Nutrition

 

“Green Juice” has an alluring level of mystery to it.

Green Potion. Green Mystery. Green Machine. Green Lantern. Green

something else…
The term green juice, is meant to describe any juice – that is in fact some shade of the color green. Green juice may be a combination of fruit and veggies or it may be 100% veggies. Green Juice ingredients may be 100% crisp green, or a rainbow of colors. I’m a personal fan of using all greens.

ALL YOU VEGGIE HATERS DRINK UP!

Most people assume that if they hate veggies, they will dislike green juice. (Sorry to through you under the bus dad.)  Not so. Green juice, when properly prepared delivers delightful intermingling flavors: salty and sweet. Spicy and sour. Pungent and mild. Tart and warm. Each ingredient produces a unique flavor property – and with a little creative license, you can easily craft your perfect variation of “Green Juice”. Here are my favorite recipes – and a few steps to creating your own…

Also, don’t be affraid to add weeds to your green drinks. Personally I love juicing recipes with dandelion greens, comfrey and nettle leaf.

Ginger…. mmmmm

 

Parsley – So Good

 

Silly Cilantro

 

Green Juice Ingredients. Here are a few of my faves and my flavor analysis of them:

Green Juice

Green Juice Ingredients:
Arugula juice- spicy, grassy
Basil juice – sweet, spicy
Bell Pepper juice- hydrating, sweet, zesty
Cabbage juice – mildly grassy
Celery juice  – zesty, hydrating
Green Chard juice- grassy, sweet
Cilantro juice – sweet, fragrant
Collard greens juiced – grassy
Cucumber juice – hydrating, sweet/sour
Endive juice – bitter
Fennel juice  – anise, zesty
Green apples juiced – very sweet, tart
Green grapes juiced – very sweet, tart
Green onion juiced – zesty, spicy
Green pears juiced – very sweet
Honeydew juice- sweet, hydrating
Jalapeno juice- spicy, zesty
Kale  juice- grassy, dark
Kiwifruit juice – tart, sweet, zesty
romaine juice – hydrating, mild, grassy
Lime juice – sour, zesty
Mache juice- grassy, dark
Parsley juice – grassy, zesty
Spinach juice – grassy, dark, pungent
Watercress juice – spicy, grassy, hydrating
Wheatgrass juice – very grassy
Zucchini juice- hydrating, mildly bitter
Mint juice- vibrant, minty, cooling
assorted green herbs

Non Green Ingredients
Pears – very sweet
Apples – sweet/tart
Ginger – very spicy
Orange – zesty, sweet
Lemon – tart, zesty (remove seeds)
Pineapple – zesty, very sweet
Carrots – sweet, thick
Grapefruit – sweet/tart, mildly bitter
Blueberries – sweet, thick
Jicama – thin, mild, cooling
Radish – zesty
Beet – sweet, dark
Garlic – zesty, spicy
Tomato – sweet, zesty

Other Green Juice Add-in’s:
Black Pepper – spicy
Spirulina – seaweed/nutrients
Cayenne – spicy
Wild Oregano Oil – Spicy
Habanero Powder – Man Up
Pine Polen – Salty

 

In conclusion, get yo’ greens dude. Stop messing around with your health. You can either pay for your health now or sickness later.

Today let’s think about revamping breakfast foods we already love to make them healthier. It is possible (and very important!) to include wholesome goodness in every meal of the day. Here are some sneaky ways for parents, dieters, or the conscious cooker, to up the health factor of breakfast meals cooked at home. I have even included my favorite breakfast recipe at the bottom of this page! Enjoy.

Protein for Breakfast!

My kids love a big bowl of cereal in the morning, but you know who doesn’t? Their teacher. Carb-loaded breakfasts lead to one thing; rowdy children in class. Studies have shown that when children with ADD have protein with breakfast, they are better focused and calmer in school. So if it works for “energized” kids, why not for “normal” kids and adults? Furthermore, protein helps keep you fuller longer so you are not dying for a mid-morning snack.

