Cool As A Cucumber

My latest juicing creation:

• 3 apples
• 1 cucumber
• 1" ginger root
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 head of celery
• 1 fennel bulb

It's not too sweet. Just cool and refreshing.

I was nervous about adding fennel to my juices at first. I thought it would produce an overpowering licorice flavor. To my surprise, the flavor is extremely mild and delicious to the final drop.

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Green Juice of the Year

For all you fresh juice lovers, try this combo. It blew my taste buds outta the water. It's basically my typical green juice with bell pepper added. I didn't realize what an amazing twist bell pepper adds.

Here is approximately what I put through my juicer:

• 1 head celery
  
• 1 cucumber
  
• 2 apples
  
• 1 lime (peeled)
  
• 1 orange bell pepper
  
• 2" fresh ginger root
  
• 2" fresh turmeric root
  

When you're finished juicing, add a dash of cayenne pepper to each glass. A fantastic addition would be cilantro (blended in or juiced).

Add a beet to make it a lovely valentine drink for your sweetie.

The fresh turmeric root is a great addition because of its anti-inflammatory properties. If you are looking for turmeric root in the grocery store, you might confuse it with ginger root. It looks the same but is orange on the inside.

Cheers to health and deliciousness! Read more...

Peanut Butter (and Chlorophyll!)

When I was a child I would eat nothing but peanut butter. Every cell of my body was built on peanut butter and honey sandwiches. Fortunately I grew out of that limited diet, but I still enjoy a little PB here and there. Remember peanut butter on celery? Good snack. But let's talk about peanut butter itself, because I am realizing that the peanut butter I am thinking of may not be the same thing you are thinking of...


I recently discovered that to most Americans, peanut butter equals JIF. I'll hold back my gasps of horror to offer my suggestion. To me, peanut butter equals peanuts and perhaps some sea salt--no more. It contains no added sugar or hydrogenated oils. Have you checked out the ingredient label of your peanut butter of choice? You'd be surprised to find substances that really don't belong.

A complaint about natural peanut butter is that it has to be stirred. The natural oils settle on top and must be stirred in when the jar is first opened. Additionally, natural peanut butter should be refrigerated. But this is more than worth it because natural peanut butter is far healthier and tastes far better.

Tip: turn the unopened jar of peanut butter upsidedown for a couple days before opening the first time. This will make stirring easier because the oil will get to the bottom of the jar where the peanut butter is prone to become rock hard.

While peanut butter may not be the absolute purest, healthiest choice on the planet, it still has lots of nutrition to offer such as protein, fiber, folate, and niacin..... hey, I did survive on it for a couple decades afterall...

The primary risk of peanuts is contamination by mold, particularly aflatoxins which are very toxic and can affect the liver. Fortunately, the FDA has established some regulation to help protect humans and animals. My advice is to always purchase organic, natural peanut butter from a company who cares. A glass jar is preferable over plastic also :)

Tip: Sprinkle nutritional yeast on your peanut butter snacks for extra B vitamins. It's good. I've been doing that since childhood too.

If you are particularly worried about aflatoxins, increase the chlorophyll in your diet (which you really should do anyway!) as chlorophyll blocks absorption of toxic carcinogens, according to this article from Natural News. Take the suggestion from Mike Adams and drink some parsley juice. Add it to your green smoothie or put it through a twin-screw juicer such as the Greenstar: Tribest Green Star 3000 Deluxe Juicer/Juice Extractor.

Try out this juice combination:

• 2 organic granny smith apples
• 1/2 organic cucumber
• 1/2 head of organic celery
• 1 lemon
• 1" of ginger root
• 1 bunch of organic parsley

If you are a peanut butter lover, throw away the Skippy and try something natural. Just do it, please.
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Go Green: Smoothie & Juice Du Jour

With the new year approaching, many are thinking about self improvement. One of the best ways I can think of to accomplish health improvement is to incorporate more greens into one's diet. That doesn't sound fun at first, but it totally is. Check this out: Green Smoothie & Green Juice du jour. It will make your cells dance. Wahoo!

My green smoothie of the day:

• 1/2 cup of water
  
• Half cucumber
  
• 1 peeled lemon
  
• 1 ripe banana
  
• Big handful of spinach
  
• 1/2 cup frozen pineapple
  

Add all ingredients to your Vita-Mix blender and power it up.

Green juice of the week:

• 1 head of organic celery
  
• 2 organic granny smith apples
  
• 1 lemon
  
• 1 bunch organic lacinto kale
  
• 1 inch piece of fresh ginger
  

Run all ingredients through a masticating juicer such as the Champion or Green Star. This makes about 4 cups of juice. Drink it up!

Make it your green smoothie and green juice of the year!

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From Happy Hour to Healthy Hour!

Tonight I am drinking my favorite beverage in the whole world -- Love Juice! I discovered this delicious concoction at a juice bar I used to frequent - Namasté Café Juice Bar in New Brunswick, NJ - and have been hooked ever since. Because I love it so much, I want you to share in the pleasure. Treat yourself to a happy hour that never was happier.

Equipment needed: An electric juicer of some kind. I am using a Jack Lalanne juicer; however, if you are in the market for a juicer, read a product review on the amazing Breville juicers here.

Ingredients:

• 1 small beet
  
• 2 apples
  
• 4 carrots
  
• 1 lemon
  
• 1" fresh ginger
  
• Love!
  

Instructions:

Juice all the ingredients in any order and make quantity adjustments to match your preference. Some people like a lot of ginger while some people find it to be too spicy. I recommend starting with a conservative quantity and giving it a taste before you are done juicing. The ginger is a key ingredient, however, so don't leave it out!

Yesterday, I took a mid-day break from work for a wheat grass shot pick-me-up. I went to The Energy Bar in downtown Portland and ended up ordering a full juice instead. It tasted very much like Love Juice except it was green. The ingredients were:

• 2 oz. wheat grass juice
  
• Apples
  
• Lemon
  
• Ginger
  

Now you have a starting point to develop your own happy hour beverage!

Cheers!

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