did you know?

this kind of just blew my mind... 

I thought I was just being lazy when I put the whole lemon in the juicer, 

turns out I was just being smart!

 

via Food Inc

can't afford organic?

you may have heard of the dirty dozen before, 

 how about the clean fifteen?

navigating through the world of organic foods can be challenging and expensive

but these are the safest non-organic foods to enjoy anyway!

via

green juice a day

Cucumbers are the fourth most cultivated vegetable in the world 

and known to be one of the best foods for your body's overall health!

They are easy to snack on, taste great on sandwiches and of course prime to juice.

green juice a day

when i first started juicing i was quite surprised at how powerful certain fruit and veggies were, 

especially what flavours blend together and which ones don't. I typically follow the colour rule, 

juicing fruit and veggies of the same colour family but not always. 

So don't be afraid to experiment and use ingredients you might not normally eat! 

So chances are you probably already eat celery, its pretty basic but it's health benefits are anything but.

Only start off slow, maybe 1-2 stalks, I was very surprised at how it potent it tastes! 

So in honour of St. Patty's Day instead of guzzling green brews and irish car bombs shots,

do your bod a favour and down one of these instead!

planting roots

with spring just around the corner and although we still have ginormous snow banks 

(hopefully withering away with a few days of milder temps) I am happily forming our plans for an organic garden!

 this will our first year planting and I'm so looking forward to reaping the benefits of eating and juicing homegrown food. 

It just can't get any more local than that and I'm so excited for the kiddos to get involved too. 

this year will be a learning year and probably won't yield as good a crop as what we will get in the years to come but I can't wait to get started! 

I'll be sure to post our progress.... when we can see land again!

green juice a day

 Chard  also known as Swiss Chard or Silverbeet is a leafy green packing a powerful punch!
I often use this instead of kale or just to mix things up a bit in my green machine juice 
and I do juice the whole shabang but you can start with just the leafy part (as the stem is often bitter).
using lime definitely masks any other flavours at least that's what works for me!

variation of the green machine:
1 bunch of swiss chard (either 4-5 stalks or just the leaves from)
2 granny smith apples
1/2 cucumber
2 celery stalks
1 lime (optional)

green juice a day

it's obviously no secret that 'greens' are a crucial part to our diet. 

the benefits are o'plenty, it's just how to incorporate them into our daily diet and enjoy  them. 

I've started drinking a green juice a day, mixing up my recipes slightly... it's a little trickier in Canada in the dead of winter to have access to fresh greens (obviously not in season here) but I'm starting pretty basic and hopefully by summer when we have access to more varieties I'll be able to experiment a little!

 in this new series, I'll give you the health benefits for different green foods and also new recipes to try. 

I mean it's kind of great to know exactly what each food is doing for your body right? 

so let's start with Kale which I used in the green machine juice I posted a couple of weeks ago

green machine

on this day of love, I'm opting for a little green. 

1 bunch of kale

2 celery stalks

2 pears

1 lime

sunshine on a frosty day

It may be freezing outside, blistering winds and drifting snow 

but inside the wood stove is rocking and I'm sipping on this glass of sunshine!

welcome to Canada and the 2014 polar vortex 

or what some people used to call just plain old winter.

4 carrots

2 oranges

1 pear

handful of strawberries

the big carrot

I've been adding carrots into a lot of my juice recipes lately, not just because they are so readily available but because the bright orange root packs a powerful nutrition punch,

fresh carrot juice is full of beta-carotene, vitamin and minerals.

  

100 g of fresh carrot juice contains:

 2.1 mg of beta-carotene and 350 micrograms of vitamin A

    Up to 3 mg of vitamin C, which is necessary to maintain immunity

    0.2 mg of vitamin PP, which has beneficial effects on metabolic processes in the body

    0.01 mg of vitamin B1, required for proper function of the brain and nervous system

    0.02 mg of vitamin B2, needed to maintain healthy metabolism and vision

    0.3 mg of vitamin E for healthy cells and synthesis of hormones 

(It’s several times greater than in beet juice.)

