The Top 5 Reasons Why I LOVE Drinking Fresh Green Juice

April 7th, 2011 - filed under: The Food » Food and Health




Vegetable Juice is sweeping the nation, and I am happily surfing the big green wave! It all started with my wheat grass discovery a few months back, which kicked off a love affair that ignited in my own kitchen. My dear Champion, usually sad and lonely and gathering dust in the corner under the cupboards, was suddenly seeing more action than even my beloved blender.

Why am I so obsessed with juicing? Here’s my Top 5 Reasons:

1) Green Juice is a super shot of concentrated nutrition. You get all the goodness from fresh fruits and vegetables – the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and phytochemicals – stripped from the fiber so they’re instantly absorbed and effortlessly assimilated. Green Juice digests in about 10 minutes. How long would it take you to chew 2 carrots, a cucumber, and an entire head of greens? You’d fill up on bulk before you could finish it! Veggie juice lets you consume more vegetables, and thus more nutrients, without feeling too full too fast.

2) Green Juice gives the ultimate energy! I’m not talking about those awful caffeine artificial jitters. No sir. The deep down vitality gifted by green juice comes from the maximum nutrient profile and the easily accessed natural fuel – glucose. Each of your cells gets a straight shot of strength for sustained, slow burning stamina. My green juice keeps me going all afternoon!

3) Hello, glowing skin and improved digestion! The health benefits of juicing are truly unparalleled, which is why it’s one of the most popular healing/ disease-curing modalities. Add fresh juice to your daily regimen and watch your body begin to sing! Though it works wonders on each and every internal system, personally I see my results in radiant skin and great gut health.

4) Juicing saves money and reduces waste! It’s like this: am I going to eat my radish tops? Um, no. But will I juice my radish tops? Heck yeah! Green juice is a great way to get maximum use out of all your veggies. Seriously, you can juice practically anything! So clean out your crisper and hop to it, little bunny!

5) Truth: I love green juice because Waits loves green juice. And what mother wouldn’t be over the moon to see her kid smacking their lips over a kale-cucumber-celery concoction?! Well guess what parents – children love this stuff. See?




Next week I’ll teach you how to make fresh juice even if you don’t have a pro juicer. In the meantime, check out Kathy’s article (and swoon over the photos), posted just this morning over at Healthy Happy Life. Great bloggers think alike? I’m telling you, Green Juice is all the rage and everyone’s doing it, man!

Do you juice? What’s your favorite combo? If you don’t juice, what’s stopping you??

  • anon

    The Champion is better for juicing over the Vitamix, right? This confusion has kept me from purchasing either.

  • Cedar

    After my son was born, I started juicing more to help give my milk extra nutrients! I love carrot juice and will feel like I can think and even breath better after I drink it. It’s a weird and wonderful thing. :)

  • http://windycityvegan.wordpress.com Monika {windycityvegan}

    My favorite juice combo is dark green+ginger+citus+carrot+apple, but I also like anything with berries thrown in. Nina’s is pumpkin. I inherited my grandmother’s old Juiceman, it has to be at least 20 years old!

    The super awesome thing about all that pulp is that it breaks down in my compost bin so much faster. Once in a while we’ll throw some to the hens, but they get plenty of treats as it is.

  • mark e

    Concerning the Champion Juicer: It’s a sturdy tank that will probably last a lifetime. It does well with solid vegetables and fruits like celery, carrots, cucumber, beets, apples etc. It can also make really tasty soft-serve icecream from frozen bananas. However, I find it is really, really poor at juicing greens and softer fruits.

    I am hearing much praise about the new Hurom juicer, that it does well with pretty much every kind of fruit and vegetable (and it is really quiet and thorough!).

    But barring an expensive purchase like the Hurom ($350), even an inexpensive centrifugal juicer may do a better job of juicing greens than the Champion. That’s my two cents. I don’t even waste my time trying to juice greens with my Champion anymore. The experience is too frustrating.

    Still, do your research. All juicers have pros and cons.

  • http://katehateseverything.blogspot.com Kate in SB

    I want to start! I eat so many carbs throughout the day, I feel like this would be a great easy way to consume more veggies.

  • Callie

    So I’ve played with green smoothies a bit, but it hasn’t worked out very well. I just really hate the texture of smoothies, always have, so maybe juice would work better for me? I like the fact that juice isn’t chunky, and that it can be drank in small portions and still be worthwhile. I have some questions though.

    1. Juicers are expensive! That’s not really a question, but seriously!
    2. I struggle a bit to get enough fiber into our diets as is, so I worry that it would be a bad move to strip our fruits and veggies of fiber and turn them into mostly sugars. Is there a pro/con balance to this? I’m a big believer in whole foods (not the store, the concept) and this seems sort of counter to that. Just curious what thoughts people might have on this.
    3. And finally, the worst! N is very restricted in what greens he can eat, so it’s hard for me to keep a variety to our greens in general. He’s got some sort of intolerance for spinach, kale, collards, all those super green leafy suckers that are my favorite. I try to get creative with beet greens and celery hearts, but for the most part we get really tired of arugula and lettuce over and over again. Thoughts or suggestions?

    Thanks everyone for the good juicer info, great place to start reasearching. And thanks Sayward, glad to have you back for Spring!

  • http://twitter.com/erosan erosan

    juicing without a juicer? color me interested

  • http://bonzaiaphrodite.com Sayward

    @ anon – Correct. You *can* juice with the Vita Mix (more on that next week) but it’s definitely easier to use an actual juicer. BUT, if you can only get one, get the Vita Mix.

