Happy Monday.. Here's To A Healthy Week - Why Juice?

Ok so juicing is the trendy thing to do ; there are juice bars popping up in shopping centres everywhere. I love it, I've been drinking them for years and making my own concoctions - some of which have been disastrously revolting I have to say!! 

Recently with my health challenge I've taken juicing to a new level. I've tried juice fasting but it's not enough for me . I need to eat little and often and need more protein than I've found I can get into my juices, however I add one juice into my diet every day, usually as my mid morning snack.

Jason Vale is the 'Juice Master'!! I've read his books and they come from a great place. He sorted out his psoriasis that he'd had for an awful long time, and realised juicing can be amazingly cleansing on the body! You can feel it doing you good while you're drinking - my partner John says he can feel the nutrients literally running through his body. I have most of Jason's books and know a lot of his recipes off by heart.

I used to follow them religiously,  but now I understand the principal I just use whatever I have in my fridge - generally starting with the green veg, because they are SO nutritious and we need to eat them in large quantities every day.

Some basic juicing tips for those of you just starting :

Squeezing lemon juice or lime juice into every juice makes it taste kind of zingy! And helps with alkalinity in the body.

Use 2-3 vegetables for every piece of fruit, or sweet root vegetables, so you're not taking in too much fruit sugar (fructose) 

Juicing takes out the fibre, so if you eat no other fruit or veg, best to eat the whole fruit because we need fibre. However when you juice it's gentle on the digestive system as your body doesn't have to break down the fibre.

Drink your juice within half an hour of juicing - before the fruit and veg starts to oxidise 

You can use the stems! Ie broccoli stems are actually really sweet and add a lot to your juice

You can add in other foods - I use things like nut butters, chia seeds, Maca powder, ground linseeds, and aloe Vera gel.

Today I just had a few things left as I go shopping on a Monday morning, so I made my juice with spinach, pineapple and apples with Maca powder, almond butter, and chia seeds (1tbsp of each), and some aloe Vera gel. Usually I will add in more veg, but it worked and tasted yummy! I whizzed it up in my Vitamix not a juicer and sometimes then sieve the juice to lose some of the fibre, but this one worked just fine without .

The benefits of juicing :

Great for vitality and energy

Helps to release weight (you can juice as a meal replacement) 

Helps detoxify

Helps the body to heal, flooding the tissues with goodness

Fills you full of nutrients and antioxidants with the right mix of fruit and veg

Tastes awesome! (When you get the hang of them) 

Increases your intake of fruit and veg in your day - we NEED a minimum of 5 but 10 is way better

And many more......

Happy Monday, Here's To A Really Healthy Week! 

Rx