// Back to Juicing: A few tips//
Raise your hand if you haven’t stopped eating corn casserole, turkey, stuffing, pie, or cookies for the past 4 days? I’ll raise both of my hands and maybe even my right foot. Its about that time again to do a juice detox! For the past month and half, Dan and I have been juicing almost every day but usually just for either breakfast or lunch. It has been wonderful! I thought I’d share a few tips that I’ve learned along the way if you’d like to start juicing.
• Beat it, beets:
When I first started juicing, I would plug my nose and down a full glass of beat, carrot and kale juice. This combination tasted like swallowing a handful of dirt mixed with a full forest. It wasn’t enjoyable! My first suggestion is to find recipes and combinations of juice that you will actually enjoy. Almost any juice combination you come up with will be healthy…so don’t settle and make drinking juice enjoyable! Here is a great site for juice recipes!
• Kale Yes:
I believe kale is the secret weapon behind juicing. It has a mild taste and is full of vitamins. A glass of kale juice will provide over 100% of your daily vitamin A and C intake. Kale is also a rich source of calcium. If you don’t eat a ton a dairy or milk products, this is the vegetable for you! Whole Foods has a great write-up on kale here.
• Easy Tiger:
There are a lot of juice cleanses out there that start you out on a bang with a 5-7 day juice cleanse. I think these are perfectly safe but my advice is to ease into it with a 3-5 day cleanse with the option to eat raw foods for a meal such as a sweet potato, a banana, or roasted vegetables. Your body will still have the benefits of a cleanse because you’ll still be eating raw foods! (you just won’t feel like you’re starving!)
• Bag It:
A friend gave me a little tip when it comes to the pulp coming out the back of the juicer. Use one of your 100,000 plastic bags you have stuffed under your sink to line the pulp pale. After you’re done juicing, just lift the bag and throw it away or compost it! You can add some of the pulp back into the juice for an added benefit of fiber.
• Sweet sweet apples:
Interested in another secret weapon to juicing? Apples! It almost feels like cheating when you use 2-3 apples in juice because it makes it so sweet! If you’re interested in buying organics, this would be the time and place to do so. Those shiny non-organic apples are riddled with amounts of dangerous chemicals and pesticides. Read more here!
• Room Temperature:
I’ve read several places that the juice you’ll make should be room temperature. If it is too cold, it will shock your digestive system and defeat the purpose of doing a gentle juice cleanse.
• Serve it Immediately:
Drink the juice immediately after juicing. You know when you cut an apple and let it sit for an hour and it becomes brown? The same thing happens with juice. The nutrient content will decrease rapidly when raw juices are stored. If you have to juice ahead of time, attempt to not store the juice longer than 24 hours.
• Power Through:
The first couple of days, you will be tired and you might have a headache. These symptoms are are normal! Your body will be filtering through the caffeine, the sugar and the processed foods. Keep going!
• Enjoy!
Have fun with it and enjoy the taste of pure fruits and vegetable juice! I promise you’ll never go back to store bought apple juice again after you taste the difference. Also, enjoy how you’ll feel. Your body will feel lighter, your mind will feel clearer, and you’ll feel better knowing you just downed 3 apples, 3 carrots, a handful of kale, 2 stalks of celery and 3 cups on spinach in just one day!
I thought about putting a beautiful professional photo of a glass of juice here. Lets be real, this is what it looks like and it still tastes great!
