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We humans are always looking for the quick fix or the easy way out.
This usually doesn’t work in the health world, however in this post I’ll share with you one simple thing that you can do that yields huge health dividends.
What is this magical elixir?
Green Juice.
Juicing is fairly well-known in the natural health world, however there are many different takes on what and how you juice. Not surprisingly, some are better than others.
In this post I’ll share all the juicy (get it?!) secrets, so you can get the maximum benefit with minimum time, effort, and yes…cost.
But first, a little inspiration to get you going.
Did your mother ever tell you to eat your veggies? Did you know that almost every health authority recommends 6-8 servings of vegetables and fruits per day? Green juice is a great way to guarantee that you not only meet, but exceed your recommended veggie intake.
Think about it…green juice takes several pounds of vegetables, concentrates the nutrients, and puts them in a form that is easy for the body to assimilate.
That’s right, serious natural nutrient infusion.
Green juice is also:
And some say green juice can:
For me personally, I can honestly say that I have experienced the health transformational power of drinking green juice.
The best thing to do is to give a try, and see what it does for you. It doesn’t happen overnight. You might not like it at first. It might not feel good. But consitency and persistance pays off.
I am firmly convinced that juicing is the final key to giving you a radiant, energetic life, and truly optimal health. – Joseph Mercola, M.D.
I’m about to reveal to you the top-secret green juice recipe that will unequivocably solve all your problems, make everyone fall instantly in love with you, and…SAVE THE WORLD!!! That’s right.
You’ll notice that this juice has no sweetener. It doesn’t need one. I put in apples for years before finally realizing that I liked the taste so much better with out. Fruit juice can spike blood sugar and insulin levels, so while a nice treat, I don’t drink fruit juice on a regular basis.
We’ll just stick with the green juice for this blog post and let you do your own research on the fruit juices.
But know this: Juice without a sweetener is a low-glycemic juice! It’s the perfect health trifecta: nutrient-dense, alkalizing, and low-glycemic!
Ok, onwards.
The recipe:
You’ll need:
That’s it! 3 ingredients! Delicious! I made juice from this exact recipe yesterday and it yielded over 32oz — more than two pint glasses worth of juice.
Extras?
Once you get this down you can then experiment with adding condiments, like running an inch-long knob of ginger through the juicer, or a quarter of lime with peel intact. You can also try adding cayenne powder (1 tsp), tumeric powder (1 tbsp), or cinammon (1 tsp)
1. Get a juicer.
If you are going to make juice you need a juicer. I highly recommend the Omega 8006 (not an affiliate link, just the juicer I use and used every day for nearly two years when I first began juicing). Why the Omega? It is easy to clean (super important!) It is a slow juicer which keeps the valuable and sensitive micronutrients in the juice intact and gives you a higher quality of juice. The Omega is also versatile, able to juice just about everything well from wheatgrass to carrots. The only thing it doesn’t do well are softer fruits such as apples, but it makes a mean green juice, and that is what we are here for.
Insider secret. if you don’t have a juicer, you can make juice with a high-powered blender like the vitamix. Just blend your ingredients and strain them through a nut milk bag.
2. Get produce.
People typically have two complaints about juicing. The first being that it is time consuming, and the second being that is expensive. While there isn’t much we can do about number one, a little negotiation can go a looong way with cost.
In order to save yourself money, you need access to good quality, organic, preferrably local produce. And where do you find local produce? At the farm!
Stop by the nearest organic farm and get to know the person growing your veggies. Farmers typically have extremely high standards for their produce, and you can sometimes get high quality produce with slight cosmetic imperfections for a lot less strain on your money bag. These are called “seconds” in the farm business.
Now, I’m going to share with you the exact script that I used to negotiate a deal with the farm just down the street from me. After this conversation, I received free…yes, FREE seconds from this farm for nearly two years. Every thursday I would stop by, say hello to Gwen (name changed so she doesn’t get hit up by dozens of greedy juicers to be) and load up my bags with carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, celery, and drop dead gorgeous greens.
Me: Wow what good looking greens you have (ie compliment the produce, but perhaps use a less creepy opener)
Gwen: Yeah, we pretty much rule at farming.
Me: I know how difficult it is to farm, and I love supporting local farmers. Do you have any way that I can cut out the middle man and buy produce directly from you?
Gwen: Um, obviously, you are currently talking to me in the middle of our farm stand.
Me: Wonderful. You see, health has become a big priority for me recently (if you have a health challenge, go ahead and share it. Sympathy points!) and I’ve taken up juicing. As a farmer, I’m sure you understand the connection to health, food, and soil, so I’m trying to get as many veggies into my system as I possibly can. I’m sure I’ll be coming in a lot, and if you ever have any opportunities for a work trade or deals on seconds or have too much of something you need to get rid of, I’d be more than happy to buy them from you. As long as the veggies are good quality, it doesn’t matter to me how they look.
Gwen: In fact, we throw out our seconds every Thursday. Why don’t you just come by on Thursday mornings and you can take what you need.
Me: Millions of peaches, peaches for me. Millions of peaches, peaches for me! Moving to the country…gonna eat a lot of peaches.
Gwen: Why are you standing in the corner singing to yourself?
Me: Oh no reason…See you on Thursday!
You get the idea. The key is to first establish a good relationship with the farm, and come from the place of wanting to support the farmer and make the relationship work for them. Who knows if you’ll be able to get a deal, but take whatever is offered graciously, and really do make it a priority to support them as much as possible. Farmers work incredibly hard and for most of them financial struggle is just a way of life.
Don’t have a farm nearby? Stop by the farmers market. If you go at the end of the market, farmers are usually trying to get rid of everything that didn’t sell, so you may be able to get a deal.
No farmers market? Find out where your local health food store sources their greens. You may be able to get a wholesale account with a local organic food distributor. They may require an EIN (business tax number) and they will most likely have a minimum order amount with some being higher than the others. If you can meet the minimum order by yourself, great, and if not how about going in with some friends? Friends that juice together, stay together…or something like that.
Juice!
3. Prep.
Le sigh, your newly acquired veggies need to be prepped for juicing. This means washing (yeah you really should wash them, even if they are organic), and cutting. Peel the cucumbers if they aren’t organic. The downside of the Omega 8006 Juicer is that it has a fairly small feed chute. To save time, you can do one major prep session of your veggies to last 2 – 3 days. Just wash and cut big batches and them store them in the fridge.
4. Juice
When your veggies are prepped, its time to turn them into green gold. Just turn the on switch and go. Start with the cucumbers and alternate with the celery, so that the cucumbers don’t clog the system.
Juice is best consumed fresh, but you can make a bigger batch for the whole day and maybe the next. Any juice not immediately consumed should go right into the fridge.
How much should you drink? As much as possible! You can’t drink too much juice.
However, especially when starting out we want to make green juice a habit. And habits are best formed when we make them easy!
So everyday for the next three days, I want to challenge you to make just one pint, thats 16oz, of juice in the morning.
Your body will thank you.
Do you have a favorite juice recipe? Share it in the comments below! We love to hear from you.
We will never sell your information or spam you, ever.
Matt Jager is a wellness activist, yogi and co-founder of True Wellth. His life mission is to transform the healthcare and food system in this country, so that every single person has access to the tools and support they need to look and feel their best, control their health, own their happiness and revolutionize their well-being.
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