Juicing Love

Anyone who knows me knows I am a huge juice lover. I wanted to share a little bit of why I juice so much and the awesome changes it has brought to our lives...

How We Got Started
When I was young my mother would make us vegetable juice since she always was a bit of a health nut. All I remember from them was thinking that they were disgusting and foul. Fast forward many years later, as an adult, I always thought I was pretty healthy because I consumed a "nutritional" diet but as I have recently learned, I was very wrong. In the past months I've had a bit of an epiphany and shift in my lifestyle when it comes to what I eat and what my family eats. Through educating myself about the food industry and how the food that is marketed to us affects our bodies (which is a whole other lengthy topic), I've found myself living a healthier life and finding true nutrition. The one thing that brought this clarity to me was juicing and now I realize my mom was on to something!
Several months ago Michael, his mom, and I decided to do a 3 day juice cleanse after watching some very eye-opening documentaries (check out Hungry For Change, Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead, Book: Food Matters). For 3 days all we did was drink fresh vegetable and fruit juice. At the end of the 3 days we had all lost weight and felt revived. Since then we have not stopped juicing and now have changed our diets completely. No more processed foods, no more corn syrup, no fast food, ever again. We now live a plant and grain based diet with fish although Michael and Koji still enjoy their meat once in a while. The results? Our whole lives are healthier! Just to name a few of the benefits...we feel better, we have more energy, we save money by not going out to eat as much, we drink less, & more. For this, I have juicing to thank.

What we Juice
Our weekly grocery list includes:
Carrots
Celery
Cucumbers
Green Apples
Kale
Oranges
Grapefruits
Lemons
Beets
Strawberries
Blueberries
Ginger
Garlic
Then I try to find new and interesting seasonal fruits and veggies we can mix in! Right now we're loving peaches & cherries. I also try to buy most of the produce at the Farmer's Market for many reasons plus it simply tastes better but it can get expensive so certain items I buy bulk.

What we Use to Juice
Currently using the Breville BJE510XL Juice Fountain Multi-Speed 900-Watt Juicer & Vitamix 

Favorite Juice Blends
Through trial and error and internet recipes we have found our favorite recipes and continue to look for new ones. Here are some of our current faves: (quantities are not exact, add more or less for taste)

Carrot Gingerade
5 carrot
1 orange
1 lemon
1" of peeled ginger
1 clove of garlic

Green Machine
1 bunch of kale
1 cup pineapple
5 celery stalks
1 large cucumber
1 green apple
1 lemon or orange

Cherry Beet Booster
1 large beet
20 pitted cherries
3 carrots
1 cucumber
1 green apple
1 lemon

Post Workout Smoothie
1 cup strawberries
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup almonds
2 cups almond milk
1 cup kefir
2 tablespoons flax seed
2 tablespoons coconut butter
Blend in the vitamix!

I also try to include Chia seeds in all my juices and smoothies, delicious and nutritious. If you have any awesome juice recipes please share! I'm always looking for new ones to try.

Happy Juicing!