I have been interested in and studied nutrition for many years, but had never got into juicing. After all, there are only so many changes you can make at a time! It wasn’t until I got a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer as a gift about 5 years ago, that I started to juice. The timing was perfect. It was only a few weeks later that my wife Veronica had two of her wisdom teeth out. These wisdom teeth were deeply embedded and had grown horizontally (not vertically!). The result was two weeks of liquid food only and serious pain killers. This was my crash course in juicing.

I have since learned, practiced and experimented a lot with juicing. Used different types of juice extractors, some are better for making green juice recipes than others, you can read more about this at best juicer for greens. As I learned more about juicing and nutrition, I came to understand that green juice is the healthiest of juice. “Going green” can apply to juicing too. So then, what is green juice?


What is green juice?

The answer to this is a simple one! Green juice is any juice that is made mostly with or completely with green vegetables to produce a juice that is – well – green in color! Some of the most used green vegetables for making green juice are:

• Kale
• Spinach
• Collard greens
• Green cabbage
• Broccoli
• Celery
• Lettuce
• Parsley
• Wheatgrass

It is common to add a fruit such as an apple or a lemon, or sweeter vegetables like carrots and cucumber to the mix to make green juice a little more tasty.


What’s green juice got that other juices don’t?

This question is really at the foundation of the benefits of green juice, and is one that I asked myself when I first started to hear the buzz about this healthy colorful beverage. Are not all juices made equal? Are not wonderful colored juices such as pomegranate juice, blueberry juice, strawberry juice, carrot juice just as good as green juice? Isn’t variety the real key? These are all good questions, and the answer isn’t a simple yes or no. However, if someone were to ask the hypothetical question “if for some reason you were only allowed to drink one color of juice, what would it be?” – I would be forced to say green. Let me explain why. (Read our post Benefits of Juicing for a general idea of the health benefits of juicing)


The Sugar Factor

The first and foremost reason for me comes down to sugar. Green juice has minimal amounts of calories and sugar because green vegetables are low in calories and sugar. Other colored vegetables such as carrots and beets, tend to be sweeter and contain more calories and sugar. An 8oz glass of carrot juice contains about 15 grams of sugar. Fruit juice is even more sugary, and for that reason I keep my fresh fruit juice intake to a minimum. At most I drink a 4oz glass 3 times a week. The fact that juice loses its fiber, which is the component of fruits and vegetables that slows down the rate at which sugars are absorbed into the blood stream is also an important point to bring up. Fruit juice can cause blood sugar spikes, and if over done can increase the risk of health conditions that come with excess sugar intake. Here are a 146 reasons to cut down sugar intake. Also check out our post Is Fresh Fruit Juice Bad for You? However, don’t be scared off by this, within moderation fruit juice is fine, just be aware of the amount of sugars you are consuming in a day.


For checking the amount of calories and sugar in juice I use My Fitness Pal Calorie Counter. This is the only place that I have found that provides calorie information for a variety of fresh-made fruit and vegetables juices, even including green juices such as cabbage juice, broccoli juice, kale juice and more. When searching use the words “raw” and “fresh” to find what you need. For example type “raw kale juice” or “fresh spinach juice”. Using this system you will find that most green juices contain zero sugar, or just a gram or 2 of sugar for an 8 ounce glass. Of course, this makes sense since the raw whole green vegetables contain very little sugar. We can drink lots of green juice and not be concerned.

Green vegetables are green because of the chlorophyll they contain. The darker green they are the more chlorophyll they contain. Kale and spinach are therefore greater sources of chlorophyll than celery. It is the benefits of abundant chlorophyll content then that are unique to green juice, and these benefits are powerful. Here are some known benefits:

• Wound Healing. Research dating back to the 1940′s discovered that chlorophyllin (a component of chlorophyll) helps wounds to heal faster.
• Powerful Antioxidant. Chlorophyll and chlorophyllin are both potent antioxidants that have anti-cancer properties and help prevent our cells from oxidative damage.
• Detoxification. Chlorophyll attaches to toxins, especially heavy metals, and removes them safely from the body. Chlorophyll also cleanses the liver by protecting it from cancer-causing cells.
• Blood Building. The chlorophyll molecule is almost identical to that of the heme part of our red blood cells. Although not yet confirmed, chlorophyll is believed to help increase red blood cell count, and may help with anemia.
• Alkalizing. One of the most potent benefits of chlorophyll is its alkalizing effect on the body. Because of its chlorophyll content, green juice is one of the most alkalizing foods that we can consume. The benefits of reducing the amount of acid in the body (given that over acidity is an epidemic) cannot be understated. The more acidic the body, the more prone it is to illness and disease. Acidity is a breeding ground for bad health.

