of celery
1 cucumber
1 apple
1/2 lemon, peeled
1 inch of ginger
a handful of parsley
5 kale leaves

Juice the ingredients and enjoy!

Cold Busting Pineapple Juice

 I've had a juicer for nearly a year. I'm not an enthusiastic user, but whenever I make fresh juice I'm reminded just how much I love having this gadget in my kitchen. Recently I had a cold and I was feeling terrible for days never really making any progress, so I decided to try juicing. I made this juice once or twice a day. I know it made a difference in how quickly I recovered. 

There are only three ingredients in this recipe and all are helpful when you're feeling under the weather. Pineapple is a good source of Vitamin C and it fights bacterial and viral infections. Navel oranges are also high in vitamin C and strawberries surprisingly have higher levels of vitamin C and potassium than oranges. All of these fruits will give your immune system a boost, and juiced together they are delicious.

Cold Busting Pineapple Juice

Makes 1 large glass   

1 pineapple  (don't juice the core)

1 navel orange, peeled but leaving some of the white pith on

1 C fresh strawberries, cleaned and cut in half

Juice the pineapple, orange and strawberries. Stir, pour into a glass and enjoy!