Tag: January

You Want Me To Juice Whaaaaaat??

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Do you think green juice is the only juice that is healthy? Well, it’s false. Although it is true that green veggies provide many nutrients we can also benefit from other fruits and veggies as well. If you are just getting started with juicing, or have picky eaters in your family- or children that won’t drink their vegetables, this may be a great place to start.

{Keep In Mind}

You can always add a green or two such as kale, chard, collards, or dark green lettuce and no one will even know it’s there. OR you can even add some spinach and parsley and people won’t taste a thing. Have fun with this….these are yummy!

Moraccan Beet

  • 1 small bunch of mint
  • 1 dark lettuce leaf
  • 1 beet (boiled), with leaves
  • 1 cucumber, peeled if not organic
  • 1 lemon, peeled if not organic

(serves 1)

Hawaiian Breeze

  • 1 orange
  • 1/4 fresh pineapple, peeled if not organic
  • 1/2 cup coconut water

(pour into glass and serve with ice, serves 1)

Lemon-Lime-Blueberry Refresher

  • 1 cucumber, peeled if not organic
  • 1 apple
  • 1 cup blueberries (fresh preferred, if frozen-thaw)
  • 1/2 lemon, peeled if not organic
  • 1/2 lime, peeled if not organic

(served chilled, serves 1)

Pink Lemonade Sparkler

  • 2 apples (green preferred)
  • 1 lemon, peeled if not organic
  • 1/4 beet with leaves
  • 1 cup chilled sparkling water

(juice all ingredients and stir in sparkling water- pour into glass, served chilled. serves 1-2)

Razz and Spazz

  • 1 apple
  • 1 cup rasberries, fresh or thawed if frozen
  • 1/2 cucumber, peeled if not organic
  • 1/4 cup fresh mint leaves

(start with raspberries then apple, cucumber & mint, served chilled, serves 1)

{Benefits of Fruit}

  1. Fruits are low in calories and fat and are a source of simple sugars, fiber, and vitamins, which are essential for optimizing our health.
  2. Fruits provide plenty of soluble dietary fiber, which helps to ward of cholesterol and fats from the body and to get relief from constipation as well.
  3. Fruits contain many anti-oxidants like poly-phenolic flavonoids, vitamin-C, and anthocyanins.These compounds, firstly, help human body protected from oxidant stress, diseases, and cancers, andsecondly; help the body develop capacity to fight against these ailments by boosting our immunity level. Many fruits, when compared to vegetables and cereals, have very high anti-oxidant value, which is something measured by their “Oxygen Radical Absorbent Capacity” or (ORAC).
  4. Anthocyanins are flavonoid category of poly-phenolic compounds found in some “blue-fruits” like blue-black grapes, mulberries, acai berry, chokeberry, blueberries, blackberries, and in many vegetables featuring blue or deep purple color. Eating fruits rich in blue pigments offers many health benefits. These compounds have potent anti-oxidant properties, remove free radicals from the body, and thus offer protection against cancers, aging, infections, etc. These pigments tend to concentrate just underneath the skin.
  5. Fruit’s health benefiting properties are because of their richness in vitamins, minerals, micro-nutrients, anti-oxidants, which helps the body prevent or at least prolong the natural changes of aging by protecting and rejuvenating cells, tissues and organs. Their overall benefits are manifold! Fruit nutrition benefits are infinite! You are protecting yourself from minor ailments like wrinkling of skin, hair-fall, and memory loss to major ailments like age-related macular degeneration (AMRD) of the retina in the eyes, Alzheimer’s disease, colon cancers, weak bones (osteoporosis)…etc., and the list of fruit nutrition benefits never ends!

Important Note: You can add superfoods to ANY smoothie such as chia seeds, flax seeds, and spirulina.

While these juice blends might be tasty- remember fruits contain too much sugar. Try and add greens to every drink to get the most benefit!  80/20 Rule.  A juicing diet should consist of the 80/20 rule. This rule means 80% Alkalizing food and 20% Acidifying food. A normal pH should be between 7.35-7.45. A pH level below 7.0 indicates an acidic forming diet and above 7.0 is Alkaline. You can find a list of Acid/Alkalizing foods here

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Get Your Juice On!

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green juice

Can you imagine eating a grocery bag full of greens everyday during the right seasons?? Few of us even eat the recommended 5 servings of vegetables and fruits a day or three cups of dark green vegetables per week. Yet, these veggies deliver incredible amounts of vitamins, minerals, enzymes and phytonutrients. The GREAT news is that you can consume 1-3 of the Daily allowance in just a single cup.

