Juice Yourself Thin

 

When I suggest to patients that they start having a green drink each day. Most people look at me a little funny. More often than not at their next visit they report that the green drink “wasn’t bad” and that they had begin to develop a taste for it.

Developing a taste for green drinks is just like developing a taste for vinegar or red wine. Remember the first time you had a spoonful of vinegar? Once your brain knows what taste to associate with what your ingesting it makes it a lot more palatable. And many of my patients would admit that they have grown to enjoy their green drinks AND look forward to them.

Juicing is superb for your health and can help with boosting health in many ways including weight loss. Lets take a closer look at the benefits of juicing…and why it is so important.

It is very easy for the digestive system to absorb fresh pressed juice. Since it is raw the enzymes are present in the juice along with the vitamins and minerals that have been extracted straight from the plants. Fresh vegetable juice gets into the system quickly and is much faster than chewing a bowl of lettuce, carrots, beets, celery, parsley, mint, cilantro, apple and fennel.

Squeezed vegetable juice is very nutrient dense.  This concentration acts to supercharge the system in the same way that concentrated herbal formulas work.

Chlorophyll, a substance found exclusively in plants, has a structure similar to hemoglobin in our blood. Hemoglobin is responsible for transporting oxygen in the blood.  It is found that consuming chlorophyll (including algae) enhances the ability of the body to produce hemoglobin, leading to increased oxygen transport in the body.  When cells are oxygenated, they work better, produce more energy, and are able to DETOXIFY better.

Fat cells and specifically cellulite hold toxins. Once toxins begin to be removed cellulite disappears.

Here are some tips to make your juicing experience ideal right from the start.

 

Tip #1: More vegetables, less fruit

• Watch the sugar content in your juice- Do not juice fruit only.  Often when people make juice they use sweet fruits and vegetables such as, carrots, whole apples, oranges, and other fruits, this can lead to blood sugar instabilities.
• Consuming too much fruit juice is counterproductive to cleansing and overall health. Sugar is inflammatory to the body, lowers vitality, and promotes many disease processes. Yes, this is true even for FRUIT.
• It is ok to add a little fruit to the juice, to make it tasty, such as ½ an apple, pear or orange OR a ½ cup of berries.
• Overall it is better to eat a piece of fruit than to juice it because eating it will include the fiber and essential phytonutrients in the skin.
• The veggies that make the best foundations of a juice are celery, fennel, and cucumber, which are low in sugar. Typically the rest of the ingredients can be added in support of the base.

 

Tip #2: Drink right away

•  The longer the juice sits, the less enzymatically active it becomes losing nutrients to oxygenation.
• If you want to store it, place in an airtight glass container, and drink over the next few hours, throughout the day
• Otherwise, store in freezer
• Juicing extracts the juice of the plant only. It does not include the fiber of the plants. If you want the fiber please refer to the blending post entitled: Summertime, Swimsuits, and Blender Drinks.
• Here are some recipes to get you started.

 

Juicing Recipes

 

Juice Boost

– ¼ beet
– 2 cups beet greens or spinach
– 1 cup dandelion greens or lettuce or Swiss chard
– 1 carrot
– ½ apple
– ½ cucumber
– 2-3 stalks celery

 Alkalizing Green Juice

– 4 celery ribs
– 1 cucumber
– 2 Swiss chard leaves
– 1-cup parsley
– 2 cups spinach
– ½ apple

Uber Green Drink

-2 large cucumbers (peeled if not organic)
-3 kale leaves chopped
-2 cups romaine lettuce
-4 or 5 stalks celery
-1 or 2 big broccoli stems or 2 cups spinach/parsley blend
-1/2 pear or green apple (optional)
-1 inch of ginger (or less)

 

As you become more comfortable making juice, you will experiment more and use what you have in the fridge to make delicious and spontaneous blends.

Ginger and Daikon radish can be added for a spicier and warmer flavor. If you already run hot these are probably not the best choice for you. However if you tend to be chilly, Ginger is a fantastic anti-inflammatory that will also warm you up.

Bottoms up!

With Love,

Dr. Purcell

P.S. Here’s a quick 5 minute video about Healthy Hydration and Juicing: