My favorite detoxification diet is to do a green juice detox.
Leafy greens like kale and collard greens are one of nature’s most perfect foods and one of the smallest parts of the standard american diet. In a country where iceberg lettuce is as close to a leafy green as many people get, it does take some time to get used to the more bitter taste of some of the darker leafy greens, but it is worth it. They really are delicious and your health will thank you for it.
Kale is serious business. Eaten raw, it’s a tough, flat or curly leaf that is a real job to chew. There have been times that I’ve simply felt too tired to eat a kale salad.
Kale is like the Optimus Prime of good-for-you vegetables. It’s chock full of vitamins A, C, K, and the antioxidant manganese—but also carotenoids and flavonoids, two of which have been shown to fight against the formation of cancer cells. One cup of raw kale provides 20% of your recommended daily amount of fiber! And 10% of your body’s demands for anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. Kale can help your body resist arthritis, autoimmune disorders, and asthma.
When I started regularly juicing kale, I noticed a decrease in my junk food cravings, and after six weeks of three servings weekly, my persistent sinusitis hadn’t recurred. This could be a coincidence, but when juice entered my life, I had more energy. Also, drinking green juice actually feels good for you.
Kale juice has a complex taste, and sometimes I add celery and carrot to round out kale’s bitterness, but they also add pepper and a heavy, earthy quality. All fine and good, but for spring, I crave a lighter juice that doesn’t feel like a meal replacement. Thus, the cucumber and apple.
Alison’s Green Juice Detox
There are many variations of green juice, such as Organic Avenue’s Green Love* Green Juice, of which Gwyneth Paltrow and her lifestyle blog GOOP are fans, and Dr. Oz’s “Green Juice.” The former uses kale plus a whopping 4 additional dark greens, pear and lemon, and the latter omits kale and uses spinach and celery—which increases manganese and iron, but greatly decreases fiber, vitamins and calories.
A word on directions: process all ingredients into one 5-cup capacity container under your juicer spigot, specifying “low” and “high” settings according to density of vegetable and fruit.
Ingredients:
*1 cucumber, peeled and washed
*6 of your favorite small/medium apples, washed
*3 small bunches or 15 leaves of curly kale, washed
*1/3 c. ginger root, washed, peeled, and coarsely chopped
1.) Chop peeled cucumber into pieces small enough for the diameter of your juicer’s feeding tube, and feed them into your juicer while on the “low” setting.
2.) Wash and chop apples (no need to peel and core unless you are concerned about vestiges of wax and pesticides on the skin). Juice on the “high” setting.
3.) Snap kale leaves in half and feed into juicer on the “low” setting.
4.) Juice ginger on the “high” setting.
5.) Serve immediately, or chill in the fridge up to 12 hours for best results.*
Makes 4-5 servings at 8 oz. each. Enjoy!
*COOK’S NOTE: For those of you who aren’t afraid to let kale’s edgy flavor take center stage, try Sandy Henson Corso’s “Green Lemonade” variation: replace cucumber and ginger with celery and lemon juice. Cut it with seltzer water for a healthy, but seriously tart kick in the pants!
A Food, Cooking, & Recipe Blog by Helana Brigman.
www.clearlydeliciousfoodblog.com/…/alisons-green-juice-deto…
With spring fast approaching (I hope), it is the perfect time to start planning on doing a green juice detox. Shed some of the winter weight and realkalize and energize the body.
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