The Quick Sneak: Try adding pasteurized liquid egg whites to your cereal (Check out these awesome healthy cereal recipes). You can order delicious flavors on-line or simply buy a box from your local grocery store. Add a splash of egg whites followed by a splash of almond or coconut milk and you have a delicious cereal concoction to keep you fueled all morning. Don’t eat cereal? Add egg whites to your cooked oatmeal, into smoothies, or microwave some in a mug for an instant on-the-go scramble.

Veggies for Breakfast!

A great way to incorporate veggies into your breakfast is to pre-chop a melody of veggies the night before while you are cooking dinner, throw them in your scramble or omelet and BAM! health is served.

The Sneak: (my recipe below!) Before making pancakes, blend 1 cup of spinach with either the milk or egg whites you will be using in your batter. Yes, your pancakes will now be green but there is no change in tastiness! Try this for St. Patrick’s day! Don’t eat pancakes? Blend spinach into smoothies, or into the egg whites you are now pouring onto your cereal.

More quick and easy breakfast ideas:

Smoothies, because they are delicious.

Turkey bacon, because it has way less fat and the same deliciousness as piggies.

Soaked Oats, rinse and eat, no cooking necessary.

Greek yogurt, because it’s loaded with protein. Watch sugar content!

Protein Vanilla Frappuccino:

–           1 scoop Sunwarrior Vanilla Protein Powder

–           1 Starbucks Via

–           1.5 cups raw spinach

–           1 handful of ice + 1 cup H2O

Blend well in blender.

Green pancake:

–           1 scoop Sunwarrior Vanilla Protein Powder

–           1 cup raw spinach

–           ½ cup old fashion oats (dry)

–           ½ cup egg whites

–           ½ banana, sliced

Blend spinach, egg whites, and oatmeal in blender, stir in banana, cook like a pancake over medium heat.

When I first learned about green juicing, I knew right away it was not for me. Although the benefits of green juicing were enormous, the amount of time and effort it takes to juice a day’s worth was not exactly enticing, and then green juice experts will tell you that the benefits decline as you store your freshly juiced vegetables and fruits. As an engineer, mom, blogger and a fitness junkie, I felt like this was an ordeal I could not overcome. Identify obstacles that stop or de-motivate you from sticking to a healthy lifestyle as beneficial as green juicing.

1. Add Green Juicing to your Daily Calendar

‘A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.’ ~Anthony Trollope

We all have great ideas and projects we would love to accomplish over a certain period and sometimes because we fail to pencil them down, we forget about it, and let other things in our lives wash over them. The same applies to living a healthy lifestyle, it always comes with so much commitment and we always fall short, everybody falls short. But, if you can just add Green Juicing (Click here for some great smoothie recipes) to your daily habits (it only takes 30 days to form a habit by the way), you will be doing yourself and your future a huge favor.

2. Plan It, Don’t Panic

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle

The first couple of days were rough. It took me forever to get my vegetables cleaned, assemble my juicer, juice and then clean up. At that point, I felt like giving up. But as the days went by, I got smarter, leaner and meaner. I quickly incorporated lean manufacturing techniques from work, and cleaned my vegetables the night before, the beets were usually diced the previous evening too, so I don’t get my kitchen all messy before leaving for work. I assembled the juicer before going to bed, and got all my containers out ahead of time.

3. Establish a Sleep Routine

Each morning sees some task begin, each evening sees it close; Something attempted, something done, Has earned a night’s repose ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I established a bed time and a wake up time. 6-7 hours of sleep is good for me, so I plan around that time range. I get up daily as early as 4:30am to green juice. At 5:00am, I am meditating and thinking through my to-do list for the day, sipping on oolong tea (a substitute for coffee for me, and perfect at work during meetings when everyone is drinking coffee). At 5:30am, I wake up my three year-old and get everyone ready for the day. By 7:00am, I am at work and knocking things off my list. Studies have shown that people who wake up early are more successful than their peers. They get the most done and they make more money. If you are not sure where your time is going, track your time for a week and make adjustments.

