Blender Juice for Everyday Health
For all of us who struggle to build in new habits to improve our health due to time and hassle factor, making blender juices is for you. Let me share a few reasons why it is so easy to add this into your life, and why there is no reason for excuses.
Spinach, cucumber, beet, kale and pineapple blender juice
Blender juices require almost zero kitchen tools or skill. There is no need for a fancy juicer or fancy juicing recipe book, and it is preferred that you don’t even bother with a nut milk bag or other juicing bag. All you need is a blender, any blender will do, even the $25 model will work just fine.
When you keep it simple and blend all your ingredients without straining you get the amazing benefit of consuming the fiber. This is so good for you. The fiber will slow down the absorption of sugar helping with blood sugar control and will give you sustained energy. If you have any issues with constipation, drinking a full glass or two of all natural raw juice with the fiber will make a huge impact- trust me on this one.
Consuming fiber is also linked to lowering heart disease, helping to prevent some cancers, aiding in weight loss by adding the feeling of fullness and slowing the carbohydrate metabolism and it will improve digestion.
When you drink the full fruit and vegetable without any straining you keep all the micronutrients or vitamins and minerals. This is drinking your medicine!
Blender juicing is also budget friendly. You can certainly make a special trip to the farmers market or your grocery store for a new blender juice recipe, but the beauty is you can use this as a way to use up a bunch of your produce.
When starting out on the blender juice journey begin with more fruits than veggies (unless you are a die hard veggie lover), adding in spinach, kale, cucumber, celery or carrots as your veggie. Don’t be afraid to experiment. Think about fruits you already love and use those as your base. Apples, oranges, pineapples, kiwi’s etc.
Be sure to use a good quality filtered water or coconut water as your liquid. Keep it simple. For a 4 cup batch of juice I use about 1.5 cups of liquid and the rest fruits and veggies. If it is too thick when I am done blending, I simply add in a bit more liquid. I prefer coconut water for the extra health benefits and electrolytes, but when I am out, my filtered water works just fine.
Be sure to let the blender rip it up. I use a very basic Osterizer blender I purchased at Target and I put in low/blend setting to start for about 30 seconds to get it all moving around, then I crank it up to high and liquify (not sure that makes a difference from blend) and let it grind for about 2 more minutes. You will still have very visible particles, but that is what you want, that’s your priceless fiber.
No need to add sweeteners. I really try to get my flavors and sweetness from the fruits, but if you really do need a bit more, stick with a natural source like honey, agave or maple syrup.
I make a big 4-6 cup batch and keep the extra in a few mason jars for up to 4 days. If you fill them to the top with little headroom they will keep longer.
Play around- have fun and drink to your health.
Spinach, cucumber, beet, kale and pineapple juice recipe
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups coconut water
- 1/4 cucumber quartered
- 1 cup spinach leaves
- 8 pineapple chuncks
- 1/4 small red beet - cut in half
- 1/2 cup kale leaves
- 1 lemon -peel removed
DIRECTIONS
- Add the coconut water to blender first. Follow with greens, cucumer,pineapple, beet and lemon.
- Blend on low for 30 seconds. Mix up with spoon if necessary
- Blend on high for 2 minutes until there are only small particles and no big chunks. It should be mostly liquid- with the veggie and fruit particles floating around.
- Pour into mason jars to store. Fill to the top with little headroom left. Store up to 3 days. Enjoy chilled.