Carrot juice is also rich in potassium (130 mg/100gr), calcium, sodium, magnesium, iron and phosphorus. Besides, this juice contains flavonoids, phytoncides and enzymes as well as organic acids, monosaccharides and disaccharides, starch and ash.

  source 

Carrot Juice Benefits, Nutrition Facts & Side Effects
April 23, 2013 Posted in Health Benefits and Side Effects of Foods 

Carrot Juice Health Benefits And Nutrition Facts Fresh carrot juice is the king of vegetable juices. It contains a lot of beta-carotene, vitamins and minerals. All this makes carrot juice indispensable for health maintenance, particularly for people with weak immune systems, skin and vision problems. Carrot juice benefits children greatly.

Read more at: http://myhealthbynature.com/carrot-juice-benefits-side-effects/
Copyright © MyHealthByNature.com

the big carrot juice:
4-5 large carrots
1 pear
1 gala apple
handful of strawberries
makes a full serving for me, the hubs and each of the kiddos (I top theirs up with water)

Benefits of carrot juice:    

• Slow down the aging process
•  reduce the risk of cancer 
• Help cleanse the cells of toxins and impurities 
•  Drinking carrot juice can help you get rid of dermatitis and eczema. 
•  Vitamin C acts as a protector of the nervous and immune systems. 
• A glass of fresh carrot juice perfectly relieves stress after a hard day and calms if one is overexcited. 
•  Vitamin C in combination with B vitamins reduces the level of harmful cholesterol, thereby protecting the cardiovascular system. 
•  Fresh carrot juice improves digestion.
•  It serves as a great resource in atherosclerosis, infections and kidney stones. 
•  Carrot juice is very helpful to women. Carotene normalizes the synthesis of female sex hormones. That allows women to stay young and healthy for longer. Because the lack of vitamin A leads to infertility, carrot juice, in some cases helps to resolve that problem. 
•  it contains a substance related to endorphins, which promotes a sense of joy.

juicing- beet root edition

my juice of choice lately has been a variety of beet root recipes. 

First because my local CSA (community shared agriculture) basket has been stocked with them weekly. Secondly because of the host of nutritional benefits found in them
and finally because they are so delicious!

source

1-2 small beet root
1 pear
1 gala apple
3 carrots
handful of strawberries
1-2 oranges

The best part of juicing is you can really play to your own taste buds.
This recipes makes enough for approx 4 servings- A glass for me and the hubs, half a sippy cup each for the kiddos (I add water to theirs as well).

juicing vs. blending

For the last couple of months I have been juicing,at least once maybe twice a day. 

The results have been great and the whole family is taking part. 

This has been a really great way to enure the kiddos (and husband) are getting enough veggies every day. My kids have no issues getting enough fruit each day but getting the hardy greens into them was a bit challenging to say the least!

I still offer up some smoothies from time to time but mostly we are drinking fresh juice lately. 

I thought it would be helpful though to outline the benefits for each and the differences as well.

 

First up Blending (list via) ...

Pros

• Depending on which juicer you may have, it can be faster to make a smoothie.

• Bananas and avocado can be put in the blender, whereas the avocado especially cannot be juiced.
• Because the pulp is still in the smoothie, it can ward off hunger longer than the juice can.
• Most people already have a blender, so start up costs are minimal.

Cons

• Many hard/root vegetables (beets, carrots, etc.) are difficult to blend and taste better when juiced.
• Because of the fiber content in the smoothie, the nutritional value is not as high as a glass of juice.

Juicing

Pros

• Juice has a higher nutritional value per ounce. It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to eat pounds of carrots, beets, and other leafy green vegetables in one day.
• Even if your digestive system is working poorly, you can assimilate almost 100 percent of the nutrients contained in juice. While fiber often takes hours to digest, juice is absorbed into the body rapidly with hardly any strain on the digestive system whatsoever.
• A blender basically chops and mashes the fruits and vegetables. The juicer breaks open the cell of the plant, releasing vitamins, minerals, and life-giving juice. The juice does retain a portion of the soluble fiber, and the discarded fiber has a lot less nutritional value compared to what's in your glass.

Cons

• Usually involves more clean up time.
• More expensive than blending, as it requires more fresh produce.

So as you can see there are plenty of benefits to both blending and juicing... so do both! 

I chose the Breville Juice Fountain Plus... mostly because it was readily available and affordable but it has turned out to be a great juicer. It doesn't have a high yield on greens like kale, etc but it does a good job on a wide range of fruit and veggies and is super easy to clean. I still use my ninja to whip up a good smoothie but I find we use them more as treat or for little teething toddlers!