Dark greens are among the most concentrated source of nutrition. They are a rich source of minerals such as iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium. PLUS vitamins K, C, E, and B vitamins. They provide phytonutrients (protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age related diseases). Dark greens even contain omega-3 fats!

{Good To Know}

It’s the root that provide the leaf with nutrients from the soil. The moment the leaf is picked and the connection with the root is broken, the nutritional value of the leaf begins to deteriorate.

5 Green Drink Recipes:

Green Supreme

  • 1 handful of parsley
  • 1 small handful of cilantro
  • 1 chard leaf
  • 2 ribs of celery w/ leaves
  • 1 cucumber (peeled if not organic)
  • 1 lemon (peeled if not organic)
  • 1 inch chunk ginger root

(serves 2)

Lean Mean Green Juice

  • 1 handful of spinach
  • 1 handful of parsley
  • 2 kale leaves
  • 2 ribs of celery with leaves
  • 1 cucumber, peeled if not organic
  • 1-inch chunk ginger root
  • 1/2 pear
  • 1/2 green apple

(serves 2)

Red Sails in the Sunset

  • 3 carrots, scrubbed well, tops removed, ends trimmed
  • 1/2 red bell pepper with seeds
  • 1 small beet with leaves
  • 1 leaf red swiss chard
  • 1 lemon, peeled if not organic

(serves 1)

V-8 Charger

  • 1 tomato
  • handful of spinach
  • 1 small handful of parsley
  • 1 kale leaf
  • 2 lettuce leaves
  • 3 carrots, scrubbed well, tops removed, ends trimmed
  • 2 ribs of celery with leaves
  • 1 lemon, peeled if not organic

(serves 2)

Magnesium Special

  • 4-5 beet tops
  • 2 swish card leaves
  • 2 collard leaves
  • 1 cucumber, peeled if not organic
  • 1/2 green apple (omit if diabetic)
  • 1/2 lemon, peeled if not organic

(serves 2)

{Benefits of Magnesium}

  • major effect on preventing heart attacks
  • vital role in fighting off stress
  • relaxes muscles
  • prevents osteoporosis
  • builds healthy bones
  • supports restful sleep
  • prevents restless leg syndrome
  • prevents constipation
  • boosts energy
  • calms the body and relieves tension

Magnesium-rich greens include:

  • chard
  • collards
  • beet tops
  • parsley
  • spinach
  • kale
  • dandelion greens
  • lettuce (dark green)
  • mustard greens

Remember you can always play around with recipes. The one pictures above was basic but honestly tasted great. I was really nervous to drink it for fear that it would taste like dirt (no joke) but was pleasantly surprised that not only was it good…it was refreshing and I wanted more. (Note to self: Use green apples instead of red because they are less sweet).Let me know your thoughts…and any fun green recipes you might have!

All recipes and information can be found in this great book called Big Book of Juices & Green Smoothies! Check it out.

Small Health Habits That Make A Difference.

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clever

1. Change Your Breakfast:

If you switch to an unsweetened breakfast of eggs (over easy with turkey bacon; scrambled with broccoli), you’ll eat five to six times less sugar than if you simply drink your coffee black (although you can do that, too). Bonus: The extra protein might make you feel fuller longer, eliminating your craving for a 10 a.m. bear claw.

2. Change Up Your Grains:

Try quinoa, barley, polenta, couscous and bulgur wheat, as well as that Indian recipe you stuck on your fridge months ago (aromatic rices like basmati and jasmine showed about half to one-eighth the level of arsenic as rice grown in the southern United States). When you do eat brown rice, be sure to treat it like pasta and rinse it in plenty of water

3. Eat Your Reds:

No one has to remind you of the importance of green, leafy vegetables, but what about red, round fruit—specifically, tomatoes? This star of Italian-American cuisine and a darling of home gardeners is off the charts in lycopene, an antioxidant compound that has been linked to a reduced risk for cancer, cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration. Recently, a study published in the journal Neurology suggested that high levels of lycopene in the blood may offer protection against strokes. Finnish researchers followed more than 1,000 men ages 46 to 55 and found that those with the highest levels of lycopene were 55 percent less likely to have a stroke than those with the lowest levels. Interestingly, it may be easier for the body to absorb lycopene from cooked tomato products (especially those with a small amount of oil or fat) than from raw tomatoes.

4. Force yourself to move around the office:

Chances are, the most remote corner of your office remains safe and dry no matter what’s going on outside, so adjust your computer settings to always send your documents to the printer there. If you’re trying to save trees (another commendable habit), skip the printing and journey to a faraway bathroom instead.

*I snagged this from the Small Health Habits That Make a Big Difference. Check out the full article!

Remember- small changes = BIG results! Operation “Tackle January” begins NOW!