The Everything Else Factor

Just because green juice is green because of the chlorophyll it contains, doesn’t mean that is the only antioxidant it contains. The list of antioxidants in green juice are mind-blowing. You will be receiving the antioxidant benefits of beta-carotene, sulphorane, vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, zeazanthin, kaempferol, quercetin, and many others with long unpronounceable names. In addition to this your green juice is a great source of many trace minerals, including calcium and magnesium, and a great source of vitamin K and living enzymes.

This all adds up to one of the most nutrient dense health promoting drinks that exist. Yep, juice of other colors are important too to get a diversity of antioxidants and other nutrients, but if there is one juice that contains more nutrients than all others, it is a juice that come in the darkest green.


Happy Juicing
Darren

Sources:

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/phytochemicals/chlorophylls/

http://www.livestrong.com/article/542432-does-chlorophyll-cleanse-the-blood/

The Good
The upside to drinking fresh fruit juice is the nutrition it contains. It is loaded with antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. It is therefore, generally speaking, great for boosting the immune system, great for detox, has anti-inflammatory properties and promotes overall good health. More specifically studies show that pomegranate may help reduce arterial clogging, grape juice helps reduce blood clot formations, apple juice can lower cholesterol and cranberry juice helps prevent the occurrence of urinary tract infections. So far so good.

The Bad
The problem with fresh fruit juice is the sugar it contains. Too much sugar in the diet is a key risk for developing diabetes, is a risk for heart disease too, promotes the growth of unhealthy gut flora, and can increase inflammation in the body. The laundry list for the negative effects of excess sugar consumption doesn’t stop there either. Before that scares you into ever drinking fruit juice again, the emphasis here is on Too Much sugar. Taken in moderation, fresh fruit juice provides the above mentioned benefits for health and more.

The Balance
What is a recommended amount of fruit juice to drink per day? As it stands there are no official guidelines for fruit juice, but there are guidelines for the amount of sugar we should consume. The American Heart Association (AHA) were the first to put out guidelines in 2011:

” Women should consume no more than 100 calories (about 25 grams) of added sugars per day. Most men should consume no more than 150 calories (about 37.5 grams) each day. That’s about six teaspoons of added sugar a day for women and nine for men. “

It is very easy to reach and exceed these sugar-intake guideline if we are not keeping an eye on the processed foods that we are eating. So we really need to be observant about what the rest of our diet looks like when drinking fresh fruit juice because the average 8oz glass contains between 25g to 30g of sugar!

• 8oz of fresh apple juice contains 27g of sugar (110 calories)
• 8oz of fresh orange juice contains 20g of sugar (112 calories)

Our Recommendations
Drink vegetable juice mostly. And mostly green vegetable juice. Most vegetables are considerably lower in sugar content than fruits. Green vegetables, such as broccoli, cabbage, kale and spinach are extremely low in calories and sugar, but absolutely brimming in antioxidants and other healthy nutrition. Green juice is just all health benefits. Even the more sweet of vegetables, such as carrots are lower in sugar than fruits, with the average 8oz glass providing 15g of sugar.

It is still a great idea to drink fruit juice, but keep the portions controlled. Stick with no more than an a 4oz glass per day, that provide an average of 12g to 15g of sugar a serving. This still leaves some leeway room for a little more sugar from other foods in the day without breaking the AHA guidelines.

Fresh fruit juice provides nutritional diversity to vegetable juice, providing certain nutrients, antioxidants and health benefits that you may not find with vegetables. We just need to be smart about how much we drink, and then we get the benefits and none of the negative effects of excess sugar consumption.

• It is very important that juice is stored in an air-tight container. Filling the container to the brim is best, this will reduce any excess air in the vessel. Alternatively there are tools that pump the excess air out of containers.
• Keep the juice refrigerated. This keeps the juice cool and in the dark, 2 important factors for preserving fresh-made juice.

Which Juicer – How Long?

If you are not clear on the difference between a centrifugal juice extractor and a masticating juicer, then check out our post explaining this – Best Juicer. For a quick and limited reference – all Breville juice machines and Jack LaLanne juicer machines are centrifugal juicers. The Hurom Slow Juicer, Omega 8005 and 8006 Juicers are all masticating machines.

