I think the saddest part of the Holidays being over isn’t packing up the Christmas tree and decorations – it’s the packing up of the cookies, candy, and all of the fattening goodies to make way for healthier food on our shelves. December is definitely one of those times when people overindulge, and when January comes flying in fast and furious, it’s time to get serious about leading a healthy lifestyle again. If you’re looking for a great way to give you a kick-start, look no further than juicing.
From weight loss to a complete detox, the benefits of juicing are widely known. Juicing is an amazing way to get your daily quota of fruits and vegetables, especially if you generally don’t like to eat them. Juicing is also a great way of using up all of the fruit and veggies in your fridge that might be on their way to spoiling before you can get to them.
So how do you get started juicing? First off, get your hands on a great juicer like the Breville Juice Fountain or the Breville Juice Fountain Crush Juice Machine. These machines are specially designed to extract the juice from almost anything you decide to put in it, and they have pulp containers so you can see what’s left over.
Second, decide what kind of juice you want to make. Are you a fan of orange juice? There are so many ways you can add a bit of a kick to your daily OJ. How about pomegranate juice? The benefits of pomegranates are numerous – they provide you with 40 % of the daily requirement of folic acid and vitamins A, C, and E. They’re also heart friendly, great for balancing blood sugar, and give your immunity a boost.
A few other important points to make note of before you begin juicing:
- Local and organic fruits are the best way to provide the most nutritious juice.
- Always wash your fruits and vegetables before juicing them.
- Ripe fruit and vegetables will give you the most juice.
- Bananas and avocados aren’t the best for juicing as they tend to be soft and may clog up your juicer.
- You should remove the skin on citrus fruits, but keep the white pith as it’s full of nutrients.
Now that you’re ready, here are a few recipes to get you started juicing:
Sweet Green Vessel
2 Pomegranates
2 heads Broccoli
4 leaves Kale
First off, you need to get the seeds out of the pomegranate. Check out this video – it shows you how to de-seed a pomegranate in a hurry.
Once you have your pomegranate seeds, place everything in your juicer and process.
Strawberry Magic 
– 1 orange, peeled
– 1 Carrot
– 2 1-inch pineapple rounds
– 5 strawberries
Run through the juicer and enjoy!
Organic Green Lemonade
Process the following ingredients through a juicer.
2-3 stalks organic kale any type (stalks and all)
½-1 organic cucumber (skin on)
1 organic whole lemon (peel and all)
1 organic apple for sweetness
1-2 inches of organic ginger
Pour into a glass and enjoy!
Juicing is a nutritious, delicious way to get your health back on track. In fact, it’s so good you may not miss those Christmas cookies.
Tune in next week to Shelly’s Friday Favourites and we’ll take a look at how to make smoothies specifically for detoxing.
