Juicing for Health

I am not an expert!

Andrea asked me about my juicing and to share my recipe. Andrea, this post is for you! :-) LOL.

My goal is to drink freshly made vegetable juice every morning to provide the vitamins that I might otherwise be lacking in my diet. Let's be honest, I don't eat a kale salad everyday and without juicing I wouldn't usually get 5 servings of a variety of veggies per day.

And I don't believe a multi-vitamin is a good source/substitute for healthy fresh vegetables. Most of the vitamin passes through the digestive system without the nutrients being absorbed, and most of the components of the average multi-vitamin are synthetically produced (inferior).

So. First thing in the morning, on an empty stomach, I make and drink my vegetable juice. The standard concoction is:

one bunch of chard,
half a bunch of kale,
half a bunch of parsley,
a carrot,
some radishes (with the greens),
a small chunk of gingerroot,
and a whole lime.

An apple makes it more sweet, but I don't have any on hand this week. Sometimes I add a beet because they have great vitamin content, but lately I've been pickling all my beets so I don't have any of those in the fridge either. A wedge of cabbage is good too, and very mild-tasting.

If you've never tried vegetable juicing, the thing to remember is that it is not a beverage to be sipped and enjoyed like a fresh cold lemonade on a warm day. The goal is nutrition. We don't savor our multi-vitamins.... so juice it, and drink it down! It really doesn't taste bad, but if you're expecting kale to magically taste like fresh-squeezed O.J. then you're going to be disappointed. :-(

Leslie at Not Mine This Time makes a nice beverage. It's 2 apples, a chunk of ginger, and a lemon. It's best to dilute this 50% with water. I tried it with Club Soda and that is good too. If you're a soda junkie and looking for a way to get off the sugar fizz, this would be a good alternative. Make your own soda! :-) It tastes like a Lemon-Lime/Ginger Ale with the apples providing the sweetness.

An important note! If you are going to juice anything, go for the freshest you can buy and go organic! You don't want to dump pesticides straight into your system. Farmer's Markets are everywhere now if you live in California, and these veggies are usually picked THAT morning and often raised without pesticides/herbicides. I have a favorite farmer that supplies all of my veggies for the week for about $25, so fresh and organic does NOT have to be expensive.

Grass-fed beef on the other hand..... very expensive.