    @ Cedar – That’s so rad, juicing must be amazing for milk production! I know I feel like mine is extra strong when I’m doing a lot of smoothies/juices.

    @ Monika – I’m looking forward to juicing berries this summer (haven’t tried it yet!) Pumpkin juice is hardcore!

    @ mark e – I agree that all juicers have pros and cons. I’d looove to try a centrifugal juicer! My Champion was a gift so I really can’t complain. =)

    @ Kate in SB – Yes! It’s an awesome way to up the color in your diet. =) I bet you’d really like it.

    @ Callie –
    1. Tell me about it!
    2. The pro/con balance is this: is veggies with less fiber better than no veggies at all? (yes!) If you’re already not getting enough, then adding more will only help, even if you’ve taken out some of the fiber. More veggies is still better! =D
    3. Cabbage. Broccoli stalks. SO DELICIOUS juiced! Also, bok choy & nettles & radish/turnip/daikon tops & cauliflower & ohmigod the list goes on. Really, you can juice anything!

    @ erosan – I had a feeling you’d be curious about that, ha!

  • TeniseRae

    I’m really looking forward to the post about juicing without a juicer. :D The one I do have totally suuu-huucks!!

    I miss wheat grass shots from when I worked at the natural food store in Eugene. *sigh*

  • mark e

    @Callie – Just a thought… some people who have problems digesting certain foods have found that blending or juicing those foods takes away the issue.

    This is because, in a way, the machine is doing the first step of digesting for you, by squeezing and chopping up the food into itty bitty pieces: much smaller than we do when we chew the food quickly (most of us eat too fast, no?).

    If you have the chance to experiment with blending or juicing a few of those greens you mentioned, you might find they are no longer an issue for N.

    Such was the case for my girlfriend, who, after having her gallbladder removed has had intense trouble with a number of foods: banana, avocado, cucumber, any green except spinach, cashews, etc, etc. But when she had some of these juiced, it was not a problem at all! Who knows? Perhaps it would be the same for you, too!

  • http://alternativehousewife.com Janine @ Alternative Housewife

    Can’t wait for the bit about juicing without a juicer. :) That baby of yours is freaking adorable! I wonder if Sebastian would like green juice.

  • Christina

    I guess I always thought juicing was alot of hard, messy work. But now I actually enjoy the tinkering in the kitchen thing and making a big cooking mess. So I think I will give my juicer a try! Also I’ve been having aweful stomach/digestive, ibs problems lately. I think my body is begging me to make a healthy change. This just might be it!

  • Carey

    I actually found a perfectly new working juicer at my recycle center. Brought it home and was psyched but unfortunately it hasn’t been getting much love. I just don’t have the time in the morning before work to make fresh juice and then clean the juicer, or I should say I don’t make the time. I’ve got to figure this one out, maybe if I had a dishwasher I could just throw everything in there but…. The other thing is sometimes I get a gag reflex with green juice, I think it takes some getting used to and it’s important to start off with milder greens.

  • Meghan

    Is there a way to add an ability to email your articles to the caring is sharing links?

  • http://thatenglishmajor.wordpress.com Ria Elizabeth

    Being a college Freshman and living in the dorms, I feel at a huge disadvantage when it comes to green and vegan alternatives. Not only that but having limited source of money and not having my own vehicle on campus, I cannot find cheap ways to make vegan meals.

    But I’d be very interested to try green juicing. My concern, personally, is the taste of them. I’ve always been finky about how my veggies and fruits taste and it has taken some time to discover some of the ones I do enjoy and in what ways I’ll eat them. I think this summer I may convince my mother to invest in a juicer and experiment. My entire family is trying to make healthy changes so I think it would be something everyone could benefit from.

  • Nicole

    you totally inspire me! I’m 20 years old and I’m definitely on the juicing wagon :] I actually just recently purchased my vita mix! JUICING FOR LIFE :]

  • Minna

    Mmm, it looks delicious! I don’t juice because the only kitchen appliance I possess is a coffee grinder from Soviet times but I broke that too while grinding almonds for vegan parmesan :D Nor do I have any money to buy a juicer/blender.

    (By the way, I don’t have an oven either – tough life for a poor vegan student in Estonia! LOL!)

    Can’t wait for my birthday in June – I’ll make my parents buy me a blender as a gift :P

    Meanwhile I’ll just drool over your green juice photos.

  • http://thatenglishmajor.wordpress.com Ria Elizabeth

    I wanted to let you know I linked this blog post in my blog ‘That English Major’ today.

    It was a post I made about my summer wishes/goals and I included that I wanted to buy a juicer and try drinking green juice this summer. :)

    Just wanted to share!

  • Jessica

    My research led me to the Omega 8006. It has changed my life! My health is important to me now, and my juicer helps me nourish my body and keep me clean and healthy.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=526361549 Rob Schultz

    Omega juicer all the way!! You cant beat the value and if you dont care about the color get the 8004.Its 40$ cheaper and has the same parts as the 8006..its just white! Current fav. juice: 1 grn apple, slice of lemon w/skin, 2 large kale leaves(or spinach) 1 celery stalk, 2 carrots, 1 small beet, 1 tsp of braggs apple cider vinegar(trust me!!) and some ginger to taste.Enjoy!

  • Seemab Waleed

    Unfortunately my 2yo doesn’t like this stuff :(

  • http://naturalwaysofhealing.blogspot.com/ Muhammad Akram

    my kids love pizza,burger type things,how we can motivate and encourage to eat natural foods like vegetables and fruits.
    http://naturalwaysofhealing.blogspot.com/

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