Did You Know ~ Green Juicing

Believe it or not, vegetable juicing is one of the best keys to optimal health and yet most people have never tried it. People who have the healthiest digestive tracts know the importance of juicing and make it part of their daily routine. Some even swear by juicing most meals and eating raw whenever they feel the desire to chew. When you implement juicing into your life and make sure you are getting the required fats, water and healthy salts your body needs, nothing compares to the health you can achieve! Juicing is the easiest way to consume a large amount of raw food, gives the digestive tract a break, cleanses the colon, gives you more energy and an overall sense of well being very quickly! How many things that you do each day can do all of that?

Vegetable juicing works because it balances the acidity that most of us struggle with. We all need about one pound of vegetables for every 50 pounds of body weight to balance our pH, and juicing is the easiest way to manage that.

It's important to eat plenty of necessary fiber found in legumes, whole grains, and whole fruits and vegetables. Juicing releases the nutrients from the fiber of the juice, allowing you to drink vitamins and minerals that would not otherwise be absorbed by the body and leaves the fiber behind.


My husband sent me the list below the other day excited to see once again how healthy our morning ritual of drinking green juice is for us. We both love it and look forward to starting our day off with our green juice. Our friend Joel has been teaching and preparing raw foods for over 8 yrs now and works with Dr. Mehmet Oz in NYC. Joel and I held raw classes together for a few years. I have not read his new e-book yet, but I'm sure it is full of his delicious recipes and easy style of preparing super nutritious meals.

We all know that eating plenty of greens is necessary for optimum health. Eating fresh, organic, local greens is the best medicine we can give our bodies. A daily green juice is one of the best ways to ensure that we get plenty of greens. It makes it so easy, and even those people out there who don't love greens will enjoy a delicious green juice because the flavor can be masked. Green juice is a wonderful way to make sure children are getting all that they need daily for their ever growing bodies!


Here are 6 Reasons to Consume Green Juice Everyday:

• Juicing helps in the absorption of nutrients – If your digestive system is less than optimal, it can be difficult to absorb all of the nutrients when eating greens. Juicing will break down the cell walls of vegetables so that they are pre-digested for you. This means that all of the nutrients go straight into your system.
  

• Juicing means that you can eat more greens – you probably aren't going to eat a whole head of celery in a day…but you can easily drink a whole head of celery juice. Juicing also allows you to consume a wide variety of greens all at once. You most likely wouldn't have kale, cucumber, celery and parsley for breakfast, but you will enjoy it as a juice.
  

• Juicing is a great way to get loads of chlorophyll, which is the building block of our bodies. Chlorophyll is what makes plants green, and it is perhaps the most powerful element that exists in the universe. It is medicine for our bodies. It increases the flow of oxygen to all parts of the body, which means we release more carbon dioxide, toxins and stress. Plenty of oxygen means that our bodies become an aerobic environment where disease cannot live. An anaerobic environment is where disease thrives.
  

• Green vegetables contain nearly all of the trace minerals we need – Most people are seriously lacking in essential minerals which mean that our bodies are not equipped with the necessary resources to fight disease and feel fantastic. Green juice is a great way to get all of the vital minerals for vibrant health.
  

• Green juice provides us with the enzymes that we need to cleanse, detoxify and renew at a cellular level. Enzymes are also needed to digest food. We cannot have amazing health without enzymes. Cooking and processing of any type destroys all enzymes, so raw food, especially greens, is absolutely essential to maintain healthy enzyme levels. A daily green juice is a sure way to maintain enzyme levels.
  

• Juicing makes greens taste great – As mentioned above, juicing can make greens more palatable. This is because they can be sweetened with an apple or carrot. It is essential not to overdo it on apples and carrots because they can raise blood sugar levels, but adding a carrot or apple to a green juice transforms it into a delicious juice that most people will enjoy.

Sheryl Walters

Delicious Green Juice Recipe: (organic veggies only)

2 Sticks of Celery
Handful of Spinach
½ a Cucumber
1 bunch Parsley
1 carrot

When you are introducing small children to juicing, it is best to keep it simple and use only a few ingredients. Children like bland juices with a touch of sweetness. Please don’t make the excuse that they need sweet juices or they won’t drink them. You are truly kidding yourself and cheating your children if you believe this to be true. Here are some tips to making delicious juices for them. Remember do not use spinach until they are about one-and-a-half years old. Children tend to become allergic to the oleic acid in spinach if introduced too early.

Use any of the following two ingredients: cucumbers, celery, parsley, romaine lettuce, apple, kale, and then after it is made, add some coconut juice (water) for extra potassium and many other health benefits from the coconut juice. You will soon realize that juicing for one person does NOT require a lot of vegetables until you are consuming more than 4 ounces of juice at a time and juicing several times throughout the day. Once you work up to this level of juicing it would be a good idea to join a local farm group or CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). If you already belong to one of these then now you know another great way to not waste what you get each week. You can simply juice them.

To make juice go a lot further and to increase the availability and ease of digestion mix half water and half juice, especially for children. Begin them on 1-2 ounces of juice per day and then work up to as many ounces as they ask for. Go for small successes and not struggles when introducing anything new to your family, especially children. Even if they drink only one ounce, that is great. Try to increase it an ounce a day until you reach 6 ounces daily. Nothing is healthier than fresh-made vegetable juice. Follow the same rule for yourself. Start off with three ounces and then slowly increase the amount of juice you are making. This means you are drinking six ounces when mixed with the purified water. For those of you who only drink your juice straight, there is much debate over whether you gain more benefits from diluting it with water or just drinking it straight.

To learn more about juicing and truths about health that will guide you to living the best way you can for you and your family - visitAnother great recipe and way to get in your daily greens - by Joel.

Kale Salad

• 1 head kale
• 1 red pepper diced
• 2 TB Hemp seeds
• 2 TB extra virgin olive oil
• 2 TB lemon juice
• Pinch of sea salt
• 1 tsp your favorite herb mix

Chop kale into bite size pieces add remaining ingredients. Then the secret to making this salad really tasty is to massage the kale mix for 3-5 min. Enjoy!