4. Be Flexible

Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it. Always work with it, not against it. – Eckhart Tolle

So many things can get in the way of a healthy lifestyle – vacation, a night out with friends, long work hours, and so on. After my commitment to green juicing, I have never missed a day. I just got back from a vacation on the top of the mountain skiing, and I never missed a day green juicing. I partied hard, and green juiced harder. One of my many tricks is having an airtight container for storage and if possible, take your juicer with you.

5. Spread the Love

Remember, we all stumble, every one of us. That’s why it’s a comfort to go hand in hand. – Emily Kimbrough

Since starting my juicing journey, I got my friends and co-workers involved by talking about it, showing off my results and getting them all excited. After a couple of weeks, they kept seeing dramatic results in my appearance and energy levels, and quickly got onboard. This week, I am embarking on a green juice fast with one of my colleagues who also started green juicing three weeks ago. This simple step solidifies my commitment to green juicing not just at home, but at work as well.

People often ask me for ideas on what they can add to their juice for an extra nutritional kick and still have it taste amazing.

I have three great additions to share with you that I’ve been using a lot lately.

They are: Turmeric, Garlic, and Artichokes.

 Turmeric

Here’s the quick and juicy info on Turmeric and Curcumin.

Curcumin is found within turmeric and is what gives it the yellow color. According to preliminary research by Medical University Graz in Austria, it seems to delay liver damage which could lead to cirrhosis. Rodent studies at the University of Texas indicate that curcumin inhibits the growth ofmelanoma, a type of skin cancer, and also slows the spread of breast cancer into the lungs. Do you love barbecued meats? Be careful. Consuming meat which has been prepared this way forms a carcinogenic compound in your blood called “heterocyclic amines.” The good news comes from a Kansas State University study, that discovered that by adding certain spices, including turmeric, these toxins can be removed by up to 40%.

Pepper up! By combining pepper and turmeric, you can enhance curcumin’s bioavailability by 1,000 times. This is possible thanks to piperine, an alkaloid responsible for black pepper’s potency. Shake a little of it into your juice for a healthy kick!

Garlic

 

This is good for much more than keeping vampires at a distance. Still, it gets in trouble whenever its name is mentioned, because people automatically assume that it will leave them with garlic breath. Try this: Wrap garlic with parsley before juicing, and worry not about offending anyone who might be standing close by. The parsley completely masks the garlic scent! And for those mosquitos that wander near, they’ll not want to stick around long since they can smell garlic from up to 40 yards away.

Now let’s dig a little deeper. Garlic is a natural antibiotic and was used to treat soldiers in WW2. Unlike synthetic antibiotics, our bodies do not build up an immunity to the antibiotics in garlic. Cool!

A group of researchers at Ziaonan Lu of Washington State University isolated a compound in garlic called dilly sulphide. They tested it against Campylobacter bacteria. This is a bacteria that is one of the most common in foodborne illness. They found it to be 100 times more effective at killing the bacteria than two other common synthetic antibiotics. Powerful stuff, no doubt!

 

Jerusalem Artichokes

During a conversation with my doctor about great sources of prebiotics, she mentioned Jerusalem artichokes. I searched for two weeks and finally found them at a nearby grocery store.

Jerusalem artichokes are a great source of fiber and taste like jicama. When juiced, you will reap the benefits of getting all of that potassium and iron. These little dudes are also great at feeding the good flora in your gut. Your body is mostly made up of bacteria, and when thinking of it this way, you will start to make choices based on what is good for the bacteria that gives life. Feed them well and be well!

Naturally, there is far more to good health than adding these three quirky delights to your food. But as part of an overall plan that includes an anti-inflammatory diet, regular exercise, stress-reduction and prudent supplementation, these can be a valuable addition to your healthy lifestyle, and a great habit with which to continue on into a happy new year!