Taking Control Of My Health – Green Juice

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Taking control of my health and wellness starts with the food I consume. To increase the micronutrients in my diet, I have been drinking this green juice. This green juice is made with spinach, celery, cucumber, apple, and lemon.

I recently have been struggling with my health.

A few months ago, I announced a change to how our family was eating (see that blog post here).  This was highly motivated by me not feeling that great.

I have been to many doctors and no one has been able to diagnose what my issue is.  There is one autoimmune disease that I have come across that fits all my symptoms.  The interesting thing about this condition is it is also notoriously hard to diagnose until it wreaks havoc on your body.  My symptoms match up but my blood work is not outside the box enough to get an official diagnosis.

I am not one to stand back and wait for doctors to give me a diagnosis.

I am ready to take control of my health and get my life back.

Green Juice

One of the ways I am taking control of my health is by implementing green juice into my morning routine.

Green juice is full of micronutrients and is a great way to support the immune system.

I start my day with my green juice in my juicer.  It is so important to drink it with an empty stomach.  Allowing all the vitamins and minerals to be easily absorbed into your system before eating is key.  You do not want to hinder absorption by first eating a big breakfast and then having your juice.  Let your body get those benefits absorbed before eating.  I like to wait for about 30-60 minutes.

I started out slowly, drinking approximately 500ml of juice each morning.  As my body has adapted and began to love the green juice, I now drink a litre a day.  I can definitely feel the difference on days that I drink my green juice verses days that I do not.

I am slowly weaning myself off tea in the morning and plan to replace it with this green juice instead.  My energy levels have been better, my skin is clearing up, and I just feel better.

Green juice is not a meal replacement.

Think of it as a liquid vitamin.  Instead of taking a heavily processed vitamin, I drink my green juice.  It is to be used in addition to a healthy, well-balanced diet.

My children also really enjoy juicing with me.

My toddler, who just turned 3, loves making juice.  If I cut up all the ingredients for him, he is able to make the juice all by himself.  Of course, he is supervised while doing this as juicers can be dangerous is not used properly.  He is very careful while making juice and takes pride in being able to make it all by himself.

Quality Ingredients

When creating a green juice of your own, you want to consider the ration of vegetables to fruit.  This is not a fruit juice, though fruits do help to give it a fantastic flavour and many healthy ingredients.  Focus on having at least a 2:1 ratio of vegetables to fruit.

I also like to know why I am putting different ingredients into my juices.  If the ingredients do not have the beneficial properties I am looking for, then I do not need to include them.

Spinach

Spinach is loaded full of vitamins and minerals.  It also has a very mild flavour when juiced so is excellent for anyone starting out.  Sometimes I will juice kale but it has a more robust flavour which might be off-putting for some people.  I use a lot of spinach in my juice – typically 4 large handfuls.

Here are just a few of the vitamins and minerals you can get from putting spinach in your green juice.

• Vitamin K
• Vitamin A
• Manganese
• Iron
• Vitamin C
• Calcium

Celery

Celery juice is all the rage right now.  My problem with celery juice – it is disgusting.  Some people like it but I, personally, do not.  Perhaps in a perfect world, I would happily chug 16oz of celery juice every morning, but this world is not perfect.  Instead, I add about 8-12 stalks of celery into my green juice and enjoy its benefits in that way.

• celery juice is considered to be anti-inflammatory
• it has high levels of vitamin K and C
• helps with digestion

Cucumber

Cucumbers are full of goodness for for body.  Our family eats at least one cucumber a day, sometimes two.  When I cut up a cucumber for my kids, I save the ends.  I used to throw these in the compost but now I throw them in my juicer.  Cucumber not only adds excellent nutritional properties, but I also really like the flavour it gives to this juice.

• excellent source of phytonutrients
• good source of potassium
• excellent for hydration
• vitamin A, C, and K

Apple

I like to add an apple into my juice mainly for flavour.  I love apples and the age old saying that “an apple a day keeps the doctor away” still holds strong.  Apples are also delicious and are probably my favourite fruit.  They do contain sugar, so just limit it to one apple or less per juice.

• Vitamin C
• Antioxidants

Lemon

One thing I learned when I first started juicing, was that adding citrus helped cut the bitterness of the greens in a juice.  My favourite citrus to add to green juice is a lemon.  I find the flavour to be really nice and refreshing.

• Vitamin C
• Antioxidants
• aids in digestion
• detoxifying

What Juicer To Get?

Talking about the ingredients for juice is all well and good, but how do you actually make the juice?

I have tried making juice all sorts of different ways.  Masticating juicers, centrifugal juicers, blending and straining… If you want me to review different types of ways to make juice, let me know in the comments down below.  That would be a blog post unto itself.

Currently, I am using a masticating juicer.  I purchased the SimpleTaste juicer from Amazon and could not be more pleased.  It juices greens really well, which was important to be.  It is easy to clean and was very affordable.

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