It’s official, I’m obsessed with green juices and smoothies. (In fact I’m sipping on a green juice while writing this!)
I love that by drinking a juice I can get usually at least a full serving of veggies (or more) and plenty of all the vitamins my body craves. While I certainly love a good salad, nothing beats a green juice for an added healthy boost.
Here are some of the health benefits of the vegetables usually in green juices:
Kale: Low calorie (zero fat) and high in fiber which helps to fill you up. Contains antioxidants and is thought to be a powerful anti-inflammatory food. It is high in Vitamins A, C, and K and calcium.
Lemons: Excellent source of Vitamin C and antioxidants. Despite being an acidic citrus fruit, lemons exert alkalizing effects on the body which can help with digestion and reduce hunger.
Spinach: good source of iron and calcium and is full other important vitamins and minerals.
Celery and Cucumbers: full of water and help keep you and your skin hydrated without adding many calories.
*All the nutrition information above is from the Tone It Up Nutrition Plan.
While it may seem like all green juices would be good for you, there are some that are better than others. I choose ones with more veggies than fruits, and try to pick the one with the lowest amount of sugar. While I know sugar from fruits is still natural and better than processed sugar, I still try to limit my intake; especially after lunch. A great choice is the Green Supreme from Suja. It only has 21 grams of sugar and includes just 3 yummy ingredients: kale, apple juice and lemon juice. It doesn’t get much simpler than that. I find Suja juices most often at Target but you can also order them online.
My new favorite place to go for a green juice (they’re not new, I’m just new to the West Coast) is Nekter. They have some delicious green juice choices as well as other juices and fruit smoothies. It’s affordable too; which is great because so oftentimes the healthy options are more expensive.
Speaking of affordable, I recently picked up this great book at Barnes and Noble (in the discount section) full of amazing green juice recipes. Now all I need is a juicer and I can stop having to go out to get my daily dose of green goodness.I’ll post reviews as soon!
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