Friday's Fixin's: Juice

Juicing has never been my favorite thing. There. I said it.  I’ve always perceived it to be tedious, messy and (especially for all of the work) not so tasty.  Also (it must be said) whenever I drink green juice, I always seem to spend the rest of the day burping.  Gross.

However, juicing is incredibly healthy. And thanks to FBC, I’m all for finding as many sources of health as I can right now! Juicing provides vital nutrients, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals for our bodies to repair themselves, strengthen the immune system and for cell regeneration and growth. The antioxidant effects of juices help detoxify the body and help eliminate the toxins, fats, preservatives and chemicals that a diet of processed foods leaves behind. Juicing also makes foods easy to digest and thus, easier for the body to receive maximum benefit from the food.

Okay. Okay. So the pro’s seriously outweigh the con’s!

Yet another Silver Lining to my experience in San Francisco (there have been so many!) is meeting Adina Niemerow.  She is a holisitc chef, nutritional counselor and author of the book Super Cleanse.

 

 

For the last 13+ years, Adina has explored the healing powers of food and found herself in the “food as medicine” movement.  She has cleansed, studied, cooked, schvitzed, prayed and meditated with holistic leaders. “So much of the food we choose to eat fogs our life force and weighs down the body in dis-ease,” she says. Ahem, I certainly agree with that!

We had a great talk about the benefits of cleansing and agreed that I’m not ready for a cleanse yet.  I need to finish my treatments and heal from them (as much as I can) first.

However, at the end of all of this nonsense…probably a couple of months after my last treatment when I can finally get myself off of the horse tranquilizers that I’m still taking for sleep, I plan to do a huge cleanse.  My poor liver, kidneys, adrenals…not to mention my brain are sooooo overworked and exhausted from the toxic onslaught of the past 8+ months.

In the meantime, however, she suggested some juices that I might actually enjoy.  Not likely, I said in my head. Nice attitude, huh? I’ve obviously had some BAD green juice experiences! But I agreed to try them for the health benefits that I so desperately need.

Well, low and behold, I looooooove everything that she has suggested.  Good gracious.  They are delicious AND I don’t burp all day (Silver Lining!).

I now start every day with Heavenly Green Juice. It gives me a serious, no holds barred jump start to the day (SL). The chlorophyll in each sip is calming, immunity-boosting, and cleansing for your blood.  It’s best to use a juicer (but you can use a blender).

Enjoy!

Heavenly Green Juice

Ingredients

• 1/2 head celery 9about 4 large celery sticks)
• 6 leaves rainbow chard or beet greens
• 1/2 apple, cored
• 2 cups pea sprouts
• 1 small cucumber
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Instructions

• Chop the first 5 ingredients into pieces small enough to fit into the feeder tube of your juicer.
• Juice the fruit and vegetables, starting with the celery and ending with the cucumber to ensure that you get as much juice as possible out of the sprouts.
• Stir in lemon juice.
• Add water as needed to make a 16-ounce serving.