People have been juicing for years, but it’s new to me and I am loving it! I have always been a juice person because of my sweet tooth, but I cut out store-bought juices from my family’s diet a few years back for a few reasons. It’s high in calories, has unneeded sugars, and can get pretty expensive. In addition, processed juices lose most of their nutrients during the heating and pasteurization process. And most importantly, I thought overall, we just needed to drink more water. So, we were just a juice-free home for many years. And truth be told, I kind of steered clear of juicing for so long because I associated it with veggies, and that was not the kind of juice I wanted to be drinking.
But I was so wrong! What I discovered has me juicing a few times a week, and gives me the ability to sneak some veggies in our diets where I once couldn’t. I was given my juicer for Christmas, and the gift giver knew me well enough to come over with some ingredients, open the box, put the juicer together. He walked me through the entire process for my first batch. If not for that, I am pretty certain my lovely juicer would still be sitting in the box.
Now I am unstoppable! The benefits of juicing are so great. You can add highly concentrated nutrients in a very absorbable format to your diet. You can even sneak in a variety of ingredients for the kids that get masked by the sweetness of the apples, pineapples or oranges.
Here are two of my favorite and simple juicing recipes:
Apple Carrot Ginger Juice
- 4 regular sized carrots washed and peeled, if I get the extra large, I use 2 (I peel them, some people do not)
- 2 large red and delicious apples cored, I use the peels here (for simplicity, I use an apple cutter)
- Ginger to taste, I also put it in with the peels (BE CAREFUL! Ginger is strong. Start with a piece the size of your pinky nail)
Gree Pineapple Lemonade
I call it “green” because I alternate using kale and spinach depending on what I have in the fridge at the time.
- A whole pineapple, peel removed
- 1 lemon, peeled, ( I sometimes put a tiny bit of the lemon peel in there, as it’s super high in vitamin C but it definitely adds a bitter taste.
- A couple of handfuls of spinach or kale (destemmed)
Some juicing tips:
- Your fresh juice is only good for 24 to 48 hours, TOPS. Keep it refrigerated! If it smells rancid, it probably is….
- Wash all fruits and veggies well. This is raw and concentrated food. The grocery stuff gets treated to kill bacteria, which also kills off much of the nutrition. You can get sick if your fruits and veggie are bad. Trust me on this one. Juice with fresh ingredients and clean ingredients.
- Wash your juicer immediately. It’s easiest to clean when the pulp is fresh
- Find something constructive to do with your juicing pulp. Muffins, loaves of bread, compost, pineapple cookies… the options are plentiful!
That’s my little helper who drinks the juice no matter how much ginger I accidentally put in!
*Remember, when juicing, you are taking away most of the fiber, which is an important element in controlling blood sugar levels, digestion and heart health.
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