I strongly believe that you are what you eat, internally and externally. If you tend to make unhealthy food choices, it shows on your face, on your body and you feel it mentally as well. I also know that you can learn how to boost your metabolism with a few easy tricks. Does that mean I follow a very strict diet? The answer is no. I love food too much and that includes all kinds of food: healthy and, sometimes, unhealthy. It is hard for me to refuse food that I am offered, especially at parties or special events just because I want to eat only healthy food. If I know the food has been prepared by someone with love, I do not just say “no” simply because it isn’t the healthiest choice. So what do I do?
I have a morning secret that makes me feel good for the rest of the day. It is also a great thing to drink before leaving for a dinner party so you can feel more comfortable eating whatever is offered at the party.
It is a fresh fruits and vegetable juice! Not the kind that you buy from store but the kind that you make at home and drink it while it is super fresh. It is one of my favorite juices and it has ginger, celery, apple, lemon and greens such as kale and spinach.
- Ginger has a lot of health benefits including: relieving, stress, fatigue, bloating, supports digestion, improves blood circulation and boosts your metabolism.
- Celery contains a lot of fiber, helps reduce body weight and the blood’s cholesterol level. Celery leaves are also good source of antioxidants, vitamin A, vitamin K and folic acid.
- Lemon contains vitamin C, helps cure problems related to constipation and indigestion. It also works as a blood purifier.
- Apple is one of the most common fruits, incredibly healthy, loved by many. Have you heard of the saying “an apple a day keeps the doctor away?” Apples are high in vitamin C and fiber, they are low in calories, have no cholesterol or fat. It also add sweetness to the juice.
- Green leaves, such as kale or spinach. Kale is actually one of the super foods and it contains over 45 different flavonoids and provides great antioxidant and noninflammatory benefits.
A Couple Of Other Secrets You Should Know About Juicing
The order that you eat your food in makes a difference! I drink my juice on an empty stomach, in the morning, after my cup of hot water. After that I allow 20 minutes for the vitamins and minerals to go straight into my bloodstream. And then, I eat my breakfast.
If you drink this juice after a cup of coffee or a piece of toast, you will lose some of the benefits of the juice. Please allow your body a few minutes for it to absorb all the good things and help your metabolism get a boost. Also please keep in mind that when making this juice you shouldn’t store it, for instance, you shouldn’t leave it in the fridge thinking that you will drink it later. If you wait for too long, you loose a lot of nutrition.
If possible buy organic ingredients, and this is true for the celery and apples in particular because they are at the top of the “dirty foods” pyramid which means that they are frequently contaminated with insecticides that can be toxic to human health. If you cannot find them organic I recommend that you wash the celery with cold water so that almost 75 to 80 percent of pesticide residues can be removed. You can also wash them with 2% of salt water and that will remove most of the pesticide residues.
One More Secret…
Even if this juice is healthy, please do not consider it as a “meal.” Your body needs more than that at one sitting.
I also don’t advise that you drink the same juice every single day or an extended amount of it. Rotate your greens (such as kale, spinach, arugula, romaine etc) so that not only will you not get bored with the flavor of the juice but you will also ingest a balanced amount of different minerals and vitamins for your body. Variety is the spice of life, right? So enjoy the variety of seasonal and local vegetables and fruits.
Enjoy and let me know your thoughts/experience.
Can you make this juice in a blender, and do you put in the entire lemon or do you just add the juice?
Hi Cheryl, yes, you can make this juice in a blender! Just add the lemon juice.
I can never drink smoothies because where I live I can’t find organic fruits and vegetables, but carrots and bananas. I suppose you have to live in a big city in order to enjoy smoothies, only in big cities they sell organic vegetables.