Centrifugal juice machines are fast-running machines that produce some heat and friction that creates some oxidation. The result of this is that the juice does not store as long as it does with the slower more deliberate juicing mechanism of a masticating juicer. The absolute maximum time for storing a juice made with a centrifugal machine is 24 hours, providing the above mentioned storing methods are adhered to. Even so, 24 hours is a maximum. After about 8 hours the juice will start to taste a little different as it starts to lose its freshness. Personally I aim for drinking a juice from a centrifugal machine within 12 hours provided that I cannot drink it immediately.

Masticating juice extractors create very little heat, and they don’t cause much oxidation as a result, which increases the shelf-life of the juice it produces. Provided the juice is stored as outlined above, then the juice will last for up to 48 hours.


Additional Tips and Advice

• Add some lemon juice or lime juice to a recipe, if it doesn’t already contain some. These two citrus fruits help preserve the juice.
• Cabbage juice does not last long. Any recipe with cabbage juice should not be stored for longer than a few hours. Or else – taste the difference!!!
• If it is practical, consider freezing juice as a Popsicle and eat it later. May not be the tastiest thing for a green juice, but fruit juices can make a tasty healthy treat.

1) Talk to your doctor. Any detox diet plan is a serious matter that you need to consult with your doctor about. Even though a lemon detox diet plan is made up of 100 percent natural ingredients, you still need to hear what your physician recommends. Keep in mind that reactions to a detoxification diet plan can vary. Your doctor’s view can help you determine whether or not this detox diet plan is suitable for your body. You also need to understand the potential risks involved with this detox diet.

2) Preparing for the diet. It is important to prepare yourself physically, emotionally and mentally. Keep in mind that after beginning a lemon detox diet plan you’ll experience physical changes that may be strange to you. You can do that by steadily decreasing your intake of junk food before you begin your diet plan. This way, one’s body won’t be too surprised by the new changes in diet.

3) Gather the ingredients. Purchase all necessary ingredients. For the lemon detox diet you will need lemon juice (fresh squeezed), purified water, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. Before collecting the ingredients, keep in mind that the diet is a 100 percent all-natural diet. What this means is that you shouldn’t replace any ingredients with artificial ones. For instance, don’t substitute all-natural lemon juice with concentrated lemon juice.

4) The lemon detox diet recipe. Once you’ve collected all of the ingredients, it’s time to get the recipe ready.

The recommended time for the lemon detox diet is 10 days. Should you want to exceed the 10 days standard time, you must do so under a doctor’s supervision. However, you may still do it for a shorter time. This is good for people trying it out for the very first time.

Below are two charts, each showing the content of carbohydrates, sugar, fat, protein, fiber and calories in a lemon, and lemon juice calories respectively. It is good to note there are less overall calories in lemon juice compared to the whole flesh of lemons. There is much less fiber in the juice, and just a little more sugar. All nutrient information sourced from the USDA Nutrient Database.

Calories in Lemon
Flesh Only

Nutrient	Unit	Per 100.0g	Per 1 Cup	1 Fruit (2-1/8" dia)
Energy	Kcal	29	61	17
Protein	g	1.10	2.33	0.64
Total fat	g	0.30	0.64	0.17
Total Carbohydrate	g	9.32	19.76	5.41
Fiber	g	2.8	5.9	1.6
Sugars, total	g	2.50	5.30	1.45

Calories in Lemon Juice
Fresh-made not bottled

Nutrient	Unit	Per 100.0g	Per 1 cup	Per 1 fl oz
Energy	Kcal	22	54	7
Protein	g	0.35	0.85	0.11
Total Fat	g	0.24	0.59	0.07
Total Carbohydrate	g	6.90	16.84	2.10
Fiber	g	0.3	0.7	0.1
Sugars	g	2.52	6.15	0.77

Vitamin C
The juice of lemons, as with all citrus fruit, are a rich vitamin C source. A 50 gram serving of freshly made lemon juice, or a little under 1/4 cup, delivers 23 milligrams of vitamin C — above 33% of the RDA (recommended daily allowance). Vitamin C, just like vitamins E and A, is an antioxidant that facilitates immunity function. Additionally, it will help safeguard your cells from free radicals, that can cause considerable harm. Free radicals are atoms that are charged and created when particular molecules interact together with oxygen. They react with the DNA with cells and with cell membranes, hampering their function. Defective cells are the very first step that leads to the progression of cancer. Opting for a diet loaded with antioxidants, from vegetables and fruits, are a factor in the prevention of cancer. So let’s look more deeply at some of the many great lemon juice benefits.

