Beauty Food: Green Juice + how to make it at home

Ever since my Organic Avenue cleanse I’ve been hooked on juicing. It was really an eye-opening experience and tangible proof that clean eating can lead to optimal health. In just three days of an organic raw food juice cleanse, I felt so energized and alive. It truly amazed me. My wife also participated in the juice cleanse with me and we both agreed that we needed a juicer at home immediately so that we could make our own delicious blends of juice. Now if you’ve never juiced before, taking a real close look at a green drink can be off-putting, I certainly agree with that. However green juice doesn’t taste as bad as it looks – in fact it doesn’t taste bad at all if you have the right blend of veggies.

Why juice? Some of my friends have asked why I juice and it’s a really great question. When vegetables are cooked, sensitive micronutrients become damaged thereby limiting their nutritional value. Micronutrients help maintain the oxygen balance in your brain and fight free radicals – see very important! Juicing also allows your body to more easily absorb all the nutrients from the vegetables that you ingest. Lastly, the enzymes in fresh fruits and vegetables help to convert food into body tissue and energy and these enzymes can also increase your metabolic rate.

When I don’t buy my green juice, here is one of my favorite green juice recipes:

Green Juice Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Parsley
• 2 handfuls of Kale
• 4 stalks of Celery
• 2 handfuls of Spinach
• 1 medium Cucumber
• 1 Carrot

Once you have all of your ingredients just put them in your juicer, skim the top and drink! This serves 1-2 people.

Why these ingredients:

• Parsley contains more vitamin C than oranges, purifies the blood, dissolves cholesterol and can even kill bacteria leaving you mouth fresh.
• Kale was added because it contains two powerful antioxidants that protect our cells from free radicals that cause oxidative stress; it also contains vitamin C, vitamin A, and manganese.
• Celery it surprisingly powerful – it was used by the Greeks medicinally to treat arthritis, kidney stones and liver problems. Celery has also been associated with lowering of blood pressure and recent studies have shown that celery might also be effective in fighting cancer. The minerals found in celery juice effectively balance the body’s blood pH, neutralizing acidity and can even replace lost electrolytes and hydrate the body post workout.
• Spinach has a high antioxidant combination (zinc, selenium, vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, manganese) that can combat the onset of osteoporosis and high blood pressure.
• Cucumbers are very high in vitamin K which can improve bone strength and their high potassium level can help to reduce blood pressure. Cucumbers have also been used in the treatment Alzheimer’s disease patients. There are several studies that show that carrots can lower the risk of developing breast cancer, colon cancer and lung cancer.
• Carrots are rich in vitamin A and are effective in detoxifying the liver – which is great for your skin.

All of the vegetables in the green juice drink have many vitamins and nutrients and not just the few that I listed. I juice because it’s like I’m flushing my body with the most nutrient rich food possible and I’m feeding it with what it needs to function at it’s best and to stay healthy. I believe that juicing is essential for good health especially in the toxic environment that we live in. We eat everything from processed foods to artificial ingredients and on top of that we often use chemical laden beauty products on our bodies- so it’s important that we do something healthful to counteract some of the toxic things that we come in contact with daily. Many movies like Forks over Knives, The Beautiful Truth , Dying to Have Known, Food Matters as well as other documentaries show us that raw juices can not only prevent disease but can in some cases cure it. The rich antioxidants help to cleanse toxins and eliminate stored wastes that interfere with the proper functioning of cells and organs. Not only that but juicing is good for your skin, some raw food studies have shown improvement in skin conditions such as eczema, acne, dryness and oiliness. So have you gone raw yet?