My Green Juice Diary

I'm new to this. I'm not an expert. I just wanted to share my initial feelings in this journey to become a seasoned juicer.

I bought a juicer one night on a whim after raiding the produce section at the store. It was something I never thought I'd ever consider. Juicing always seemed too fussy for me, and I'll be honest, when a friend posted a picture of their juice, I rolled my eyes. It was literally overnight that I changed my mind.

I'm juicing a little for weight loss, but mostly for nutrition. I'm very, very interested in the Alkaline lifestyle. However, the thought of a "root wrap" or a salad of arugula and beets just isn't appealing. Now, if I can juice my greens and throw in a lemon, now that's appealing. So, I guess you can say I'm doing it 20% for weight loss, 80% for nutrition? By the way, I'm not doing a juice fast, just supplementing with a healthy lifestyle.

I have been researching the heck out of juicing. I feel like I know what not to do at this point and the best way to reap the benefits. So, here are THREE rules/ideas I've been following to make the experience the most effective and also make sure the juice tastes decent:

1. Use mostly veggies. I ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS use a leafy green- and tons of it!!! I have been switching between kale and spinach. I may start incorporating other greens, but for now, while I get the hang of things, I'm keeping it simple. During the juicing process, I juice the greens first. I've heard, since they're the softest, they'll then be pushed through the juicer by the firmer veggies. I pretty much always use celery, too. And I really don't like the taste of celery in the least bit- probably one of the only veggies I plain CANNOT stand- but it's easy to juice, has some great vitamins and full of water.

2. Limit fruit. This is kind of tricky, because some fruits you can use freely (cucumber for example) but the sweet-tasting stuff is full of sugar, and those I try to limit. When I do use apples and berries, it's at a minimum. I use a lot of lemon, but those are low in sugar and a high alkaline food (my juices also tend to run on the sour side- HA!.) You really have to play around with your concoction- but basically, your juice shouldn't taste like a smoothie. It should taste green and healthy. And, if that's gross, I promise you'll get used to it!

3. Drink your juice & clean your juicer immediately. The first is because your juice will start oxidizing and losing some of its benefits (and start to taste warm and not-so-good), the second is because that pulp will CAKE on your juicer and be a real pain the ass to clean.


So far, I'm really impressed at how full juices make me, I'm really not starving after them. They make a great supplement to a healthy lifestyle. I'm putting together a little list of my favorite juices thus far and I can't wait to share it. I would be really interested in some fun things you like to juice! I just bought cilantro and I'm excited to begin juicing that! I love cilantro!

Until next time.......