EASY DETOX GREEN JUICE: QUICK NUTRITION!
Green juice is one of those elusive health trends that can cost 9$ at a health food store or smoothie place and leaves you wondering, is it even worth it? No matter the state of your health, making your own green juice at home is cheap and totally worth it! This Detox Green Juice is one of the most powerful ways to rapidly get nutrients into your bloodstream if done the proper way. When drank on an empty stomach, the nutrients present in the juice are absorbed in a matter of minutes. This happens due to the lack of fiber in the juice, which slows down your digestion.
RESEARCH ON GREEN JUICE AND SUGAR SWEETENED BEVERAGES
This is exciting news as green juices are all the rage right now with SO many brands trying to get in on this trend. But I warn you, although it may seem like a good idea to grab that Naked Green Machine juice off the shelf at your local grocery store, there is actually more sugar in that juice than two sodas! You may be thinking “well Crystal, it’s fruit juice so it’s good for me right?!”. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case here. Eating a whole piece of fruit contains all the necessary fiber to properly digest the sugars without spiking blood glucose. Processed fruit juices are stripped of that all important fiber, thus you are left with pure glucose.
One systematic review found that even when replacing sugar sweetened beverages with fruit juice, it still increased risk for Type 2 Diabetes greatly. Yes, there are still important nutrients in fruit, but not after pasteurization and sitting on the shelf for weeks on end. You do not get the same benefits as you would if you had made that juice at home and consumed it right away!
GREEN JUICE SHOULD BE HEAVY ON THE VEGGIES!
This is my fair warning to you to limit the amount of fruit you are adding to your juices especially if you are diabetic or are predisposed to diabetes. I find that one apple is plenty (sometimes I even go without it!) to palate the greens. Over time you’ll find yourself craving the flavor of pure green juices. Vegetable do not contain nearly as much sugar as fruit, so load up on all the greens that you’d like! Green leafy vegetables are something I struggle to incorporate into my diet. Drinking a fresh green juice guarantees that I get those nutrients quickly and in large quantities!
Don’t be afraid to try this recipe! I know it can be a huge lifestyle change to start drinking things like this but I encourage you to try it, even if it’s just once!
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup water
- 2 large leaves of rainbow chard
- 2 large leaves of kale
- ½ cucumber roughly chopped
- 1 green apple roughly chopped
- 1 small thumb of ginger peeled
- juice of 1 lime
Directions
Place all ingredients except the lime juice in the blender in the order listed. Blend at a low speed until the ingredients start to combine, then blend on medium high for 2 minutes (or until completely blended). I use a Vitamix and the juice turns out great, but any blender should work well enough! Pour the mixture through a nut milk bag (I use Ellies Best) or through a sieve over a large bowl pushing down the contents with a rubber scraper until all the juice is extracted and the pulp is relatively dry. Add in the lime juice and enjoy over ice immediately.
Notes
- Keep the stems on the greens! It may seem odd but there are so many nutrients in the stems. They will grind up in the blender and be strained of the pulp anyway!
- You can use ANY kind of greens in this recipe. It’s a great way to experiment with greens you usually wouldn’t buy, aka Rainbow Chard!
- This will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days. When separation occurs, just mix or stir and it will be reconstituted.
