I've gotten a number of great questions about juicing lately, so I thought I'd share in a bit more detail for all my juice-lovin' friends!
We began our own juice habit 8-ish years ago. I decided it was the way to lose weight (this was at the very beginning or our journey towards clean eating, before I realized how unnecessary crazy weight loss schemes were) so I bought an expensive juicer and loads of organic produce and made myself down-right miserable for two weeks on a very strict liquid diet. Suffice it to say it was an epic fail. I think I lost two pounds. Maybe a pound it a half. I can't even remember now.
Suffice it to say I don't personally consider juicing a great long-term weight loss plan anymore (though certainly it helps), but rather a simple way to get more vitamins/nutrients/raw produce in our diet. It also helps get us through the yucky cold & flu season unscathed, and it's a great way to use up expensive organic produce I don't plan to use but certainly don't want going bad. Oh, it also has to be yummy. I'm not going to all the trouble simply to torture myself with a disgusting concoction. *raise your hand if you loathe cleaning your juicer after each use*
We have several go-to recipes we use time and again, adding in a few random things here and there when we have it on hand or feel a bit daring!
Cranberry Pear
- 1/2 c cranberries
- 2 pears
- 1 cucumber
- 1/2 lemon
- 1 inch of ginger root
Citrus-y Beet (this is a fantastic recipe from Joy the Baker, love her!)
- 1 peeled grapefruit
- 1 peeled orange
- 4 carrots
- 1 beet
- 1 inch of ginger
Blueberry Apple
- 1 c blueberries
- 1 green apple
- 1 cucumber
- 4 large kale leaves (or spinach, chard, etc.)
- 1/2 peeled lemon
Carrot Apple (Josh's classic go-to)
- 2 medium apples
- 4-5 carrots
Green Lemonade
- 2 medium apples
- handful of spinach (or kale, etc.)
- 1 whole peeled lemon
I'm not a stickler about the fruit being peeled, but we always scoop off the froth. Some people don't, but I'm not a fan. We also like it coooold! Storing your produce in the fridge does the trick, but if it's a tad on the warm side a couple ice cubes or few minutes in the fridge won't hurt it. Of course, drinking it as soon as possible will yield the most nutrients.
So those are our favorites! What are yours? Any particular recipes we should try?? I'd love to find something yummy with pineapple...