Green Juicing and the Benefits of Fresh Green Juices

Green juicing is a process that creates a concentrated nutrient-rich juice from fruits and vegetables that is low in sugar and high in chlorophyll content.

The initial concept of consuming green juice started way back in the 1930's by health enthusiasts like Norman Walker, Dr. Kirschner, Dr. Max Gerson, Jay Kordich and many others who were the first to use the benefits of juicing as therapeutic treatment for many chronic illnesses. 

Some of these early pioneers used ample amounts of greens in their juicing recipes and Ann Wigmore, founder of the Hippocrates Health Institute, was one of the first to discover the healing properties of wheatgrass juice, which she used medicinally with great success in her holistic health care practice.

Today, green juice is quickly becoming a staple morning drink among health conscious people all over the world as many are transforming their health by consuming the nutritious green liquid from dark leafy greens and noticing a positive influence on overall mood and energy levels.

These benefits can be attributed to its alkalizing effect on the body, in addition to its ability to neutralize toxins as well as supply an immediate transfusion of absorbable chlorophyll-rich phytonutrients to the cells and bloodstream.

Green juice therapy is used in many modern day fasting retreat centers to promote the detoxification process and is taken medicinally to facilitate a natural state of cellular healing when consumed exclusively for a period of time. 

Green juice is specifically fresh, raw, living organic juice made with green leafy vegetables and non-sweet fruits pressed through a juicer.  This is a procedure that separates the fiber portion from the liquid in the vegetables.

Essentially, you are super concentrating all the nutrients into a juice extract that can be extremely nourishing to the body and packed with enzymes, vitamins, minerals and amino acids. 

Juicing the liquid out of raw fruits and vegetables delivers more nutrients in one condensed glass of juice, so you don't have to eat pounds and pounds of produce.  Also, by eliminating the bulk fibrous material, you give the digestive system a rest and provide an influx of nutrition that is easily assimilated.

For some of you this might sound somewhat unappealing at first, especially if you are unaccustomed to drinking fresh juices and are not particularly fond of the taste of green vegetables like kale, parsley, collard or spinach.

We encourage you to give it a try, however, as your taste buds will most likely adjust to the flavor once you experience the uplifting side-effects.  Initially, you can add some sweet fruits to make your juice more palatable and then eventually reduce the amount of sugar content over time.

Fresh Green Juice Benefits Over Bottle Juices

Green juice is a natural mineral and vitamin supplement that can be a powerful influence to a malnourished system.  It is best to avoid bottled green juices that have often been pasteurized to increase their shelf life.  This means that they have undergone heat processing that kills all living enzymes and most all of the health benefits.

Your juice should be fresh, "raw" and filled with life-force, structured water content, probiotic microbes, enzymes and oxygen.  This is the best possible juice for providing restorative components that will help to enhance mental outlook, increase immune health, improve bone strength, achieve natural body weight and nourish the heart.

Green Juicing Ingredient Options

Green juicing ingredients can cover a wide array of leafy green vegetables.  The most common types include kale, collard, cilantro, bok choy, parsley, lettuce, beet greens, green cabbage, swiss chard, sprouts, arugula, dill weed, mint and spinach.  Sometimes you can also find more unique leafy green selections at farmers markets and some health food stores, such as dandelion greens, watercress, purslane or any of the Asian greens like mizuna. 

In addition, many wild edible greens can also be gathered at certain times of the year, predominantly in the spring and fall seasons. These are highly nutritious foods that can usually be harvested in large quantities for pounds of juice material.  Some of these may include miners lettuce, chickweed, watercress, mallow, horsetail shoots, nettle leaf and many others depending on the climates zones in which you live.

For those of you who like to sprout you can also add in sunflower greens, broccoli sprouts, pea shoots, fenugreek sprouts or any of the microgreen varieties to your juicing blends.

Most juices are comprised of about 2-5 different types of dark leafys.  Two other commonly used ingredients in green juicing recipes are the water-rich vegetables celery and cucumber.  Occasionally green apples are used for flavor and pectin content, but "true green juice" contains very low amounts of fruit or vegetable sugars.  Other veggie, spice and citrus combinations may also include fennel bulb, ripe bell pepper, ginger, turmeric, lemon or lime.

Caution for Those with Hypothyroidism

For people with an underactive thyroid or hypothyroidism, some health authorities believe it is best to avoid large quantities of cruciferous vegetables like kale, collard greens, bok choy, broccoli sprouts and watercress.  It has been shown that these greens contain enzymes and goitrogens that interfere with the formation of thyroid hormones in such cases.  A high intake of crucifers through juicing greens can inhibit the uptake of iodine into the thyroid hormone and should be largely avoided by those with a hypothyroid condition. (Source)

Since most leafy greens fall into this category, under such circumstances we recommend making your juice base from cucumber and celery and then mixing in micro-algaes like spirulina, chlorella or blue-green algae, along with any of the lettuces and sprouts like sunflower.  Some wild green selections are also safe to use such as miners lettuce or mallow leaf.

It is important to keep in mind that cruciferous greens are highly nutritious for those with normal thyroid hormone levels and are additionally excellent for those with hyperthyroidism (over-active thyroid) to help block the over-production of hormones.

Many of the benefits of juicing cruciferous leafy greens can be attributed to their high amounts of antioxidants like carotenoids and chlorophyll as well as other constituents like omega fatty acids, indoles and sulfur containing isothiocyanates.  These compounds offer cancer chemopreventive effects and also help to reduce inflammation, a key factor in cardiovascular disease.

Basic Green Goodness Juice Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 celery stalks
• 1/2 cucumber
• 5 big pieces of lacinato or dino kale
• handful of parsley
• piece of fennel bulb or stalk
• handful of spinach leaves
• 1/8C spring water

Press veggies through your favorite juicer and run 1/8C spring water at the end to extract rest of juicing liquid. Pour into a glass. Serves one.
We tend to drink about a quart of juice at one time, in this case you would need to double the above recipe.

How to Make Green Juice With A Blender or NutriBullet

This a quick and easy method for those of you without a juicer.
Blending the ingredients does oxidize the plant material a bit more than the Green Star juicer, but is it still considerably nutritious.   You basically fill the blender to the top, turn it on and it literally takes seconds to puree your veggies with a good blender.

This is our preferred technique to use when traveling.
Our top favorite blender is the Vitamix for home use, but we like the size and efficiency of the Blendtec blender for travel excursions.  The NutriBullet is also a handy traveling device perfect for making a small amount of juice for one person.
The Blendtec blender is about 1/3 the size of a Vitamix blender and is also a bit easier to clean.

Tools You Will Need

• Blendtec blender or other high speed blender
• chopping board
• knife
• greens and veggies
• filtered water
• nut milk bag
• big bowl

Making Your Green Juice

1. Chop your veggies of choice like: cucumber, celery, parsley, romaine lettuce, kale, etc.
2. Place into blender.
3. Blend and completely puree the vegetables.
4. Add a little water if necessary to blend smooth.
5. Pour liquid through a nut milk bag into a bowl.
6. Squeeze out liquid with hands. (Kids love to do this part!)
7. At the end, squeeze the rest by making it long and narrow.
8. Keep pressing and twisting it out.
9. Pour the juice in your bowl into a glass.

You should have dry pulp at the end and lots of beautiful green juice!
The photo to the right is the pulp fiber left over after almost a quart of juice!  We only added about 1/4 of a cup of water, so it shows you how much liquid there is in raw vegetables!
Try some of our other juicing recipes or for "pink juicing" see our beet juice recipe!