Lemon Juice Benefits for the Liver
Your liver creates bile. Bile is used to help with digestion. Lemon juice stimulates the liver to manufacture additional bile. Therefore, consuming lemon juice at morning time aids your digestion through the day. Your is digested more rapidly to help you accelerate your metabolism and limit the risk of digestion problems. You may also squeeze a little bit of lemon into some water and drink with every meal to encourage healthy digestion.

Full of Calcium
The body needs calcium to construct bone strength and density and maintain a healthy central nervous system. The health benefits of lemon juice are loaded with calcium. Your bones, teeth and nervous system all reap the benefits of consuming 1 glass of lemon juice every day.

Calcium supplies the body with energy also. If you’re lacking in energy, consuming an 8 oz glass of lemon juice is an all natural method to boost energy without salt, caffeine or sugar. There isn’t any subsequent burn out after boosting vitality with lemon juice benefit, that’s otherwise experienced with commercially produced energy beverages or beverages loaded with caffeine.

Lemon Juice Benefits for Skin
The antiseptic abilities of lemon, makes it a highly effective product for natural skin care. Minor bruises or cuts can be remedied naturally by utilizing several drops of lemon juice over the affected region. This juice also aids with blood clotting. So, when you have a cut, simply apply some lemon juice to the injured spot to cease the bleeding. Sufficient lemon juice intake helps to detoxify the body, which is demonstrated by a glowing healthy skin. Individuals who are in the routine of consuming lemon juice daily, have less complaint with blackheads and wrinkles. Besides these health benefits of lemon juice for the skin, others include decreasing burning sensations, improving the look of scars, managing acne, getting rid of old skin debris, and bleaching discolored or darkened areas.

What is the difference between juicing and blending? This is a very common question given both these methods are popular for creating health drinks, with each having its own strengths. So first things first lets take a closer look at the difference between the equipment itself – juicers Vs blenders.

Juicer Vs Blender

Blenders are machines that take fruits, vegetables, and a whole variety of foods such as nuts, seeds, milk, ice cubes and protein powders to create a smoothie. The reason things are ‘smooth’ is that a blender liquefies whole fruits and vegetables. Nothing is discarded, so the blended fruits and vegetables will have a smooth texture.

A juicer machine (also referred to as a juice extractor) is different because it extracts the juice out of fruits and vegetables and discards the pulp (fiber). So a juice is not a whole food, whereas a blended drink (smoothie) is.

Blenders are easily distinguished from juicer machines since they are almost always made with upright glass containers that slot into a base that contains a motor. At the bottom of this glass container is a set of blades that rotate rapidly to blend whatever ingredients are placed inside. The glass container is then removed from the base so that you can pour the drinks. Check out the vid below.





Juice extractors come in two main types, centrifugal juicers and masticating juicers. Centrifugal juicers are more upright in shape, such as the Breville BJE200XL, and the masticating juicers, such as the Omega 8006 tend to be more ‘horizontal’. Take a look at the vids below to see the difference between these two juice extractors. You can also visit our our other post best juicers to learn more detailed information about juice extractors.


Breville BJE200XL



Omega 8006

Juicing Versus Blending

So, we know now the difference between the machines – blender Vs juicer, but is drinking a juice better than drinking a smoothie or vise versa? Well, the major upside of both methods is that you are getting more fruits and veggies, but they both have their pros and cons. It is not really about which one is “best”.

The major advantage of blending is that you are consuming whole fruits and vegetables, this means you get the whole benefit, including the fiber that is essential for digestive health. This is also better for blood sugar since fiber slows down the rate at which fruits and vegetables are digested.

The main disadvantage of blending is volume. In other words smoothies are filling and you therefore consume less fruits and vegetables than drinking juice.

This brings us to the key advantage of juicing – sheer volume of nutrients in an extremely easily digested form. Since the fiber is removed and all that is left is a juice the body digests it rapidly and efficiently. The nutrients have been freed from the pulp and the body has to do very little in terms of digestion, that means we absorb and assimilate more nutrition fruit for fruit (or vegetable for vegetable), compared to a smoothie. Of course the one big exception is fiber! In addition to the higher assimilation of nutrients, is the fact we get more of them overall. In an average smoothie we can only consume a few pieces of fruits or veggies, but in one juice we can consume 3 to 10 fruits or vegetables.

