If you happen to follow me on Instagram, you are well aware that green juice has become a morning staple. As I’m cruising through my forties at a rapid clip I’m looking to incorporate as many vegetables as possible into my diet that will support me as I age.
The cumulative effect of our lifestyle choices impacts the way we look and feel, and I am constantly on a quest to embrace aging while feeling and looking my best. For years I’ve put a focus on my clean beauty routine, drink gallons of water a day, do my best to keep my alcohol / sugar intake in check, prioritize getting 8-10 hours of sleep a night, and routinely excercise 4-5 days a week. I have always had a good grasp on what a healthy diet and lifestyle should look like, but I realized I needed a way to incorporate a wider array of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis with ease.
There’s no “standard” way to make green juice, but as a rule of thumb I like to include one or all of the following as the constant “base” for my juice: celery, cucumber, and a leafy green such as kale, romaine, or green leaf lettuce. And I always include a thumb of ginger. Then I will mix up what I add in on the back end, to some degree, to change up the flavor. I try to limit how much fruit I am adding (sugar), but I find an apple to be essential.
- Celery: about 5 stalks
- Cucumber: I prefer 3-5 of the mini cucumbers
- Leafy Greens: 1/4 to 1/2 a head
- Apple: to make the flavor palatable and not bitter, small Granny Smith or Juicing Apples
- Ginger: optional, but it adds a nice nuance to the finish
- Lemon juice: adds a nice brightness
Once I was comfortable and in a groove with this basic recipe, it was easy to start incorporating other vegetables. Some other options I have mixed in include: whole carrot, small clementine, grapes, zucchini, parsley, mint, and lime.
A few additional tips:
- A lot of nutrient-dense juicing veggies can be bitter or earthy tasting. Adding mint, basil, lemon, lime, and ginger helps round out those flavors. You can also add sweet root vegetables, like beets and carrots, or fruit, like green apple and mandarin oranges, to mellow out the bitterness. (be mindful to use them sparingly if you want to keep the sugar load low, as I do).
- Buy organic produce when possible, and wash your produce well to avoid pesticides in your juice.
- When prepping the fruits & veggies for green juice, go ahead and prep another batch for the next day as well, and store overnight in the fridge.
Oh, and I LOVE my juicer. It is simple to clean (hello, rinse and put in dishwasher) and very affordable. Here it is in case you’re in the market:
Do you have a favorite green juice recipe? What do I need to try next?
Bottom’s up!
xo, VB