The compromise with all this extra nutrition in juice is the lack of fiber. This is more of an issue with fruit juices, since vegetables are much less sugary than fruits. A fruit juice can cause a sharp spike in blood sugar, and should be avoided by diabetics. Also when drinking fruit juices it is better not to juice too many fruits just because we can drink a lot of them in one juice. It is better to just juice 1 or 2 pieces, or better still stick mostly with vegetable juice. Besides, vegetable juice is the healthiest thing you can drink, absolutely brimming in antioxidants!

Personally, we like to drink both juices and smoothies. We like to drink vegetable juice in the morning on an empty stomach about 20 to 30 minutes before breakfast. The benefit of an empty stomach is that there is no other food for the juice to “compete” with for digestion. This improves bio-digestibility further. Smoothies we like to drink as a mid-morning or mid-afternoon as a hearty snack using fruits, nuts and protein powder.

This variation of green tea refers to the way the plant is treated before consumption.  Organic means that the plant has not been grown using chemical products and fertilizers.  Instead, organic plantations use 100% natural products, the way it should be from the start really!  Organic products have proved to be healthier both in the short and the long term.

This type of green tea has a lot of benefits.  It acts as a great way to prevent skin problems and skin cancer thanks to the high amount of antioxidants it contains, it helps lower blood pressure and regulate blood sugar levels.  At the same time, green tea has been used along with good dieting programs such as Michael Thurmond’s 6 week body makeover, thanks to its fat burning benefits (thermogenesis).

This organic matcha green tea is found in the market with a higher price tag than common green tea.  Why?  Well to start, organic products have a higher value than products grown with chemical fertilizers, besides that, organic green tea takes more time to be processed for consumption so in a way there is less supply than common tea.

If you have not tried any type of green tea, let me tell you that no matter what variation you use, you will still reap the benefits of this product.  However, if you can find and afford a supply of organic tea, go for it.  It really pays off.

Natural tree syrup

The main ingredient in the lemon detox diet recipe is natural tree syrup.  This syrup is derived from trees that originate in Asia and parts of upper Canada.  The Asian syrup comes from palm tree sap while the liquid from Canada comes from maple trees.  The benefit associated with natural tree syrup is the fact that the liquid is filled with essentially minerals.  This helps the body to remove impurities which in turn helps the digestive and immune systems.  This ingredient is what makes the lemon detox diet so potent and effective.

Lemon juice, cayenne pepper

These two parts of the lemon detox diet recipe provide the remaining nutritional ingredients that the body needs.  They are also effective at awakening the senses and purifying the body of pollutants.  Lemon juice is essential to the lemon detox diet recipe because it provides vitamin C benefits and it works to improve the immune system.  Although the reasons for the inclusion of cayenne pepper are unclear, what is known is the awakening properties that it provides.  This makes it a very important part of the lemon detox diet recipe.

People who wish to feel better about their lives and bodies should consider the lemon detox regimen.  The ingredients in the lemon detox diet recipe are all natural and good for the body.  There is no other routine that can provide the same detoxing properties as this lemon detox process.

Because of this it is important to keep tabs on including fresh vegetables in our diet. Try including any or 3 three of the vegetables listed below in your diet on a regular basis and not only will you find it to be a tasty addition to your palate, but a healthy one, too.

Beets make the first entry on the list. They are so easy to eat raw yet often get overlooked. Maybe it’s because they’re somewhat of a pain to chop up and prepare due to the fact that you get everything purple in the process. Either way, they are a powerhouse of vitamins and minerals and are very easy to eat raw.

• Suggestions: Make a raw beet salad by slicing beets and adding a pinch of salt or drink beetroot juice for breakfast to start your day with a good boost of energy.

Cabbage is another delicious vegetable that many only associate as a food to boil. At best, people eat it technically raw when made into cole slaw, but at that point it’s dripping with mayonaise and other unhealthy ingredients, so we can strike that from the list! One thing that’s also nice about cabbage as how cheap it is when it replaces more expensive salad staples, such as spinach and romaine lettuce.

• Suggestions: finely chopped cabbage salad with 1 TBSP olive oil. Add salt, sweet corn, beans, and other ingredients as desired. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Cauliflower is something I seen to have an instrinic connection to. My parents tell me as a toddler I would ask for it by name. I always assumed everyone loved raw cauliflower, right? Wrong. Many people don’t even think of it as something you can eat raw, and if they do, they always want to combine it with a huge whallop of ranch dip. But cauliflower is super good in its own right and is the perfect addition to any salad – even a cauliflower salad!

• Suggestions: Add one cup chopped raw cauliflower to any salad.

What are some of your favorite vegetables to eat raw and what creative ways do you include them in your meals?